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I’ve just put the finishing touches to the new look Caffeinehit. I thought it was about time it had a bit of a sprucing up and spring clean. Being the 1st birthday and all it seemed a very suitable time!

It would be great to hear what you think, so leave some comments here…

Check it out here: www.caffeinehit.com

Mobile phone operator O2 recently lost a ground-breaking court battle over the use of its trademark bubbles advertising imagery.

The company was told by judges that it was legal for rival operator 3 to use its branding if comparing price plans - opening the way for any business to use a competitor’s logo. Companies must only ensure there is no risk of confusing the two brands, the European Court of Justice ruled.

02 took 3 to court after it used the award-winning blue bubbles branding in an advert comparing the prices of the two companies’ pay-as-you-go services. The EU judges ruled this was not trademark infringement as long as the branding was not abused.

So, is this right? Well, I don’t personally believe that a competitor should be able to use another companies branding in any way. In some way or form it gives the illusion of endorsement. Not only that but it does detract from your carefully constructed brand values. An obvious example are the top supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda. Having the Waitrose logo in some way or form in an Asda advert isn’t going to do Waitrose any favours, obviously very different audiences for each shop so maybe that’s a bad example but you see what I mean.

It would be great to hear your views…

O2 to Launch iPhone 3G in the UK on July 11 O2 today announced that the innovative iPhone 3G will be available in the UK on July 11 for free on selected O2 consumer and business tariffs and that it will also be available for Pay & Go customers.

Existing iPhone customers will be able to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G, taking advantage of the same great offers as new customers. iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK.

”The iPhone is already a phenomenal success in the UK and now we’re making this revolutionary product more affordable for even more customers,” said Ronan Dunne, CEO of O2 in the UK. “iPhone quickly became our fastest selling device ever and with this new pricing, iPhone 3G is an unbeatable proposition.”iPhone 3G will be available in the UK through O2, Carphone Warehouse and Apple sales channels with the early upgrade offer for existing customers only available through www.o2.co.uk/iPhone where anyone can also register their interest in iPhone 3G for regular news and updates.

The 8GB model will cost just £99 on a new £30 per month tariff and the existing £35 per month tariff. Consumers choosing either the £45 or £75 per month tariffs will get the 8GB iPhone 3G for free. The 16GB iPhone 3G will cost £159 on the £30 and £35 tariffs, £59 on the £45 tariff and it will be free on the £75 tariff.

All customers will continue to receive unlimited data browsing over O2’s HSDPA network and unlimited access to 9,500 Wi-Fi hotspots through both The Cloud and now BT Openzone.

Both the 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3G will also be available for O2 Pay & Go customers with pricing to be confirmed in the coming weeks. Fit for Business iPhone 3G will also be available on current O2 business tariffs as a monthly bolt on, with the device available for free on the majority of business tariffs on a 24 or 36 month contract.

iPhone 3G business customers can also receive many of the same benefits as existing O2 business customers including unlimited calls between O2 customers, unlimited calls to ten landlines, shareable minutes and texts between users plus multi-user billing and activation and free, 24×7 access to business customer care specialists.

It’s a strange thing, I never REALLY thought that I would be having to consider online marketing and SEO when I design sites. I have however, over the years found myself thinking about it more and more.

It’s obviously an incredibly important aspect to any business, especially an online one. I have found that around 80% of my business comes through people finding Caffeinehit on Google, 15% through referrals and the the other 5% through chance or at networking events.

You can definitely monetize your business through careful coding and linking before you even consider spending any marketing spend on Google AdWords. Sure advertising will bring in the traffic but that traffic will only be coming to your site while you’re shelling out hard cash on your ad campaigns. A clever webmaster or marketing manager will think twice about a) how they build their website b) how they maintain it on a constant basis and c) exactly what it is they’re trying to do with their product before they start throwing cash down the drain on Adwords etc.

I appear (by some chance) to have come up with a formula that works very effectively with the search engines.

So, if you need help with your online marketing and SEO please do drop me a line. I know that I can help improve your traffic, decrease your marketing spend and boost sales.