Both Android and Apple iOS apps have been launched which are optimised for mobile phones and tablets, and allow for quick and easy downloading of brochures. Once downloaded, a brochure can be viewed at any time, even offline, and the apps feature the familiar mobile gesture-based systems of swiping to change page and pinch-to-zoom for an enhanced user experience.

http://videos.thomascook.com/

This web site delivers both mobile and desktop PC video content, using a sophisticated solution developed by VSI-thinking to detect the platform and operating systems. Mark Thomas, Managing Director of VSI-thinking, said "You see a lot of web sites with video content but very few successfully manage to deliver exactly the same experience on a mobile, and even fewer manage to maintain that on any screen size and on all devices including iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets."

Users simply scan a QR code from some promotional material or a brochure and the correct accommodation is presented on the phone or tablet. Mark Thomas continued "The video stream instantly adapts to your phone and bandwidth to give the best picture possible." The video is streamed using the LimeLight video platform and content delivery network, and embedded in the VSI-thinking web platform, which detects the device type, operating system and browser.

The site has an ambitious future ahead of it, with plans to release over 2000 videos, each linked from QR codes published in a wide variety of Thomas Cook marketing and promotional material.

The confusion has arisen from the fact that nearly all retail sites, with a shopping basket, rely on cookies to a greater or lesser extent. Therefore a "ban" on cookies, would stop these web sites working. However, and this is the important bit, there is an exemption for "essential" cookies, for example;

Cookies used to help make the site work for customers; such as saving search criteria.
Shopping baskets; for purchasing goods.
Ecommerce; security requirements when payment processing.

Don't worry, we are here to help, if you are concerned about how your site might be affected please call VSI-thinking today 02920 331188.

In the meantime, here is more information about Cookies;
http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/cookieoptout.html

Technical Illustration
We would like to thank our friend Mark Smith for clarifying this with a simple technical illustration.

Thomas Cook UK has selected VSI-thinking to provide a range of mobile services for their main business, all their sub brands and their private labels. This summer will see the introduction of mobile phone apps to view all Thomas Cook group brochures, a dedicated and optimised mobile web site for brochures and perhaps most importantly, videos for the top 100 hotels.

The videos will be created specifically for mobile, accessed from QR codes in every brochure. The mobile optimised pages will deliver the brand’s imagery and the video player. VSI-thinking are working with LimeLight Networks to encode the mobile streams and distribute them on their content delivery network. The video project is ambitious with plans to release over 2000 videos in the first year.

1. Avoid Duplicate Content / Create Unique Content

In early 2011 Google put a huge emphasis on original website content by improving the position of sites that produced a lot of unique content; sites with a lot of duplicate content were also penalised by Google and had their placements lowered.

Rather than using the manufacturers product listings, like many other online stores, write your own or try to put your own spin on things. While this will help a page rank higher a well written product listing may also convince your visitors to make a purchase.

2. Use Descriptive Web Addresses

A web address has a lot of potential benefit for customers and search engines alike. While it can be easy to generate your product pages using item numbers, i.e. www.ashoppingsite.com/156468, it is better to use a descriptive URL related to the product. So for a product page about a digital camera use something like www.ashoppingsite.com/digital-camera

These descriptive URLs give an added piece of information for the search engines to index and will also be a lot easier for your customers to memorise.

3. Interlink Your Pages & Back linking

Search engines rank unique content very highly but they also factor in the links on a page; search engines follow the links on a page and index the pages it finds so it is very beneficial to interlink your pages, helping the search engines and your customers get around the site. Link to related products you sell or blog articles you've written and help your visitors find their way to more areas of your website.

Backlinks can be a great way to gain exposure for your web site, it can also benefit your SEO. A link from an external website counts as a vote to the search engines. If you have more votes than another website the search engines should place you higher. Gathering back links can be a time consuming activity but VSI-thinking offer this service.

Another helpful way to gather inbound links is to allow and encourage your visitors to share your products on their social networks. Bing utilises data from social networks to influence their search results, likewise Google have begun using data from their Google+ network to adjust and tailor search results. Don't forget to use good anchor text as well; a link that says "click here" is useful but not as useful as a link that features your keywords.

4. Cater for Your Customer's Searches

While your product database is full of individual, unique products a lot of buyers may be searching with broader keyphrases. Create unique pages which target these broader searches and then link off to more focused categories or product pages, helping your customers find exactly what they want. Landing pages can also be very helpful with broader searches. Don't forget to create them with unique content.

5. Let Visitors Leave Reviews

Customer reviews can have a great influence on whether a customer buys or not; they can also offer an SEO benefit too. A review is essentially another piece of unique content which the search engines will index and reward you for. The best part is your existing customers can produce this content for you. Just by giving your visitors the opportunity to leave reviews and feedback you can reap a huge SEO reward.

The VSI-thinking Content Management Solution and Product solutions make all of the tips above simple to achieve, and several SEO features are even put in place automatically to help your e-commerce website get off to a great start.

Today CMT Learning Ltd launches a new site developed by Cardiff web design company VSI-thinking. The web site promotes courses to learn English with Tennis in association with Head. Children interested in coming to the UK to improve their English language skills and get the highest level of tennis coaching will be well looked after by CMT Learning Ltd. The courses deliver English language tuition from the Oxford University Press.

Victims of this particular cybersquatting scam were invited to enter a competition on websites with addresses similar to Twitter and Wikipedia. The websites suggested that all victims would have to do to win a prize was call a premium-rate number and submit a few contact details. However, after entering the competition the victims would then receive costly text messages asking them further survey questions. These messages cost £1.50 to receive and an additional £1.50 to reply; in one case a victim was charged £63 for using a website that appeared to be YouTube.

Around 80% of mistyped web addresses lead to typosquatting websites set up to capitalise on common spelling mistakes. Facebook, Microsoft and Apple have all been emulated by typosquatters. As has Google which won the rights to googkle.com, ghoogle.com and gooigle.com which were all set up with the intention of spreading malware. Sophos, an IT security and data protection company, have cautioned users to be careful how they type so as not to fall victim to these scams.

VSI-thinking are delighted to announce the launch of Manchester United Soccer Schools web sites for CMT Learning Ltd, with an additional web site released this week for Juventus soccer camps. These sites have been delivered on the latest VSI-thinking web platform, which includes a multilingual content management system and is fully search engine optimised.

CMT Learning Ltd were looking for a web design company that could deliver not only a website and booking journey, but also a complete multilingual experience including the booking journey and payment processing. The project was a challenge for VSI-thinking, "How do you create a booking journey when you don't know what the words say?" asked Mark Thomas, Managing Director of VSI-thinking rhetorically, before explaining: "We developed a unique system separating the data (translated words) from the HTML, which was itself separated from the software routines".

The system is effectively a complex multi-stage import routine that allows translated content in a structured format to be 'imported' to the booking journey. New languages can be delivered in just a couple of days with the new solution.

The tiny computer runs a Linux operating system and can connect to a regular computer monitor; additional ports can also be used for connecting a keyboard, mouse and other peripherals. The Raspberry Pi can also connect to the internet with a built in Ethernet port. The Department for Education is considering a change to the way computing is taught in schools, placing a stronger focus on skills like programming and supporters of the Raspberry Pi hope it could help reverse a lack of programming skills in the UK. Education Secretary Michael Gove has described the Raspberry Pi as "...a great example of the cutting edge of education technology happening right here in the UK"

The launch of the Raspberry Pi has been met with exceptionally high demand, crashing the website of one supplier due to the sheer volume of traffic. While there is a waiting list the Raspberry Pi Foundation have said they have already produced thousands of machines and deals with two distributors mean that production volumes will be able to grow rapidly to meet the demand. Supporters also hope that the open-source nature of the device, combined with the high demand will encourage a community of developers to create additional software and discover new uses for the Raspberry Pi.

VSI-thinking is proud to be associated with the latest web site to be launched by CMT Learning Ltd. Learn English and Golf in association with the Belfry and Oxford University Press. Customers from around the world can book courses in their own language using a multilingual booking journey developed by VSI-thinking.

Once a customer completes the simple booking process and makes a payment they are automatically logged into an account area to complete each player’s details. Information about the players, such as emergency contact details and medical information can be provided there and then or later when it is available, which helps CMT Learning Ltd ensure the highest level of care for those children attending the courses.