Core 13 | Blog

We have a new company name - we are now called Core 13

Mon, 22 March 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Yes you read that right - we have a new company name, Core 13. Do not worry the name is the only thing that has changed; ownership, location and quality of work all remain the same as they ever have.

Help us reach 100 twitter follows and win an iPod Shuffle?

Mon, 22 March 2010 09:30:00 GMT

We would like your help in reaching 100 followers on twitter, not a large number but a good starting pointing I am sure you will agree. In order to get 100 twitter followers we need people like you to log-in to twitter and start following us. It will take a couple of minutes of your time and will put a smile on our face.

Why is the number 13 so important to Malcolm Hollingsworth?

Mon, 22 March 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Yes this is a little bit sad, but it turns out that the number 13 appears everywhere I look, here are just a few examples; First letter of my first name - Malcolm is the 13th letter of the alphabet, Last letter of my first name - Malcolm is the 13th letter of the alphabet, My last name - Hollingsworth contains exactly 13 letters and I was born on the 13th of February

The Amazing Drobo - The Simplest, Safest Backup Solution

Mon, 23 November 2009 10:00:00 GMT

We use a Drobo to keep all out data safe - so should you

I know the idea of backups and keeping things safe is boring and can also seem daunting, but it is a modern necessity.

Last year we were looking for a backup solution and came across the Drobo, a nice looking black box that seemed to do what we wanted and more.

The Drobo is the simplest device of its kind I have ever seen or used. You plug it into your computer using FireWire, USB or optionally connect it to your network and then give it any two drives you have - switch on and your ready.

Winner drawn in our Apple iPod Shuffle October give away

Tue, 03 November 2009 10:00:00 GMT

The winner is - a Devon based client of one of our email marketing resellers.

The winner was selected from all of our direct email marketing clients and those from each of our email marketing resellers.

It pays to use email marketing, and even more so from Core 13. With email marketing you can send a campaign to your subscribers and know instantly who opens and clicks every single email campaign you send. With automatic subscriber management, fast template based content editing, direct html import for advanced user and much much more.

Our lucky email marketing reseller gets the advantage of being able to give the prize to their client without having to pay anything themselves. Learn how to add email marketing services to your own products offerings.

Our new Website - an evolving project

Tue, 02 November 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Our website is now live - so now onto the real work

We are treating our new website as a testing ground to find out how we can drive more traffic to the site using natural SEO (search engine optimisation) methods, that cost little or nothing to achieve except for a little time and effort.

White hat techniques only

We will only be using white hat search engine optimisation techniques to drive traffic to our website, some of which include; Clear keyword rich content, Number of pages, Friendly verbose URLs, Proper use of meta tags, Proper use of alt tags and Proper use of title tags

No black hat techniques will be used

We will not be employing any black hat search engine optimisation techniques to drive traffic to our website, some of which include; Hidden content, Excessive repetition, Keyword stuffing, Tiny Text, Mirror sites, and Gateway Pages

Over the next few months we will be running a series of projects designed to drive more traffic to our website. We are aiming for quality traffic and not just numbers so we will be trying to make sure that whatever we do gets the right quality of visitor.

The first stage was to get the website up and running, with a number of pages full of content that explain what we do - not a bad ideal.

And so it begins

Starting next week we will be posting a series of blog articles that will explain what we are doing and why. We will detail our aims for each project and keep you updated on the success or failure of each one.

Keep checking back to see how we are doing or subscribe to our blog feed.

We have launched our new website

Fri, 30 October 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Finally - we have found five minutes and pushed our new site live!

More information about the things we do. Our previous website focused on the email marketing side of our business and some elements of our website business, this has changed now to better reflect the business we actually do.

We also now include information about our latest business direction - the mobile platform. We are spending alot of time at the moment working out just what can be done with the Apple iPhone, Google Android and Palm webOS platforms. We have some exciting things coming soon - but I will save those for another blog post closer to the time.

The new design

We love the new site design, it is a minimalist design which aims to focus on the content and layout and not the design itself. By placing the main navigation at the top of the page and grouping items together you should have an easier time navigating to the actual information you want to get to.

We have made sure that each main section has a secondary navigation that lets you find the specific information you want.

The amount of content

We have increased the amount of information on the website, but at the same time tried to use a clearer, simpler language so that everybody can understand. This is an evolving process so if we have not got it quite right - let us know and we will make changes.

You talking to me? Why should I listen

Wed, 30 October 2009 12:00:00 GMT

You talking to me? Why should I listen ... Words. They're probably the most important thing on your site. It's the one thing that will persuade people to stop and browse - or get away as quickly as they can.

Writing for the web is different from any other medium. People read slower off a screen than a book - so you need to be able to interest them quickly.

I've been writing for the web and digital media since 1994! We've learnt a few tricks along the way.

Therefore, will start with the foundation first. Before you start writing, you need to get the basics right.

New Email Report: Email Client

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Without doubt, the biggest frustration for us email designers is the huge variety of email clients we need to test our designs in. It's a monumental challenge that makes building and testing HTML emails far more difficult than designing for the web.

Today, I'm super excited to announce that we've officially solved this problem. Yes, you read that right. For every campaign you send, we'll now provide a clear breakdown of exactly which email clients your subscribers are using. Is anyone really using Lotus Notes? How many subscribers are actually using Outlook 2007? Should I be testing my emails on an iPhone? Up until now that's been total guesswork. No longer.

New Feature: Design/Spam Testing

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Imagine you have spent time working out just the right message to inform your audience with your latest email campaign - you want to know that it will both look the way you expect and not accidentley trigger any spam filters.

Our Core 13: Email Marketing service allows you to test your email to any email account you have at your disposal for free as long as long as you only send 5 or less at a time.

For a small fee you can use our built in design and spam testing tool. The design testing tool allows you to see how your email will look in the most common desktop, online and mobile email browsers. The spam testing tool will check your content through real spam filters and tell you if you passed or how exactly how you failed.

Email Marketing Reseller Program

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:00:00 GMT

You can now market our email marketing solution as your own. If you want to add a new service without having to do all the heavy lifting then our new Email Marketing Reseller Programme is ideal. We provide all the technical back end, we do all the sending, provide website services and make sure it works all day every day.

By signing up to be a reseller you can have an additional revenue stream without the hassle of having to do any real extra work. Your customers will see only your branding, your company name, your logo, we can even make the website address appear to be yours. All legal requirements are built in as are scheduling, fast content creation, full reporting and complete subscriber management.

Rumours of a new Apple Tablet

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Rumours that Apple will be announcing a tablet based computer have started again, so I have decided to write up my thoughts on what the deive could be and what it should be.

The Efficiency of Open Plan Offices

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMT

We love our offices - they are bright and open plan with no visual barriers taller than waist height. The 13 windows in our office provide us with natural light from sunrise right through to sunset.

There are many benefits including improved staff communication, improved team working and greater flexibility. By removing the physical barriers between all staff it promotes a more open and transparent environment within the company.