Gencia provide many and varied bespoke creative and technical solutions to suit the unique requirements of each of our clients. This post outlines the logical step-by-step process that we use to define the scope of a small to medium size development project.

At the beginning of the  process the client usually has one or more objectives in mind and a specific requirement, such as the development of a website. At this point the detail of the project has not yet been defined but, naturally the client wants to know what the solution will cost before they commit to the work. This creates a dilemma because it is usually not possible to accurately price the work without first completing a large proportion of it – namely the technical specification – which is the part of the project that informs the man hours and costs for development.

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It's official, Google and Flash are now friends. Google recently announced the introduction of an algorithm which will crawl your SWF files and index the text and links within.

No doubt many web designers who are partial to Flash will find their jobs will be made somewhat easier as they can begin to build sites safe in the knowledge that they can be picked up by the spiders, though the question for me, as a web developer with an SEO interest, is will the Google spiders find Flash embedded with SWFObject or FlashObject?

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At the time of writing it has just been reported that the 18th teenager has been knifed to death in our capital this year, but should we be surprised at the rise in gun and knife crime in the UK?

I don't think so.  We've been marketing it in the media for the last 50 years and we're getting better at it all the time.

Don't get me wrong, I've never been a big advocate of censorship, however I've always felt that, particularly in the UK, we've always been much more hung up about sexual content than we have been about graphic violence. Instinctively that feels all wrong to me.

I like my action movies just as much as the next guy but how can we possibly believe in the power of marketing and yet argue that violence in movies, on TV and in computer games does not have an influence on the young and impressionable. They are two sides of the same coin. If we can influence kids in to buying our brand of consumer goods we can also play our part in turning them toward a life of knife carrying and violence.

We are bombarded with violent imagery day after day in the news we read, the films we watch and the music we listen to. It's everywhere. Is it at all realistic to think that we are not influenced by an ultra-violent TV show but we suddenly become impressionable during the commercial break? No, we reap what we sow. We are influenced by what we see and what we see is an image of a violent society. It should come as no suprise that it is reflected back at us.

A certain irony struck me about this battle of the titans as I watched the latest developments. Viacom are going after Google for copyright infringement on their YouTube website, claiming that they don't do enough to stop their users from uploading protected material. Google say that the site is intended primarily for users to upload their own personal videos but that they can't stop users from uploading copyrighted stuff. Can that really be the case? I don't think so.

It's pretty apparent that Google do little policing of the content on the YouTube site. Admittedly porn is kept to a minimum but that's purely self serving. Google don't want YouTube to turn into a niche - even if it's a BIG niche like porn. No, they want users. They want all the users they can get. Everyone. They want you! More users means more advertising revenue. If that means they need to turn a blind eye to blatant copyright infringement then so be it.

Google recently scored a legal victory as Viacom's claim to get access to the Youtube code and even more critical intellectual property was shot down in court. Viacom argued that the only way to check if Google’s claim that its code couldn’t determine between infringement and non-infringement was to see the code. The judge denied Viacom’s request. The irony in all that is that it seems that Google are willing to vehemently protect their own intellectual property while displaying a flagrant disregard for everyone elses.

Viacom continue to argue that Google are actively using copyright infringing material on the Youtube site to increase their advertising revenues and that Google does little to control, block or remove infringing videos. However, Viacom's blatant attempt also to gain competitive advantage by getting access to Google's code continues to muddy the waters.

For my part, I'd like to see Viacom win the overall battle. Youtube does a lot to feed the culture of stealing content from the internet.  We've had our websites and content  copied word for word by people who didn't have the talent to do it for themselves. The stealing of music and movies continues to increase and it's easy to laugh behind our hands at the whinging of monolithic record companies who've 'stolen' royalties from artists for decades, but it's the artists, songwriters, performers and the like who lose out in the end. Steal the work that they've poured their heart and soul into and you pull the rug out from under their excellence. It's too easy to say that music and art will just find a new way to prosper and we're only hurting the evil corporates who've had their time. For the cream to rise to the top, there has to be a payday. Without  it, we'll be left in a mire of mediocrity.

It's already happening and YouTube feeds the myth that all this amazing, incredible content is 'free' and just belongs to the internet, when in reality, hard work, talent and occasional genius has never been free.

We'll miss it when it's gone.

A very talented marketer friend of mine reminded me the other day that it's not always what you say that counts, it's often the way that you say it.

One thing that can ruin your credibility faster than a very fast thing when it comes to your marketing communications is bad spelling! Don't rely on spell checkers and don't check your own work. You'll tend to read what you think you've written, not necessarily what's on the page.  Get someone else to read through your work BEFORE you press the button.

The key to the success of any sales or marketing campaign is the calibre of the product or service you offer and whether your prospective clients are interested in purchasing it.

Marketing planning is therefore the essential first key step in your campaign and the time invested here will pay dividends. Planning identifies the proposition (products / services), messaging and establishes the prospective client base that will give you the greatest chance of success.

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If you're involved in SEO, or have the Google Toolbar installed in your browser, chances are you'll have come across Google PageRank.

It's basically a score for your website out of 10 based upon how important Google think you're page is in the whole scheme of interweb searchery.

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We recently created a new website for Gardner Berke

They are a traditional law firm based in Manchester. They're also two great guys who really enjoy helping people and I have to admit they have helped the Gencia team out with the odd driving related 'issue' with great success. I can't recommend them highly enough.

This is a story from their website which I had to steal for our blog because it makes me chuckle every time I read it:-

Two British patrol officers from North Berwick, east of Edinburgh, were involved in an unusual incident, while checking for speeding motorists on the A1 Great North Road.