Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD.

The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers.

These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today.

So for a few moments, take a break from your daily routine, have a laugh and enjoy these funny cartoons.

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below as well as any related stories of your own…

Non-stop buffering

Search engines hands

The dreaded CAPTCH

Can you relate to these situations? Please share your funny stories and comments below…

Vitali font: 4 Sans Serif Styles – only $5!

Tracking website performance

I am always interested in seeing how my latest post is performing on search engines, especially on Google. Yesterday I wrote a post about tracking your performance on the web, a very important factor to consider when publishing online. Today I see that on Google.com the post is ranking well – no 2 out of 60,000,000.

and on the second search term, no 2 & 3 out of 159,000,000. Not bad eh?

It’s not only important to make sure that your publication gets good ranking, but also making sure that when you come back in 6 months time your post is still somewhere  in the top 10. Mo0st people rarely search beyond the first 2 pages or so when researching a product.

Web Analytics

Making sure you know exactly what visitors do on your website, where they come from, which search terms they use to get to your website can mean life or death to a business. By analysing the data you can then adjust your marketing campaign, keyword and content to encourage more visitors to your website.

There are many tracking programs available, both free and paid. If you are a beginner start with free, like Google Analytics. This program has served me well over  many years and I have  seen many new developments and improvements that keep the program up to date.

Website Performance with Semiomantics

I have run my blog for a few years now on a customised, optimised and Semiomantics tuned XO script. I know from experience that the script is tuned to reach high visibility on search engines. Targeting, optimising and tracking is the way forward to success.

Tracking your performance

Whatever we do in life we do keep a record of what we have done, even if we are not always conscious of it. For example, a simple thing like baking a cake – we follow a recipe, bake the cake but it doesn’t live up to expectations. Next time we bake it we try doing it in a slightly different way. Mentally we had made a note of our experience and the result.

The same applies when we produce work that we publish online. We need to keep a track of the result of our publication. Are people reading what you publish? Is there any interest? Do people browse your website or products? Where do the readers come from? it’s not good enough to just make a metal note and hope for the best,  in this case you  really do need to use use a tracking system that records your visitors and their actions. One of the best tracking tools I know of is Google Analytics and it’s absolutely free.

Using Google Analytics

The analytics site is relatively easy to use, and then its a matter of adding your account and installing the java snippet in the first stage. There’s certainly more to it than that, but that’s a good place to start. It also needs a little careful planning . When creating a marketing campaign there are certain goals that you wish to realise. Some of the data you may wish to collect is:

1. How many visitors come to your site
2. Returning visitors
3. Visitors who create an account
4. Visitors who subscribe to a mailing list
5. Visitors who purchase  a product
6. Visitors from mobiles

Just a sample of  reports that you can view in your analytics account. There is much more there that you can glean from all the statistics available however this post is just a brief outline of what can be achieved.

Adding the analytics code to WordPress

If you are using a WordPress theme you can install a plugin that is available to track your progress: Google Analytics for WP, simple to use once installed and it will track your visitors and users, authors, pageviews and clicks. If you are using the Semiomantics XO theme then the java snippet can be pasted into the SEO section and data tracked in your Google Analytics account. For those using the WPTouch plugin for mobile the java code can be inserted in the Advertising & Stats section.

The more you use the Google Analytics center to analyse your tracking the more familiar you become with what it can do for your online business. Google also offer a guide and tutorial to really get you on the way if you want to go further with understanding and analysing your tracking.

This month’s Ycademy Online Seminar will take place on March 24 and 25, starting at 1 pm London (GMT) time and ending at 21 pm London time on both days.

Some of our developers have asked for a program covering Social Networks, namely Facebook and the Mobile Web and how to take advantage of them to distribute, promote and gain high visibility with own content.

The Seminar will cover the following areas:

• Strategies for Individuals

• Strategies for Businesses

• Strategy for Brands

As you may know, Facebook will change  the rules of the game on March 31, when the new FB pages will be released (again!). In fact the new FB page format will be similar to the timeline format and a few important changes will be of utmost importance to businesses and promoters.

• New Facebook Cover Photo and Profile Image

• Larger, Highlighted and Pinned Posts

• Company Milestones

• New Applications

• Facebook Offers

• FB Insights, Admin Panel and Messaging

• Facebook Advertizing

If some of the above topics do not have a meaning for you, never mind: we will deal with them and make sure you are ready and up to date before March 31.

To the above Facebook on-board means we will add our own means.

The permanent changes of rules and features on Facebook have lead professionals a long time ago to structure and manage their assets outside of Facebook on a CMS or other appropriate website.

In as much as we are concerned, at the Seminar we will focus on consolidating our own assets on a WP CMS, typically XO or EVO by Semiomantics.

If you don’t talk about your business, someone else will do it — probably not the way you prefer. I guess there is no doubt in the business world about the necessity to take social networks seriously. Not for what they are, but for what users can do to your reputation. Internet promo often is based almost exclusively on testimonials and testimonials can take most any form and shape.

Word of mouth or viva voce has been a proven marketing strategy for ages.There are two principals to it:

1. A recommendation by a trusted person will trigger about the highest conversion rate. 
2. A lot of people blowing into the same horn cannot be wrong.

Ad 1: The most important term is “TRUSTED”; it’s not a matter of numbers but of authority and trust.

Ad 2: 800 Million people are trusting Facebook … 800 Million people cannot be wrong! How does that sound to you? Yeah, we have heard such like about most any product. The fact that the masses use a product will attract new masses by building on the humans’ herd instinct’. And it works! Like Hype works and Spam works. If it didn’t work, fewer people would spam or hype up the junk they are trying to get rid of.

So, how can we profit ethically from the herd instinct and from word of mouth marketing in connection with Facebook?

Join the Seminar to find out :-).

Focusing on one single platform or publishing environment is not enough. To reach out for a maximum of customers, readers or just interested visitors it is of paramount importance to build a strong presence on Search Engines and Social Networks. Equally important is to take into account the increasing importance of the mobile web.

Therefore we need to publish and interlink our content in an efficient way to display on mobile and static devices and at the same time we must optimize it for all sorts of Search Engines as well as Social Networks.

The Seminar will show you how to build an effective publishing network across platforms while preserving productivity.

As usual, just click on the image to get your ticket. Discounts as usual for Ycademy Pros; for the discount code please contact Bianca: bianca(at)ycademy.com

Ycademy Online Seminar March 2012

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1. Facebook and Mobile Web Seminar by Ycademy
2. Facebook Strategy with WordPress
3. Social Network Publishing Model
4. Social Media Marketing Seminar
5. Ycademy Online Seminar May 2011

This month’s Ycademy Online Seminar will take place on March 24 and 25, starting at 1 pm London (GMT) time and ending at 21 pm London time on both days.

Some of our developers have asked for a program covering Social Networks, namely Facebook and the Mobile Web and how to take advantage of them to distribute, promote and gain high visibility with own content.

The Seminar will cover the following areas:

• Strategies for Individuals

• Strategies for Businesses

• Strategy for Brands

As you may know, Facebook will change  the rules of the game on March 31, when the new FB pages will be released (again!). In fact the new FB page format will be similar to the timeline format and a few important changes will be of utmost importance to businesses and promoters.

• New Facebook Cover Photo and Profile Image

• Larger, Highlighted and Pinned Posts

• Company Milestones

• New Applications

• Facebook Offers

• FB Insights, Admin Panel and Messaging

• Facebook Advertizing

If some of the above topics do not have a meaning for you, never mind: we will deal with them and make sure you are ready and up to date before March 31.

To the above Facebook on-board means we will add our own means.

The permanent changes of rules and features on Facebook have lead professionals a long time ago to structure and manage their assets outside of Facebook on a CMS or other appropriate website.

In as much as we are concerned, at the Seminar we will focus on consolidating our own assets on a WP CMS, typically XO or EVO by Semiomantics.

If you don’t talk about your business, someone else will do it — probably not the way you prefer. I guess there is no doubt in the business world about the necessity to take social networks seriously. Not for what they are, but for what users can do to your reputation. Internet promo often is based almost exclusively on testimonials and testimonials can take most any form and shape.

Word of mouth or viva voce has been a proven marketing strategy for ages.There are two principals to it:

1. A recommendation by a trusted person will trigger about the highest conversion rate. 
2. A lot of people blowing into the same horn cannot be wrong.

Ad 1: The most important term is “TRUSTED”; it’s not a matter of numbers but of authority and trust.

Ad 2: 800 Million people are trusting Facebook … 800 Million people cannot be wrong! How does that sound to you? Yeah, we have heard such like about most any product. The fact that the masses use a product will attract new masses by building on the humans’ herd instinct’. And it works! Like Hype works and Spam works. If it didn’t work, fewer people would spam or hype up the junk they are trying to get rid of.

So, how can we profit ethically from the herd instinct and from word of mouth marketing in connection with Facebook?

Join the Seminar to find out :-).

Focusing on one single platform or publishing environment is not enough. To reach out for a maximum of customers, readers or just interested visitors it is of paramount importance to build a strong presence on Search Engines and Social Networks. Equally important is to take into account the increasing importance of the mobile web.

Therefore we need to publish and interlink our content in an efficient way to display on mobile and static devices and at the same time we must optimize it for all sorts of Search Engines as well as Social Networks.

The Seminar will show you how to build an effective publishing network across platforms while preserving productivity.

As usual, just click on the image to get your ticket. Discounts as usual for Ycademy Pros; for the discount code please contact Bianca: bianca(at)ycademy.com

Ycademy Online Seminar March 2012

• change fb cover from mobile
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1. Facebook and Mobile Web Seminar by Ycademy
2. Facebook Strategy with WordPress
3. Ycademy Online Seminar May 2011
4. Facebook Online Seminar by Ycademy
5. WordPress on Facebook

Enjoy your Valentine!

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Enjoy your Valentine!

Related posts:
Happy New Year After Effects
How to Customize your WordPress Typography
12 Principles of Animation with After Effects

• renaldo ricketts

Related posts:

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Cape Town Christmas on Google

Loyal to our regular monitoring of the SEO performance of our WordPress based Semiomantics websites and blogs – our own as well as those of our valued customers – , I am extremely pleased to see an excellent Google ranking of my article “Cape Town Christmas Gift Fair 2011″ right on the brand-new Monkey Valley Resort Website! The website was basically released today!

Click on the screenshot to see it bigger…

Cape Town Christmas on Google

You will see that “Cape Town Gift Fair 2011″ ranks on positions 4, 5 and 6 on Google Top 10 – the place everybody interested in that keyword area is competing for… here on 2,300,000 search returns!

Save Money with a Semiomantics Website

How does this demonstrate how you can save money with a Semiomantics Website?

Well, the fight on the Internet highway is for a Google Top 10 position – either on the left side (see screenshot above), where there are 10 positions for super sexy websites and blogs that make it to the top – or on top (yellow area) and to the right where people spend continuously increasing daily budgets for Google Ads… simply to be visible when someone types this keyword string into the Google search engine.

Marketing with Google Adsense means being dependent short-term, medium-term and long-term as prices increase all the time… and to be efficient – meaning to get the traffic and visitors that might lead to eventual sales – one has to be visible 24/7/365… and that has its price. Don’t think you can get away with $50… there are keywords that cost more than that per single click. And this without any guarantees in terms of sales. Ever.

Whereas with a Semiomantics Website you invest once in a good Script, setup and Design… and you see top performance. Sure, you need to do your bit and publish regular good content… but that’s part of your online marketing anyway if you are selling anything – be it a product, a service or ad space – but at least here you can count on results…

So do your maths and contact us anytime when you are ready to do a Semiomantics online – on Google Top 10 that is!

Implementing your Facebook Strategy will be at the center of the November Ycademy Seminar. This hands-on Seminar and Workshop will stretch over two days and build with participants an eye-ball-twisting Facebook presence. See the seminar schedule at the bottom of the post.

The Seminar is designed for WordPress Developers and WP users who are looking for high productivity and customized publishing and marketing solutions.

This topic deals with efficient strategies which will efficiently improve your Facebook presence.

Visit the Semiomantics Facebook Page

Surfing through Facebook we notice some common errors well intended people commit when building their Facebook presence. We will discuss these issues and show you how to eliminate them from your personal or business Facebook.

While content is king, there are different ways of making it accessible to visitors. We will discuss the recent changes Facebook has implemented and show you where the focus should be in order to improve your visibility, traffic and business or network expansion on Facebook.

Function of your strategy we will define and optimize privacy settings in order to grant potentially interested visitors access to relevant information. Privacy, Accessibility and List-building as well as Targeted Communication are the essentials of this key session.

For people looking for you, your business, services or products, your Profile and Info page are of the utmost importance, the more that your info is visible from outside Facebook and therefore Google efficient. We will set up with participants an efficient Info Page.

We will discuss the recent changes implemented by Facebook and how they impact on our strategies.  Friends, Fans and Subscription features impact on the way we expand our network and influence on Facebook.

Overview of the Facebook Page feature. Integration techniques, Apps, Content, Canvas and Pages.

The focus is on the technical set-up of a Facebook Page. As  content we will use a graphic, picture of video.

What is it you actually wish to display on your Facebook page? In fact there is no limit and it depends entirely on your strategy.

This is the center piece of the seminar. Creating Facebook Page right from your WordPress site is now possible. We will set up a reveal page and different Facebook pages depending on participants needs. In fact we show you how to create a whole website in Facebook, straight from your WordPress.

While this works with most any WordPress 3.1 enabled Theme, we will demonstrate the integration with Semiomantics XO.

In fact we will work with a professional plugin modified for Semiomantics XO.

The Seminar will guide you to master the following and more:

• Create Unlimited Facebook Fan Pages with WordPress

• Increase Likes by 150% with Reveal “Like” Tab Gateways

• Unlimited Customization Options When Designing Your Fan Pages

• Create Unlimited Custom Pages with the WordPress Page Editor

• Create Custom Menus and Navigation with Just a Few Clicks

• Comments, Like, Send and Over 50+ Custom Shortcodes for Enhanced Customization

• Facebook Open Graph Integration for Enhanced Facebook Integration and Google SEO

• Auto Post to Facebook From Your WordPress Blog

• Use Your Facebook Albums and Photos on Your Blog and Fan Pages

• Add Google Maps to Your Facebook Fan Pages

• Create Squeeze and Sales Pages with Just a Few Clicks on Facebook

Add Facebook related widgets to your front and/or content pages. Google+ and Twitter buttons. Pull in Facebook Albums, Events, like Buttons and more. Use Facebook Connect to log in to or to register with your blog.

Create content which is only accessible after visitors clicked the “Like” button. A smashing filter which allows you to manage accessibility right from your XO.

Saturday and Sunday November 26/27, 2011.

We start at 1 pm London Time and end at 9 pm London time both days.

You need a WordPress blog preferably with FTP access.

Scripts and all other materials are provided.

We will install the necessary scripts for you previous to the Seminar; please get your Tickets early. If we are not yet in possession of the FTP access to your site, please send it by email to Bianca Gubalke at bianca(at)ycademy.com.

The Price for Participating, Materials and access to recordings is $85.

Click to get your Ticket

Discount as usual for Ycademy Pros. Please contact Bianca Gubalke at bianca(at)ycademy.com for the code or any other question you may have pertaining to the Seminar.

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• increase likes by 150%

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Marketing: Why advertising Fails
Read more HERE