Pinterest for Consumers and Business Alike

With 2 million users, Pinterest is generating more referral traffic to websites than YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn combined.

The latest darling of the social media universe is undoubtedly Pinterest. Although the company of 16 people has a following that is 97% female, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg just joined.

First, a refresher for the newbies. Pinterest is a “virtual pinboard” that lets users organize and share everything they find on the web in the form of photographs and video primarily. People use their “pinboards” to plan events, organize otherwise scattered visual ideas, help decorate their work and play…

LaureNell.com - Simple, chic and unique fashions for women and children

Do you know those people who are absolutely impossible to shop for? Well, Merit Mile designed LaureNell.com exactly for this audience. What’s more, the site is powered by one of the most robust e-commerce engines on the planet, integrates social media igniters effortlessly, and maintains a user interface that meets the demand of both power-browsers and power-shoppers. The biggest marketing challenge associated with this launch was related to marketplace positioning. Additionally, as a start-up, Merit Mile needed to “nail it” on the first click because first impressions (literally) are the only impressions that matter when it comes down to…

Merit Mile Helps Microsoft and Key Partners Drive Revenue in the Cloud

On the B2B front, Merit Mile is helping Microsoft realize its cloud computing channel strategy with two, complementary global initiatives.

First, in an effort to help over 10,000 partners worldwide activate new cloud computing customers, Merit Mile created Microsoft Hosting University. This portal, dedicated to helping partners grasp technology and sales lesson on Microsoft SPLA, is available in six languages and features heavy doses of video and dynamically published content that is both current and relevant.

Second, Merit Mile continues the Microsoft cloud story in the offline world with the Hostapaloooza event series. In partnership with…

Cloud Can Avoid a Target-Missoni Mishap

Two weeks ago, Target’s aggressive promotion of its Missoni clothing line, which included sales online and at a pop-up store in midtown Manhattan, caused such a flurry of activity among customers that the discount retailer was forced to close the pop-up store when it ran out of merchandise. The activity also crashed Target’s Web site.

There is no way a large retailer such as Target(TGT_) should have problems like this, but nonetheless the crash happened, and small businesses relying on Web sales should take a lesson and prepare for particularly busy times or promotions.

Mark Reino, CEO of…

Creating and Seizing Momentum in 2011

Over the last few months we have had so many fun and unique professional opportunities that I wanted to kick-start this newsletter with a quick summary of recent events. With any luck, you will not only grasp the essence of the business value we are delivering to our clients, but also recognize just how much we have evolved as an agency (and how much fun we’ve had doing it) since the last time you checked in with us.

In typical Merit Mile fashion we simply had to close out 2010 with a celebration that allowed all of us to forget…

A Worthy Cause, An Impressive Site

On the pro bono front, Merit Mile has teamed with 9PickUp.com and Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse to redesign and launch their new web presence. Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse, otherwise known as AVDA, is a nonprofit organization that promotes violence-free relationships and social change by offering alternative choices to end violence and domestic abuse and provides assistance to victims of domestic abuse. AVDA collects household, tax deductible donations through AVDA Home Pickup Service— a fleet of trucks that are dispatched daily throughout the local Boca Raton and Delray Beach areas.

The…

Taming the Magento eCommerce Behemoth

When we learned we were developing a robust eCommerce solution for fashion company Laure Nell, I thought my various experiences with different CMS’ and standard eCommerce frameworks were sufficient enough to expect what was to come. From what we’d read on the topic, the documentation for Magento has improved over the past few years, though being relatively new to the platform, we were still left with many questions and almost nowhere to turn for answers.

After a few days perusing the forums, the documentation, and collaborating with our Magento consultant some relatively simple starter steps that shouldn’t have taken so…

Advertising. Itching the spot no other job can reach.

Advertising has got to be one of the greatest ways to make a living. The pace is frantic, deadlines often looming, and the landscape ever changing. Over the last two decades technology has revolutionized the way we work, think, create and communicate. One thing hasn’t changed at all however. That one thing that gets me out of bed in the morning – and keeps me focused during occasional midnight-oil burning.

The coolest thing about this business is meeting a new client. After nineteen years and hundreds of these introductions it’s still exciting. It’s more than just meeting new people…

A Best Practice for Website Data Backups & QA Testing

Two critical, yet often overlooked, aspects of website creation and management involve testing and backups. Often taken for granted and not included as part of the regular production cycle, these two tasks can make a world of difference.

Take quality assurance (QA) testin for example. Many web designers/programmers and businesses have the attitude that their website is running fine today and will continue to do so in the future – not taking into account changes in the environment including new browser releases, updated operating systems, hosting infrastructure changes, monitor and browser resolution changes and other frequent changing variables.

In order…

Hostapaloooza Rocks the World of Cloud Computing and Earns a Gold ADDY in the Process

Rock ‘n roll was not just a musical revolution; it was also one of the main voices of a social revolution that focused on individuality, freedom of expression, and diversity. The rock ‘n roll generation defied convention and created massive industries such as personal computing, which led to the greatest explosion of information availability via the Internet, and now to the easiest, most convenient, and least expensive model for application development and deployment: cloud computing.

In a guitar case, cloud-based systems enable small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to have the sophistication and business benefits of enterprise-class systems at a…

You Can Score With Online Couponing, But It’s No Slam Dunk

For savvy retailers, e-coupons have become an explosive business builder—but the operative word is “savvy.”

If you’re a CPG retailer who hasn’t added online couponing to your marketing mix, you need to. According to a recent Forrester Research report, E-Coupons Engage Customers Beyond Discounts:

• Half of coupon users who go online use e-coupons as well
• They make more money, shop online more, and talk about new products with peers more than offline coupon users do
• One-quarter of e-coupon users said they like to try new products and services before others, compared with 13% of offline-only users
• Thirty-five percent…
  
  

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Why Silverlight 4 is Redefining the Web

Since the release of Silverlight 4 and Windows Phone 7, we are starting to see a noticeable shift in how the Windows web platform is being used to benefit just about every area of the web. With Microsoft’s recent announcement in their change of strategy for browser-based application frameworks, with HTML5 Canvas and Silverlight, it’s fascinating to see the direction the market is going.

Silverlight as a framework has seen some major re-tooling over the past year and several game-changing features have caused me to rethink my priorities as a web developer. While HTML and Javascript will always…