Archive for May, 2011

Is mobile right for me? What you need to know and ask

Until recently, when you designed a website, you were required to test it in every popular browser out there. Even though no one in their right mind uses Internet Explorer anymore, you still need to check your site’s viability in IE, Firefox, Chrome and so on. Now, the same can be said for mobile devices. More and more people are using mobile devices to access the web. You’ll need to ask yourself, do you want to do business via mobile technology and if so, what are your objectives and how much effort do you want to put in to attract this segment of the population?

 

First off, you need to establish where you are starting from. Are you creating a brand new website out of nothing for both traditional browsing and for mobile devices? Do you already have an established website and you simply need a mobile site to go with it? Many business owners take this opportunity to completely overhaul their existing site to match the same easy browsing style that their mobile site has. Before you start moving things around, it is important that you answer these questions.

 

Next, you need to map out what you want your mobile site to do. If you sell cars, you likely won’t have many people purchasing convertibles over their phone, but if you sell books, you may. Decide if you want a full e-commerce site with a high level of security or if you just want an informational site where people can learn about your business. It may sound crazy but some businesses don’t get around to deciding this until it is too late.

 

You need to remember the design rules for mobile devices. Small, hard-to-see icons are not going to work. You need a very simple, very plain, very easy-to-use interface that allows for blundering, fat fingers. There are folks out there using very small smart phones, as well as iPads and desktops, so you’ll need to create a site that isn’t too difficult to use. Check other popular mobile sites and steal a few ideas. The Internet is full of plagiarism, and you can bet that if your mobile site takes off, you’ll have the competition stealing ideas from your site, too.

 

Mobile site design isn’t difficult, but it does require a clear thought process and objective. Otherwise, you could get caught in a quagmire that wastes time, money and effort.

 

Posted by admin on May 30th, 2011 | Email | Print |

Small Business Web Survival: What small business need to do to stay alive online

It used to be that if you were a serious business owner, you had to have a website. That conversation has evolved in the last few years to include social media. A Facebook group and a profile on Twitter are absolutely free, but with politicians constantly getting caught doing stupid things with their accounts, many business owners are shying away from what they see as a risky proposition. If you have been putting off diving into the social media pool, then these tips can help get you on track.

 

Often times, the big hurdle that gets in the way of business owners using social media is that they can’t think of anything to say. If you aren’t the chatty type, than don’t say anything at all. Instead, use social media to listen to your customers and to your potential customers. Ask them what they’d like to see at your restaurant or at your business. Ask people to share both positive and negative experiences they’ve had at your business. Whatever you do, don’t erase criticism. You’ll doom your reputation. Instead, engage people in a conversation and find out how you can make your business better.

 

To get the most out of technologies like Twitter, it is important to have a full understanding of how they work. Know how to search Twitter to see if anyone, anywhere has mentioned you or your business. Re-tweet positive comments and speak directly to those that were unhappy and offer to make it right. Social networking provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform guest recovery days or even weeks after a problem happened. You have the tools to reach out and show folks exactly what your business is capable of. Positive word-of-mouth advertising is too valuable to waste.

 

Finally, social media allows you to get involved in your community. Even if you live in a tiny town, chances are, there are events and such going on that you can latch on to. Have special promotions that match the theme of local events. Offer to donate money to needy causes and promote the heck out of it. Not only will it raise your profile, it is worth its weight in PR gold. You have no excuse for not knowing about events in your area. Social media is like finding the golden ticket for your business. You can accomplish great things if you know how to push the right buttons.

 

Posted by admin on May 23rd, 2011 | Email | Print |

iPad and Web Browsing The New Interface

There is no denying the fact that the Internet is still a technology in its infancy. Many of the devices we use to access the Internet are also quite new. In the case of the iPad, you have a technology that’s only a few years old but it is already changing the way websites are designed. With a flood of new tablet computers getting ready to hit the market, is this design trend just the flavor of the month or is this a new, more user-friendly trend that will stick around for a while?

 

One new design that we’re seeing is bigger buttons, clearer text and an almost complete absence of clutter. Apple’s redesigned email is the perfect example. Almost as soon as the iPad was out, Apple reconfigured their Me.com email to look almost identical to the display iPad owners see. Since people navigate on their iPad with their fingers, the use of small, difficult to see buttons is gone. To access buttons like that with an iPad, you would need a stylus, and that’s clearly not what the folks at Apple had in mind. From sending and receiving email to the clear and easy-to-read calendar page, clarity is what the new Internet is all about.

 

The same trends can be seen on many of the top social networking sites. Twitter still manages to waste large amounts of space on both sides of the screen, but the navigation has been simplified even further from what it used to be and with built in media support, you don’t have to open up six windows to play a video or look at a picture. They’ve clearly copied the “clarity is everything” mantra from Apple and there are no small buttons to be found.

 

As newspapers continue to fight for precious page views, many have completely redesigned how they look. Gone are the cramped and painful front pages that try to replicate the feeling of actually reading a newspaper and in their place are tons of white space, large font and easy navigation that, not surprisingly, appears to have been designed for touch screens. The New York Times has had their share of hits and misses when it comes to adapting the Old Grey Lady for the web, but it appears that they might be onto something with this new design. We’ll see if other popular online papers follow suit.

Posted by admin on May 16th, 2011 | Email | Print |

SEO in the Attention Economy: Standing Out to Succeed

Your website is not an only child anymore. Google’s first index, in 1998, contained some 26 million pages.  While this is not an unsubstantial figure by any means, it was easier to be noticed in any given field because of the relative scarcity of competition on the Web at that time: like an only child trying to get attention, people looked.  Now, in 2011, Google indexes over 7 billion pages.  “Look at me!  Hey, look at me. Over here! Look, look!”  There are billions of voices clamoring for attention – how loud is your voice, and are you saying anything that people in this economy need or want to hear?

 

Not only are economic times challenging, the entire model has shifted from an information-based economy to an attention-based economy.  Search is growing, and organic search is a tremendously important tool for most businesses and certainly most websites.  As more sites throw themselves into the fray, the landscape grows more crowded, and it is more difficult to be seen.  This comes at a time when marketing and advertising budgets are being downsized, and companies have far less revenue with which to build their brands and make themselves noticed.

 

Google had it easy in a sense; when they launched what was to become the world’s biggest and best search engine, they were able to do so with a negligible marketing budget.  Now, though, businesses have to figure out how to spend less and get more.  Organic and paid search marketing is the way to do that effectively in an economy that is low on extraneous spending and high on competition.

 

It is estimated that Americans complete over 16 billion searchers per day, and while people do look for information, news, and entertainment, they are also looking for products and services.  More than 90 percent of online traffic arrives at their destination via search engine.  They know what they want; they use the search engines to help them find the best source, the lowest price, the most knowledgeable business, or the best service and experience.  In other words, they are looking for you – they just may not know it yet.

 

Concentrating on sound SEO principles can be the best way to engage with consumers and drive sales. Search marketing is like putting a bullhorn in one hand and a fluorescent flag in the other; it can get you noticed.  The rest is up to you.

 

 

 

 

Posted by admin on May 9th, 2011 | Email | Print |

Cutting Back? Don’t Cut Web Design

There are bright spots on the economic horizon, and overall, businesses are feeling more optimistic.  But the more free-spending days of the 1990s and first decade of the 2000s are behind us.  We are still tightening the belt and cutting back on all but essential expenses.  It may be tempting to cut web design; you already have a website up and running – why spend more?  Now is exactly the wrong time, though, to decrease time, effort, and money spent creating an engaging, customer-friendly website.

 

Despite a slow recovery, there is still money in the economy, and there are still consumers willing to part with it for the right products or services.  Retail giant Macy’s, for instance, has been thriving with in-store sales, but their e-commerce site is where they are seeing tremendous growth.  Internet sales grew almost 20 percent in 2010, and Macy’s online raked in over $1.24 billion.  Your business may not have the name recognition of Macy’s (yet!) but it is essential that you also engage your consumers with great websites.  And if you don’t?

 

You could risk losing certain portions of your target audience.  While some are content to go to your site occasionally, others need to be reminded of your presence more aggressively.  If they see you have checked out, so to speak, they lose confidence.  It may create the impression that you are no longer in business at all.  About half of all businesses have cut marketing budgets, and this is a good reason in itself not to.  It is possible, because of the less intense competition, to stretch your marketing budget as much as four times further.

 

Is it time to update your website design?  If you have been using the same design for some time, it may be time to freshen it up.  It doesn’t take long before styles look obsolete, and this can be a death knell for businesses that depend on internet sales.  Whether you are revamping your current site or want to build one from the ground up, it is important to put the consumer’s needs first.  This means an easy navigable, clear, relevant, informative, entertaining, and engaging site is a must.  Designs tend to focus not as heavily on flashy elements (though that may be more than appropriate for your particular business) but a very friendly, easy user experience.

 

It is more important than ever that you create a sense of community with your consumers.  You can do this by integrating social media into your website, as well as with personalization, valuable content, blogs, and other features that consumers need and want.  Sound SEO tactics can help you draw visitors; your design is what keeps them there. This is your way to interface with customers – don’t waste it.

 

 

Posted by admin on May 9th, 2011 | Email | Print |

Are You Mobile? You Should Be

Google is moving to mobile with the popular Android operating system and incredibly effective mobile ads; RIM and Microsoft have joined forces to power BlackBerrys with Bing.  As Gartner analyst Michael Gartenburg says, “The battle for mobile search is on.”  The economy may not be fully back on track – but don’t tell that to today’s smartphone users.  They have the income not only to buy these phones, but to spend on them.  Almost 40 percent of mobile users shop from their phones, and this is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.  If you’re not mobile, you’re falling behind.

 

Seventy percent of the world is mobile, and in some areas, this is the primary and preferred mode of access.  Experts predict that by 2015, mobile access will have outstripped traditional internet use with over 6.7 billion mobile devices in use.  This “post PC world,” as Steve Jobs describes it, will mean that we approach the web in an entirely different way.  Desktop users tend to be surfers and browsers, while mobile users are focused, targeted, and on-the-go.  They typically know where they want to go and what they want, and they depend on their mobiles for on-the-fly information – addresses, phone numbers, driving directions, menus, and other relevant pieces of data – as well as social networking and news updates.

 

Engaging with mobile customer, too, is a bit different, and this is a skill that more marketers, advertisers, and businesses are adapting to now rather than later.  There is a shift from passive marketing to active engagement with customers, whether in a customer-to-business model or a business-to-business model.  Sites and apps need to add usability and convenience for mobile users.  They need to be just as fast and on-the-go, whether aimed at social networking, searches, or purchasing.

 

Last generation, software technologies developed for C2B transitioned to the B2B market, first for those with big budgets, and then to the masses.  Mobile technology is a bit different in that everyone – B2B and C2B – has been thrown into the mix together as they follow their customers into this new world.

 

The common thread is active customer participation and engagement.  This focuses on design and having a clean, mobile-optimized site, as well as on features, like vertical navigation.  The key is to know what your customers want and give it to them easily without making them click through to page after page.  They will just move on to another site, and your mobile efforts will take you nowhere fast.

 

The customer is always right – and the customer is increasingly mobile.  Engage these customers and you will be able to tap into this growing market.

Posted by admin on May 9th, 2011 | Email | Print |