Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week. While he’s still among the site’s 687 million users, Daveed has been thinking about the millions of Facebook users logging off for good, especially in Canada and the US, and among younger users. It’s too soon to tell if the social network is on its way to becoming the next MySpace,…
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Around the Office: hands-on with Kohana, picture sharing with DailyBooth, and more
Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week. Roberto had a very good first impression of PHP5 framework Kohana, and actually liked its modules for database interactivity and cookies. With its basic template system, simple installation, and online learning resources, he’d recommend it to developers who want to save lines of code and time, but be warned, it only works with PHP…
Using Google Analytics to report on your measurements
We have written lately about the importance of determining your site’s key metrics. Once you’ve decided on your website goals, however, tracking them shouldn’t be a pain. Google Analytics allows website owners to find out who is coming to their site, and what they do there. You can sign into the Google Analytics dashboard to access your current website statistics, but with just a little more effort you can setup Analytics to monitor the goals most important to your site, and send the most…
Before you measure: Business goals
In your own mind, it’s easy to imagine your website drawing in visitors and effortlessly guiding them on a journey through relevant content, building their confidence in your business, and leading them on their way to becoming customers. But without statistics on which to back these assumptions, you can only presume that your site is getting the traffic you want, and that visitors are getting the experience they want from your site. Luckily, services such as Google Analytics are available…
Using Google Analytics to track website traffic goals
In your own mind, it’s easy to imagine your website drawing in visitors and effortlessly guiding them on a journey through relevant content, building their confidence in your business, and leading them on their way to becoming customers. But without statistics on which to back these assumptions, you can only presume that your site is getting the traffic you want, and that visitors are getting the experience they want from your site. Luckily, there are technologies available for website owners…
Beyond the Big Three: Other Social Networks You Should Know About
We’ve written before about the opportunities to connect with customers via the top consumer social networks, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. A small business can use these networks to share company news and insights, communicating to current and potential clients that the company is active and knowledgeable in its area of expertise. We think nearly every small business can gain from the creation and management of their brand on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, which is becoming just as important as having a great…
Kobayashi Technology changes name to Kobayashi Online
Wow – coming up on 16 years. Kobayashi Technology has been around for some time, and we are going stronger than ever! When I started this business, I was just a sole techie helping companies with their IT needs. Now we are a solid digital marketing firm with four full-time, and three part-time people who have helped hundreds of businesses with their online presence. It has been a great adventure. Earlier this year, we worked with Toronto Marketing Agency Finesilver…
Can you influence The Influence Project?
The Influence Project by Fast Company is a controversial online experiment in viral marketing. The project aims to “show what happens when an individual takes an audience at rest and applies an unbalanced force–through suggestion, advice or direction–that converts it into an army of action”. The idea is to upload your picture, get an ‘influence link’ then get as many people as you can to click on your link & register. The more people who click & register on your…
The Benefits of Being Social: HST, TBOT, CBC, The Star, & The Minister of Revenue
We’re a small business marketing firm in Toronto, and we’ve been getting some local press attention recently. First we were on the CBC (radio and TV) talking about our 10% HST sale. The Toronto Star saw our blog article and called to get more details on how we think the HST is going to benefit companies using our print and digital marketing services. And finally, John Wilkinson, the Ontario Minister of Revenue, is planning a visit for this Friday to find out…
Kobayashi Technology on CBC – HST Savings Coming Your Way!
Hello there, CBC came by yesterday to ask what my thoughts were about the HST as a small business owner. For us, it is a very good thing. So much so, we’re going to pass on the savings to our customers! But more on that in a bit. First: Is your eCommerce store HST ready? Most every business is of course affected. For those in Ontario with eCommerce stores (and who are already registered for GST), you should already be…