Google has created a font API that allows a range of fonts to be use in websites. The types of fonts available can really transform a site and make it more attractive to users.

Google also provides a font previewer, where you can test how a font will look and help you decide if any of the fonts available in font previewer will work on your site, as well as customizing it. To implement one of these fonts all you need to add is a link to an external stylesheet and customize your site’s styles with the new font. You can view an example of how to set it up here.

Even though this API is still in Beta testing, it shows how impressive it’s use is, and how easily it is to set up. The only problem that will need to be faced is how fonts that are not open source, fonts you need to pay to use, will be considered in this API.  Buying once, will allow anyone visiting the site to view that font and this could create a problem. Google only provides open source fonts, and they seem to work fine in most browsers, but questions about fonts that are not open source will soon be raised. Below you can view a font called tangerine, added using the Google fonts API and how it renders in 4 different browsers IE, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

The flexibility allowed from this API can create sites with a more distinguished look and feel and also allow older sites currently using images to change those images and replace them with text, especially navigation items. This will improve the site’s SEO ranking as well as making any updates to the site easier and a lot faster.

Join us: Wednesday, August 18th at 1 pm EST (10 am PST)
Can’t make the date? Also available on-demand

Featuring: Danielle Leitch, Executive Vice President Client Strategy
 
These two major Algorithm Updates were recently implemented by Google. Many advertisers saw changes with their organic search rankings. Did it impact your website and SEO positions? If so, you won’t want to miss this presentation.

In this 45 minute webinar, to include Q&A, you will learn:

• What is Google Caffeine & the Mayday Update?
• How These Updates Effect Websites.
• “The Good The Bad & The Ugly” of New Search Results.
• Tactics To Rank Better In the Future.

Details:
This webinar is 45 minutes. On-Demand webinar access will be provided after 08/19/2010

With smart phones being the dawn of the new age for marketers, how can you best penetrate the market? The newest wave of mobile technology has become the creation and advertising of QR (Quick Response) Codes. A QR Code is a two-dimensional code, which is legible by QR scanners, smart phones and other mobiles devices with an advanced camera function. 

QR codes bond the physical world with the technological world by providing immediate access to online resources and information. Using QR codes will help add value to your current mobile or online promotions, by linking to your company’s mobile site or application. QR codes simply provide instant access to relevant content when consumers need it. This technology is universal, allowing for a broad audience. The encoded information can be text, a URL or other information accessible online. Although QR codes were initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now being used in a much broader environment.

As a result of the smart phone boom over the past year, the use of QR codes are on the rise.  Companies and brands such as Verizon Wireless, Calvin Klein Jeans, IKEA, Chevrolet, Iron Man 2 and Central Florida Regional Transportation are just a few using QR codes as a way to connect customers with information and content on the internet quickly via mobile devices. 

There are several free online QR code generators to customize your information. Verizon Wireless recently teamed up with a mobile scanning technology maker “ScanLife” to use QR codes to promote their variety of applications available for their Droid devices. Their QR Codes were placed throughout several mediums such as print ads, point of purchase displays, direct mail and websites. In just over three months, their campaign saw over 150,000 scans, making them the most successful ScanLife campaigns in North America.
Creation and distribution of a custom QR code is just one of many ways to tap into the ever growing mobile advertising industry. It’s clear that this technology provides a communication bridge between the real physical world and the online digital world.