Totally Communications the full service Digital Marketing Agency based in London have designed and developed the new website for the prestigious Barbarian FC Rugby club.

Totally have worked with a range of clients across many different sectors from Global enterprises to Charities, SME to new business start-ups. Totally specialise in Web Design and Web Development as well as Search Marketing, their vast experience of SEO along with their high level technical knowledge allows them to deliver exceptional service to their clients every time.

The new Barbarians website was built by totally to match the esteem of the club, in particular by giving enthusiasts access to a comprehensive mass of historical archive material. The crux of the new website is the Player Archive, a historical journey dating back to The Barbarians' formation in 1890. The site also includes an Online Shop, Photo/Video Gallery, Player Profiles & Stats, Match Records and Content areas.

The Barbarians are a rugby club which invites the best players from all over the world to play against top international sides, to enjoy the camaraderie of the game and to play attacking, adventurous rugby. Without a home ground or clubhouse, in their 120 years they have played against all the top rugby nations, and have toured to 27 countries

Totally's Client Services Director, Toby Mason, said: "This is such a prestigious project and it's a privilege to be working with one of the most recognized brands not just in Rugby but sport in general. Given that The Barbarians only play a few times a season, it is important to offer their fans something more than a standard brochure site. The Player Archive will do exactly that, and give any rugby fan plenty to keep them occupied in many a lunch break."

Gordon Brown, HonoraryTreasurer, Barbarians FC, added: "We wanted to refresh our site, make it more user-friendly for selling merchandise and match tickets, and most importantly showcase our archives. It is gratifying to us that so many rugby people take great pride in wearing The Barbarians shirt, and want to be recorded in our annals. We are very happy to be working with the Totally team, who immediately understood our requirements and set about meeting them."

Totally are pleased to announce the imminent launch of Global Witness campaign site "Making the Forest Sector Transparent"

Global Witness exposes the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems, to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses.

Global Witness was the first organisation that sought to break the links between the exploitation of natural resources, and conflict and corruption; and the results of our investigations and our powerful lobbying skills have been not only a catalyst, but a main driver behind most of the major international mechanisms and initiatives that have been established to address these issues; including the Kimberley Process and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Global Witness is largely responsible for natural resources occupying the prominent role in the international agenda that they currently do.

"Making the Forest Sector Transparent" is working with civil society groups in forest-rich countries to engage with policy makers and advocate for capable, responsive and accountable forest sector governance.

The project supports local environmental and human rights campaigners in up to eight countries to monitor transparency and to advocate on issues of importance to local communities. In the first six months of this four-year project Global Witness has formed partnerships with NGOs in Peru, Ghana, Cameroon and Liberia, and will start working with more countries from Year Two.

The Gurkha Welfare Trust has today unveiled its new website www.gwt.org.uk, designed and built by the Web Design & Technology specialists, Totally Communications.

Totally has also created the landing page for a new landing page for the charity, to promote and encourage donations for its new Debt of Honour. campaign, backed by Miss Joanna Lumley OBE, Vice Patron of The Gurkha Welfare Trust. The site is at www.debtofhonour.org.

The Gurkha Welfare Trust provides welfare pensions for 10,000 Gurkha veterans who did not serve for long enough to qualify for an army pension, or their widows. The Trust also provides medical and community aid to alleviate hardship and distress among Gurkha ex-servicemen and their families.

Totally was tasked with creating a website that is not only inspirational and informative but also highly responsive and easy to maintain in-house using the Content Management System TotallyCMS. The new website features a video, photo and podcast gallery. The website is also designed to support the Gurkha Welfare Trust central UK and regional fundraising activity; facilitate donations online and Legacies pledges.

Toby Mason, Totally's Client Services Director, said: "With our vast experience in the charity sector we have created a stunning online proposition for a very worthwhile cause. The website not only portrays the history and values of the Gurkha Community but also utilizes video and audio to bring their amazing stories to life."

Totally Communications are looking for an all round SEO & PPC superstar to join our growing team.

Please send CVs to jobs@totallycommunications.com

Sorry but no agencies please, we prefer it that way. Agencies will not be responded to so please don't waste your time.


Position: Search Marketing Specialist (SEO & PPC)
Type: Permanent & Full Time
Salary: £23k - £25k
Location: North London (Kentish Town, NW5) UK
Starting: Mid February 2010
Submission Deadline: January 28th 2010

Totally Communications are looking for an all round SEO & PPC superstar to join our growing team.

Over the last 10 years Totally Communications have developed Websites and Web Technology for some of the UKs leading commercial and Charitable organisations.

Over that time more and more emphasis has been placed on Search Marketing and we have seen our Client base grow accordingly. The successful candidate will be integral to the continued growth of this arm of the business. We are looking for a candidate with the "X-Factor".

Candidates will have at least 2 years agency experience (or similar) and will be looking to make the next big step in their career. As well as managing and maintaining multiple SEO campaigns they will be involved in major decisions to expand the business as well as being at the forefront of the pitch and new business acquisition processes.

Essential Skills & Experience:

• Search Engine SEO Guidelines and how to implement best practises
• Keyword Research and Competitor Analysis
• Setting up and maintaining PPC campaigns
• Advanced Website Analytics including reporting and analysis
• Managing and implementing successful SEO campaigns
• Conversion Testing and Analysis
• Excellent Communication Skills
• Understanding of HTML and basic coding standards
• Up to date knowledge of Search Marketing industry news and trends
• SEO/PPC tools and how to maximise their potential
• Leveraging Social Media and Viral Marketing for SEO
• Ability to create Proposals, Recommendation Documents, Website Reviews etc.

Candidates will be required to supply a full and detailed CV with covering letter. Up to date case studies of work should also be included.

Submissions to be made no later than January 28th to jobs@totallycommunications.com

Totally Communications have just designed a fresh, clean, crisp new website for Consultant Gynaecologist, Luciano Nardo

Luciano Nardo wanted to create a new webisite which would provide a wealth of information, advise and help to not only his existing clientel but to other users who are searching for information in the field of Gynaecology. Not only is his website an information highway, but users can book appointments online and learn the latest news in his industry on such topics as the latest IVF Treatments.

Totally Communications, the Web Design & Technology Specialists, have won a multi-agency pitch against undisclosed agencies to design and build a new website for The Thomas Young Centre (TYC), the London Centre for Theory and Simulation of Materials

Totally's challenge is to broaden the appeal of the current website, currently focussed on academics, to deliver tailor-made content to specifically targeted groups: Industry, Government agencies; New Students; Research groups belonging to TYC; Senior management of the participating universities (UCL, King's College and Imperial College); Potential members; and the public.

Against such a serious, academic background, Totally has been briefed to create an authoritative website design flaunting the quality, size and ambition of TYC, with a strong clean image, extremely clear navigation, and no embedded gimmicks. The website will feature TotallyCMS, a tailor-made content management system which will enable non-tech users to update the website.

Mike Gillan, the Chair of TYC, commented: "Totally have been amazingly quick off the mark in getting the project started, and the new web-site is going to be vital for our efforts to reach out from academia to the wider community."

Totally Communications' Managing Director, Andy Margolis, said: "it is a privilege to have been selected to work with three prestigious London-based universities and look forward to taking the Thomas Young brand online and bring its relevancy to a wider global audience."

The team at Totally are utterly chuffed having received news that we just won ANOTHER award for our brilliant design and development skills.

Totally won the Interactive Media Award (IMA) for Outstanding Achievement for our work on the www.ujs.org.uk site.

The judges at the IMAs evaluate websites based on five criteria: Design, Content, Feature Functionality, Usability and Standards Compliance. To win an IMA your site must excel in each criterion, rise above your competitors' sites and deserve to be a top choice for your target market, and we received a total score of 464/500 which is bloomin marvellous.


WELL DONE TO THE ENTIRE TEAM AT TOTALLY!

Totally Communications, the full-service digital marketing agency, has won the task to design and build a new website for prestigious rugby club The Barbarians following a multi-agency pitch.

The Barbarians are a rugby club which invites the best players from all over the world to play against top international sides, to enjoy the camaraderie of the game and to play attacking, adventurous rugby. Without a home ground or clubhouse, in their 120 years they have played against all the top rugby nations, and have toured to 27 countries, most recently Tunisia, Spain, Georgia and Portugal, thus spreading the Barbarian tradition. In December they will play against the All Blacks at Twickenham, in a repeat of their historic match in 1974, considered by many to be one of the finest matches ever played.

Totally has been briefed to design a website to match the prestige of The Barbarians, in particular by giving enthusiasts access to a comprehensive mass of historical archive material.

The crux of the new website will be the Player Archive, a historical journey dating back to The Barbarians' formation in 1890. The site will also host an Online Shop, Photo/Video Gallery, Player Profiles & Stats, and Content areas powered by TotallyCMS, Totally's Content Management System, which will enable non-technical users to maintain the website.

Totally's Client Services Director, Toby Mason, said: "This is such a prestigious project and it's a privilege to be working with one of the most recognized brands not just in Rugby but sport in general. Given that The Barbarians only play a few times a season, it is important to offer their fans something more than a standard brochure site. The Player Archive will do exactly that, and give any rugby fan plenty to keep them occupied in many a lunch break."

Gordon Brown, HonoraryTreasurer, Barbarians FC, added: "We wanted to refresh our site, make it more user-friendly for selling merchandise and match tickets, and most importantly showcase our archives. It is gratifying to us that so many rugby people take great pride in wearing The Barbarians shirt, and want to be recorded in our annals. We are very happy to be working with the Totally team, who immediately understood our requirements and set about meeting them."

If a sites been static for a long time the chances are that the Search Engine spiders are not visiting as regularly as you would like. So having made some vital on-site updates (Titles, H1, Meta Descriptions etc.) we could just sit back and wait....or you can link to the site... shamelessly from your blog in an attempt to hurry the process along. Oi Google....over here!

So all these links point to newly created & optimised pages on the site. I need them to index as soon as possible so I can gauge their success and adapt the SEO strategy accordingly.

With that in mind I thought I would also take this opportunity to see how Google reacts to finding all these links. Its pretty much understood that if there are two links the same on a page Google will place more, if not all emphasis on the first link. But in this case all of the links point to different pages. I am pretty sure that this will help the pages get initially indexed (our blog is crawled quite regularly) but with so many links on one page I dont think they will pass much authority.

I guess that's what experiments are for....so you can stop reading now (unless the wife's birthday is coming up and you are a bit short of cash?)

Also a note to those....
who say I never link out...it may not be pretty but you cant deny these links....



4 Cash Now offer next day loans, same day loans,payday loans, cash advance, cash loans, express cash,express loan, immediate cash, immediate loans, next day cash, London cheque cashing services, UK and other short term loans of up-to £500 until your next pay day.

There are no credit checks and cheque or debit card loans are secured by a Debit Card or a Cheque Guarantee Card.

Cash & Loan Site Directory


I will keep you posted on how things progress...

Image swiped from Ben Behnkendorf

In today's ever increasing security conscious world, we have become more aware of how important it is to protect online forms when building a website/application. For this reason, I have written this post, to inform fellow developers of a method of achieving just that.

A while ago, I was creating a very simple contact form that would email the website administrator when the form was submitted. I included some validation on it to make sure all fields were completed and that the email address was valid (using a regular expression).

This was working fine, but then I received an email from this client saying he was getting about 20 emails a day, ALL of them spam.

I started looking for a suitable method of filtering out these spam messages, and stumbled upon the method known as "the honey pot".

The idea behind the honey pot is that when a spam-bot encounters a form, it fills in all the fields and submits the data. The way we can beat this is to add an invisible field (to humans anyway), and check if the field has any data posted
with it. If there is, it means that a computer has sent the form, and can then be dealt with appropriately.

This method is very simple to implement and also doesn't require any use of CAPTCHA technology which is often unusable by some users (due to disabilities).

< ? php
if ($_POST['submitForm']) {
// add extra validation here to make sure that everything that
you need filled in is!
// if noFill text field is empty, then we can continue
if (empty($_POST['noFill'])) {
// send email or DB code here
} else {
// computer sent the form, so send error
}
}
?>
< form id='contactForm' method='post' action=''>
< input type='text' name='name' />
< input type='text' name='emailAddress' />
< input type='text' name='noFill' style='display:none />
< input type='submit' value='Send Form' name='submitForm' />
< /form>

Ever created a web form, tested it, concluded it works perfectly and pushed it live, without really thinking about how secure it is? Well until now, I have. Obviously my major concern with web forms has always been SQL Injection, however most programming languages have a function to escape any harmful characters.

But have you ever thought about a JavaScript injection. Well, a colleague pointed it out to me a couple of week's back, so I thought I should share that knowledge so others can avoid the same mistakes.
Consider a basic contact form. On submit, you do some server-side validation (like checking the email address is valid), and if this fails, you redisplay the form with the posted values filled into the input fields.
This is common practise for most forms, as many forms are quite long and users would definitely not appreciate having to retype everything if they'd typed one thing incorrectly.
As an example, I am going to use a form created in PHP:

< input type="text" name="emailAddress" value="< ? php echo $_POST['emailAddress']; ?>" />

This is a standard way of implementing a text input element.
Now consider your user typed in:

" >< script>alert(123) < / script>

Obviously your form validation would fail because it is NOT a valid email address. But have you thought what would now display when your form comes back:

< input type="text" name="emailAddress" value="" >
< script>alert(123) " / >

Although this script isn't harmful (an alert box will appear saying 123 in it), it does demonstrate how just echo-ing the posted value can cause an injection script to run.

The Solution

To solve this problem, simply add the htmlentities method to your echo, which will convert all those nasty characters into safe HTML.

< input type="text" name="emailAddress" value="
< ? php echo htmlentities($_POST['emailAddress'],ENT_QUOTES); ?>" />

This will render the following code on your website:

< input type="text" name="emailAddress" value="
">< script>alert(123)< /script>" />

Hope this provides some more ways of keeping hackers away from your websites.

Every day when I come into work I kind of have the same routine. Walk to work (lucky me), grab a latte, sit down at my desk, switch the computer on, check my emails and respond accordingly, then open up the internet and off I go...

There are so many amazing and inspiring websites to look at that I find hours go by before I realise there is work to be done and I really should get on with it. This, I don't find, is wasted time. Far from it. In fact, I feel it's vital to keep up to date and on the ball. Maybe I am researching for a up and coming pitch, learning how do use a new techniques in Photoshop (which I love to do at least once a week...there are so many!), seeing what's new in the design world, reading blogs or just being taken from one amazing site to another...the list is endless. The web is an essential part of my day to day schedule. I love it. I love finding something new and marvelling at how sites have been made or designed or just getting as much information into my head as possible.

I decided to put together a small collection of sites that I love peruse on a daily/weekly basis, or sites that I just think are so darn pretty I just have to look at them for the sake of it. Enjoy.


Design Taxi



Daily news, Interviews and portfolios of designers around the world


Design Charts



Really great (mainly Flash) websites.

Design Meltdown



Amazing resource for web designers, current trends, showcases, how to's ...everything you will need. Plus, the site's creator, Patrick McNeil, has written a great book, Web Designers Idea Book, (mine just arrived!) to accompany the site. Worth checking out.


Smashing Magazine



Great when you need some inspiration and has some really useful tutorials, showcases and forums


I Love Typography



Bringing Typography to the masses. Play the font game. It made me scream


Netdiver



Bringing you outstanding work from all over the world.


Peep Show



Great site to play with and truly amazing design work .


WhatTheFont



Cant find that font you need to recreate a logo or design? Don't panic. What The Font allows you to upload an image and finds you the closest match. Pretty Cool.


Design Shack



Excellent site featuring inspiring web design, resources and tutorials.


Logo Design Love



Dedicated to logos. Lovely.


Love Creative



Just genius.


Fleuron



Really lovely little website always featuring great designers/designs/comments from around the world


FormFiftyFive



Fantastic showcase of creative work form around the world.


CreativeRoots



Great blog showing an art and design collection, based on countries of the world.

COLOURlovers



A place to check out a world of colour, compare colour palettes and read colour related news and interviews.

Which websites inspire you? Post a comment below and we will try and add them to the list.

The Oscars of the digital world have come around and yes Totally Communications have earned "Best in Class" the highest level award offered by the Interactive Media Awards (IMAs) and in doing so have been nominated for the 'Top 10 Websites of the Year' award.

The IMAs are open to individuals and organisations involved in designing, developing, managing, supporting and promoting websites. From across the Globe and over 3,000 entries, not only are we in the top ten for best designed website we are the only site nominated from Great Britain, Rule Britannia!! There is some fierce competition we have been pitted against such as the MSN lifestyle, WWF, Volkswagen just to name a few.



We are very proud and excited to even be nominated for this award, winners are announced on 22nd June, so fingers crossed!

Thanks to everyone who came down to Russell Square on Tuesday for our Charity seminar. Those that couldn't make it were missed. As promised all three presentations are now available for download.

The seminar kicked off with a brief introduction on Digital Marketing from Andy Margolis, Managing Director of Totally Communications.

"Introduction to Seminar"
(download: right click > save as)

-----------

First speaker was Adam Foyster, Founder of the fantastic MyCharityPage website.

"The Benefits of using Social Media"
(download: right click > save as)

An insight into how to leverage the power of social networks to beneift your website and your brand. Its becoming ever more important to really "connect" with your audience and Adam showed us all the ways we can go about it.

-----------

Next up it was Toby Mason (yours truly!), Client Services Director, Totally Communications, with...

"Introduction to SEO"
(download: right click > save as)

SEO can be quite a daunting subject especially to those new to it. Hopefully I managed to break it down enough and that you felt you went away with techniques you could actually apply yourself.

-----------

Finally it was time for James Hilton, founder and Managing Director of InsideMobile with...

"Introduction to Mobile Marketing"
(To Download: Right Click > Save As)

The mobile age has been with us for a while but James showed us a glimpse of the future with an overview of the mobile technology that can be used for marketing. Two really powerful case studies showed us how this technology can be applied with fantastic results.

-----------

A final thank you to Lisa Foyster of MyCharityPage for organising the whole event from start to finish. It was appreciated by all of us.

Anyway if you have any further questions or if you are interested in any of the services the three companies offer do not hesitate to contact them directly.

Andy - andy@totallycommunications.com
Adam - adam.foyster@mycharitypage.com
Toby - toby@totallycommunications.com
James - james@insidemob.com

Alternatively feel free to leave a comment below.

There are many great SEO professionals out there but sometimes knowledge and experience are just the tip of the iceberg when performing an SEO Healthcheck for a client. In this post we discuss what we believe to be the foundations of a succesful SEO Audit for any website.

Bespoke it
Every website is different and so therefore should the analysis. While the list of criteria that you check a website against maybe roughly the same each time, the results will not be. If you feel that a certain point needs more attention then make sure you give it just that. Do not restrict yourself to a template but react accordingly to your findings.

Judge it
It's imperative to know who you will be presenting your Audit to. Find out how much exposure to SEO your client has and tune your Audit to their level of understanding. If they are a knowledgeable bunch then you know you will be on pretty much the same wave length. If your Audit is going to be their introduction to SEO then tone it down a bit and spend a little bit more time explaining your points in laymen's terms. If you are not sure if something make sense tehn bounce it off a mate or ask yourself "would my (mother/friend/yoga teacher etc.) understand?"

Code it
Having said that, don't be afraid to get technical if you have to. Even if your client is technically light their development team most probably is not. So if required include code snippets or technical lingo when getting into the detail on how to fix an issue and identify it clearly as something to give to their developer.

Explain It
For each and every review point include a detailed explanation to what it means and why it's important to SEO and why it is perhaps affecting their prominence in the SERPS. Don't just include pages of reports that need deciphering. There is every chance that the client may want to revisit the Audit at a later date so make sure it will make as much sense then as it does when you first talk them through it.

Illustrate it
Not with doodles unfortunately. As the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words" and it's true in this case too. Screen grabs, diagrams and charts all go a long way to help explaining and visualising data which otherwise may be far too complex. Looks nicer too.

Suggest it
There is absolutely no point indentifying hundreds of issues with a website unless you offer suggestions on how to solve them to increase website traffic. Do not try and hide this information away in the hope that you are then hired to fix them. The audit should be seen as a standalone piece of work and in our experience it is better to showcase your knowledge than to keep this information back.

Present it
When turning up to a client meeting you want to look the part. So should your Audit. Not only will it make it easier to digest but you should see an Audit as a representation of you or your company. Review it. Spell-check it. Format it. Review it again. We all know that first impressions count and more often than not you're Audit will be the first thing your client sees. Don't blow your chance at future work because of shabby presentation.

Check it
Do not rush an Audit no matter how much pressure you are under. It's better to manage your client's expectations than too push something out the door in a hurry. Even when you feel you have finished and there is no more you can do, save it....and wait. Review it a couple of days later and it's amazing how often things jump out at you that you missed before. It might just be a typo or a diagram that suddenly doesn't make any sense, either way give yourself the time and make sure it's not too late to rectify.

Dissect it
In some cases your Audit may include a mountain of things to fix to get the website higher search engine rankings. Break it down for your client into manageable chunks ordered by ease and importance. Unfortunately the most serious issues can often be the hardest or most costly to fix. But a big difference could also be made by dealing with all the little quick wins. Lowest hanging fruit anyone?

Corroborate it
You use them every day so be sure to include a list of useful tools & resources for your client to investigate themselves. Let them read what you read and let them explore their site with the tools you explored it with. If you end up skilling them into a world beating SEO then good on you, give yourself a pat on the back. If they have tried themselves but found they don't have the time then you will be the first person they call.

Talk through it
By spending just an hour with your client reviewing the audit you can clear up all the things they are not 100% clear about. With all the technology out there (Skype, Webinar Software, Virtual Login and of course the good old fashioned telephone) even if you can't meet face to face there is no reason for your client not to be fully debriefed on your findings. It also gives you another chance to get down to detail and really show off your knowledge.



This is obviously only beginnings of a successful SEO Audit and could also apply to a lot of different types of documentation but these points have so far done us proud. What things do you feel make for a good SEO Audit and what little details make a good Audit into a brilliant one?

Do you feel that your website is not performing to the best its abilities? Have you spent a fortune on a redesgin but you are just not getting the return on investment you had hoped for? Don't panic just yet, there could be some quick wins that can make a significant difference to your sites performance.

Most, if not all, of us have used a search engine at some point or another when researching a product or service and more often than not we find what we are looking for.

So why is it when searching on keywords relevant to your business your website just isn't anywhere to be seen. You know that people are searching for your services so why aren't you getting as much traffic as you hoped for? Well the truth is that the sites above you have probably already considered SEO and its time you did the same.

Time and time again we come across sites that are just not working to their full potential and that is why we have introduced our SEO Audit.

With our SEO Audit we will review your site against over 40 SEO criteria essential to climbing up the rankings. From Meta Tags to cloaking, from duplicate content to image alt tags we will analyse and explain where your site is going wrong.

We then present our findings back to you in an easy to understand document (30-40 pages) accompaied by a one-to-one meeting with one of our SEO Professionals. Not only do we use this time to ensure you understand some of the more technical bits but we will also explain ways to fix any issues we find and suggest ways to improve you site from there.

So don't waste any more time with an under performing site. Call one of our team today on 0207 692 6939 or visit our dedicated SEO Audit website today.

Since my last blog post (a good couple of hours ago) I have had a strange addictive impulse to keep going, so I have chosen something in which I hold a great amount of experience - sales.

A contact of mine named Nayan asked me a good question earlier today- what are the most important factors when meeting and speaking with clients, old or new. I have decided to share with you the answer I gave to him:

There are no set rules in sales as everybody has their own unique style. However, there are still certain methods and techniques you can follow.

It is firmly believed that the first impression you make on a client can be the difference between winning and losing a piece of business. Hence when meeting with clients, you need to make sure you look like your best (if the meeting is face-to-face), and that you are firm, assertive and polite.

It is vital to have a good understanding of your product or service so that you have a solution to offer. In the case of Totally Communications there would be no point offering somebody a website who has had theirs redeveloped recently but we would use our knowledge and expertise to see if they could benefit from professional SEO or PPC management. Therefore this understanding of all our services allows us to sell to the need for a company that specialises in all business processes. However this doesn't tell us why the potential client needs this product or service!

This leads me to my next point. The most important thing, whether it be face-to-face or over the phone, is to listen.

This may sound obvious, but this is what the best sales people do. They listen. They identify/establish a need and sell to it. If the need is not there, they create one.

For example:

Salesman: How do you currently go about your advertising?
Potential Client: I advertise in the national paper.
Salesman: And what are the benefits of that? (always positive)
Potential Client: It is good because I can reach lots of different markets.
Salesman: Okay, and why is it important that you reach so many different markets?
Potential Client: Because our client base is geographically diverse.
Salesman: So what would be the benefit to you of reaching more clients?
Potential Client: Well reaching more clients would allow me to make more sales.
Salesman: What could you use the extra turnover for?
Potential Client: Well I could reinvest it into a new product.

You could go on but we will leave it there.

Now for the review:

Salesman: Taking all that information into account, I recommend that you look at advertising online. This allows you to reach lots of different markets regardless of their geographic location allowing you to make more sales and use the extra turnover to launch a new product.

You found (or in other words 'created') a need. The potential client is now thinking about the potential of investing in a new product and will consider using internet advertising to drive sales to create the turnover to do this. This allows them to start asking you the questions- therefore it becomes a conversation and not a questionnaire. The ball is now in your court.

This is an extreme example of course, but it does show the basic principle that the majority of sales is listening and selling back to what you hear. By asking open questions and always finding out why you give yourself a much better chance of making a sale.

Good luck!

It's all been very hectic around here recently! With the Charity Seminar coming up and an exhibition to arrange at Europe's longest running and best attended digital marketing event, a Business Development Managers work is never done.

Luckily I have found just enough time to write on our blog for the first time!

So, Totally Communications are delighted to confirm we will be attending the Internet World Exhibition at Earl's Court from the 28th to the 30th April 2009. We will be located at stand SP11 and will be showcasing our online talents using examples of our latest projects including the Global Cool website and extensive SEO audits.

If you are in the area (or even if you are not!) why not swing by the stand for an informal chat with one of our online technology experts?

On behalf of Totally Communications we all look forward to meeting you!

Event Details
28th -- 30th April 2009
Earls Court 2,
Warwick Road
London
SW5 9TA

www.internetworld.co.uk

Totally Communications are proud to announce a FREE Charity seminar in Conjunction with MyCharityPage and insideMobile. The topic for discussion is: An Introduction to Online and Mobile Communication Strategies for Charities

Our highly popular and practical sessions willfocus on how Charities can engage their stakeholders and get their messages across using effective online and mobile communications strategies.

We've combined our knowledge to bring you this seminar to introduce key elements and effects of implementing marketing strategies using online social media andmobile technology.

Event details
Tuesday 12thMay 2009

De Morgan House
57-58 Russell Square
London
WC1B 4HS

10am-1pm or 2pm-5pm

Introduction to the Mobile Marketing Toolkit

This presentation will cover key elements of how to leverage mobile to win and retain supporters.

• Such elements will include the use of SMS, mobile internet, mobile media, Bluetooth and location based services.
• Case studies will be used to demonstrate successful innovative marketing campaigns utilising mobile technologies.

Speaker: James Hilton is joint Managing Director of Inside Mobile Ltd

The Benefits of Using Social Media
Understand how charities can harness the benefits of using social networking platforms to maximise their online fundraising potential.

• Delegates will gain an understanding of how social networking works and the main purposes of social networking platforms and applications, as well as their effect.
• Practical examples and case studies will be explored enabling delegates to put into practice the latest approach to fundraising.
• Effective ways to use mycharitypage.com will be demonstrated.

Speaker: Adam Foyster, Managing Director of MyCharityPage.com

Introduction to Effective SEO for Charities
A little Search Engine Optimisationcan make a big difference to increasing targeted traffic to your website and facilitate online donations. Using simple but effective SEO techniques we will introduce you to :

• Benefits of SEO for your Charity website
• Basic "onsite" website optimisation
• "Off-site" content sharing
• Introduction to link building
• Essential SEO tool kit

Speaker: Toby Mason, Client Services Director, Totally Communications Ltd

A maximumof 2 places per charity are available.

To book please email info@mycharitypage.com with your name ,job title and the charity name plus whether you wish to attend Tuesday 12th May the am or pm session.

For further information please contact us on 08005677102 or email us at info@mycharitypage.com

I've been waking up in a cold sweat. It's been niggling at me day in day out. I have felt really bad about it. I just can't seem to relax. All because we (and that applies to any of us, Totally Communications Team)....haven't posted in our blog since Christmas.

I don't know why its affected me this much. I don't see anyone else afflicted with this terrible guilt. Anyway this weekend I made a promise to myself that by the end of play Monday I would have jumped back on the wagon and do what no other member of staff has done this year. So here it is, the first post of 2009.

It's not as if we haven't had anything to talk about. Quite the opposite in fact, 2009 has been our best start to a year ever. Each time I say that I feel the need to follow quickly with the ubiquitous "Touch wood!".

January brought us the re-launch of celebrity led charity, Global Cool. After a year of behind the scenes fundraising they were back with a bang with a VIP party during London Fashion Week in partnership with Estethica.

We have also started work no another Charity website that many of you will know, Nelson Mandela's Children Fund. We are absolutely delighted to be working with such a phenomenal organisation and promise to deliver a special website for them.

Another launch this month will be Pebble Beach systems. They create and supply automated broadcast systems to the likes of Fox Television and are very big players in their field.

The final excuse for not posting has to be the sudden uptake in our SEO Audits. It looks as if more and more organisations are looking to their website as a cost effective method of increasing revenue streams. Looking at ways to improve a websites search engine ranking is one sure fire way of doing this and in most cases for a relatively small investment you can make a big difference to the where your website is positioned in the likes of Google.

Well that's it for now, and I certainly feel a lot better. Definitely a self gratifying post and for my own health I will never leave it so long again!

Oh, and you can now follow us on twitter.