To start 2012 off with a bang we have been working on improving our product line-up, Clicky Mail is the result of months of hard work and development, including incorporating the latest technology into our existing email marketing platform.

Our market leading features now include:

Split Testing
Can’t decide which subject line to choose? or which content to include? – Create 2 campaigns to compete against each other by targeting only a small sample of your database. We have measures to decide which one is performing greater and can even schedule the winning email to be sent across the remainder of your subscribers.

Open and Click Tracking, Including Social Chatter
Choose to watch your subscribers open your email in real-time ‘worldview’ or head to the dashboard of the system where it will show you the latest reports for the success of your campaign, including who forwarded your email, who ‘liked’ your email on Facebook, plus who even ‘tweeted’ about it!

Easy Unsubscribe & Self-Cleansing Lists
There is no frustration from subscribers if they choose not to receive emails from you anymore; a simple one-click does the job. If they ever mark your emails as spam then they are also automatically unsubscribed from future mailings.

Segmentation
You can segment your email campaigns by whatever data you choose to import,
making each communication you send highly relevant.

Interactive Charts
All our reports are displayed in a presentable and descriptive format, so even those with a phobia of the web can appear to be a digital marketing guru!

Schedule Emails
Schedule your emails to send at a time that suits you.

Now all the advanced tools used by top marketers can be at your fingertips!

For further information and to set up your free account please click here to visit our new website.

We have all sorts of ideas of how your business can make use of the new platform, so if you have any questions about our new system please do not hesitate to contact us on:

0844 318 6420 or visit www.clickymail.co.uk

The history of the Google Doodle is an interesting one. Google’s initial logo was an exclamation point, during this early stage the founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin found themselves in a dilemma as both wished to attend the Burning Man Festival but they were worried the site would not remain active without their input and they would be unable to answer any calls from the desert.

Consequently the first Google Doodle was created, it simply depicted the Burning Man’s stick figure popping out of the traditional logo. The purpose was to display an ‘out of office’ message to all Google users. Since then there have been a wide range of themes and images used, eventually resulting in the Google Doodles that we see today, 271 of which were produced last year alone.

For more information on Where Google Doodles come from click here>>

For the full list of the Top 30 Google Doodles click here>>

Source: Mashable

Clicky Media would like to congratulate the Winner of our Competwition Roxanna Bridger, @Roxi_Lovely! From the 997 twitter users who entered our competition, Roxanne was the lucky winner of a brand new iPod Touch.

We decided to offer our clients and followers the chance to win an iPod Touch for Christmas. This year we’ve helped all kinds of clients to grow their businesses on the internet, from local government to multi-national brands, we provide a wide range of digital marketing services with a complete focus on delivering results.

We wanted to wish all our valued clients & followers a very merry Christmas with this exciting competition.

For information on how we can help you’re business’s twitter account with a competition click here > >

We are currently recruiting for an SEO executive to join our expanding team in our Chester Head Office.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an enthusiastic, hard working and confident individual to start or progress a career in online marketing in a fast-growing, dynamic digital agency.

Are you what we’re looking for or know somebody who this role would suit?

For a full job description please click here >>

Please email CV’s and covering letters/emails to sam@clickymedia.co.uk
(No Recruitment Agencies Please)

There are over 30 Million Users on Facebook in the United Kingdom alone, this handy infographic by Michele Caivano gives a useful breakdown of Facebook Users worldwide.

Source – Fortunecat.it

Check out how we could develop your Facebook Page Here >>

Over 1.8 million Facebook users have Christmas as a registered interest. Of that 1.8 million there is a definite split between those who are single and those in a relationship.

There is also a fair difference between Men and Women who have chosen Christmas as an interest, the Women taking a huge lead of over 550,00 more users who ‘liked’ Christmas.

There is quite an interesting split with the Age Groups who ‘Like’ Christmas too, with the users who are 13-19 years old talking an easy lead with over 1,000,000 users!

Lastly there is also a selection of Christmas related topics that Facebook users have the option of ‘liking’. Whilst Christmas has a grand total of over 1,375,000 users who have ‘liked’ the popular topic, Snow has a respectful 533,000 and Christmas Eve has over 150,000.

Stay tuned for more Facebook Statistics in the New Year.

Source – Facebook.com

YouTube trends manager Kevin Allocca has been reminiscing. “2011 was a year of amazing new channels and new stars being discovered, awesome creativity, and of course, Rebecca Black,”  “It was also a year of powerful news stories playing out on YouTube, as people witnessed and documented uprisings and natural disasters, touching personal moments and moments of protest.”

Wondering what people watched the most during the past 12 months? See below (click to play).

1. “Friday” by Rebecca Black

2. Ultimate Dog Tease

3. “Jack Sparrow” by The Lonely Island and Michael Bolton

4. Talking Twin Babies Part 2

5. Nyan Cat

6. “Loot At Me Now” Cover Karmin Music

7. “The Creep” by The Lonely Island, Nicki Minaj and John Walters

8. “Born This Way” Cover by Maria Aragon

9. “The Force” Volkswagen Commercial

10. Cat Mom Hugs Baby Kitten

With YouTube also being the second most used Search Engine in the world, now is the time to take advantage of it’s popularity. From YouTube Channel Design to YouTube Advertising, Clicky Media can help with all your YouTube needs! Call us on 08457 257 1225.

Source: Mashable

Leave it a few seconds and you’ll find your whole screen fills up with snow, to the point that you can even draw in it!

Merry Christmas everyone – enjoy!

Counting down from 10, the Google searches that rose fastest in 2011:

10. iPad 2
At 10 we have the iPad2 that sold an incredible 500,000 units during their debut weekend and sold out on almost all channels in it’s first week. The iPad 2 searches are up 939% from 2011.

9. Steve Jobs

The revolutionary visionary who inspired a generation with the help of some of Apples biggest gadgets, including the Mac computer, iPhone and iPad. Searches for Steve Jobs grew by 982% this year.

8. 東京 電力

The 東京 電力 (TEPCO) Fukushima Plants nuclear rector was damaged during the 2011 earthquake causing the Japanese government to order an evacuation of the thousands of residents. Searches rose by a huge 1,470% in 2011.

7. Adele

With the release of her album ’21′ Adele shot to the number one spot on the Uk Album Chart for an impressive 16 consecutive weeks, selling 208,000 copies in it’s first week alone. Adele’s searches rose by an impressive 1,588% this year.

6. iPhone 5

Before the release of Apple’s newest smartphone there was a host of rumours, from edge-to-edge glass to extensive voice controls. It was widely believed that the new device would be called the iPhone 5 leading to a 1,658% increase in searches for this term.

5. Battlefield 3

This impressive first-person shooter from EA sold 5 million copies in it’s first week leading to a 1,773% increase in searches for Battlefield 3.

4. Casey Anthony

Casey Anthony was found not guilty for the murder of her 2 year old daughter Caylee on 5th July 2011. She was charged with murder after her daughters remains were found near her home in Florida. Searches for Casey grew by 2,680% in 2011.

3. Ryan Dunn

A tragic car accident took the life of Ryan Dunn who was best known for daredevil stunts on the reality shows ‘Jackass’ and ‘Viva La Bam’. The searches grew by over 10,000% this year.

2. Google+

The launch of Google+ in June this year resulted in an impressive 10 million people joining the social network space, this caused an increase of over 10,000% in searches for Google+.

1. Rebecca Black

In the Number 1 spot is Rebecca Black who’s Youtube music video went viral and received over 167 million views. Her success drove her searches up over 10,000% giving her the top spot in the fastest growing search queries of 2011.

Source - Google Zeitgeist

This is a common issue I notice with a lot of “big brand” websites and amazes me that they don’t test their backgrounds on a range of screen sizes.

What are background images?

Background images can give a website a nice canvas and are often used to promote offers or to add a temporary theme to a website (Christmas is a common one – you might have seen ours!)

With improvements in internet speeds more and more websites are using large images rather than small repeated graphics or solid colours.

What often amazes me is the obvious lack of time spent in producing them, and more often than not, a clear lack of effective testing before launch.

Web development thresholds…

It is often common a web team will have thresholds for various factors such as browser type, page size (in kb), use of flash elements, screen sizes, within which they work, and providing they are serving a certain percentage of their potential audience (say 90%) then decisions are passed. But with this one the fixes are so simple there is no need to let a sloppy background slide!

An example: Everton FC

Take the current Everton FC’s site below: (click for a larger version)

The site has a nice Christmas theme but they haven’t tested it on a larger screen size.   Now I know we don’t all have 2560 pixel width screens, and “most” people wont see it, but based on our Google Analytics stats more than a few will, and the few are growing in numbers. (6% of visitors to our website has screen sizes with a higher pixel width of 1930px – so just over 1,000 in the past 30 days)

Solutions

The current background is 1930 pixels wide so they have covered the majority but there are simple options to avoid the ugly edge…

1. Use a repeatable graphic - should the background have been uniform, then a repeat could have been used to avoid the edge.

2. Use a fade out – The background graphic could have been faded out at the edges (like the have done for the height) This takes just minutes to do, and would have meant no ugly edges.

Other examples…

Now I’m not picking on Everton! this is just one of a load of examples I have seen in the past few days, below are a few more…

Accessorize – Could have used a repeat so easily!

HMV – Nearly got it right but you can still see the line!

Manchester City – Could have faded it out! (BTW this is my favorite football club site so its not all bad)

Land Rover – Needed to fade to the sides!

Blockbuster – Needed to use a repeat or a fade!

These screen shots are all as of today and are property of their prospective owners (16/12/2011)