Zeta News

Zeta Director Henry Waterfall-Allen is running the Virgin London Marathon this month for LOROS, a charity based in his home county of Leicestershire.

Henry must raise £2000 in sponsorship money to take part. He’s already found over £1000 worth of sponsorship, but time is running out fast and he needs your help to meet his target!

LOROS (the Leicestershire and Rutland Organisation for the Relief of Suffering) is a local charity providing care and support within Leicestershire and Rutland.

LOROS offers a free service to people in the local area regardless of their ethnicity or faith. The Charity relies upon donations to provide its services. more…

Here at Zeta we’re pretty confident that our skills are the best around when it comes to all things design and digital – so we decided to put this to the test by entering an official league table.

This is the first time we’ve put ourselves up for scrutiny by the Drum Design 100 top agency register, so we’re pretty chuffed to have been ranked as no 71 in the UK. The Drum 100 list recognises industry leading agencies and is compiled according to fee income – so we’d like to say a very big ‘thank you’ to all our clients for being part of the Zeta success story and helping us make the listings.

We’re looking forward to being able to make some really exciting announcements later this year so watch this space to discover how one of Zeta’s own apps is about to hit the big time on the Spotify platform!

To experience how Zeta’s down-to-earth, results driven approach puts us in a different league, call us today on 01202 912416.

Zeta is one of the hottest digital agencies on the south coast. We’re based in Poole: just minutes from the beach and a quick trot from the train station.

Our work demands and client list are growing and we need a front-end developer to code our standards-compliant, responsive websites. You need to have a good understanding of the web to help our project team deliver flawless products to our exacting standards.

We are looking for someone who:

• Can code standards compliant (X) HTML and CSS
• Knows HTML5 & CSS3
• Loves jQuery (and Javascript in general)
• Has a burning desire to code beautiful responsive websites
• Has good Wordpress skills
• Has a real passion for the internet and digital technology
• Likes keeping up with the latest developments in web technology

It would be great if you:

• Work with CSS frameworks
• Have knowledge of PHP; able to work with existing code/templates/etc
• Know PhoneGap
• Know mobile JS frameworks
• Are familiar with Zen Cart and Magento
• Have experience in a digital agency environment
• Can hack some Flash when required

If this is you – and you’re up for working with one of the best agencies since sliced bread – then drop us a line.

Our head office is based in Poole, Dorset: just 10 minutes from Bournemouth and two hours from London. This is where you will spend most of your time working. Although you may have the opportunity to work in 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. They’ll also make sure you get everything you want out of your sparkly new job.

The salary depends on experience but it includes a bonus and benefits – and you get free breakfast and as many cappuccinos as you can drink. Make sure you let us know your salary expectations so no-one is left disappointed.

We’d guess you’ll have some good experience in doing the things mentioned above. We’d also imagine you’re extremely ambitious and hungry for a role that grows quicker than you can say “Digital Superstar”. You may have a degree, but we’re not that bothered really. We just want to know you eat, sleep and breathe HTML.

If you’re still reading then we’d love to hear from you. Send us your CV, but make sure you mention anything you think we’d like to know about you in your covering email (especially the items on our nice-to-haves list) and don’t forget your salary expectations, some examples of your code and a link to your blog and twitter profile.

Have you ever started to type something into Google, and spookily had the search engine’s autocomplete function finish the sentence for you?

It happened to me the other day – I wanted to find out why the moon is more visible at daytime in winter. I began to type ‘why is the moon…’ and was surprised to see that, as if by magic, Google seemed to have guessed what I was thinking – the rest of the sentence appeared in the search field before I had typed it.

I knew this must be something to do with Google’s algorithms and not an act of witchcraft – but then again, it was a dark and spooky night on a full moon – could it be that my browser was haunted?

Is Google Haunted?

Last week, our very own Brad Fry debunked the myth when he was approached by ABC News to comment on the search engine’s ‘psychic’ powers. The article gives focus to the amusing / insulting phrases that are generated when one types ‘Barack Obama is..’ into Google.

Speaking to the US news channel, Brad explained that Google’s search suggestions are not a result of mind reading powers, but in fact are generated by the things that other users around the world have been searching for: “The Autocomplete suggestions are not manually influenced by Google except in extremely rare cases”, Brad told them. “Google is a machine that reflects the activity of its users.”

To read the full article, click here

Zeta is based in Poole, with offices in London and Shanghai. We have a broad client base and also work on our own development ideas. Some exciting new projects are coming up in 2012, so we are looking for a new PHP developer to join the team in our Poole office. This is a brand new role which would give you a unique opportunity to develop skills, working directly with our lead developer, Sarah.

As an extremely ambitious individual, you’ll need to have:

• 1-2 years experience coding dynamic websites using:
• Linux (preferably but Windows is OK)
• Apache
• MySQL
• PHP
• HTML
• CSS
• Some experience integrating with JS libraries such as Query
• An understanding of the difference between procedural and OO methodologies
• The ability to break complex problems down into simple steps

It would be nice if you knew:

• Linux command line
• Subversion
• Wordpress
• Magento
• Phonegap

We’ve got people from all walks of life at Zeta, making our offices an energetic and exciting place to work. Despite our 12 years in the industry we have a strong start up culture. We expect people to be driven, self motivated and most importantly have passion for their work; but we also have a very flexible working environment and excellent benefits. We’re open minded when it comes to qualifications – if you are genuinely brilliant at what you do, we don’t mind if you don’t have a degree background.

Our environment is open plan and full of creative energy – innovation is encouraged here. You’ll be working directly alongside our lead developer; directors of the company; and the talented teams in our marketing and creative departments. We all pitch in to get the job done and fully expect to support each other.

We’re offering a starting salary of 18-21K depending upon experience, and that will rise as you progress. You’ll also get entry into the company pension scheme and free breakfast – our espresso machine makes the best coffee this side of Costa Rica!

Our working hours are designed to give staff an excellent work-life balance – we work from 8:30 to 5:30 Monday to Thursday and finish at 1pm on Fridays.

Now we’ve told you a bit about us – so we want to hear all about you! Please send your CV and covering letter to careers@zeta.net or, if discretion is required, Brad Fry directly at brad@directors.zeta.net.

Google only shows one or two videos in any search result. That means the innovative business that is using high quality video within their online presence can score well above the competition and claim a higher percentage of traffic. That’s critical. So is getting the message across in a succinct and instantly understandable format.

Video thumb prints, displaying the company brand, in the first three organic results on page 1 is a great start. Then, punching your message in through a clever video straight away afterwards will mean game set and match on the enquiry before the opposition has rewritten its endlessly boring pages of text. The phone call has been made, the email sent or the goods purchased all because the client loves to play a video. Video on page 1 gets to the nub of the issue quickly. The faster it’s possible to do stuff the more impatient we become. It’s instant gratification time online. more…

Are you a self-confessed language geek? Do you dream up winning strap lines in your sleep? Zeta is one of the brightest digital agencies on the south coast, and we’re scouting for hot new copywriting talent to strengthen our creative department.

If you…

• Consistently produce inventive, original material
• Have experience in creating marketing and advertising copy
• Are a stickler for good grammar
• Think strategically but enjoy getting your hands dirty on the tactical stuff
• Take no prisoners when proofreading
• Tailor your writing according to audience
• Are succinct
• Get a kick from learning new skills
• Are passionate about every single project you undertake

…you could be who we are looking for

more…

Zeta is expanding its mobile application development team to include a mid-weight iOS developer. You’ll need to be fluent in Objective C, familiar with the app development and approval process and be able to show us some apps you have worked on from start to finish.

When you need a rest from mobile application development, you’ll be helping out with back- to front-end integrations on ASP.net websites and working closely with our dedicated front-end developers to skin ASP.net applications built to wire frames. more…

Leading digital agency Zeta, and their sister company, video SEO agency 99moves have teamed up with a collection of up and coming young filmmakers to create a short film. The short film, entitled ‘The Storm’, (Watch and share ‘The Storm’) is a fresh and insightful way for 99moves and the group to lend their voices to the debate surrounding the abolishment of the UK Film Council. By commissioning the short film Zeta and 99moves hoped to offer home grown talent not only the chance to cut their teeth in film making but also the chance to showcase their opinion on the Arts Budget cuts in a fresh and innovative way. more…

Leading digital agency, Zeta, plans to start the New Year with a re-brand and fresh marketing strategy that will aim to show businesses all over the world that Zeta can contribute to real business success, growth and profit in 2011.

This year Zeta has already taken steps to extend its offering: an office in London, new staff acquisitions and more recently a partnership with Marketing and PR Company, Tandem Marketing.

As well as delivering successfully innovative campaigns for its clients, Zeta has been developing and enhancing its product to offer a diverse range of services to meet the current market demands. more…

Zeta is one of the hottest digital agencies on the south coast. We’re based in Poole: just minutes from the beach and a quick trot from the train station.

Our work demands and client list are growing and we need a front-end developer to code our standards-compliant HTML templates. This is a dual role with an element of technical QA – you need to have a good understanding of the web to help our project team deliver flawless products to our exacting standards. more…

Zeta, now in its 11th year, is a market leader in innovative search marketing techniques as well as a provider of integrated marketing services. After successfully offering video SEO services to a selection of clients, the directors at Zeta identified a gap in the market for video SEO and so 99moves was established to become number 1 in video SEO.

99moves’ goal is to allow agencies and brands that work with film, video and TV to reach into the Google audience and offer them a creative new way of looking at search.

Search remains the leading advertising format in Europe with the strongest year-on-year growth rate of 26% (Source: IAB Europe, July 2009), making it the perfect time for 99moves to establish itself in the video SEO market. more…

Over the past week, the editorial team here at Zeta has been conducting a little experiment: we decided to update our blog every day to see if it increased the traffic to our site. It seems that our experiment has paid off. Yesterday Aimee wrote a very interesting post about the latest Breast Cancer Awareness campaign on Facebook, only to then get a call from the BBC World Service. The leading radio station asked Aimee to take part in their regular, and very popular, segment ‘Have Your Say’ to discuss the perils of publicity.

The saying suggests all publicity is good publicity, but is that true? With the innuendo-riddled Breast Cancer campaign and Richard Curtis’ controversial 10 / 10 video causing uproar, the nature of publicity is under the spotlight.

Aimee’s fresh opinion coupled with expert industry knowledge made her the perfect guest for the show. She reiterated her position on the Facebook campaign, explaining that it succeeded in getting people taking but could have done more to integrate with Breast Cancer Awareness’ ongoing campaigns. It’s fair to say she did us proud!

I spent the end of last week working at the Zeta London office and enjoying the hustle and bustle of the city. But but having just spoken to a client who is working from home today due to the London Tube strike, I am thankful that I don’t have to work every day in the big smoke.  Although I might have accumulated an extra day off from doing so?!

The strike is part of a protest against plans to cut 800 ticket office jobs. The cuts will see jobs axed at over 250 ticket offices all over the network. more…

An introduction to me …

It was a seemingly uneventful day in June as I sat quietly Googling content-writing jobs on my Mac at home, in the vain hope of finding some freelance work.  I had made a couple of enquiries, only to discover that freelance content-writing paid very poorly, and was beginning to lose the will to live or, at least, to ever find work again, when by a mysterious stroke of luck, I came across an advert for a job at a digital agency in Poole by the name of ‘Zeta’.  “What was this all about?” I wondered and trundled off on the Google trail once more.  I discovered that not only is ‘zeta’ the 6th character of the Greek alphabet, but it also describes the 6th brightest star in a constellation, so was this the inspiration behind the company logo?  I decided to find out more, and to cut a long story short, I found myself being interviewed by Roger, Brad and Aimee just ten days later!

So what was the significance of the number 6?  Apparently Zeta began with just six employees in January 2000, the same time as my life was about to change completely when I discovered I was carrying my first child.  During those ten years the headcount at the local Zeta office has doubled in size, meanwhile I have endeavoured to raise two well-grounded and culturally-aware children with reasonable success.  (Fortunately I have not doubled in size, although I did do an excellent impression of a skittle during my pregnancy!)  I should point out here that during those ten years the size of the Zeta Commerce business actually increased by a factor of 40, which speaks volumes (and also keeps the boss happy!).  And so it was, on a warm and sunny Monday in July, that my life was once again about to change completely when I was offered the role of ‘QA Controller’ here at Zeta. more…