Virtual business
April 15, 2008
Brent Arslaner, VP of marketing at Unisfair, explains how virtual environments can
increase productivity in marketing, sales and human resources departments within a company.
SEMthing For All Small Businesses
April 15, 2008
While there isn’t much we can be certain of these days, one thing still remains hard to argue, the internet has created a level playing field upon which small business can effectively compete with large companies. No where is this more apparent than when it comes to one of our best tools, Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Last month I attended the SES conference here in New York, an event that continues to grow every year with small business owners. The clinics and discussions were filled with bed and breakfast owners, blog writers, and restauranteurs trying to crack the code to search engine serendipity.
I don’t think its an overstatement that search engine marketing is the single biggest opportunity when it comes to marketing your brand online. We all know this from experience as online consumers, we start our search at the search engines.
In future posts I’ll talk in more detail about the opportunities in SEM and SEO, particularly how they pertain to google, because, lets be honest, it is the 190 billion dollar gorilla.
How to Read an Arts CV
April 13, 2008
The current growth in outsourcing has Public Relations departments scrambling to understand this alternative type of resume. The common complaint from small business owners is ‘why can’t they just use a resume?’ When you understand the purpose of a CV, you’ll have more respect for it as a b2b tool.
Homepage is the application
April 11, 2008
About two years ago, I stumbled onto jotform.com a fantastic web application that builds web forms in a wysiwyg formant, better than any offline program I have ever seen, it includes easy to start-with templates, the ability to implement payment options and a breath of form input options all without having to do a single bit of php or cgi. Just copy the code into your web doc and you’re good to go.
While the jotform web application is a sturdy, and excellent resource - That wasn’t what first struck me about jotform.com - It was the homepage, or the lack of a homepage rather. The application is the homepage, actually, it’s the entire site really.
I’ve seen this quite a bit lately for web applications. The idea that the url is just a gateway to using the application, finding out more about it is just a small side note. While a simple concept its so smart, immediately immersing you into the utility of the program.
The 24-hour workday
April 11, 2008
I cannot remember the last time I didn’t sit in front of a computer at least once in a 24-hour span. And now as the lead creative for several companies, there is no escaping it.
While the internet has brought about the 24-hour business arena, it has also brought about the 24-hour working day. It’s only compounded now that I tend to work with other web workers in different time-zones. When one is shutting down, another is just starting up. My IM messages often read as an international date-line.
As many of us make the move to online and build our own empire of websites and online businesses, we are certainly working longer and longer hours, but does it actually work? Is it beneficial to your business and your health?
What are the side affects of this 24-hour work day? I seem to have the stamina and the health to weather through weeks of shifted sleep time, I see a lot of web workers who don’t. I step away and take a break when I even start to think my work is slipping, or I can’t get that next great idea - I “walk it off”.
For me, my work excites me and energizes me, until the day comes when it doesn’t - I plan to keep working across time-zones, leading creatives. But it’s certainly not for everyone and its not without its draw-backs, take a good look at the quality of your work, and honestly assess whether or not you need to step away - unplug and recharge.
Long Tail Part 1
April 10, 2008
Once you know who is visiting your website and who is buying from you, it’s vital you look at other areas of customer interest for opportunities to advertise.
People will tell you that you need substantial marketing budgets and you need to cover the mass market to constantly draw potential customers to your site. This is not always the case and very often it will be myths which are peddled by the marketing industry. You don‚t need to appeal to the mass market, why spend $1,000 on mass advertising and attract 10 new customers when you can advertise in your niche area for $100 and bring in the same number of customers - you don‚t need to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on advertising, this long tail effect is pretty well documented.
The days when even the smallest players on the internet had to spend thousands of dollars on advertising have gone. There are now so many niche markets that it is possible to create an array of smaller income streams to start off, and then use funds raised to increase your profile in due course.
While many companies do hit the internet with massive marketing campaigns, this is not necessarily the same for everyone. Even if you don’t have a large marketing budget there are ways and means of getting your name online and they don’t cost a fortune, more to come.
No usability design = losabilty design
April 9, 2008
While the look and style of any website is vital, many people seem to take web design far too seriously, throwing all of their money at designing their sites at the expense of the functionality and market budgets. The trick to finding a good design for your site is balance, whereby your site suits the style of your subject matter but is also very easy to navigate. There is nothing worse than logging onto the best site you have seen for years and then not being able to navigate to the area you want!
As a rule of thumb you should be able to navigate to any page on your website with no more than three clicks. While this is not always the case, there should not be many instances where it takes more than three clicks to get to your destination. The reasoning behind this is one of boredom and ease of access ˆ why would a visitor stay on your site wasting time trying to navigate, when there are literally thousands of similar sites out there?
Keep you site sharp, keep it professional but above all keep it focused. Colors and fonts also play a major part in the look and feel of your site, and while they can attract masses of business they can also lose business for you. There are many standard elements to many of the popular websites on the internet, such as where to place advertising, where to locate your menu bar and ensuring that each and every page makes plain to the reader what it has to offer. Take a look at this discussion of Basic usability - is there a clear hierarchy? Is the navigation consistent?
Do not forget that customers are just as likely to leave a site which is very basic than one which looks excellent but takes a little too long to load and even longer to figure out how to use. After you have launched your site be sure to try and get some feedback from your visitors.
Part 2 of SEM
April 9, 2008
Lets explore the three biggest opportunities in SEM.
First, The organic listing- these are the results you get just beneath paid search. They are listed in order of relevance according to google’s proprietary algorithm. To change your ranking here in organic search you must rely on search engine optimization, SEO. Let me take a second to mention avoiding companies offering to list you in the top search engines, don’t do it. Auto submission tools like these can hurt your rankings, avoid them. We’ll talk about SEO more in future posts.
Second, Paid/sponsored listings- These are those results on the left of a google search result screen or at the very top of the result list, normally set on a colored background. A fee is charged for every click on these links. You select which keywords you want to have your site listed and your budget. This great tool from google helps you assess your keyword spend and even the expected click through rate, its really helpful in assessing your ROI.
The third opportunity in SEM is content-network listings these are essentially Adsense ads posted on third party sites. These tend to have a lower click through rate, but still shouldn’t be ignored.
Anyone who still believes that SEO is just for the larger companies is missing the point and more importantly, a lot of business. SEM and SEO are techniques which bring the larger and smaller companies closer together and successful SEM work has seen many small companies leap frog major competitors and grab an increased market share. Is your business doing enough SEM?
