Are you sick of dodging the same pot-hole every day? Or walking past the same unsightly graffiti for months… well now you can make the most of paying your council tax with their new mobile App for reporting these incidents, and more!

The council have launched the ‘my council services’ application that allows you report any incidents from graffiti & fly tipping to pot-holes and antisocial behaviour direct to your local council services. It even allows you to upload a photo direct from your phone and automatically tags the location on a map with geo targeting.

Given the state of UK council and government websites we did not expect much from the app.. but were surprised! We gave the App a full 5 stars for usability and it’s step process makes it quick and easy to use so you can report an incident in seconds.

So we have put it to the real test by reporting some local fly tipping, now we await to see if the councils response is as good as their application!

If you want to give it a try you need an apple iPhone or android smart phone, just search for ‘my council services uk’ in the app store!

Don’t forget at inLIFE we can turn your website into a web friendly mobile app or even develop your own apps to be submitted to the apple or android app store! Contact us for details

This month the search engine giant Google have announced the launch of their very own social network set to take on facebook, known as Google+. It is only available by invitation at the moment however at inLIFE we have had chance to test it out in beta alongside a number of other Internet gurus including Mark Zuckerburg (owner and founder of facebook). Mark also just happens to be one of the most popular users and has, in a rare move, gone on record in saying ‘This is evidence that the future of the Internet is a social one’

So the big question is will it take on facebooks current social choke hold? Our guess is it will never surpass facebook however we do predict within the next 18 months it will grow to a more than worthy adversary. The reason for it’s success we believe will be down to one thing… the fact it is pre built into google search. Google being THE go-to search engine can provide small ‘+1′ buttons next to it’s listing results, clicking on this will allow you to share it instantly in your google plus account within your ‘cirlces’ (as google calls it) of friends, family or own custom ‘circles’ of friends.

This is all very well as another way social networking tool to see your nephews drunken antics from last weekend, but what does it mean to your business? The big advantage over facebook for business is again lies behind Googles power in search, they have used this fact to their advantage thus having +1 next search listings will allow your users to instantly share your website seamlessly with friends. On top of this with a bit of extra code users can even share individual items such as products within your website. It makes sharing content as natural as face books recent social graph of ‘likes’ that have popped up around the internet. Once more this is another great way for your consumers to do your marketing for you… the only work you have to do is make a product or service good enough that users want to share it!

So keep an eye on google plus over the next few months and look out for the +1 buttons next to listings. If you want to ensure your website is ready for Google +, set up a Google plus account or get additional buttons within your site contact is today for more advice.

Twitter have now launched their ‘Anywhere’ service allowing you to embed a twitter follow button directly into your website. This allows users to simple click your ‘follow’ button thus following you on twitter without even leaving the page.

It works in a similar way to facebooks social graph. If you have been browsing the net lately you may have noticed facebooks ‘like’ buttons on a number of websites. Allowing users to ‘like’ a product, or service without leaving that particular page. This works well in that it also shows all your facebook friends who ‘like’ that product, so for example I have a friend who is a photographer and when browsing online for a new lens I can see instantly that he ‘likes’ that particular lens.. that to me is a perfect recommendation to buy it.

Twitter’s anywhere service works in the same way making twitter seamless across the net. It not only allows users to instantly follow you by clicking a button it also automatically transforms twitter names within your text (beginning with @) into follow links. For example hover your mouse over here –> @inlifedesign

However their Anywhere service is a little more tricky for the every day net user to install in comparison to facebooks ‘like’ button integration. It involves entering some code into your websites header code as well as some direct code editing rather than the simple copy and paste service that facebook offer. More details on setting up Twitter Anywhere can be found here.

If you wan’t further advice on how to get Twitter Anywhere on your site contact us today

You can see an example of both facebook and twitters direct website embedding at the bottom of this page in our footer (scroll right down to the bottom and take a peek)

We have now taken residence in our new offices based in Burntwood. We have a meeting room and designs studio in ‘the loft’ ideal for clients to come visit and see where the magic happens.

Based at ‘Burntwood Island’ also known as ‘Swan Island’ the new office has ample free parking in the adjacent shopping area and perfectly situated with a central location in the West Midlands allowing us to visit and cater for clients all over the UK.

If you want to arrange a meeting with inLIFE contact us today.

Are you one of our happy customers? Then to celebrate inLIFE going full time and moving into our new office we hope to make your smile even bigger by now giving you 15% off your next years web hosting cost.

All you simply have to do is take 3 minutes out to leave us a review on these 2 pages. Once you have written one you can even copy and pasted on the the next one, we won’t mind.

- Review us on Web Design Index

- Review us on Which Web Design Company

All customers that do will be noted and receive 15% off your next years web hosting fee!

Google is soon to announce a mobile payment system that will let users wave their Android-based phones at the checkout counter to make payments, get coupons and earn loyalty points.

The phones are set to communicate with near-field equipped cash registers, so your phone will soon not only be your music station, contact list, camera & calendar but now your virtual wallet too.

It’s been a long time coming with a similar system available in Japan for a while, on top of the recent introductions of Starbucks pay by mobile app that remembers your favourite order, as well as the paypal app for quick sharing payments simply by bumping phones together. Both of which currently available on all popular smartphone platforms.

This seems the next logical step in the mobile world, as more and more of us are carrying these devices around with us 24/7 on top of a wallet packed with various cards and cash. Could this be the start of things to come making cards and cash a thing of the past? It’s something certainly worth thinking about and preparing for.

Remember where you heard it first.
inLIFE.

We are a creative Digital Marketing Company based in Burntwood near Lichfield, Staffordshire.

We specialise in Web Design & Search Engine Optimisation to ensure when a user is searching for your Lichfield based business that you get on the front page. Not only that but all our websites are developed to current web trends and standards to make sure they work across touch screen devices, internet TV’s and more.

We have created a number of sites for companies within the local district of Lichfield and built up a good reputation in the area for providing high quality work at the best possible price. Take a look at recommendations on our Linkedin profile here.

We also provide targeted email marketing campaigns. For example we can send out 5000 emails directed at users interested in a particular business within the Lichfield area. e.g “Email all plumbers within Lichfield Postcode” – this has proved a popular option for those wanting an effective way of marketing local business.

Lichfield has a great range of quality business, our aim is to portray this on the web and make sure your web presence matches your quality of business.

So if you are based in Lichfield or surrounding areas and looking for web design & services then give us a call today on 01543 679956 or 07703326330. Or just drop us an email to info@inlifedesign.com

So you have just typed your company or relevant search term into Google.. and BAZINGA your fourth position! But wait a moment, call your friend in a different part of the country and ask him to do the same test. Is your position the same?

Chances are it won’t be. The reason for this article is explain why this phenomenon occurs, and secondly raise awareness that it does occur in the first place.

Before inLIFE I went for a Job interview at a ‘Marketing Agency’ in Lichfield who shall not be named. After the interview it was clear that I not only knew more about the web than they did, but also they were convinced that when typing ‘Marketing Agency’ that they were top of Google.

Walking away realising their tragic error I did not bother to point it out to them, maybe I just didn’t want to shatter their dream. Nor did I have any intention of taking a Job at a web marketing agency with such blinded web knowledge.

I will however point out their mistake to you.

First and foremost the most common mistake is to be logged in via your Google account and have enabled web history – personalised search in your Google account. This logs what websites you visit most and adjusts your search results to suite. So of course they were top when searching for ‘Marketing Agency’ as theirs is the only website they probably every looked at.

However when searching on my PC from home a large number of established London based companies were top, and they were nowhere to be seen! Which brings me to the second point, now the question has to be asked why London based web companies are top, amongst some scattered Midlands ones (as I am based in the Midlands). Why not some super high exec American Marketing Agencies who are undoubtedly plugging millions into SEO and Google positioning? This is because of the second key factor… your location.
Google search uses Geo-targeting to determine where you are browsing the web from, and relay results accordingly. This is why you don’t see Norwegian, Japanese, American results. But UK ones, given you are in the UK that is. Funnily enough entering just ‘Marketing Agency’ whilst four miles away from said companies location still did not bring them up.

Google uses thousands of data centres across each country and nation, so results can also vary dependent on what data centre you are on, even your data centre can change daily so even the results you see are never static. This is why if you’re in London and call a friend in Scotland there’s a good chance your Google ranking position will be different. Long gone are the days when a search engines rankings were same wherever you are.

So now you know the truth, do daily checks, ask friends in other areas and ensure you are not logged into Google or have personalised browsing turned on before checking.

But don’t be mistaken that Google intentionally hide this fact just to be annoying, their aim is to make the web more seamless.. so the everyday user gets the best results for them. Seamless is good when it comes to the web and is the very foundation in which our inLIFE Design methods (and even the company name) is based upon. But from a company marketing point of view, this can be irritating when you want to get a real result of your SEO ranking.

On the other hand depending on your company this can also prove a huge benefit, for example if you run a plumbing service strictly within a certain postcode or radius, then you have a better chance of reaching everyone searching within your area. (with the right SEO work of course.. don’t get ripped off > read more here)

On a final note; Remember this is not the be all and end all. This factor is just ONE of Googles thousands of algorithms that determine your ranking position. Some other factors include the amount of time your site has been live, the amount of relevant incoming and outgoing links, the amount of time your content changes and so on. So it is still possible to guarantee a front page position for your company with the right amount of effort put into SEO. Just don’t be fooled into thinking your top, as ignorance isn’t bliss.