While hunting for a container this morning to store discs of creative work we have done for our clients, I came across my old silver box. Most of you will remember the old silver box that was with us at every dance lesson, rehearsal and show. Some of you even had the privilege of borrowing it for the weekend. Yes, the silver box that was filled with all our music cd’s and inspiration that traveled with us along our journey.

As I opened the box and started clearing out I could not help but read every cd title. It took me back to those long hours we spent in the studio preparing for shows filled with sweat & bruises (and bruised ego’s). The creativity, passion and dedication we all shared for the love of dance. Although all the creative minds did clash occasionally, our teamwork and end results were always amazing. Our shows always left people breathless and wanting more.

Who would have thought that a studio in Goodwood Cape Town would produce world class dancers representing South Africa at the World Champs in Los Angeles. If I remember correctly we started out with our first few students, Chandra, Charnay, Sasha and Ashwyn and in no time we grew to over 60 students. We’ve experienced what most people can only dream of – performing at the Loerie Awards and International Comedy Festival, opening for Prime Circle, the worlds largest omelette, teaching workshops in Swellendam and to underprivileged children’s homes to name a few. We have met phenomenal creatives from around the world such as Kabba Modern from the U.S.A and Sweet ‘n Sour from New Zealand. Amazingly talented choreographers such as Kurt Minaar (Founder of African Hip Hop Studio), Cherice Mangiagali, Ramon De Wet, Mark Cupido (Bboy), Marcus Rabie, Alne Stone, Elly, David Junior, Speedo (Bboy), Maze (Bboy) have all shared their knowledge and experience about dance and helped put our hard work together.

We still reminisce and laugh about the “moments” we had. Josh attempting to do a back flip almost dislocating his arm and shouting ” MY ARM, MY ARM! “. Speedo taking off his clothes while spinning on his head, Danielle refusing to perform in a show if her mother was watching, Ashwyn and Chandra with their dramatic facial expressions, Kyle, Dorian and Terrance with their swagga. Babs that was always so humble and willing, Caylin and the rest of the team being terrified and just a bundle of nerves before dancing exams. Darryl teaching Kabba Modern the ins and outs of a “Bok Droll Spoeg Kompetisie” – truly South African experience for them. The late nights spent eating pizza and watching dance DVDs and all the romantic crushes we new about just but chose to ignore. The list goes on.

Every one of you that stepped foot in our studio has inspired us and is a part of who we are today. As they say, all good things come to an end and so did our dancing days. I followed my passion in design and Darryl followed his in online marketing and today we are Ovpod – an Internet Marketing and Design Company. We would love for you to update us on what you guys are up to. Until then, much love and happiness to you all!

Our Inspiration is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

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As more South Africans begin to use Internet Marketing as another channel to promote their products or services we have to be careful of these common mistakes, they could damage your business image if not avoided.

Common Internet Marketing Mistakes

1. No On-line mission or vision

The most obvious yet the most common internet marketing mistake. Decide what you’d like your outcome to be when advertising on-line, settle on two for now then plan your strategy around them. Targeting sales and promoting your business in one campaign is very tricky, keeping them apart might produce better results and could be easier measure.

2. Not fully understanding your customers needs.

So you think you know your customer? When last have you spoken to them and fished out why they chose you over your competitors? Your salespeople have the advantage of meeting and knowing a client/customer, so ask them first. Your entire Internet Marketing campaign could flop if you don’t know the technology your clients use, where they prefer being engaged and most importantly what triggers them to buy. Spend most of your time understanding existing customers wants/needs and targeting prospects becomes easy.

3. Letting an amateur design your website.

A common mistake is to let an inexperienced person design your website, remember it’s your business premises, just on-line. You want a friendly reception (good design), an available workforce (working menus and links), good sales staff (your web copy or pitch), 24/7 customer support and feedback (contact form and company details on each page). The bottom line is good design only works if it promotes your product or service.

4. Mixing Business and Pleasure On-line

Yes building relationships is the cornerstone of selling and building business relationships BUT no client needs to see photos of you crawling on the local pubs floor. Keep your personal profile separate from your business profile as far as possible and ensure your security settings are activated. Most companies Google you before a meeting, so keep your On-line presence in line with what your trying to portray.

Politics and religion in South Africa is a no-no in business, we have unfortunately not matured enough as a democracy to openly discuss either one without prejudice in one form or another. Play it safe in business terms and keep those views solely on your personal SECURE profile. Personally I live by the motto “business is business” and money is just money, but that’s just my opinion.

5. Boring Content 

Ever follow people on twitter where it seems like they have nothing to say or have no opinion? All they do is re-tweet everything else they come across. That’s when you have no Internet Marketing mission and pretty much hope that something will come of re-tweeting links all day.

Keep posts and tweets relevant to your business (or at least your industry), that’s pretty much why people follow or like you isn’t it?

6. Boring Content

We like to hear our own voices and this has translated into some pretty boring content On-line. I know most of us think we need to tell everybody how we started, how successful we are in business and how we’ve achieved fame. Internet marketers know that this approach no longer works as customers only want to see value, and by value I don’t only mean in monetary terms, value as in how quick we can solve their problem and at what opportunity cost.

Get an honest opinion from friends, family and most importantly strangers about any Internet Marketing campaign you put together.

Internet Marketing is definitely producing positive results for some businesses, and is unfortunately leading to the downfall of others. We not all Internet Marketing experts, so get some advice before you start your On-line campaign. It’s cheaper than you might think.

If you are really clueless then I suggest getting a reputable Internet Marketing company to formulate and implement a strategy for you, clearly set your goals in a SLA and ensure they produce the results agreed upon.

More Internet Marketing Tips Here

Common Internet Marketing Mistakes is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

OvPod - Distinctive Creative Ideas

A true inspiration and a lesson for all grown-ups, nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.

Thomas Suarez – 12 year old iPhone Application Developer. is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

OvPod - Distinctive Creative Ideas

An interesting video on how we are helping write digital books with ReCaptcha and how we can translate all the information on the Internet.

Well worth a watch.

Luis von Ahn: Massive-scale online collaboration is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

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Six Ways to save the Internet – Roger McNamee, an interesting perspective on the future of the Internet and all the big role players.

Six Ways to save the Internet – Roger McNamee is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

OvPod - Distinctive Creative Ideas

Internet Marketing and Banner Ads

The art of designing a perfect banner ads sometimes eludes many of us in the Internet Marketing arena, we even prefer to outsource it to specialist companies in the hope that they find the perfect formula to design a winning ad.

I believe we can all design the perfect banner ads IF we know what the most important ingredient to our entire Internet Marketing strategy is i.e,

What triggers our Customers/clients purchasing decision.

Google AdWords and keyword software tools are just that… tools to help you build effective banner ads. You should know what you building beforehand, hopefully an ad or banner that will generate more traffic to your website or sales page.

A great way of wasting time and money is to design a few banner ads, run a campaign and then re-design those with low click through rates. This could take more than a few tries and becomes expensive especially if these functions are outsourced.

Internet Marketing could be a lot simpler when you understand and I mean really understand the psychology of your customer when they searching for a SOLUTION to their problem at hand.

Do your banner ads scream “I have the solution so click here now!” or does it sell all your product features in the most boring headline possible.

All of the above is kind of pointless if you don’t get your sales copy right, the only way to get your sales copy right is to project yourself into your prospects shoes and really figure out what will make him choose your product.

Always design your Internet Marketing Strategy with your customers buying triggers in mind,  you only have a couple of seconds to make a connection on-line so make it count.

Well designed banner ads is a cornerstone of internet marketing and will be around for some time whether it be on social media sites or anywhere else on the net. Make them work for you today, they inexpensive in most case and can created huge amounts of brand awareness.

Ovpod the Internet Marketing Specialists in Cape Town

Internet Marketing: Yes banner Ads DO work. is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

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If your on-line advertising campaign is not producing results then you should be looking at your target markets purchasing habits and buying triggers. We so obsessed with website analytics and keyword targeting that we sometimes forget what sells our products.

We highlight all our product features in the hope that it would appeal to consumers instead of focusing on the product benefits. A perfect example is car salespeople highlighting say an air-con & mag wheels instead of appealing to your senses by saying “you don’t want to be boiling in the HOT South African sun” or “everybody’s gonna be looking at the bling on your new car”.

Internet Marketing & Web design should be focusing on consumers emotional triggers not product features, after all that’s what makes us spend money. Advertising is not just there to make us aware of what’s available & where we can find it.

Marketing all the features of a diet pill is far less effective than a “before and after” picture or “lose your belly in 14 days & be more confident“.

Website design is all about conceptualization which in itself is abstract and what we sell is something tangible, the two should find some middle ground to ensure your internet marketing strategy is a success.

When planning your internet marketing strategy the emphasis should be on the needs satisfaction of your product, this must be interwoven in your web copy, banner ads and even in your social media strategy.

Yes everybody likes interactive web design and pretty banner ads but are consumers actually buying your product & service, are you even getting noticed for that matter?

Think about it,when last did you click on a banner ad or respond to an email ad and actually purchased something.

Organisations are not only competing amongst themselves for customers but with customers themselves, imagine you have extra cash to spend and you need to update your website design.Your girlfriend however wants a weekend away & you’ve seen some snazzy shoes that you really want, does my advertising say “rather spend your money with me” and does it even grab your attention long enough to make an impression?

Product Features are less likely to sway your spending habits,however if I were to convince you of the benefits of us updating your web design and how you could afford the weekend away AND buy those shoes with all the extra income your new site will generate you might consider it.

It sounds simply, but we rarely put ourselves in our customers shoes and ask the question “why should I use their product and to what BENEFIT”, not us telling them the advantageous of our product.

Internet Marketing & Web Design Companies have a difficult task as we rarely meet our clients customers and therefore assume what their buying triggers are, so bear this in mind with your next advertising campaign and try as best you can to look at it from a consumers point of view.

Internet Marketing and Web Design – Reach your audience and get them spending. is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

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A Google search on his name has returned 2,430,000 (2.43 Million)results and www.juliusmalema.co.za does nothing in terms of self promotion or advertisement, the income potential of monetising this site could possibly pay for all his legal fees and then some. For all the SEO’s out there his site already has a Pagerank of 3 with no optimisation at all!

All internet marketers know that content is king and there’s definitely no shortage of that where Julius is concerned, quotes of the day alone could exhaust your hosts servers space and with 991 you tube videos I would never need to look for content again.

Every local and international newspaper would subscribe to the RSS newsfeed and advertisers would be clamouring to get a piece of the action, wouldn’t you love to turn away Mercedes Benz and Moet & Chandon because Land Rover and Gucci have taken all your banner space.

That’s besides all the local tenderpreneurs vying for Julius’s friendship, all willing to pay more than triple the going rate just to be associated with “South Africa’s future President”.

In saying that I had better register www.juliusmalemapresident.co.za just in case to cover all my bases and while I cannot close Facebook for the ANCYL I can maybe help take down all those fake accounts and groups for them.

I could design a dislike button which should prove quite popular and we can definitely make a dent in the unemployment rate by getting a hundred or so youth league members to reply to all the comments and posts.

The web design will be really simple but if I do battle I’d like to spend a week or two at Cape Town’s One & Only Luxury Resort to ensure the creative juices keep flowing, I would never complain about anybody wasting my tax money again…Promise

There will as always be a few challenges, constant spam (hate mail for normal folks) and hacking/DOS would be my greatest worries.

Uh cancel that… maybe I wouldn’t even get paid (the annual fee for his website is still outstanding) if I’m to believe media reports that he hates settling his bills, but hey I’m a risk taker and if he’s President I won’t quibble over a couple of Rands.

I am however a jack of all trades so I’m certain I am able to run a mine or two if it comes my way, so Julius Malema if you come across this article I’m offering my services for a 50/50 profit share.

Julius Malema my dream Client. is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

OvPod - Distinctive Creative Ideas

Internet Marketing

The foundation for any Internet marketing campaign is a well designed website, optimised for your selected keywords with a clear call to action.

SA companies investing in internet marketing are reaping the rewards with targeted web design & Search engine optimisation(SEO), clients have seen a remarkable improvement in website traffic and increased sales with this form of internet marketing alone.

We often get the “I just want to be on the internet” from clients and I always reply, what’s the point if nobody’s going to find you.

SEO, web design and content marketing go hand in hand to ensure a successful internet marketing plan, so ensure your website is relevant to your organisations current business model.

Consumers are using the internet more often to search for products & services and internet marketing will be crucial in getting noticed.

Website analytics ensures your internet marketing plan is measurable, flexible and cost effective with data from every aspect of your online advertising linked to your website available daily.

A once-off newspaper advert costs anything between R2500 to R15000 depending on the size and publication, yet we still won’t invest in internet marketing which conveys our proposition more successfully with a longer lasting impression.

Few Potential clients will keep a newspaper or magazine for future reference, a website however is always available and can easily be updated while displaying a wider selection of products and services at a fraction of the cost.

Banner ads or other forms of internet marketing expenses can be controlled,  it’s efficiency easily measured and altered to produce the best possible results.

E-mail marketing is most probably the cheapest and most effective form on internet marketing available today with a higher click through rate than its counterparts.Customers interested in your products can now easily be reached to drive future sales and cross sell all with the click of a button. E-mails are easily personalised and are excellent ways of distributing catalogues and information on specials and sales.

South African businesses still seem to love flyers and pamphlets judging by the amount in my postbox daily and I often wonder how they measure its success, I chuck them straight into the bin.

Decent Flyers cost anything from R3000-R7000 and its a shot in the dark in terms of reaching your intended market, with internet marketing you have control over the demographics you’d like target and its efficacy evaluated and immediately changed accordingly.

The cost savings and flexibility of internet marketing cannot be ignored and the data is convincing  more organisations to utilise some form of internet marketing to achieve its goals.

Internet marketing is easier than you might think and with all the information you need readily available there’s no excuse not to be embracing internet marketing as a supplement to your traditional advertising.

We here to assist with your internet marketing needs, contact us today

Why Social Media and Internet Marketing, An S.A. Perspective (Prt. 2). is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

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Social Media and Internet Marketing in South Africa

With over 6 million internet users in South Africa, 4.5 million on Facebook and almost 1 million on Twitter, you cannot ignore the advertising potential that Internet marketing & social media has to offer.

Google +,Tmblr and Stumpleupon are all finding their feet amongst SA’s early adopters and could be the future marketing vehicle for your organisations online Brand strategy.

And that’s just social media, Internet marketing can improve brand awareness and increase sales leads with Search Engine Optimisation(SEO), yet few are taking advantage of these cost effective online marketing tools.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has its own set of rules and my advice is to employ the services of a reputable social media expert to assist with your initial set-up and planning. For those with no budget and a bit of marketing savvy there’s plenty of help on the net, just remember social media marketing is time consuming and might not be worth the effort for certain industries.

Facebook as a social media marketing platform has come along way since the days of creating groups and inviting as many friends as possible to sell your wares, often with mixed results.

Twitter as a social marketing tool is also under-utilised in SA as stats reveal that the majority of us never tweet & personal experience has convinced me that most organisations have no clear social media marketing strategy.

Posts and tweets should be relevant to your industry, after all that’s why we following you. This obviously doesn’t apply to specific social media competitions but we really not interested in “quotes of the day” or regurgitated news headlines.

Research & planning is crucial for any successful social media strategy so ask these simple questions first :

- Who is my market?

- On which social media platform do I find them?

- What are their needs?

- How are they using social media?

- What differentiates my social media OVP(online value proposition) from my offline offerings and why should they choose me?

There are amazing social media promotions running at present with brands taking full advantage of Facebook as a platform to engage their customers.

There are BIG SA companies however still getting it wrong on social media with daily self promotion and absolutely no engagement or feedback. Nasty comments on their updates won’t even solicit a response…I wonder how that’s helping their brand!

South Africans been slow to embrace social media as a viable advertising/CRM platform and I believe they aren’t investing enough of their resources to online marketing.

The almost daily advancements on Facebook & Google + alone are any marketers dream (from creating websites on Facebook to a host of other social media marketing features to be discussed later).

Social Media Marketing is both frustrating & rewarding for consumers and Brands alike. Success or failure is in the planning, resource allocation and a passion for social media by an individual or an organisation.

So don’t play catch-up and get cracking on your social media strategy today.

Social Media Marketing at ovpod

(To be continued)

Why Social Media and Internet Marketing, A South African Perspective. is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

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SEO – Search Engine Optimisation Strategists are getting a bad name.

After attending a conference recently I was surprised by the number of complaints about so called SEO experts.

Speakers seemed to have the same resounding criticism about unfulfilled SEO targets and every so called SEO expert promising to get them to Page 1 on Google for their keywords.

This makes the job of real SEO Strategists & companies all the more difficult as we are all being painted with the same brush. (Google SEO scams and you’ll understand what I mean)

Having owned a few businesses I have met many a smooth salesperson with an arsenal of Stats and figures that try convince you to include their sometimes useless marketing platforms.

I do believe some SEO experts are no different to Salespeople who are only interested in selling you their service with no real interest in your business.

In saying that, there are some really good SEO companies out there and their clients are seeing an increase in traffic, yet we still seeing many businesses not being convinced of SEO’s effectiveness as part of their marketing strategy.

Our clients have been approached with various SEO services from across the globe… all with the same pitch “we can improve your rankings and get you on the first page”.

Makes me wonder how these SEO companies are going to support you if they don’t fully understand your business, never visited your premises or even asked about your existing marketing plan.

Then there’s the different advertising standards and industry regulations unique to each country that needs to be taken into consideration with regard to SEO, yes some information is freely available on the net but doesn’t necessarily give you a full insight as to how your SEO campaign could be affected.

Ask yourself

1. Does my SEO Company FULLY understand what my Business Vision is and how I plan to achieve it.

2. Have they researched & analysed my industry, competitors, government regulations, customer buying trends and CRM requirements on and off line.

3. How accessible is my SEO Company and would I feel comfortable dealing with a faceless on-line entity.

4. Am I able to contact references to verify their SEO effectiveness and will I be bound by a contract for their services.

5. Are they willing to train staff in the SEO basics to ensure all content/updates, social media posts are focused on our marketing strategy.

6. Have they verified that my website is optimised to actually convert traffic into paying customers and is it measurable.

Lets be clear, experienced SEO strategists will not promise top rankings or a guaranteed increase in traffic without thorough research and at least a few hours of back and forth consultation with you.

It’s your responsibility to do some research before hiring an SEO company and be weary when you are promised quick results.

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation and all the so called experts is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

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Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! is a post from: Internet Marketing Cape Town

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