Welcome to the Studio 2 Online August newsletter -
fortified with web goodness.
^ Top
Two new initiatives this month at Studio 2, as we reflect the
Company’s ongoing commitment to developing an optimal working
environment…
We thought it would be a great idea to provide a free communal
fruit bowl to the team - that's right, free fruit on tap here
at Studio 2 Online.
(Well, for the sake of a few pence each day, we get happy zappy
employees, and we do them some good in the process!)
Flexitime has also been recently introduced, so work can fit in
better with the team's lives. We still operate under the normal
office hours, but you may find one or two of us in a little later
(or earlier!) than normal. Useful for easing into the day after
too much pop the night before.
^ Top
|
|
Trent RDSU is based in De Montfort University and the
Universities of Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield and
provides high level academic support aimed at increasing
the quantity and quality of health services research,
including health-related social care research.
It is funded through the Department of Health’s
National Co-ordinating Centre for Research Capacity Development
(NCCRCD) and is the largest of the 19 Research and Development
Support Units in England.
Trent's new site spans in total over 150 pages, and includes
our forum, protected members area and course booking system
modules as part of the powerful Content Management System
(CMS) system.
With so many pages, naturally we gave Trent the ability
to administer their own content, using the CMS editor.
Their site changes are now only a login away.
|
^ Top
After the success of April’s expo, another Business
to Business expo is being held at the Leicestershire County Cricket
Club on the 29th September – and Studio 2 will of course
be exhibiting.
We have found it to be a great way of not only making new sales
contacts, but also meeting other like-minded businesses in the
Leicestershire area to work with and share ideas.
The expo is free to visit, so why not come down, and stop by our
stand for a quick chat!
^ Top
Extracts taken from bbc.co.uk
Thousands of computer users have been caught out by a huge
ID theft ring.
Security firm Sunbelt Software said it stumbled across a US-based
server storing megabytes of data stolen from compromised computers
while researching spyware infections.
The server held passwords for online accounts from 50 banks,
Ebay and Paypal logins, hundreds of credit card numbers and reams
of personal data.
The FBI has reportedly now started investigating the ring of ID
thieves.
The bug that has stolen all the data is thought to be a variant
of a family of trojans known as Dumaru or Nibu that
exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.
The trojan, a malicious piece of code, automatically downloaded
itself on computers when people visited sites harbouring the program.
The hidden payload in this bug is a keylogger that grabs a copy
of everything a user types.
What made this bug so effective was its ability to grab text
stored on the clipboard and by Internet Explorer, said Eric Sites,
vice president of research and development at Sunbelt Software.
Microsoft's browser has a feature, called AutoComplete,
that automatically populates boxes on web forms where people typically
fill in names, addresses, e-mail addresses, credit card numbers
and other biographical details.
The feature is supposed to make filling in forms on websites less
of a chore. In this case, said Mr Sites, it helped the ID thieves
get hold of enormously valuable data.
Read the Full Story:
^ Top
|
|
Sign designers and manufacturers Sygnet have been successfully
established in Leicester for over 30 years. They felt
that their existing website was rather dated and needed
bringing into 2005.
Studio 2 were chosen to redesign the site, not only for
our excellent design skills, but also for our honest,
impartial advice on how we thought the site could be improved.
The existing corporate identity of Sygnet was slotted
into a strong purple and yellow design with a flash element
on the home page to really bring it to life.
"Throughout the concept
and design process Studio 2 were consistently professional,
always able to supply us with original ideas, and provide
our business with quick, effective results"
Alan Elvidge, Sygnet
|
^ Top
 Just a quick
mention to this new initiative which many of you will probably
already know, but we thought we would give it more exposure as
it makes a good deal of sense.
The East Anglian Ambulance Service has launched a national
"In case of Emergency (ICE)” campaign with the support
of Falkland’s war hero Simon Weston.
The idea is that you store the word "I C E" in your
mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of
the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency"
In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then
be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able
to contact them. It's so simple that everyone can do it. Please
do.
To help gain awareness, please let other people know in your address
books.
It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest.
For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc
^ Top
|
| |
If you have a site hosted by Studio 2,
hopefully you will be familiar with our own SiteStats
– a powerful tool which lets you find data on things
like:
- how many visitors have you received each month?
- which page is the top exit page from your site?
- what are the top referring sites?
- what keywords have people typed in the search engines,
and brought them to your site?
This can give you important information on where your site
is succeeding, and where it needs some improvement. Number
of visitors per month is an obvious one, but looking
across a range, are visitors going up? Going down? If you
are an e-commerce store, and your lifeblood is your site,
you're going to want to know who's coming to visit!
Of less obvious benefit is the Top exit page. Why
would you care about that? Well, because there could be
a reason why these people are choosing this page as their
favourite 'give up' point. Is it the content? Is it the
amount of text? Is it the time it takes to load the page?
These are all worth looking at to try and work out what
your visitors might be thinking.
Of perhaps most benefit though, is the Search Engine
keyword reports. You can find in here exactly what people
have been typing into their favourite search engine to eventually
find their way to you. Our stats software also list which
engine they came from, allowing you to have an idea of your
success in each engine.
You can really get wrapped up in these stats – if
you have a site hosted by us, and you don't know how to
access your stats, call support on 0116 2425811.
We will get back to you with more information.
To sum up, if you're serious about your site, taking
the time to look at your stats can really help to understand
your customers, and how you can improve the site to accommodate
them.
WOOF WOOF AND
OUT(Sasha's
views don't strictly coincide with Studio 2's own) |
^ Top
|
|
Studio 2 Online
Ltd
Cathedral Chambers
2 Peacock Lane
Leicester
LE1 5PX
Tel:
0870 837 0086
Fax:
0870 837 0087
Web:
www.s2o.co.uk |
Missed
a newsletter?
Previous issues can be found on our website: Click
here |
|
