Category Archive

The figures are in for 2023 and, when combined with ONS report for December 2023, it’s pretty clear that consumers continue to spend an increasing percentage of their retail budgets online. Good news for eCommerce as over 1 in 4 …

In October last year, Google, Yahoo and Apple announced a joint effort to combat the deluge of unwanted emails & spam received by their users. Starting from February 2024, they will start enforcing strict authentication requirements on emails that pass …

This post is about Google Search Console, a powerful free too for SEO; We will cover Bing Webmaster Tools in a different post. Google Search Console is a vital tool for website owners and SEO professionals. It provides detailed insights …

A purely eCommerce business has just bought the UK’s oldest department store chain. Today, it was announced that online-only fashion retailer, Boohoo, has bought the struggling Debenhams chain for around £55million. The news is devastating in many ways, but it is also …

We’re looking for full-stack web developers to join our expanding Web Team. We are a full service digital agency, normally based in Bedford’s cultural quarter, but we are all currently working from our respective homes. Our mission is to make …

PayPal have launched an update that enables people to pay using contactless payments via PayPal QR Code. Customers can safely pay for products or services through the PayPal app on their Smartphones, touch-free, by scanning a QR code linked to …

eCommerce is helping to fill the gaps as physical shops close during coronavirus lockdown. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, online sales (as a proportion of all sales) reached a record high of 22.3% in March 2020. …

Contrary to some media reports, the COVID-19 lockdown has not caused the UK’s internet infrastructure to collapse. In the UK, many people had already started working from home in the weeks leading up to 23rd March, when the UK was …

We’re always on the lookout for new opportunities for our clients and big fans of ethical business practice so, when we became aware of Ecosia, a new-ish search platform that donates 80% of their ad profits to environmental charities, we took …

Instagram has created a new twist on the traditional star rating with the ability to use more than stars. Instagram’s Emoji Slider means your followers can rate what you ask them to. As a rule of thumb, usually the higher …

Getting your customers hyped up about something new and exciting to do with your business is hard and takes time. Instagram offers a little feature on their stories that makes that slightly easier. A countdown sticker was added to Instagram’s …

The renowned platform is now the 3rd most popular social media site. Ranking in popularity, Instagram comes just below Facebook and YouTube, according to Dustin Stout, providing a potentially massive reach for your company. The vitality of Instagram is a result of …

The beauty of Instagram stories is that even once they disappear after their 24 hours is up, Highlights give you the ability to keep your stories up on your profile. This is done by choosing them from your archive and …

Instagram’s most recent add to the sticker collection is the quiz sticker. A new fun and relaxed way to interact with your followers that can also help them learn something. Educating your followers could create more trust between you and your customer. …

If you don’t know much about them already then read on to find out what Instagram polls are and how to use them for your business. One of the most powerful features that Instagram stories offer is the Instagram poll …

Hashtags are a great way to spread your posts beyond your following. Since Instagram first came around in 2010, hashtags have been in its blood. Found on the Instagram explore page is a search button where any Instagram user is …

This Instagram feature is commonly used to give your followers the microphone and let them ask you some questions. Social Influencers do it regularly to keep the conversation going between them and their following. You are able to see who …

Chris Smith, one of Narrative’s founders, was extremely chuffed when Wrangler, the long-established fashion brand, approached him asking to use some of his photography for their AW17 T-shirt designs. A professional buyer for Wrangler was seeking-out fresh new creative work and stumbled …

Spammers and phishing scams are increasingly turning to url shorteners like Bit.ly, goo.gl, owl.ly etc to mask the dodgy links they send out in emails, text messages and social media posts. Some of these messages are quite convincing and the unsuspecting public …

Sometimes it can be tricky to explain why Narrative’s 20+ years of specialist digital experience and expertise can be so powerful when it comes to helping businesses perform better online. Then, today I heard this little anecdote that sums it up …

At Narrative, we work with a lot of Open Source, often referred to as the Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP (LAMP) stack so, of course, we love LAMP too.

Before we start take a look at that cute cat. While it may have got your initial attention, you’re not so interested in what we have to say now are you? In fact some of you may have already left …

No-one likes hassle. If it takes a lot of thought to work something out, then people are far less likely to do it. I don’t imagine thats a revelation to you, but somehow many businesses seem to forget about this when designing …

SEO 01 April 2016 [ edit: Before reading this, you should probably check the date it was published on – 1st April… OK.. got it?] First it was keywords, then it was inbound links, SSL, social & mobile support and then Accelerated …

The other day, I noticed a fellow digital peer was having one of those #FirstWorldProblems moments on social media. “My Internet connection is slow.” he posted, before he added “I’m on a plane. A metal tube. At 34,000 ft… I deserve a kick …

A few days ago Google announced it was splitting off into a holding company, called Alphabet, and sub sections for search, advertising, R&D, etc. Everyone has an opinion about it but the day I am qualified to give Google business …

Like most digital agencies, we occasionally provide our web consultancy services to small community projects, non-profits & third sector organisations for free. Doing pro bono work is, generally, reward enough in itself but agencies are made-up of people and that’s why …

Convergent Evolution occurs in nature when two species evolve along similar paths because it’s most practical solution to survival. One of many examples is the aye-aye lemur and the striped possum which both have one elongated finger used to get insects …

If you dare to visit a website and look for a product, e.g. a Slow Cooker or some car tyres, for next week or so afterwards you might notice that you’re being stalked by adverts for slow cookers and car …

The internet is disappearing and that’s mostly a good thing. When I first got my hands on a modem, back in 1995, and connected my computer to the Information Superhighway it was a fiddly and unreliable process. I used a …

After Heartbleed comes news that eBay got hacked, once again prompting us to change our passwords to something more secure and wonder if there was anything embarrassing in our watchlists. According to Reuters report on the eBay hacking, all the passwords …

A quick round-up of stuff we liked on the interweb this week, including M&S, Glassholes, Being interesting, virtual changing rooms, and lots of data… but first: We’re giving a talk at Bedford College! It’s on 26th Feb, about the Connected …

Here’s a quick round-up of what’s been keeping us interested in the Narrative (previously THBOOM!) studio, this week: The Shock of the New. Sometimes we can put too much emphasis something new and misinterpret its popularity amongst the digerati as a sign …

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of people are talking about Google’s sale of Motorola to Lenovo but that’s not what’s interesting. The sell-off is really just Google having a clear-out and the word-on-the-street is that they were going to put …

A quick round-up of what we liked on the web this week, ending 24th July. Conference Call If you’ve ever had to endure conference calls, this video that’s been doing the rounds this week  will bring a smile to your …

We consult for a number of cleantech businesses, providing digital strategy, branding & development and, while this particular idea doesn’t apply to us, we really loved the concept behind it. Matthew Anderson is a typographer at  350.org, a grassroots climate …

First came Microsoft with Windows Embedded Automotive… but it never really got started (see what I did there?). Then, last summer, Apple announced iOS in the Car and this week at CES, Google have  announced deals to bring their Android operating system to …

Amazon have announced a new service to help small businesses take payments online. The catchily titled “Login and Pay with Amazon” is a new payment gateway that enables businesses to take payments from anyone with an Amazon account, and there’s …

Google Analytics is counting a Yahoo! bot as Firefox OS

You may have seen a little flurry of activity recently when some horse meat found it’s way into beef ready meals. This happened because manufacturers of ready-meals wanted to sell cheaper products which, in turn, led to squeezing the supply …

When you need to think about accessibility, SEO, conversion optimisation, content hierarchy and a dozen other factors, is design too important to be left to designers?