In October and November of last year, What Works Online delivered a total of 4 live digital marketing webcasts which featured experts from Reed Business Information presenting their tips and advice in the areas of:

• Website Usability
• SEO
• PPC
• Online Advertising
  
• Email Marketing
• Social Media.

These presentations are now available for you to view in your own time, on-demand. Simply follow the links below.

Go to the On-Demand Auditorium

If you have any questions, feedback or for further information email: whatworksonline@rbi.co.uk

The new year is as good a time as any to review and improve the way you work. With a good user experience now widely seen as the key attribute of many high-tech products, it makes sense to review your own products to see how you can give them that user experience edge.

Here are 20 quick, simple and virtually free ideas you can apply in 2012

1. Run a usability test
2. Improve your navigation
3. Review your user guidance
4. Refine the UX vision
5. Launch a survey
6. Identify your top 5 red routes
7. Describe your primary user
8. Run a cognitive walk through
9. Measure yourself against best practice
10. Review your mobile channel
11. Stand on the shoulders of giants
12. Define a user experience objective
13. Deign a paper prototype
14. Make a site visit
15. Take your user's perspective
16. Think beyond the obvious
17. Review your visual design
18. Evaluate your error messages
19. Audit your system for accessibility
20. Embed usability into your company's processes

In an age of busy mailboxes, 'media saturation'  and semi-spam - the need to make your email catch the recipients eye is greater than ever.

So - how about an email that scrolls sideways? You don't see those everyday.

'There's a reason for that!' , cry the sceptics. Certainly, there is no need for every email to scroll sideways. However, if you look at this selection of examples compiled by Style Design, it is a novelty, a break from the norm that might lend itself to a particular campaign/product or service, there are even a few B2B examples. You can't say you wouldn't enjoy receiving this.

View entire showcase here

If you were to consider building and sending one of these however, it is important to test how it render in different email clients. Having a novelty that breaks is hardly worth having at all.

Here are the top links to external sources that we tweeted this past week:

• A one-stop shop from Google for consumer trends, marketing insights and industry research. - #digital #marketing http://t.co/RS8dECdU
  
  
• Marketing Interactions blog by @ardath421 well worth a look for #b2b marketers - get a psychic pizza http://ow.ly/7kUXU #b2b #marketing
  
  
• A stats round-up of mobile commerce in the UK - good section on obsatcles - http://ow.ly/7kV54 Via @Econsultancy #mobile #marketing
  
  
• "Survey Finds a B2B Content Gap" - interesting, good stats on lead times, online frustrations and social media too - http://t.co/6KeOn9uD

For more links like these follow @WhatWorksOnline on Twitter

This selection of SEO charts and diagrams, compiled originally by Pamela Vaughan over at Hubspot , is great for if you are trying to get your head around search engine optimisation.

You may want to leave the 'doing' part to the professionals but these charts should certainly help you to understand how and why SEO can help your business' digital marketing strategy.

Cycle of Social & SEO by TopRank Online Marketing

Looking for display advertising inspiration?

The links below are a good selection of advertising showcases, giving you good creative and strategic examples in a variety of different formats. Credit to Jack Walkington at Brand Republic for compiling the original list, to which I have added a few:

• Bannerblog

• Collective Video Ad Creative Gallery
  
  
• EyeWonder Online Ad Showcase
  
  
• Flashtalking Showcase
  
  
• Google DoubleClick Rich Media Gallery
  
  
• IAB US Rising Stars
  
  
• MediaMind's Creative Zone
  
  
• Microsoft Advertising
  
  
• Mojiva Mobile Creative
  
  
• Unanimis Campaign Gallery
  
  
• Yahoo! Rich Media Gallery
  

For more links like these follow What Works Online on Twitter @WhatWorksOnline

Here are the top links to external sources that we tweeted this past week:

• Trying to link social media and #email? This post is a good place to start (random share buttons is not) ow.ly/70wHq #b2b
  
  
• 10 informative B2B marketing infographics via @Econsultancy - j.mp/r4dN4u
  
  
• Marketers building a funnel - A good resource to have is this guide to lead nurturing from @Eloqua ow.ly/71P9Q #b2b
  
  
• Following closely the Storyboading & #UX series on @johnnyholland - Part 1 ow.ly/6ZAmR and Part 2 ow.ly/6ZAwH so far...

Here are the top links to external sources that we tweeted this past week:

• "Amateurish photoshoppers like I - Grab a copy of this, one page of useful shotcuts - ow.ly/6XgtL #design"
  
  
• "Reaching an audience on the move? This infographic on designing emails for mobile should help - ow.ly/6XfXM #b2b #email"
  
  
• "Need to swat-up on social media? This collection of @slideshare presentations is a good place to start - ow.ly/6VTuy #b2b #sm"
  
  
• "Increasing product engagement using #email - Good case study, relevant to #b2b products/services @MarketingSherpa - ow.ly/6UIvh"
  
  
• "Interested/intrigued by mobile ads? @Mojiva have a great showcase of mobile ads by type http://ow.ly/6SfDd #b2b #mobile"
  
  
• "Considering using infographics? Learn the 4 different types and what each is good for here - http://ow.ly/6SfyE Via @Eloqua #b2b"

Google has recently been looking to make display advertising more accessible and inclusive. This activity is presented in a series of colourful videos on a new microsite elusively entitled Watch This Space. If you look around this site you can get some great ideas about how you can make your online advertising space work best for you. These include:

Targeting
The more relevant your advertising, the better the response will be. This is even the case on B2B sites where positioning your ad in the right channel can be far more effective than merely being on the right site.

Creativity
We have moved beyond just banner ads. There is now a trend amongst publishers towards bigger, but fewer, ad formats on the page. This not only means that the advertiser has a greater presence but you can also do so much more within the space. There are virtually no restrictions.

Measurement
There is more to an advertisement than a click. You have to consider interactions and also conversion rates. A click is only useful in the context of what the user does once they visit your site (acquisitions/ actions).

Click the image below to launch Watch This Space.

Below is a good infographic from Formstack highlighting 10 key landing page features that draw in users on a landing page. It also includes a summary of 'what types of colours are good for different sites' - the devil really is in the detail.

Combine this with Jamie's recent Lead Generation post on optimising PPC landing pages and you should be on to a winner.

Click to enlarge.