Naturally, there’s plenty of advice going around for search marketing companies looking to enjoy a healthier, wealthier start to 2012.

Here is the MediaVision list of three essential New Year’s resolutions for SEO company owners:

Diet
What you put in is what you get out – so this year, make sure your team gets only the best “brain food”. Read and share high-quality, informative industry articles from reputable sources. Be sure that your healthy intellectual diet is balanced and varied – it’s no use devouring social media news on a daily basis but starving yourself of useful search engine and Analytics developments. Bon Apétit!

Exercise
Many people resolve to work out and get in shape at the start of a New Year, and in the same spirit, every SEO/ SERM agency should be looking to get fit and trim the excess fat from their operations. Your SEO fitness regime should be designed to help your team work on those bothersome weak spots; put out smaller portions of well-crafted content and focus on creating fewer high quality ads, rather than larger volumes of “flabby” lower quality writing. Make 2012 the year to help your team flex their SEO muscles, tone up and tackle the New Year with a well-honed strategy.

Quality Time
The New Year is also a time when many plan to spend less time in the office and more time with friends and family. Your company can embrace this resolution as well by showing clients and competitors a bit of extra love! Make time in your busy schedule to be more social; interact with fellow SEOs on Twitter, share your latest success story with clients on Facebook, and make sure your team writes regular blogs sharing industry news and insights.

Don’t limit your social time to the online world; get out and mingle! Treat your team to a networking dinner, and make sure your calendar for 2012 includes some industry meet-ups and conferences. This is the perfect way to inspire any SEO professional.

MediaVision wishes you all a happy and successful year ahead!

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Three New Year’s Resolutions Every SEO Should Make

Our trip to the Breede River certainly created an environment that stimulated these qualities, with team building river trips and the general ‘elbows up’ at the bar that accompanies any weekend away. On arrival at the Felix Unite ‘Round the Bend’ campsite (well for the most of us at least) we chilled and cracked open a cold one while waiting for the lost ones (Tom, Louis and Melissa) to pull in. It gave as plenty time to laugh with (or at) the racy Mina, definitely the loudest member of the group. When we finally gained all our members we geared up and made our way to the abseiling. In true style, Tom played the role of a fearless, leading director and abseiled forwards down the cliff face, running it in about five seconds. Our courageous Kat, as determined in abseiling as she is in her writing, also took on her very first abseiling experience facing the rocks below.

On Saturday morning we woke up blurry eyed and straggly tailed to face the Breede River rapids. Overall, it was a successful day of physical strength and endurance, except for the ‘newbie boat’ consisting of David and Bridget, who were the only ones to bail not once, but twice. The experienced Dave and Tom got stuck under a tree branch and also capsized, relieving some of the shame felt by team newbie. Nevertheless, much amusement was provided to all. After mild sunburn, endless banter and two snake spottings, our river adventure was over and we headed back to camp for the finale- our dress up party and awards ceremony.

Personality awards were given to the team; if you could meet our eccentric members you would understand why. Best dressed went to Paola who came as a reincarnation of her famous line in her September MediaVision interview, when she stated, “In a nut sack…” as opposed to, “In a nut shell…” when describing her amiable characteristics. Other costumes included the scary Stuart garden gnome, who once again proved his resourcefulness and ingenuity by creating a gnome hat out of used Santa gear and a plastic cone. On a more serious note, our brilliant Julia won ‘employee of the year’ for her outstanding work and for always being on hand to offer great advice on writing and SEO matters- congratulations. We were all sad to leave such a memorable weekend behind us, but it was back to work on Monday as usual, minds refreshed, bodies a bit bruised, yet ready for the wrapping up of a highly successful year at MediaVision Interactive.

Some last words from our CEO, Louis Venter: “After an outstanding 2011 we felt that we really needed to celebrate in style and the river rafting weekend was an obvious choice. It really fitted in with the work hard – play hard ethos that we expect from all employees. Needless to say the weekend was epic with a huge amount of fun had by all.
The current team has a great blend of talent, creativity and enthusiasm which helps us deliver such outstanding results for our clients.”

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A Weekend on the River for Our MediaVision Team

Dave led the team along the dirt road before we were led up mountainsides and down gorges at less than break neck speeds. While Melissa was slowly adjusting to losing her power steering bonus, and the rest of us eased the bikes through their paces as we managed to take in some of the most beautiful views on a sun kissed day which heralded the start of spring in the Cape. We reached the pinnacle of one of the peaks to enjoy a moment to take it all in, before returning back to the farmhouse and proceeding to the wine tasting halls of the estate. A petition was suggested for the acquisition of an office quad bike, and signatures are currently in process to be sent to the CEO for consideration.

We all took our seats inside the modern tasting rooms and decided to pop the cork with some bubbly Cap Classique Rose. Our tasting hostess provided us with the full experience, offering us tastes of dry citrus infused sauvignon blancs and buttery chardonnays while others sided the more smoky and spicy reds. We all came out of the experience a little more educated and satiated, and some of the troops made purchases from the estate, with Brett and I deciding the Shiraz Granache blend was definitely a winner that deserved a medium rare steak as a date.

Reconvening at a Seafood restaurant, we all finished the days outing with a good meal. An assortment of Sushi, salads, executive platters and calamari were enjoyed and as the sun set over Cape Town, we enjoyed some good laughs and time together as a team. For more highlights, take a look at our facebook page and see if you “like” it as much as we did.

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Quad Biking and Wine: What Can Go Wrong?

We took our seats as the Esperance swiftly embarked from the dock to the open sea. A strong, warm wind braced the sails as we shot across the blue planes of water. This was a tourist vessel and the thrills were modest, save for the amount of times we each spilt liquids onto Mel. Oh and how the liquids did flow; each uncorking of the champagne bottle was a nuzzling chord of happiness played on the strings of my very heart. The crew poured glasses of golden delight into our plastic glasses and we quaffed them in mere moments. The glittering waves welcomed our glasses into their salty embrace, but the possibility of paying the boat back for each glass assisted us in keeping each cup close to our bodies.

SupaDave, Julia, Kat, Brett

Mel, Richard Gere

For a solid hour the boat rocked and rolled across each wave, presenting us with unbridled sights of the West Coast, Table Mountain and the V&A Waterfront as a whole. At close to 6pm, the captain had ended his love affair with the ocean and decided to turn us around back to the safety of the Waterfronts docks. As we left the boat – a little burnt, a lot tipsy; a man presented us with a delightful group photograph which was refused for the sheer insanity of the price. For their attempt to milk us was in vain, we were not tourists; we were an SEO agency with years of experience under our belt and a penchant for ignoring the pleas of V&A Waterfront hawkers. From there, the Fat Cactus in Kloof Street beckoned – yet that is a story best left for another, more ludicrous time.

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SEO Agency ‘On A Boat’

Bear in mind, I’m not talking about gifts for the type of writers who see their work as a chore, merely churning out satisfactory content as an unavoidable part of the daily grind. I’m talking about a team of perfectionists who love the written word to the point of obsession, in both their professional and private lives; writers who care deeply about saying the right thing in just the right way; who scribe, scrawl and scribble in their free time and find themselves firing off witty-one liners that only other writers could possibly find funny.
With this in mind, I did a bit of research and found some helpful advice on choosing excellent gifts for any writers, bloggers, journalists, poets and aspiring novelists in your life:

1. Great writers are also voracious readers; books about writing make great gifts, not just at Christmas but on any occasion. Writers who are new to their profession may appreciate books of the “how to” variety, and the more experienced will prefer memoirs containing the experiences and advice of respected authors.

2. Writers like those on the MediaVision team spend a lot of time doing research reading; magazine subscriptions make thoughtful gifts for writers who want to do some recreational reading on a subject that personally interests them, and possibly pick up some inspiration for future writing at the same time.

3. Gadgets are always high on the list of top-selling Christmas gifts, and there are plenty of writers hoping to see a digital pen or Kindle e-reader in under the tree this year!

4. For those who don’t have the budget for gadgets, getting back to basics can be just as valuable. A good quality journal coupled with a beautiful pen makes the ideal gift for a writer who needs to rediscover the fun and creativity behind their craft.

5. Anyone who writes for a living knows that long hours in front of a computer screen take their toll on the body. Many writers will really appreciate gifts that make their work easier and help them perform at their peak in comfort. An ergonomically designed, gel-filled mouse pad or cooling eye mask are examples of great gifts that writers will find useful on a daily basis.

These are just a few examples of gifts for writers who are just a little bit… obsessive about their craft. We wish all our readers, and our team, a fantastic festive season!

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Christmas Gifts for Obsessive Writers and Bloggers

On Friday evening the team was in high spirits and took the opportunity to unwind, swimming and socialising as we enjoyed a delicious fish braai. On Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the arrival of a motorboat complete with all the equipment needed for an action-packed day on the bay. Some ventured out with the skipper to try their hand at water-skiing, tubing and wakeboarding, while others spent a more relaxed day soaking up the sun on deck. The thrill-seekers pulled off some legendary performances on the skis and the tube, pausing only to enjoy an ice-cold drink and an indulgent lunch spread on the boat before continuing with their aquatic adventures.

As the sun set on Saturday, the team enjoyed dinner followed by a brief speech from CEO Louis Venter on the company’s progress throughout 2010. Louis told us how MediaVision has continued to successfully weather the recession and establish a strong reputation in the market. This weekend presented the perfect opportunity to toast to MediaVision’s ongoing success and let our hair down after a long and challenging year. It was also a great opportunity to bond as a team and get to know each other a little better. Saturday night’s celebrations were an absolute blast – the infamous drinking games continued late into the night and suffice to say… what happens on the houseboat stays on the houseboat!

Sunday morning was a mellow affair as the bruised and battered daredevils of the day before eased into the new day. After bidding a fond farewell to houseboat, we headed to Eden on the Bay in Blouberg, where we wrapped up this fantastic getaway with a sumptuous lunch at Café Sofia.

A big thank you to everyone who made this year, and the 48-hour boat party, such a special one! The coming year will surely hold even bigger and brighter prospects for MediaVision. Take a look at our Facebook page to see the weekend’s highlights.

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The Boat that Rocked! MediaVision Celebrates 2010

Now that you are all green with envy, we need to ask for your help in voting for the winning design. You can place your votes in the poll in the sidebar (to your right)

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MediaVision TShirt design contest

The first Google Doodle was shown to users in 1998. The Doodle, which depicted the Burning Man logo behind the second O of the Google logo, was placed there for a particular reason – as a type of notification to users that if, for any reason, the server would crash – that users would know that Larry Page and Sergey Brin would not be able to correct the problem until they were back from the annual festival. Since then, the Google Doodle remained, and over the past twelve years there have been thousands of Google Doodles for users entertainment and informational purposes.

The Google Doodle is pretty and interesting to look at, but it also serves a purpose. If you click on the logo itself, you will be taken to a list of results pertaining to that result, letting you find out more about that particular topic. Google Doodles celebrate various topics such a famous peoples birthdays, certain public holidays, days of commemoration and the history of some of our most popular brands that we know and love.

One of the most popular Google Doodle inceptions was the Pac Man Google Doodle that was on the Google home page on the 21st of May this year to celebrate 30 of its launch. As much as users thoroughly enjoyed this incredibly interactive Doodle where you could play the Pac Man game on the Google logo, it also distracted many users and was said to gobble up nearly five million hours of work time. The day that the Pac Man Doodle was placed on Google, time spent on the page went up and so did the amount of searches, but not as much as they thought. They believe that this was owing to the fact that many did not know that you could play the game on the logo but merely look at it.

There are a variety of Google Doodle competitions which you can enter in order to have your Google Doodle on the home page for the day and this competition is open to any age. Recently, a third grader won one of the Doodle 4 Google competitions and received prize money which would be contributed to her university scholarship.

The Google Doodle does not serve a functional purpose, but is rather there is the form of recognition and remembrance. Sometimes thoughtful, other times entertaining, a Google Doodle makes a nice change to the Google image that we see every day. Below are three of my favourite Google Doodles – what are yours?

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The Google Doodle: entertaining users since 1998

I don’t deny that it given today’s increasingly online social society it’s a relevant word. And I think that it’s placement in the dictionary has been legitimately earned, but is it really The Word of the Year? I don’t think so.

At least I didn’t until I visited the askoxford.com site and read the reasoning behind the choice of many past winners. The Word of the Year, apparently, is supposed to succinctly summarise a period in time, and what summarises 2009 better than Facebook. I mean, you Facebook someone when you want to send them a message, you friend them and, of course, you unfriend them. Facebook has grown a convenient way to get in touch with long lost friends to become the communication medium of choice between families that are separated by oceans and continents. I know parents (not mine) who are on Facebook more than their kids, which negates arguments that Unfriend has relevance for only a select few in the online industry.

In a statement issued by Oxford’s US dictionary programme, Chrstine Lindberg said that Unfriend has currency and potential longevity. I’m not sure about currency, but it certainly isn’t going anywhere, if anything it will only grow as the numbers of online social networkers increases.

What is quite interesting is that many of the Word of the Year finalists also had a modern, technological mien: hashtag (very Twittery) and intexticated (surely you don’t need that one explained), for instance. But the emphasis on evolving technology is not new. In 2005 the Word of the Year was ‘Podcast’, but if we go all the way back to the beginning of the award (which, incidentally was in 1906), we see that 1911’s word was ‘phone number’ (very indicative of a shift in communication), in 1953 it was ‘teleconference’, ’69 was microchip, ’87 was ‘to email’ and ’97 ’98 and ’99 had a strong internet focus with ‘WAP’, ‘to Google’ and ‘blogger’ respectively.

Yes, Unfriend lacks the sophistication that the award implies, but it could be worse. In 2006 the Word of the Year was ‘bovvered’ and if that isn’t a crime against humanity I don’t know what is.

PS: ReadWriteWeb has a poll on whether Unfriend deserves its award or not. I initially voted no, but after due consideration am going to change my vote to yes. What do you think?

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Facebook jargon gains credibility as Unfriend gets Word of the Year

On my hunt for alternative sites, I came across Findasocialnetwork. This portal lets you type in your interests or hobbies and wham! Up pops a list of social network options for you to join. You can login to the site and become a member, add a social network that you have created and search for new sites. This makes me wonder though, findasocialnetwork is practically a social network itself, right?

Some social networks are slightly more “special” in their appeal, whereas others are just downright bizarre. One of the best and most original sites I came across on my search was Myweirdbeard. This site sees itself as “a place for personal growth,” literally. Submit photos and videos of your moustaches or goatees and join in the beard forum. I then decided to try and find a site that would help me figure out my recent spate of strange dreams. What I found was the sub conscious conversations of MatchAdream. Here you can submit your dream and connect with others who have experienced the same dream as you. I was relieved as I am sick of waking up blurry-eyed and trying to figure out what my weird dream was all about!

If you are a dog lover (like me) then why not let your precious pooch sign up for a Mydogspace account? I had heard a rumour that there was a Facebook equivalent just for pets, and here it is! As a member, your dog (ahem, you) can leave status updates, post pictures and chat with other canines. Even though I wouldn’t sign my dog up for this, the pictures on this site are just too adorable. I decided to turn my focus to something more anti social, and what I found was Hatebook. “Hatebook is an anti-social utility that disconnects you from the things you hate.” Here you can find your enemies, publish secrets and gossip and join hate groups. This site also lets you “take over the world.” I found this site rather ironic, I must admit.

However, if you fail to find a social networking site that touches your heart, (I was hoping to find a social networking site dedicated to Chai tea, but it returned no results), then why not just make your own? Creating a social network only takes a few minutes, but maintaining it is another matter.

Some of these social networking sites are just for fun, whereas others are very serious. If you are a superb multi-tasker and can remember countless usernames and passwords whilst remembering to update all your pictures and statuses, then multiple social networking sites are for you. I, on the other hand, prefer to manage fewer sites, but I am all about quality versus quantity.

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Weird and wonderful social networking sites: time wasters unite!