Search Engine Marketing Specialist & Challenge Junkie

Jan

21

Windproof Umbrella – Blunt Umbrella Review

90% of the year I live in Singapore and despite the usually beautiful sunny weather there is also a lot of heavy rain showers particular in the later months of the year. Having decided to head home to the UK for Christmas this year I was asked the usual question of what I’d like for Christmas.

It sounds pretty lame, but literally the only thing I needed at the time was an umbrella (since bizarrely enough I hadn’t got round to purchasing one in Singapore, and was therefore constantly getting soaked or stuck in coffee shops).

Ordinarily I’d just look for something cheap and cheerful that would get the job done, but since it was for Christmas I figured what the hell lets see what the options are (yes, it was a slow Christmas and I was a little bored).

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Read More» Posted by bendrush | 2 comments

Jan

18

Sony – A Modern Fable of Terrible PR and Customer Relations

Business / General

Back in August 2011 Sony announced their high end Nex-7, a mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera to lead the existing Alpha series. With a hugely impressive feature list the Nex-7 became arguably the most anticipated camera of the year, packing in DSLR features and quality into a more compact body.

Sony also announced that the Nex-7 would go on sale to the general public in October later that year, but with the terrible flooding in Thailand hitting the Sony production chain they were unable to meet this original time frame. Across the web there was widespread disappointment, but obvious understanding of the unforeseen circumstances.

Since then however Sony have consistently demonstrated their ability to alienate and frustrate their loyal customers. As we approach the end of January only a small fraction of customers have received their Nex-7, but the real issue is the total lack of communication from Sony on when additional stock is due or inconsistent statements from service staff and retailers alike.

Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Read More» Posted by bendrush | 3 comments

Jan

13

Review of Strava – An Online Training Tool and Community

Cycling / Running

With the explosion of social media more and more niche communities and tools are sprouting up that allow you to share your workouts with others online.

I Personally love these kinds of tools and communities for a number of reasons:

I like having my training and workout information online, so I can access it from multiple locations and devices.
Making something public (like your training or a specific challenge) reinforces most peoples desire to not fail, increasing the likelihood that you aren’t going to miss sessions and let things slide.
Niche communities in particular allow for interaction with others, participating in similar activities. This allows you to share workout ideas and compare your performance against others, which further adds to that sense of motivation to out-do someone else and not let them out-do you.

I currently use 2 main sites: Strava (which I am convering here) and Garmin Connect. The following article is a personal review of Strava, which in my opinion is massively under marketed at the moment given its functionality and the opportunity.

Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Read More» Posted by bendrush | 0 comments

Jan

10

Philips Airfryer Review – HD9220

Product Reviews

Being the generous type I recently bought my parents the very popular Philips Airfryer HD9220 from Amazon for Christmas. I can testify that it is indeed hugely popular because I had a right job finding any in stock (I actually failed miserably and had to give it to my folks in January).

Any way, I thought I’d take the time to write a little review on the product as so far we’ve all been suitably impressed with its output.

The Philips Airfryer follows in the foot steps of the Tefal Actifry offering a healthier alternative to deep fat frying, as they both utilise minimal oil in the process of cooking your food.

From the reviews and forum discussions I observed prior to ordering the Airfryer a lot of people seemed to utilise them for cooking chips, but it’ll do plenty of other items as well including chicken nuggets, fish fingers, steak, pork chops, hamburgers, sausage rolls, drumsticks and chicken breast. To cut a long story short, if you can put it in your oven then chances are high it’ll be fine to go in your Airfryer.

Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Read More» Posted by bendrush | 0 comments

Jan

04

Where to Start with SEO and How to Get an SEO Job

Business / Search Engine Optimisation

Whether you’re looking for your first job or a career change the SEO industry offers you a fantastic opportunity right now. I’ve worked in the industry since 2005 and basically self taught myself all of the necessary and desirable skills using the steps below.

I’ve also recruited a number of individuals into SEO roles over the last 3.5 years, so I like to think I’m well placed to advise on how to become a highly desired SEO candidate.

In all my time recruiting SEO candidates and talking to others in a similar boat, two consistent themes have been ever present through the identification and interview phase:

There is lots of people who claim they do SEO, but get found out very quickly.
There is very low supply and very high demand for those who clearly do know how to do SEO.

The beauty of the SEO industry today is that learning SEO will broaden your skill set into many other areas that you may specialise in at a later point in time. No longer is SEO simply about knowing the technical requirements that should be embedded into a website, now its about social media and participation, graphic design, content generation and so much more.

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Read More» Posted by bendrush | 3 comments