snowgoose

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I’ve been true to my word this week, I’ve blogged here and on GottaQuirk. The post on the latter took quite a bit of research and here it is, tell me what you think:

Two well known South African websites have recently undergone face-lifts, one more successfully than the other.

Nando’s, one of my favourite chicken fast-food outlets, have gone the ‘aesthetics first, award-winning’ route. They have a full flash site with a non-standard experiential navigation.

When the craving for Nando’s awesome peri-peri wings hits, I need to satisfy it immediately so I usually turn to Google to help me find the nearest branch. Considering that about 60% of Internet users begin their browsing with a Google search, Search engine friendliness is a fundamentally important part of any company’s online presence….

Want to read more? See the full post here.

I finally started my new job at Quirk eMarketing after what felt like an eternity of waiting and, to be honest, I was completely blown away. Now I know that everyone agrees that Quirk is possibly the best eMarketing agency in the industry and I’m sure you want to know what it is actually like being a QuirkStar.

So here they are, my first impressions of this incredible company:

Fast-paced: The understatement of the year

While working at Standard Bank, I always thought we worked extremely hard and anyone who said that corporate employees had it easy was completely misinformed. I stand by what I said. The people at the Bank do work hard and there is a lot of pressure; but not nearly at the level of an agency (and I suspect this agency outpaces most). Before I even arrived people were sending me emails and assignments for me to do. My first few days were beyond frantic and on day 3 I already had over 158 emails in my inbox, all urgent.I have spent almost every night since trying to get caught up and at inbox zero. Something I suspect I will never do.

They are called Quirk for a reason

Everyone is completely nuts. They make me look sane, conservative and quiet… and I love it! My name is officially Goose and it’s even on my email signature! All new employees are called n00bs for their first few months and there is a culture of openess and friendliness that I have not experienced anywhere else. Debate and open discussion is encouraged and people I have not even met yet are already my friends. And something that is even more refreshing than any of this is that employees are encouraged to be individuals and grow their personal brand, both within and outside of work hours. There is no such thing as a QuirkClone. Ever single one of us is a star in our own right and is given full support to fulfill our dreams, no matter what they are. Seriously, it is beyond amazing. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at my “corporate profile”. Nuts huh?

Nothing is incidental or done ‘by mistake’

Every single action Quirk takes is either to improve our position online, to better the lives of our clients or to grow our client base. Everything. I know this sounds like something every company does but in reality, it’s quite rare. SEO in particular is a big focus. I had absolutely no idea there were so many things you could do to improve your SEO (a surprising number of them; ‘offline’ activities). Quirk has literally written the book on this subject and the dedication poured into every aspect of the business is mind-blowing.

So next time you pick up your copy of the eMarketing textbook, read the GottaQuirk blog, or have a chat to Rob on Twitter, remember this: It has all been thought out to the tiniest detail to improve your life, our rankings and our clients’ reputations. But we are all still natural and spontaneous people, Quirk is in no way cold and calculated; just carefully considered and executed with passion.

It may be too soon to tell, but I think I’ve found my home.

I’ve always enjoyed my job, no matter where I worked; life is too short to hate what you do. I was always the quirky arty person who swam against the tide and people always marveled at my weirdness. At the time I thought this was the best thing ever; why be like everyone else, even if everyone else is normal? But the problem with being so radically different from your colleagues, is that you never really fit in. Now I feel like I’ve found 50 other people like me, and it’s a great feeling. Not because they are exactly like me, they aren’t. But because you swim faster and further against the tide when you have 50 other fish swimming with you, even if they aren’t all salmon. (Brilliant, now I’m gonna see fish every time I look at my fellow QuirkStars!)

These are my first impressions of Quirk. I’m sure I’ll have many more and I’ll share my growth at this amazing place with you.

P.S. No, I wasn’t paid or asked to say any of this, in fact; Quirk will read this at the same time as you (after having picked it up with BrandsEye, no doubt… Hi Tim!). I am just a passionate person who doesn’t believe in hiding anything. So if you are like me and my post has made you a little jealous… Just click here.