2012 is looking great following a strategic acquisition.


In December 2011, Generate UK were delighted to complete on the acquisition of Web on High, an 11 year old digital marketing agency based in Newbury, Berkshire. Following this announcement, Generate UK will be moving to new premises at Read more

Instant Flood Sandbags : The latest technology


Generate UK recently purchased the rights to Instantsandbags and in doing so designed and developed a new website called Instantfloodsandbags. The product itself was not only innovative and new to the market but it's ingenious space saving design and it's Read more

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Web 2.0/3.0

Why you should be using Pinterest

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Mike in Ecommerce, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Web 2.0/3.0, Web News | 2 Comments

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Excerpt: One of the most fascinating things about social media micro-sites and gamification modules is their widespread adoption if the concept is novel and innovative.  There is no shortage of social networking sites to explore and it seems like a new one comes out every month.  Is there a promotional benefit to being on social sites?  Yes.  Do you need to be on all of them?  Probably not.  However, if the micro-site has the potential to successfully build community and interactions around your products or services, it may be worth the effort. And if you think you have seen it all when it comes to social networking sites we encourage you to explore Pintrest, an exciting new platform developed by Cold Crew Labs in Palo Alto, California.  Pintrest was launched in March 2010 and by December 2011 the site had achieved more than 11 million visits per week according to metrics at HitWise.   In 2011 the start-up also raised $27 million dollars of venture funding from Andreessen Horowitz. From the start the innovative social bookmarking and sharing program generated huge laurels and interest and was covered by Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and Mashable.  The social site in its beta version received a 4.5 star iTune App rating and a Twitter following of 396,728 (Although they could follow a few back!) users by February 2012.  The network remains a closed application available by qualified invite only for the time being. How It Works Visit the Pintrest site and download the toolbar shortcut for…


Social Media Campaigns

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Sam in Internet Marketing, Social Media, Web 2.0/3.0 | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: Social media campaigns are growing with more and more companies opting to place videos on Facebook and YouTube over static ads on internet pages. It started with the smaller companies using it as an innovative way to gain exposure and interest, but now some big named brands, like Smirnoff and Diesel, are running ad campaigns online with huge success. Diesel used the Facebook ‘Like’ button and QR codes to enable people to ‘Like’ things in their stores, trialled in Spain. They placed QR codes by the products, which people scanned on their smart phones. This bought them to a link where they could ‘Like’ the product on Facebook and share it with friends. The campaign was a huge success bringing Diesel into the social campaign sphere. If you’re thinking that its game over for the small business now because the biggies have it now, you wouldn’t be alone but you would be wrong. Social media is booming because there is no division between big and small. Yes, a well known brand will build their followers up quicker and have a more instantaneous success rate, but that doesn’t mean a small business can’t do the same. Running a successful campaign starts with planning. It’s no good creating an account on Twitter and then expecting people to follow you. You have to promote it – get yourself out there. Tell people you exist! Do this by following lots of people, creating accounts on many social sites (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn etc.) and having links on your website…


SEO Tips for Social Media Sites

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Mike in Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Tips, Social Media, Web 2.0/3.0 | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: A 2011 report on social media use was released in December by comScore which is an analytic agency headquartered in Virginia, United States with more than twenty five locations in North and Latin American, Europe and Asia Pacific.  It is a global authority on the metrics of the digital domain and a valued source for “marketing intelligence” worldwide.  By utilising surveys and analysing web analytics and net usage it is a tremendous resource for business, advertising and digital marketers. The white paper published “It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed”  is a must read for any e-commerce professional business stratifying social media for 2012. Some interesting social media statistics from 2011 include: Networking sites now reach 82% of the worlds Internet population (aged fifteen and up) There are currently 1.2 billion regular internet users around the world Microblogging sites such as Twitter and Tumblr reached 1 in 10 Internet Facebook accounts for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online worldwide SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the science of improving the visibility and traffic of a website in organic search results to raise ranking in search engines. This enables the content of your business site to be placed in the fast lane of internet traffic for maximum exposure.  SEO techniques can be applied to a variety of types of searches including video and image content.  If you are comfortable with the importance of SEO in the success of your website you may not have considered that it plays an important function…


The Four Step Social Media Strategy

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Mike in Digital Marketing, Social Media, Web 2.0/3.0 | 1 Comment

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Excerpt: It is one of the most cost effective and powerful new tools for business. Social media is tantamount to casting a larger net into the digital domain to crowd source clients, leads and networking opportunities within your niche. Enterprising businesses keen on expansion and growth have immersed themselves in social media quickly to be represented on a variety of networks without much thought or strategic planning. While there is a clear advantage to exposure on a variety of sites, a disorganized approach can impair your brand image by diluting focus and dispersing audience. Can poor social media strategies actually penalise your SEO and marketing efforts? Of course they can. An unmonitored Twitter account can be hijacked and if left unchecked move to infect and inconvenience your followers. For small and medium sized businesses it is best practice to assign the role of social media responsibility to a dedicated staff member for continuity and consistent maintenance. But with a solid plan in hand and clear goal setting, social media will power sales and promotional growth. Step One: Social Media Marketing Plan Articulate your goals and make them tangible. What are your measureable outcomes for evaluating the efficacy of your social media marketing? Depending on your niche you may measure results in direct sales or leads. Web traffic analytics can also provide an indication of the impact of social media tools in action. Applying basic marketing fundamentals reiterate your target market and the social media tools that you plan to employ to not only reach your…


A Domain by Any Other Name

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Tom Edwards in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Web 2.0/3.0 | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: Clients who are considering the launch of a new domain today have the benefit of limitless resources online and industry professionals who can provide analytical advice on choosing the right name for optimal traffic results.  Aside from the quality of content that is provided on your website, establishing a name for your site with a high domain authority is by far the most important element which will either make or break the success of your online commerce. Customers who have held a domain for a long period of time but have failed to realize traffic and promotional results from an aesthetically appealing website may wonder what if anything is wrong with the design.   More often than not the design of the site is not the issue but rather problems with direct navigation, content or strategic key word density. Appearance and appeal will not compensate for lack of qualitative site architecture and elements that will literally pull traffic to your site. Evaluate Domain Performance The age of your website can be a detriment to its performance in many ways.  The standard rules which applied five or ten years ago are now outdated both in terms of structure and interactivity.  We know that Web 2.0 (which enables your customers to rate, bookmark and aggregate your content) had a tremendous positive benefit on web and relational marketing. Therefore any commercial website missing 2.0 interactions is not performing to its full potential by increasing reaction and promoting search results. Downloading free software for Alexa can provide a first step in…


The Need to Know Web 2.0

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Tom Edwards in Digital Marketing, Web 2.0/3.0 | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: The term Web 2.0 was first introduced in an article published in 1999 named “Fragmented Future” by technology designer Darcy DiNucci. In the article the writer defined that “The Web will be understood not as screenfulls of text and graphics but as a transport mechanism; the ether through which interactivity happens…” This was an exciting concept to consider where to date the web had been constructed as a one way conduit for information, broadcasting from source to viewer in a dictatorial manner. It is understood that one of the best methods of learning is to “see and do”. Information becomes education the minute it is applied as a meaningful tangible or in a “hands on” way. By opening the doors to web interactivity the ability for transformation occurred which changed viewers into participants. Readers evolved into contributors who could aggregate the information through their own networks and introduced the power of viral marketing. Social media was born the minute web denizens caught hold of the new ability to be seen and heard globally. There are many methods and tools for online collaboration in the environment of Web 2.0. Blogging became a popular way for the average person to affordably create and publish content on the World Wide Web. An informative article “Internet 2010 In Numbers” published by Royal Pingdom reported the following statistics with regards to Internet interactivity: • 152 Million blogs were in existence in 2010 • 1.97 billion Internet users worldwide • 3 billion photos uploaded to Facebook each month • 2 billion YouTube videos…


Building Community with Social Media

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Mike in Social Media, Web 2.0/3.0 | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: You have heard the old adage that “it takes a village”.  It implies that there is a need for social relevance or “buy in” in order to achieve outcomes and goals.  Even while we live in a somewhat impersonal technological age with high speed processing and accessibility, there is still a need for people to relate.  There is a desire to participate in tangible ways and consumers express a preference for developing a rapport with the products and services that they use every day.  Brands are marketed to foster that connection between identity and purchase motivation. So where does your brand stand? Social media in itself is not new.  Chat platforms began developing in the early 1990′s with innovators such as mIRC (internet relay chat) which created micro-communities online.  But the variety and number of social media options blossomed in the last five years as smart phones and mobile technology made connectivity convenient and accessible with a wider selection of devices at economical price points.  It changed consumer behaviour.  Not only were phones and mobile browsing being used to connect with family and friends during the day, but they were actively being used to share the intimate minutiae of activities from the restaurant that served them breakfast to the discount sale at their favourite clothing store.  Brand preferences and indicants of quality service or products are now shared instantaneously by networks of the digitally engaged. Faster than the speed of light is the speed of “web”. While conventional advertising mediums will always be a…


I Hate Call Centres

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Fayaaz in Online Reputation, Web 2.0/3.0 | Leave a comment

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Excerpt: Thank you for contacting the Generate UK blog. All of our blog writers are currently occupied; however your visit is very important to us so please stay on the site…Your visit is now in a queue and we will be responded to as soon as one of our writers becomes available…If you know the name of the digital marketing service you are interested in please say it after the tone. For all enquiries including video production please contact Videre Video Productions. *BEEP*…Did you say ‘Search Engine Optimisation’?…Welcome to the latest Generate UK blog about Online Customer Service… If you hadn’t guessed already by the title of this blog I am not the biggest fan of call centres. Aside from wasting your time whilst being on hold, getting transferred to the wrong department and being forced to listen to 80’s rock classics, they also expect you to interact with an annoying robot lady that sounds just like the voice of your sat-nav. I am not that keen on my sat-nav either, probably because it always sends me in the wrong direction and wastes a lot of time (I guess voices aren’t the only similarity between my tomtom & a call centre). Anyway, I may be going slightly off track so back to the point. At the risk of sounding like the ‘tech-obsessed youngster’ of the office, I would much rather go online to find the answer to my problem than use a phone (it’s 2011 people, using a phone as a phone makes…


Top 20 Digital Marketing Ideas – Number 16 – Social Bookmarking

Posted on September 12, 2009 by Mike in Business Development, Digital Marketing Tips, Social Media, Web 2.0/3.0 | Leave a comment

You’re currently reading Generate UK’s Top 20 Digital Marketing ideas. Over the course of the next month, we’ll be sharing our experience to help you marketed your business on the Internet. If you’re not currently book marking your online collateral we ask the question why not? It’s free and Social Bookmarking provides you with the opportunity to share your own website content and collateral with the public, through social bookmarking sites. The main one being Delicious.com There are over 15 billion web pages published on the World Wide Web and this is growing daily. People are using sites like del.icio.us every day to bookmark their favourite pages and check out other peoples favourites. So, by bookmarking your own content, making it available to others, increases the opportunity for people to find it. In terms of increasing your Internet Footprint, it is a no-brainer and will help to drive targeted traffic to your site. Why not click on the social media links below and investigate how it can help your business. Alternatively, we’d be very happy to have a conversation with you on 01635 550431.


Top 20 Digital Marketing Ideas – Number 17 – News Feed (RSS)

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Mike in Digital Marketing Tips, Link Building, Web 2.0/3.0, Web News | Leave a comment

You’re currently reading Generate UK’s Top 20 Digital Marketing ideas. Over the course of the next month, we’ll be sharing our experience to help you marketed your business on the Internet. Feeds are also known as RSS. There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but most people opt for ‘Really Simple Syndication’. In essence, the feeds themselves are just web pages, designed to be read by computers rather than people.  News feeds allow the user to see when websites have added new content. The user can receive the latest headlines and video in one place, as soon as it’s published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from. The big benefit to RSS is that individuals can opt-in to content of interest and totally control the flow of information that they receive. If the quality of the content in the feed declines, users simply remove the feed from their RSS reader and they will not receive any additional updates from that source. The RSS reader acts as an aggregator, allowing users to view and scan multiple content streams in a timely fashion. If you would like to learn more about how RSS feeds can help your business, contact us on 01635 550431,


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