Online paywalls are proving so profitable that over the next three years, 90% of online content will require a subscription according to new research published by Simon-Kucher & Partners. And as Youtube announces that it will soon be creating a paid-for only service, we investigate how the rise of subscriber models will change online content and news production in the near future.

Where are the paywalls?

The FT.com was one of the first to use a paywall, and recently the Telegraph announced it will be creating a section of its website for subscriber-only content. The Guardian has claimed it doesn’t plan to do so, although I predict it will dedicate at least a small section of its website to paid-for content before the end of next year. These are just a few of the forty-something percent of news outlets around the globe that have jumped on the bandwagon to try and recover from the death throes of print.

There are also a whole host of specialist industry websites that have been doing this for years, but as competition in the paid-for news sector grows, do general news and content sites really have a unique-enough offering to warrant forking out for a subscription?

Paywalls could improve standards of news reporting

A few years back Zeta’s own Roger Allen wrote that apps and subscription services would save journalism by giving people a convenient and enjoyable way to get their news fix on-the-go. To attract the commitment that a subscription warrants, and to hang on to subscribers, reporters must bring some top-notch investigative insight to the table – probably not the kind that involves hacking into answerphones that was highlighted by the Levinson enquiry. And in a similar way, with YouTube’s launch of subscription fees for YouTube channels, channel owners, and ‘superusers’ will also be encouraged to create more interesting and useful content.

But how will news be better?

Imagine you’re looking to pay for a subscription – would you choose a name you associate with trust and a reporting style that reflects your needs and values, or do you line the pockets of a media mogul whose ethics make you feel a little bit queasy?

Impulse-buying into the guilty pleasure of red-top gossip is easier to justify when purchasing hangover-cure snacks from the corner shop (you’re only lining Murdoch’s pockets with 35p after all – and those headlines are SO attention grabbing!) – however, in the cold light of day, if I’m paying for a subscription then I’d rather read something that delivers the facts about issues that affect me, mixed up with some interesting opinion and, most importantly, content I can rely on to make me sound highbrow in conversations. (Kidding!)

So, perhaps paywalls will create a more selective consumer, in turn raising the bar and placing a higher value on ‘quality’ journalism. Theoretically the reduced level of competition in the celebrity gossip market could potentially alleviate some of the pressure on journos to winkle every last gory detail from celebrity scandals, and therefore would also curtail such evil Murdochellian practises as phone hacking, and not letting the truth get in the way of a good story…

Bucking the trend

…Or maybe not. To coin a tabloid cliché, the Daily Mail is bucking the paywall trend with its free online offering. As the world’s biggest news website, the forces behind Mailonline.com have obviously thought long and hard about its market and have created a formula that is more addictive than crack cocaine, according to its editor, Martin Clarke.

The DM’s online presence differs somewhat to the printed format – content is driven by its aggressive SEO strategy and is all about gaining as many clicks as possible. The site features much less current affairs/political news than the traditional version of the paper, instead focussing more on ‘celebfotainment’ features that are monitored for clicks and churned out according to trending topics. Celebrity news holds broader appeal across the globe because it is relevant to a wider audience, evidenced by Mail Online’s demographics: 112.6m monthly global unique browsers, making it the first newspaper website to record over 100m.

The other reason for DM’s success can arguably be attributed to the controversial nature of its articles.

The ‘sidebar of shame’ – crack or wack?

Mail Online articles deliberately take a controversial angle on current affairs, diets, relationships, etc. Its reporters and SEO content editors (for that is whom DM employs to tweak the headlines to hook those all-important clicks according to an anonymous whistleblower) appear to be briefed to inflame and enrage readers, generating incredulity and multiple shares on social media – often going viral – and of course helping to net some healthy ad revenue in the process. Who could forget that Samantha Brick column?

Once you’ve landed on one article, it’s hard to get away – according to mailconnected.com, the DM’s statistic site for advertisers, MailOnline users spend on average of 43 minutes on the site. The ‘sidebar of shame’ as it has become known, is a right hand column of headlines that demand to be clicked, more often than not due to a sense of incredulity because of titles like these:

“Couch potatoes can’t help being lazy – they were BORN that way”

“Amanda Holden shows off incredibly long legs in tiny skirt as she reveals Simon Cowell’s strange toilet habits”

“Maggie did more for the workers than her Leftie critics ever did”

“The allure of ‘yellow fever’: New documentary explores why so many white American men aspire to marry Asian women”

But what of the future…?

It looks as though the DM has well and truly cornered the market for guilt-free, subscription-free (and annoyingly compelling) content that generates multitudes of clicks – a direct contrast to organisations that focus on creating content that will make people reach for their credit cards and subscribe.

The decline in print sales has caused media outlets to diversify as they face a choice:  either get serious and charge for access, or go down the Mail’s ad revenue driven route, focusing on scandal and SEO while allowing users to view the goods for free.

It would be snobbish to say that paywalls are separating the wheat from the chaff, but they are certainly creating two distinct journalistic models: one driven by clicks and SEO, the other by a need to be unique from fellow paywall competitors and create something consumers won’t find for free.

It’s a beautiful thing: on one hand you have well-written, insightful content that’s (hopefully) factual and will tell you how to think like a real grown-up person. And on the other (slightly sweatier) palm, for those occasions when you’re compelled to find out the sordid truth behind Simon Cowell’s secret toilet habits, the information is right at your smutty fingertips. No judgement.

We are looking for someone who:

• Has 5 years experience in digital design, specifically ecommerce, web and mobile
• Has a solid understanding of the technical abilities and limitations of web and mobile
• Possesses a strong, digital portfolio showing multi-platform design
• Has superb layout and typography skills
• Has a good understanding and demonstrated skills with UI/UX
• Is fully conversant in Adobe CS5 (InDesign/Illustrator/Photoshop)
• Has worked with HTML5 & CSS3 frameworks
• Is able to come up with creative and original ideas
• Has excellent verbal and written communication
• Is highly organised, used to processes with strict attention to detail
• Ensures all projects are executed within timeline and schedule

You Must Be

• A source of inspiration by bringing new ideas and concepts to work
• Driven and able to work in a fast paced environment and use initiative
• Passionate, willing to go the extra mile
• A strong team player

Desirable Skills

• A firm understanding HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ajax, jQuery, Flash
• Knowledge of video editing and motion graphics (Final Cut Pro/After Effects)

If you are a forward thinking Senior Digital Designer with good knowledge of front end development then this could be the role for you.

Our head office is based in Poole, Dorset. It is just 10 minutes from Bournemouth and two hours from London. This is where you will spend most of your time working. You may have the opportunity to work from our London office from time to time.

We also have a dead friendly team that is fanatical about everything digital. They’re a lovely bunch and will make sure you feel right at home.

Did we mention money? We’re offering a salary negotiable on experience plus bonus and benefits after your probation period.

Some other benefits

• We work from 8:30 to 5:30 Monday to Thursday and finish at 1pm on Friday
• You get free breakfast
• Our espresso machine is the best
• Two 24 inch screens and really really comfy chair

Get In Touch

Please send all applications to henry@zeta.net.

Simon Merry has been brought in as a consultant by Zeta to provide an outside view on the perceptions of our business from a client’s perspective.  Trust and confidence are of crucial importance to us in our relationships with customers, suppliers and staff. It is critical that our beliefs are projected via the way we present our company on the web. We like what Simon says and the way he says it, which is why we have invited him to contribute a series of guest posts to Zeta.net.

Trust and Confidence is Key

Our Survey Says

Put the words ‘trust’ and ‘internet’ into a search engine and one of the first results you get exclaims that 98% of people don’t trust the internet. Ok, statistics don’t have a very good reputation either, but the finding is an alarm warning for the digital industry.

Despite a lack of faith in statistics (and surveys for that matter) there is a persistent and topical question about trust in people and institutions, and things in general. There are several annual trust indicators based on opinion surveys, all revealing varying degrees of trust. For example, in the Ipsos Mori truth-telling survey, only 4 in 10 respondents expect business leaders to be honest!

When we talk about ‘trust in the internet’, we don’t so much mean the workings of the world wide web, we’re largely referring to trust in the people who ‘operate’ the web and those transacting business through the internet. This, of course, both reflects and impacts upon business leaders. But before we bemoan levels of confidence we should put things into context.

How critical is trust? First, ask yourself, ‘on a scale of 1 to 10: how important is it for consumers to have trust in the internet?’ – and then on the same scale, consider the actual level of trust consumers currently have. If the respective answers are 4 followed by 2, it’s not such an issue, but if it is 10 followed by 2 (or .02 as indicated in the survey referred to above) then we have a problem!

Again on the subject of surveys, a lot do no more than seek headlines based upon faulty comparisons. The subject might be trust, satisfaction or something else, but often it’s a comparison of ‘apples vs pears’. For example, what does the relative trust in ‘the internet’ versus ‘business leaders’ versus ‘estate agents’ really tell us? The relationships, risks and rewards are very different. However, these perverse headlines often lead to three unhelpful corporate responses: embarrassment and over-reaction, mid-table complacency and top-of-the-table arrogance. The simple score is probably of more value than the position in a league table. Bottom line: it is valuable data in the right context.

The Business Case for Trust

If you have judged that trust in the internet is not important, read no further. If you are still reading then it’s worth starting to explore why trust is so critical to effectiveness, efficiency and business outcomes.

We often hear business people talking about trust as if it were a mysterious entity driven by elusive forces; however we should be familiar with the concept because trust is a human emotion. There isn’t a league table of the most influential emotions, but if there were, ‘love’ might feature at the top with ‘trust’ not far behind.

Trust is nice to have and it brings dividends – top of the list of benefits is probably customer loyalty. Trust is inherent in close and enduring relationships – both personal and business (one piece of research identified that on average a lost customer costs £6,500 worth of effort to replace).

You probably also listed customer advocacy as a benefit of trust? That is, customers proactively telling positive stories about you, or at least not telling bad ones (of course, a negative tweet can go along way). In addition, trust brings customer feedback, tolerance and courtesy to your staff. All these dividends are important factors for growth.

This all works for larger entities as well: the global economy, national currencies, whole industries as well as the internet. Trust really does guide the marketplace.

Looking in the Mirror

Turning closer to home, you may now be asking yourself about the level of trust (and confidence) in your own business, particularly if it is influenced by wider faith in the internet. The same questions apply: how important is it that clients and customers have trust, and what level of trust do they have? Do you really know?

Further self-reflection might extend to the level of trust you secure across potential consumers in your business area. How trustworthy are your competitors? Are you a digital ambassador and are you differentiating yourself from competitors, as well as seeking to build trust in the internet?

This is the first in a series of discussions about trust and the digital industry. We finish with a return to earlier questions: on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is trust in the internet and what do consumers really think about it?

Simon Merry is the founder of ‘Trust and Confidence by Design’, a consultancy that specialises in the tools and techniques for deliberately building trust in any consumer environment.

www.trustandconfidencebydesign.com

Video can be one of the most effective mediums in the online marketer’s toolkit when it comes to promoting your business, product or service. When video is used and optimised correctly, it is possible to reach first page nirvana – even for high converting phrases…

1. Just for clicks…

Don’t just take our word for it – statistics show that videos in universal search results enjoy a 41% higher click-through rate than plain-text.
 This is because they’re given a prominent position in search results – and also because video thumbnails are far more eye catching than boring old text!

2. Get noticed

Quality also plays a large role – any marketer worth their salt knows that any content aimed at driving traffic to your site needs to be engaging, useful and intelligent – there is no quick fix when it comes to SEO. So make sure your video is well produced with a good concept, informative and to the point.

The next big thing to focus on is visibility. According to Experian Hitwise, consumers in the UK spend more than 200 million hours watching online video. But what’s the point of having a well produced video if no one can find it? By using the same principles as you would to raise the ranking of any other piece of content, you can make your video appear in search listings.

I have been experimenting with video SEO since Google introduced universal search in 2007 and found a number of easy to implement techniques that can push your video above the rest. Here’s how:

3. Do your research

It’s vital to learn what your audience is searching for. Keyword research is… key. Businesses frequently target the more generic phrases that have big search volumes but are not actually that relevant when it comes to video SEO.

3.1. Type of phrase

Generic phrase examples:

• Holidays Abroad
• Office Furniture
• Real Estate

It’s much more valuable to choose the less searched for, and more specific, informative phrases. One way to see the relevance of a phrase is to look at other sites and media that appear for a particular phrase in search – your competitors are all in the same boat so why not follow what works for them?
Informative phrase examples:

• France Vacation Reviews
• Office Furniture Comparison
• How to Succeed in Real Estate

Before beginning your keyphrase research try entering some phrases in Google and see if videos are already appearing in the web results. If videos are not in the top ten results it could mean the phrases you have picked will be very difficult and costly to get videos appearing on the first page.

It is not impossible to make a video rank highly in Google search for a competitive phrase but you will have to allocate a large portion of your marketing budget towards promoting the video in every way possible.

Google has some handy tools which enable you get an insight into how competitive a key phrase is and how much traffic it could potentially generate. The figures these tools provide are not exact, so it is advisable to only use them as a rough guide. You can also use the tool to find similar key phrase ideas.
Try:

• Google Adwords Keyword Tool
• YouTube Keyword Tool

3.2. Make Auto Suggest work for you

It’s important to understand the user intent (also known as ‘query intent’) behind a key phrase group, and you can do this by taking advantage of the ‘auto suggest’ element in Google and YouTube search. Performing manual onsite searches quickly allows you to see the suggested most popular searches and can give you some hints, ideas and recommendations for choosing the right phrase to target.

3.3. Intent

You may be wondering, what exactly is query intent? Query intent is the term given to the reason why a web user is carrying out a search. It is important to focus on query intent when you’re planning the creative direction for your video, so that Google can successfully interpret this content to fit with searcher’s motivations. Think about their end goal – are they looking to buy a product or read reviews about a service, or are they looking for a specific piece of content?

A study by aimclear.com shows how important query intent is to Google. The research was conducted to examine how query intent can both positively and negatively influence the likelihood of video indexing within Bing and Google. The keyword intent types were split into three groups; informational, transactional and navigational with 74 keywords in each group.

• Informational queries cover a broad topic (e.g., colorado or trucks) for which there may be thousands of relevant results.
• Navigational queries seek a single website, or web page of a single entity (e.g., youtube or delta air lines).
• Transactional queries reflect the intent of the user to perform a particular action, like purchasing a car or downloading a screen saver.

Searches were performed for the keyphrases in each group and the results are as follows:

• 84% of the key phrases in the informational group returned videos in search
• 18% of the key phrases in the navigational group returned videos in search
• 12% of the key phrases in the transactional group returned videos in search

So it’s clearly pretty important to consider the creative intent of your video and make sure it is aligned with how the search engine will interpret its content – maybe time to reconsider that quirky art-house style promotional video that no-one quite understands!

4. Onsite Optimisation

4.1. How to make sure search engines can interpret your video

The three categories of keyphrase intent can be worked into the video page by optimising the title and description to include them. Optimisation will vary depending on the nature of your video but there is a basic standard that can be followed to maximise exposure in search.

The main elements to focus on when optimising the video page on any video hosting site like YouTube are: Title, Description and Tags. Each of these three elements will make use of your key phrase research.

Include a descriptive informational phrase in the title that invites the viewer to click and find out more. Asking questions or making comparisons are a good way to drive engagement with your target audience. Example: “brewing beer vs lager” or “how to use photoshop”

Transactional phrases can seem spammy when used in title tags or one line sentences (“buy discount contact lenses”, “cheap holidays” etc) – not many videos rank for these type of phrases. It is easier to make transactional phrases sound more natural by using them in the video description, since you’ll have more room to work the content around the phrase.

Navigational phrases can be used in the title and work well for brands and services; I try to lead with an informational three or four word phrase and then attach the domain.com to the end of the URL. It is also good to optimise the description content to include a navigational phrase. For example, “Learn Guitar With Matt Walker of zeta.net” – zeta.net is the navigational phrase here.
OnPage Optimisation

4.1.1. Title

Keyword relevancy and positioning are considered to be some of the biggest ranking factors. Remember that people are not searching to buy stuff on YouTube; they are searching for topics that entertain or inform them – so choose your keywords wisely!

4.1.2. Keyword positioning

The placement of keywords can make a difference; I have found that putting the targeted phrase at the start of the video title can increase its chance of ranking well. Try to make the heading as clickable and alluring as possible; for example by asking a question or by creating intrigue – make the title so curious that it’s impossible not to click and see what the video is all about!

4.1.3. Description

A well thought out, detailed description that includes your chosen keyphrase can greatly improve a video’s position in search. Including your keyphrase once or twice is best practice; trying to fit it in too many times can make the description appear spammy, so be sure to make it as organic and ‘human friendly’ as possible.

You can use the description to drive the viewer to your site by linking to more information or enticing them with an offer. It is also advisable to add links to your social channels, this enables the viewer to connect directly with you or your brand.

4.1.4. Tags

Youtube uses tags for organising videos. If implemented properly, tags can give an extra boost to get your content seen by the target audience. Use the same keyphrase in both the title and the description to maintain consistency throughout the page.

If you have performed keyphrase research then chances are you’ll have already done most of the leg work when it comes to selecting and adding tags.

My tested approach is to tag the primary keyphrases, then start to look at what people might be thinking, and how they search. So if you have a video all about coffee I would add phrases such as: “how to make the perfect coffee” or “where does coffee come from”.

4.1.5. Choose a thumbnail image wisely

Most of the top video hosting sites allow you to pick an image frame from your video – this will be used as the ‘thumbnail’ image that is displayed in the search results and at the start of a video. Make good use of this feature and your video will really stand out from the rest in search verticals. Think of it as a visual call to action image – your chance to catch the viewer’s eye.

If you’re using YouTube, the site will standard-select three different thumbnail images for you to choose from, and Adwords YouTube allows you to upload a custom thumbnail image. Vimeo also allows you to upload custom thumbnail images.

4.1.6. Transcripts

YouTube gives you the ability to upload transcripts for your video. This is great from an accessibility point of view – but also offers an added video SEO benefit.

Text transcripts that are uploaded to YouTube are spider crawlable – so be sure to include your primary keyphrases – more on this later!

4.2. Self Hosting A Video

Hosting the video on your own site can be very beneficial if done right, because you can reap the rewards of increased traffic – viewers are also likely to stick around to see what else your website has to offer.

4.2.1. Embed with a crawlable player

The single best way to make sure Google can find, crawl and index your video is to create a video sitemap (more about this below) but you can help Google along a bit by choosing a video player which is 100% crawlable by search engine bots.

HTML5 is the latest standard and includes support for video, audio and dynamic graphics. Although HTML5 has entered the video scene in a big way flash is still the dominant format supported by most browsers so it order to reach as many people as possible it is advisable to use a flash player with HTML5 fallback support.

Flash video players have been the browser-supported standard for many years but they are not ideal for web crawlers as the spider bots are strongly dependent on video sitemaps to get meta information about your content. The video sitemap contains information that the the spider bot will need to analyse and index the video, such as the title, description and thumbnail.

HTML5 continues to take market share and may indeed one day become the dominant standard that is used for playing videos in browsers.

You’ll need to do a bit of research to see which player suits your needs – here’s a few options to get you started:

• JW Player – Paid
• Video JS – Open Source
• Kaltura HTML5 – Open Source

4.2.2. Content

When Google’s spiders crawl the page where your video is hosted, they will be looking for information to help Google understand the subject matter, and although search engines are pretty clever these days, the spiders can’t actually watch your video to see what it’s about.

As I mentioned earlier, one way to help search engines understand what you are targeting is to create a text transcript of the video content and add that to the page. Make sure the content is original (which shouldn’t be hard) and include the target keyphrase – but don’t over do it or you could end up being demoted for keyword stuffing.

4.2.3. Where to put keyphrases

You will need to include your keyphrases across multiple elements of the page – don’t just cram them in anywhere! The user must always come first so make sure content reads well and captures the readers’ attention. The most important areas in which to include your keyphrases are:

Title tags – the title of the page is often the first thing a user will read in the search results. It must be attention grabbing and include your keyphrases.

Main body content – the main copy on the page. Google will look at the location of your keyphrase on the page, so it’s better to put them high up to give more weight. If you find it hard to add copy you can list a transcript of the video as suggested above. Remember to include the keyphrase a couple of times in the page but don’t overdo it and make sure it reads well.

4.2.4. Video Sitemaps

It’s important to get to grips with video sitemaps when self hosting. A video sitemap works in the same way as a standard sitemap and is designed to tell Google where your video is located so that Google bots can find and index it for search. They can be created manually or by using a tool .

If done correctly you can make your video appear in universal search for selected keyphrases, as well as in the video results.

There are five required main elements that the video sitemap must contain in order for Google to pay attention to it:

• Title
• Description
• Video location page URL (creating a thumbnail image can be a great way of making the video more clickable)
• Thumbnail image location URL
• Raw video file location and/or the player URL (SWF)

As long as the video sitemap contains the information above, Google will be able to see the location of your video and add it to the video index. Google offers more parameters for the sitemap which can help Google bots understand a bit more about the video such as duration, geotargeting (A space-delimited list of countries where the video may or may not be played.) and uploader information.

Below is an example video sitemap from Google which contains the elements that can be used. To see more visit the Google support page for video sitemaps.

example

4.2.5. Submit your video sitemap

Once you have created the video sitemap you will need to submit it to Google via Webmaster Tools.

Follow these steps for Webmaster Tools sitemap submission:

1) On your Webmaster Tools home page, select your site
2) In the left sidebar, click Site configuration and then Sitemaps
3) Click the Add/Test Sitemap button in the top right
4) Enter /system/feeds/sitemap into the text box that appears
5) Click Submit Sitemap

Once the sitemap has been successfully submitted it will take some time to be processed and for Google to start indexing the page. Unfortunately there is no guarantee that Google will do this, but it is more likely if you have a relatively strong domain. Also, building links to the page in which the video is embedded can help Google find and index it faster.

5. Promotion

5.1. Reviewing Analytics / Insights

Analytics give you the ability to check out your video’s ‘playback locations’ – these are the websites that have embedded your content into a page.

5.2. Reach out!

Try reaching out to owners of the sites where your video is embedded to see if they would like to run a feature or interview about you and your brand. This is a great way to potentially achieve more exposure – the site owner has already expressed enough interest to embed your video, so there’s a good chance they’ll want to engage further.

5.3. Get social

There are many social networks that can be used to promote content, but not all will be best suited to your product or service, so a little bit of research is required to get your content in front of the right people.

Facebook and LinkedIn can be used to search for groups and pages where your topic or industry is being discussed, helping you engage with interested parties. Don’t just jump in headfirst and post your video on multiple pages though – try to build up a rapport with the posters first or you risk being considered a spammer and gaining negative attention.

Twitter is a useful resource when it comes to finding individual users who are talking about your topic and it’s easy to spot influential users. Play around with different ideas for tweets that will entice people to click on a link to your content and then share with their followers.

5.4. Embed your video into a guest post

Guest posting can be a really great way to promote your content and get it in front of a larger audience – especially if that audience is already talking about the product or service that you are promoting.

Who are the opinion leaders in your field? You could tailor an article towards their readership – make it informative and try to add value or create an emotional connection.

If your video is about a product you could write about its history, or the design and build process.

If your video is about a service you could write a case study article about it in action (just make sure it is interesting, educational and insightful).

Whatever your chosen topic, just be sure to remember the golden rule of guest posting – avoid making the copy sound advertorial or promotional in any way.

By building relationships with the blog owners you approach and engaging with commenters, you could find yourself becoming an industry thought leader. For more advice about becoming a successful writer of guest posts, we recommend an excellent blog post: ‘Apply the Golden Rule to Guest Posting’.

5.5. Use your own properties

An easy but often overlooked way to share content is to make use of your own websites, social media accounts and existing contacts. Use all the tools you already have to hand to get your video out there!

6. Review

Keep monitoring your video’s progress and make adjustments if necessary. Check up on the search terms people use to find your video, and identify the referring sites that have been sending traffic to your video page. The YouTube analytics feature provides informative data and insights which can help you.

When your video hits 500+ views you should have enough data in your analytics to narrow down which keyphrases have been performing well and which haven’t been as effective.

Look at the estimated minutes watched and the average view duration columns and single out search terms which are capturing the viewers attention. The search terms that have a higher than average view duration suggest that the viewer has found what they were looking for. Make a list of the best performing phrases and try to work additional phrases into the title, description and tags.

7. Conclusion

Video SEO is now a powerful method for brands to increase visibility in search and get a message, product or service in front of a much wider audience. Video hosting sites have become the go-to places for users who are looking for information and instructional content online – and with Google making video more and more prominent in results, the trend looks set to continue.

Take time to understand the vital elements of video SEO; research your target audience and intelligently promote your content and you can drive traffic and engagement through the roof.

I would love to hear any of your own experiences with video SEO. Please comment below or contact me on Twitter.

So what is Cispa, and what does it mean for web users?

Otherwise known as the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, Cispa has been created as a counter-cyber terrorism measure and has just been passed by the US House of Representatives.

You may recognise the name because the act hit the news last April but was thrown out after attracting a huge amount of negative media attention and protest from web users and site owners.

Under Cispa, law enforcers (ie the government, military and police) would have the right to seize user data from websites and access personal information including emails, passwords and other communication and details. It would also mean that the government could pull the plug on any site it wants if it believes there is a risk of cyber terrorism.

Why is it so controversial?

Although there are a lot of supporters who claim the measures are a necessary step to protect against the very real (and very frightening) threat of cyberterrorism, many groups are calling Cispa one of the greatest enemies of the internet. They fear it would be a gateway for governments to have control of people’s web use, removing the freedom to do what you please online – which for many people is the main appeal of the internet. Sensitive information such as health and financial details would not have to be removed from personal data records before they are shared.

…And apparently it’s not just the government who could claim access to user data. A last minute amendment to prevent employers seizing employee social media passwords was blocked on Monday’s vote, which, according to the Huffington Post, means that American citizens will be obliged to surrender their Facebook and Twitter login information if requested by their boss.

Cispa’s critics also argue that the bill would be the equivalent of placing a neon ‘hack me’ sign on the US government’s information hubs and would create a greater security risk than before.

When will it come into effect?

Cispa was backed by a majority of decision makers in the House of Representatives (288 for, 127 against) but must now go before the Senate, where senators may rewrite the bill or approve it in its current form. However it may be thrown out if the White House is not happy – Obama et al have already voiced opposition, saying: “Citizens have a right to know that corporations will be held accountable – and not granted immunity – for failing to safeguard personal information adequately”. Many are now saying that the bill has lost momentum due to senator ‘apathy’ as policy makers fire fight other high profile issues currently in the media.

Cispa supporters ‘doxed’

According to reports, members of congress who voted in favour of the bill received a taste of their own medicine after having personal details about them posted online, including phone numbers, salary and other information – not sure if two wrongs make a right here…

Quick look: internet companies for and against Cispa

What do you think?

Is CISPA a necessary measure to protect against the growing threat of cyber terrorism, or a nail in the coffin of online privacy?

During 2012 there was a steep rise in the number of mobile and tablet users visiting www.bensongroup.co.uk. It quickly became clear that clients needed a mobile-friendly experience for two reasons: 1) to provide a service across multiple platforms, and 2) to be the first packaging manufacturer to launch a responsively designed website, supporting the Group’s position as industry innovator in a competitive world – one where design is valued more highly than ever.

Zeta conducted a series of strategic actions to deliver a first class website that The Benson Group and its customers would be proud of. Stakeholder interviews, strategy workshops, detailed analysis of website data and typical customer personas all helped us plan the project in line with the Group’s business visions. The finished product was a beautiful, responsive website that delivers a consistent brand experience across multiple devices and platforms.

The payoff has been mind blowing. The number of sales enquiries generated as a direct result of people visiting the new website has risen by 162% and the amount of enquiries from mobile visitors has rocketed from 0% to 7%. As well as these figures, The Group has received many compliments from customers about the new site, helping to strengthen client relations.

“When it comes to mobile, we’re backing open web standards (HTML5). We’re confident that for government services, the mobile web is a winner, both from a user and a cost perspective.”

The government clearly understands the many advantages of a responsive approach and by embracing HTML5 (the latest mobile friendly, or ‘open’ web language) has shown it believes this to be the future of mobile development. We agree. In fact Zeta has been taking this responsive design approach for several years – here’s why.

First, know your native from your responsive

This article will explain the benefits of responsive design, but I also want to include a short explanation for each of the four mobile development options available to developers, and the pros and cons of each.

Mobile websites are a mobile version of a standard desktop site, normally hosted on a separate domain such as m.mywebsite.com. Traditionally they have often been created as an afterthought once a desktop site has gone live, and therefore can look quite different to the original version, resulting in a disjointed brand experience.

Responsive design refers to a website that adjusts to the dimensions of any device used by a visitor. Responsively designed sites are accessed from a single domain name and maintain a consistent brand experience. To see how this works in practise, try accessing www.bensongroup.co.uk from your desktop and then on a mobile device.

Web apps are HTML5 web based applications that run through a browser, as opposed to a device’s operating system (OS). Web apps use touch screen gestures, such as swiping, to deliver a native app user experience – see www.ft.com.

Native apps are designed to run on a mobile or tablet’s operating system and more often than not need to be adapted to work on different devices. They are available in app stores such as Apple’s iStore and Google’s Play and require approval before being downloaded.

Cost

It is faster and more cost effective to develop and maintain a responsively designed website compared to a native app. Unless you want to make use of core device features such as the camera, GPS or accelerometer, a native app is not required. If you do want to use them, a web app may in fact be a better option: the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is creating standards across mobile devices to enable these features to be accessed via browser application programming interfaces (API)s.

Native apps must be adapted to work on different devices. If a brand requires its app to have a presence across Apple, Android and Windows devices then three different versions must be developed and maintained. Conversely, a responsive website can be accessed from any device via a web browser – and with a single code base, responsive sites also cost far less to develop and maintain.

User Experience

A responsive website can deliver a similar app-like experience. Since Apple launched its App Store in 2008, internet technologies have developed rapidly to keep up with user’s expectations of how a website should work on mobile devices. A responsive site can make use of touch gestures, such as swiping, and provide a similar interactive experience as a native application.

SEO

Search engine optimisation is the backbone of any B2B brand and integral to B2C operations – however native apps cannot be optimised because all the content is locked inside and therefore is inaccessible to search engines. With a responsively designed site, content is engineered in a way that is picked up by Google and can be found by searchers. This is a no-brainer for any brand that embraces SEO and wants to continue building its audience.

Increased ability to broaden audience reach

If your native app isn’t promoted by the companies that own an app store, the task of getting users to download it can be challenging. Being in the app store may sound impressive to the casual observer, but in reality it actually removes you from the ever-expanding traffic on the web.

A responsive design approach also reaps the benefits of social media, ‘deep linking’ and inbound traffic from search engines. Deep linking is when people can link to a specific piece of content on your website – whereas with a native app, users can only create a link to the app store to download it.

No Barrier

With a responsively designed website your content is open and available for everyone to enjoy. However if you were to place this content within the walled confines of a native app, your visitors will have to tackle what could best be described as a virtual obstacle course. To access content, users must first:

• Click to visit an app store
• the store info, reviews and then click to download
• Log into their store account
• Wait for download
• Load onto their phone

Approval process

Responsive design enables you to take complete publishing control of your content, whereas native apps are subject to an approval process by Apple and/or Google. Although Google can generally be quite lax with its approval process, Apple is a tougher nut to crack and apps can take weeks, if not months, to be accepted.

A responsive design website is hosted by you on your domain – giving total control of publishing, updates and future feature add-ons.

Updates and Features

Every time you want to release an updated version of a native app, it must go through a whole new approval process. For Apple this normally takes around eight days, however it isn’t unusual to have to wait longer, thus hindering the progress of any urgent updates required as a result of customer feedback and analytics data. A responsive website allows you to be agile and make improvements quickly.

We’re with the government on this one

So when it comes to mobile, don’t be too hasty to go native without first exploring a responsive approach. When you consider the bigger picture of time, cost and marketing; responsive design is the clear winner – so we’re pleased to see the UK government leading by example on the future of mobile internet.

The successful candidate will instantly take up an integral role in the design & delivery of technical projects, generating new ideas and bringing them to reality.

Key Experience

• Developing complex browser-based apps using CSS3 / JavaScript / HTML5
• Ensuring cross-browser and device compatibility for complex browser-based apps
• Advanced knowledge of HTML5 / JavaScript / CSS3 functionality & limitations

Essential Knowledge

• JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3
• Canvas
• Common Javascript libraries (like JQuery)
• HTML5 mobile web apps
• Responsive design principles

Desirable Knowledge

• Interface Design
• APIs (such as Spotify Apps, Facebook)
• UI/UX principles
• Object Oriented Programming
• Other desirable web technologies (AJAX, PHP, MySQL, Python, Ruby)
• WordPress
• Native mobile application knowledge (iOS, Android)

If this is you – and you’re up for getting stuck into some exciting projects with one of the best agencies since sliced bread – then drop us a line.

Our head office is based in Poole, Dorset. It is just 10 minutes from Bournemouth and two hours from London. This is where you will spend most of your time working. You may have the opportunity to work from our London office from time to time.

We also have a dead friendly team that is fanatical about everything digital. They’re a lovely bunch and will make sure you feel right at home.

Did we mention money? We’re offering a salary negotiable on experience plus bonus and benefits after your probation period.

More benefits of working with Zeta

• We work from 8:30 to 5:30 Monday to Thursday and finish at 1pm on Friday
• Relaxed and fun working environment
• Breakfast is on us!
• Our espresso machine is legendary
• High end technology including 2x 24 inch monitors
• An interactive jukebox: everyone gets a fair share of their music played in the office
• Central location in Poole with good transport links

Please send your CV and covering letter to our Technical Director Aidan Thomson aidan@zeta.net.