The Escape - Design & Web Agency

The family of search. Who’s related to who?

Tony Armstrong — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:55:01 +0000

Just like real ‘families’, search engines have relationships too. At the very heart of the worldwide search community lies the principal search agents - Google and Yahoo! who between them provide the bulk of all primary on-line search. Information they harvest is supplied to various on-line search portals in the form of either organic (natural) results, paid [...]

Google Optimisation Dictates

Craig Killick — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:18:07 +0000

It was reported on E-Consultancy yesterday that page load speed may become a factor in Google’s assessment of your web page when placing it in it’s index. Now this is neither confirmed or unconfirmed but it’s an interesting point for many reasons. At The Escape, we always focus on the speed of page load times we [...]

ATD - A way of life, not a temporary condition

Ian Mumford — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:51:23 +0000

ATD = Attention to detail. Myself and the breadknife took our kids to Eurodisney earlier this year and unsurprisingly when you have a 2 year old and a 5 year old, we had a fantastic time (it was for them… honest!!!). As our 4 days in the parks ticked by, a running joke started between Vicki and [...]

The problem with web analytics

Craig Killick — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:20:38 +0000

Web analytics - especially the free-ness of Google’s - are great. Real life feedback that lets you make changes to your website accordingly. But (and it’s a massive but) a phrase comes to mind sometimes when I discuss them with clients. It contains the word ‘wood’ and ‘trees’. If you focus on visitor numbers; if you focus [...]

It’s all about me

Laura Beech — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:00:29 +0000

Being an openly self-obsessed female in today’s generation, I recently booked myself into a boudoir photography photoshoot with www.fyeoportraits.com. I came away with a rosy glow but at a loss as to what I could possibly do with the naked/semi naked photos of myself? “I have to do something with them” I told myself, “I [...]

Instant recognition… almost iconic

Adam Doubooni — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:50:14 +0000

It’s funny how the simplest mark can be instantly recognised - it can cross language & class barriers and convey the same message world wide, its in our human nature of communication. As a designer, trying to get a message across in it’s simplest & most minimal form is always the tough task. However when [...]

Web Design, Objectivity and Results

Craig Killick — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:18:11 +0000

Don’t tell anyone, but there is a lot I don’t like about our Escape website. There are certain usability issues that bug me and we will be addressing these in due course. But (and it’s a bloody big BUT), the current website is delivering more enquiries (that lead to good sales) than ever before. So, who [...]

Izzy wizzy the big G’s busy

Tony Armstrong — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:23:51 +0000

There seems to be no bounds to the new or enhanced tools that continue to flow from the virtual production line at the Googleplex, the corporate headquarters of Google Inc., Mountain View, California. With a near monopoly on the UK search market, it’s worth asking what’s actually new and how much value does this functionality provide? Well, [...]

Junior Road Safety Officer Design Workshops

Ian Mumford — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:32:25 +0000

Its official. The future of creativity in this country is safe. That’s what I have been lucky enough to get a sense of this week, based on the poster design workshops that myself and Lisa have been running on behalf of Hampshire County Council. Junior Road Safety Officers… or JRSOs to their friends, is a new [...]

RIP keywords meta-tag

Tony Armstrong — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:09:24 +0000

Website owners and content providers who regularly get ‘under the bonnet’ of their website may well be familiar with the following script: <meta name=”keywords” content=”your,chosen,keywords,here” /> Well, the news is… forget it! At least as far as Google is concerned. To those of us who optimise websites on a regular basis, this should come as little or no [...]