Recently in Web Design Category
Finally spring time has sprung in the South. I always get in the mood for that fresh start, that spring cleaning mode every year right when the dogwoods are in full bloom in the woods behind the office . Just like we spring clean our homes, change the smoke detector batteries and clean out the cobwebs, when was the last time your cleaned out the cobwebs from your website?
When was the last time you changed any content on your present site? ...yesterday? ...last week? ...last month? ...don't tell me it was last year! We hear things like, "You mean you can do that!" A recent survey reveals that while many site owners understand the need for frequent updating, a good portion still do not, with 37 percent of respondents saying they update content daily, 16 percent weekly, 16 percent monthly and a whopping 31 percent annually.
While many Web sites keep their content fresh and alive, updating links and content often, many do not. Look I know your busy, but this month would be a great time to carefully evaluate your site's content, run maintenance programs to check for broken links (with a plan to do this regularly), and overhaul any of your outdated content, images or applications that are not being used. Fresh content that is updated regularly is key now a days in improving your rank in the search engines as well. The easiest way to do that is to add a company blog to your site where you can share customer success stories, talk about trends in your industry and share information with potential customers that builds their trust in your comapny.
Does your site appear fresh, or does it need some updating? Sometimes bringing your site more current is as simple as adding some fresh content and archiving the old, while other times you may be getting due for a redesign or complete overhaul in order to stay competitive. Your Web site is the most cost effective marketing tool your business can use and the easiest to respond to your customers demands.
Have some friends or colleagues look at your site for you and ask them for honest critiques. Often times we can't see the forest for the trees, so to speak, so asking others to take a look can bring a different, fresh perspective. Ask them to tell you if your site is easy to navigate, if they find any dead links, if the content is helpful and interesting, and if they have any ideas that might improve your site.
Here are some tips to ensure a fresh and vital website:
When was the last time you changed any content on your present site? ...yesterday? ...last week? ...last month? ...don't tell me it was last year! We hear things like, "You mean you can do that!" A recent survey reveals that while many site owners understand the need for frequent updating, a good portion still do not, with 37 percent of respondents saying they update content daily, 16 percent weekly, 16 percent monthly and a whopping 31 percent annually.
While many Web sites keep their content fresh and alive, updating links and content often, many do not. Look I know your busy, but this month would be a great time to carefully evaluate your site's content, run maintenance programs to check for broken links (with a plan to do this regularly), and overhaul any of your outdated content, images or applications that are not being used. Fresh content that is updated regularly is key now a days in improving your rank in the search engines as well. The easiest way to do that is to add a company blog to your site where you can share customer success stories, talk about trends in your industry and share information with potential customers that builds their trust in your comapny.
Does your site appear fresh, or does it need some updating? Sometimes bringing your site more current is as simple as adding some fresh content and archiving the old, while other times you may be getting due for a redesign or complete overhaul in order to stay competitive. Your Web site is the most cost effective marketing tool your business can use and the easiest to respond to your customers demands.
Have some friends or colleagues look at your site for you and ask them for honest critiques. Often times we can't see the forest for the trees, so to speak, so asking others to take a look can bring a different, fresh perspective. Ask them to tell you if your site is easy to navigate, if they find any dead links, if the content is helpful and interesting, and if they have any ideas that might improve your site.
Here are some tips to ensure a fresh and vital website:
- Establish a regular housekeeping schedule. Determine how often you will introduce new content on your site.
- Remove or refresh stale content. Remove all expired offers, products or services and update information that has changed. Be sure to update featured articles and archive that old articles in a separate section in your site for reference.
- Make your presentation current. Even if your product or service is fairly static, find a way to show that the site is up-to-date.
- Periodically test all the links within your site to be sure they work properly. This is especially true if you link off to other sites. They sometimes change where they place their content or remove the page completely.
I was at a networking function for the International Business Academy, LLC recently and part of our speaker's table top exercise was to go around the table and each person ask this question, "What expectations do you have of a ____________ that you would do business with?'. As we went around the table it was very revealing to me as to what the business community thought of each others industries. When it was my turn I asked the question, "What expectations do you have of a web development firm that you would do business with?" I have to admit that the answers were very to the point and interesting enough riddled with emotion that was prompted from many bad experiences with so called professionals in our industry. The strong emotionals revealed in their answers was something I was surprised by. Here are some of their comments:
• I like to get a website that works! This person was on her third web developer and interviewing a fourth after our breakfast meeting in hopes she could find someone that would get her site to function properly and her shopping cart to at least take orders consistently. You could tell from her voice she was frustrated to say the least since her company's future growth depended on her website working 24/7.
• I would like to find someone that I can depend on for support and ongoing ideas to help me grow. That seems to be the general consensus of those at the table. They all wished they could get prompt support when they needed it. Many commented that when they went back to their original web person they were no where to be found. As to getting new ideas to help them grow, many designers are notorious for the statement, "Tell me what you want and I'll create it!" What's the point? If all our clients knew what they wanted they wouldn't need us. Most of the time our customers have no clue how all of this technology works nor do they care, they just want ongoing ideas that will drive sales and grow their brand online. In our opinion that the fun part of our job, helping companies grow by discussing how you can use technology to create an affinity with your brand!
• I'd like to have a design that was unique, simple and clean instead of some template? While templates are good for those on very, very tight budgets, there is nothing like having a custom designed site done that is specific to your needs, customers and is simple in design and navigation. We have found that with our simple, clean designs we can make any company look like a million bucks for far less than they might think.
• I'd like to find a developer that will design my site so it's flexible and expandable as I grow. Great web development firms always make this a priority. If you don't hear that your new website will be flexible and expandable long term from your current web development company's lips when it's time for a strategic makeover, run to get help immediately!! As a business owner myself, I have to get long term value from every investment I make. I'm drive to make sure our clients get the same.
I was surprised to hear these complaints from the various companies at the table but what they were concerned and frustrated about most are the sort of services we commit to do every day with our customers. Our mission is simple! "Make sure that your company's brand is IN demand 24/7 on the World Wide Web." By creating simple and compelling websites that work all of the time, constantly sharing unique strategies that build relationships with your site visitors and your company's brand of products, we make sure you get a great return on your investment long term.
By the way, over coffee after breakfast we all got to talking and sharing about some really great ideas that all of us have been using successfully to grow our brands online. If you 'd like to find out more about those ideas just email me at mark@csmediagroup.com and I'll send you a copy of my notes.
• I like to get a website that works! This person was on her third web developer and interviewing a fourth after our breakfast meeting in hopes she could find someone that would get her site to function properly and her shopping cart to at least take orders consistently. You could tell from her voice she was frustrated to say the least since her company's future growth depended on her website working 24/7.
• I would like to find someone that I can depend on for support and ongoing ideas to help me grow. That seems to be the general consensus of those at the table. They all wished they could get prompt support when they needed it. Many commented that when they went back to their original web person they were no where to be found. As to getting new ideas to help them grow, many designers are notorious for the statement, "Tell me what you want and I'll create it!" What's the point? If all our clients knew what they wanted they wouldn't need us. Most of the time our customers have no clue how all of this technology works nor do they care, they just want ongoing ideas that will drive sales and grow their brand online. In our opinion that the fun part of our job, helping companies grow by discussing how you can use technology to create an affinity with your brand!
• I'd like to have a design that was unique, simple and clean instead of some template? While templates are good for those on very, very tight budgets, there is nothing like having a custom designed site done that is specific to your needs, customers and is simple in design and navigation. We have found that with our simple, clean designs we can make any company look like a million bucks for far less than they might think.
• I'd like to find a developer that will design my site so it's flexible and expandable as I grow. Great web development firms always make this a priority. If you don't hear that your new website will be flexible and expandable long term from your current web development company's lips when it's time for a strategic makeover, run to get help immediately!! As a business owner myself, I have to get long term value from every investment I make. I'm drive to make sure our clients get the same.
I was surprised to hear these complaints from the various companies at the table but what they were concerned and frustrated about most are the sort of services we commit to do every day with our customers. Our mission is simple! "Make sure that your company's brand is IN demand 24/7 on the World Wide Web." By creating simple and compelling websites that work all of the time, constantly sharing unique strategies that build relationships with your site visitors and your company's brand of products, we make sure you get a great return on your investment long term.
By the way, over coffee after breakfast we all got to talking and sharing about some really great ideas that all of us have been using successfully to grow our brands online. If you 'd like to find out more about those ideas just email me at mark@csmediagroup.com and I'll send you a copy of my notes.
Web Standards is generally defined by a set of principles that are meant to make websites more accessible, more usable, more findable, and easier to update. There are many factors that contribute to web standards and there are a few different organizations or groups that attempt to define them. For the purpose of this article I'm going to focus on a few of the most common and important implementations of web standards.
1. CSS Instead of Tables - For years websites were built using tables. This was because many early web developers came from print design backgrounds and tables provided a familiar way to layout a page. As the web evolved and websites became larger and more complex a new way of building sites was needed. That's where Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) entered the picture. CSS provides for more flexibility in a design. It allows you to place any element at an exact point in a design rather than having to fit the element into a series of boxes, which is what tables required.
2. Less Code = Less Load Time = Happier Users - One of the benefits of using CSS instead of tables is that CSS reduces the amount of code needed to generate a page. Previously a complex site would require hundreds and hundreds of lines of code in order to create enough tables to fit the content into. CSS requires very little code to accomplish the same goal because of the freedom the designer has in manipulating the elements in a design. Moreover, the CSS is kept external from the main HTML page which means the browser has less code to load which results in the page itself loading faster. Internet users have short attention spans and anything you can do to make your site display faster is a good thing.
3. Accessibility and Usability - With more and more users viewing your website in ways other than the standard monitor on a desk it becomes necessary to build sites flexible enough to display properly in many different formats. What if someone wants to view your site on a cell phone? With CSS you can create a separate stylesheet that is only visible to those types of browsers. What if a blind person comes to your website? At least 1.5 million blind people use computers. That is a sizable audience. Web standards requires a site to be built using code that can be read by screen readers. So if a blind person views a web standards site they won't be bogged down with too much unreadable code and the imagery on the site will be replaced by a short description of that image. This results in a more pleasant browsing experience for everyone.
4. Findability - A website built using web standards is more easily indexed by the search engines. This is an important part of Search Engine Optimization. You can fill your site with keywords but if Google chokes on the code then it won't matter. Using less code, by using CSS and following web standards, will help you on your way to becoming number one in the search engines.
Conclusion - If your website is more than a few years old or was created by a firm unfamiliar with web standards then it is likely holding you back. As we've said before in this space, there are many different factors that contribute to a successful website and following web standards is an important one.
For more information on web standards:
Webstandards.org
1. CSS Instead of Tables - For years websites were built using tables. This was because many early web developers came from print design backgrounds and tables provided a familiar way to layout a page. As the web evolved and websites became larger and more complex a new way of building sites was needed. That's where Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) entered the picture. CSS provides for more flexibility in a design. It allows you to place any element at an exact point in a design rather than having to fit the element into a series of boxes, which is what tables required.
2. Less Code = Less Load Time = Happier Users - One of the benefits of using CSS instead of tables is that CSS reduces the amount of code needed to generate a page. Previously a complex site would require hundreds and hundreds of lines of code in order to create enough tables to fit the content into. CSS requires very little code to accomplish the same goal because of the freedom the designer has in manipulating the elements in a design. Moreover, the CSS is kept external from the main HTML page which means the browser has less code to load which results in the page itself loading faster. Internet users have short attention spans and anything you can do to make your site display faster is a good thing.
3. Accessibility and Usability - With more and more users viewing your website in ways other than the standard monitor on a desk it becomes necessary to build sites flexible enough to display properly in many different formats. What if someone wants to view your site on a cell phone? With CSS you can create a separate stylesheet that is only visible to those types of browsers. What if a blind person comes to your website? At least 1.5 million blind people use computers. That is a sizable audience. Web standards requires a site to be built using code that can be read by screen readers. So if a blind person views a web standards site they won't be bogged down with too much unreadable code and the imagery on the site will be replaced by a short description of that image. This results in a more pleasant browsing experience for everyone.
4. Findability - A website built using web standards is more easily indexed by the search engines. This is an important part of Search Engine Optimization. You can fill your site with keywords but if Google chokes on the code then it won't matter. Using less code, by using CSS and following web standards, will help you on your way to becoming number one in the search engines.
Conclusion - If your website is more than a few years old or was created by a firm unfamiliar with web standards then it is likely holding you back. As we've said before in this space, there are many different factors that contribute to a successful website and following web standards is an important one.
For more information on web standards:
Webstandards.org
Cornerstone Media Group is pleased to announce the launch of another successful website project. We recently launched a new website for Rockwood Materials Handling.
For Rockwood we created a new design to better describe what services they offer and what industries they work with. We did this by incorporating interactive Flash imagery into the home page as well as descriptive page titles and file names. Also, using more descriptive files names and page titles helps to increase Rockwood's visibility in the search engines. We also incorporated various other industry standard Search Engine Optimization techniques to make the Rockwood name more visible throughout the internet.
For Rockwood we created a new design to better describe what services they offer and what industries they work with. We did this by incorporating interactive Flash imagery into the home page as well as descriptive page titles and file names. Also, using more descriptive files names and page titles helps to increase Rockwood's visibility in the search engines. We also incorporated various other industry standard Search Engine Optimization techniques to make the Rockwood name more visible throughout the internet.
Cornerstone Media Group is pleased to announce the launch of our latest website for Hendrick Phillips Salzman & Flatt. HPSF is a leader in construction law in Atlanta and it was important for us to communicate visually their experience and personality. We accomplished this through imagery related to both the law field and the construction field. A color palette of dark blue and brown was used to complement their logo and to indicate professionalism and trustworthiness.
Continue reading Hendrick Law Firm Website Launch.
It's a fact that most people seldom return to new sites that they discover in their Internet travels. Aside from the obvious Internet resource sites like search engines, newsgroups, and our own home page, we seldom go back to a site for a second look. It's easy to see that some of the most successful sites on the Internet are those that get tons of return traffic. Their traffic grows as new visitors discover it and as the old ones come back for additional visits.
Here's the four biggest reasons people never return to an Internet site for a second look:
1. NO Content
2. NO Change
3. NO Value
4. NO Fun
Let's take a closer look at each one so you understand exactly what I'm talking about.
NO Content
On the Internet, content is king! The sites that make money and get lots of repeat visits are those with great content. Content simply means information that is relevant for the type of visitors that you attract to your site. One of the best examples of a site loaded with content is <a href="http://www.espn.com">ESPN Sportszone</a>. It always amazes me when I visit how easy it is to get lost in all the stories, stats and information. More often than not, I end up spending time looking at stuff that I never intended to look at once I get there. If people can literally "get lost" in your site, that's a sign of good content.
NO Change
I'm amazed at the number of people who do a great job of promoting their sites to generate lots of initial visits but then never change a single thing on their site. This is one of the biggest faults of Internet business owners. If a site doesn't change, why would anyone want to come back for a second look. This is a simple one.
NO Value
If I can purchase your products for the same, or close to the same price from on off-line vendor, what incentive do I have to visit your online site? All consumers are very selfish. They are concerned with one thing only when they surf the net - What's in it for me? Ask yourself that question about the information on your site. If there are not several obvious benefits for your visitors to come in for a look and stop back again, don't expect them to do either.
NO Fun
Most of us still use the Internet, and especially the web, for entertainment. We love to have fun. If you want to get their attention you need to do something that will entertain them. Part of having fun is being involved. People tend to support what they help create. Internet users love to feel as though they are part of the process. Giving your visitors a chance to be part of the process is a great way to liven up your site and your traffic. With all the innovations in technology, making your site fun shouldn't be too hard.
So if your site is beset with any of these major problems, here's a few simple suggestions to help you turn things around:
Add some new information to your site
Building content is a never-ending process. You should be adding to the content on your site at least monthly. If you're challenged to produce new content yourself, then don't. Go online and find some interesting content that you can add to your site. Most people in the information business would love to get some additional exposure for their information on your site. Just ask them if you could add their article or information to your site and give them a return link to their site. It's that easy.
Try to make your site a starting point for your target audience. If you provide some great information and direct them to additional resources that exist online, then they will certainly want to visit your site often. Position yourself as the "expert" they can trust to steer them in the right direction to find the best information available both online and off.
Content is a little like books in a library. A library without any books is not worth a visit. I've never been to a library yet that didn't have books from more than one author. Try to fill the library in your Internet site with lots of books full of information that is of interest to your target audience.
Change your site at least Monthly
Change takes work and since most of us are lazy by nature, it's one of the biggest problems when it comes to generating repeat traffic. Try changing something as simple as the headline on your home page next month and see if anyone notices. You may also want to start a feature of the month on your site. This might be a special product offer, a feature article or story, or perhaps a contest or something for free.
It's also important that when someone visits your page for the first time that they are alerted to the fact that your site will change from time to time. Something as simples as the words "Monthly Contest" tells them that the site will be different next month and invites them back for a second look. The Deals of the Day in the iMALL is another example of a site that changes frequently. Just the name "Deals of the Day" states very clearly that change is part of your site.
Suggest Bookmarking your site
Here's a simple suggestion that you might try: Put a note at the top of one of your pages that simply says, "Bookmark this page for future reference." They may have never considered marking that page, but if you suggest it they just may click that add button. The power of suggestion is a powerful thing and you should not forget that.
Start building a relationship on the very first visit
If you know that most people will visit your site once and then never return, then it only makes sense to collect as much information as you can from them the very first time they visit. This information might be helpful in determining where your target audience is hanging out online, or where they live, or what they want that has to do with your company and/or products.
Start a mailing list.
This one is cheap, easy and powerful. Start a mailing list of visitors to your site. You may use this list to send announcements of changes to your site, your monthly special, or your own newsletter. Let your visitors add their name to your list and be sure to promote it right on your home page or the other busy pages in your site to increase subscribers.
Build Community on Your site
Remember that having fun is important and we all like to feel as though we're involved. Ask your visitors to make contributions to your site or take an active role in the direction of your online business.
So there are a few suggestions to help you build your traffic by getting repeat visits. As the Internet becomes more and more crowded with websites and home pages, it's more important than ever to take a proactive approach to your Internet marketing. If you wait for them to come back, you might be waiting a long time.
Here's the four biggest reasons people never return to an Internet site for a second look:
1. NO Content
2. NO Change
3. NO Value
4. NO Fun
Let's take a closer look at each one so you understand exactly what I'm talking about.
NO Content
On the Internet, content is king! The sites that make money and get lots of repeat visits are those with great content. Content simply means information that is relevant for the type of visitors that you attract to your site. One of the best examples of a site loaded with content is <a href="http://www.espn.com">ESPN Sportszone</a>. It always amazes me when I visit how easy it is to get lost in all the stories, stats and information. More often than not, I end up spending time looking at stuff that I never intended to look at once I get there. If people can literally "get lost" in your site, that's a sign of good content.
NO Change
I'm amazed at the number of people who do a great job of promoting their sites to generate lots of initial visits but then never change a single thing on their site. This is one of the biggest faults of Internet business owners. If a site doesn't change, why would anyone want to come back for a second look. This is a simple one.
NO Value
If I can purchase your products for the same, or close to the same price from on off-line vendor, what incentive do I have to visit your online site? All consumers are very selfish. They are concerned with one thing only when they surf the net - What's in it for me? Ask yourself that question about the information on your site. If there are not several obvious benefits for your visitors to come in for a look and stop back again, don't expect them to do either.
NO Fun
Most of us still use the Internet, and especially the web, for entertainment. We love to have fun. If you want to get their attention you need to do something that will entertain them. Part of having fun is being involved. People tend to support what they help create. Internet users love to feel as though they are part of the process. Giving your visitors a chance to be part of the process is a great way to liven up your site and your traffic. With all the innovations in technology, making your site fun shouldn't be too hard.
So if your site is beset with any of these major problems, here's a few simple suggestions to help you turn things around:
Add some new information to your site
Building content is a never-ending process. You should be adding to the content on your site at least monthly. If you're challenged to produce new content yourself, then don't. Go online and find some interesting content that you can add to your site. Most people in the information business would love to get some additional exposure for their information on your site. Just ask them if you could add their article or information to your site and give them a return link to their site. It's that easy.
Try to make your site a starting point for your target audience. If you provide some great information and direct them to additional resources that exist online, then they will certainly want to visit your site often. Position yourself as the "expert" they can trust to steer them in the right direction to find the best information available both online and off.
Content is a little like books in a library. A library without any books is not worth a visit. I've never been to a library yet that didn't have books from more than one author. Try to fill the library in your Internet site with lots of books full of information that is of interest to your target audience.
Change your site at least Monthly
Change takes work and since most of us are lazy by nature, it's one of the biggest problems when it comes to generating repeat traffic. Try changing something as simple as the headline on your home page next month and see if anyone notices. You may also want to start a feature of the month on your site. This might be a special product offer, a feature article or story, or perhaps a contest or something for free.
It's also important that when someone visits your page for the first time that they are alerted to the fact that your site will change from time to time. Something as simples as the words "Monthly Contest" tells them that the site will be different next month and invites them back for a second look. The Deals of the Day in the iMALL is another example of a site that changes frequently. Just the name "Deals of the Day" states very clearly that change is part of your site.
Suggest Bookmarking your site
Here's a simple suggestion that you might try: Put a note at the top of one of your pages that simply says, "Bookmark this page for future reference." They may have never considered marking that page, but if you suggest it they just may click that add button. The power of suggestion is a powerful thing and you should not forget that.
Start building a relationship on the very first visit
If you know that most people will visit your site once and then never return, then it only makes sense to collect as much information as you can from them the very first time they visit. This information might be helpful in determining where your target audience is hanging out online, or where they live, or what they want that has to do with your company and/or products.
Start a mailing list.
This one is cheap, easy and powerful. Start a mailing list of visitors to your site. You may use this list to send announcements of changes to your site, your monthly special, or your own newsletter. Let your visitors add their name to your list and be sure to promote it right on your home page or the other busy pages in your site to increase subscribers.
Build Community on Your site
Remember that having fun is important and we all like to feel as though we're involved. Ask your visitors to make contributions to your site or take an active role in the direction of your online business.
So there are a few suggestions to help you build your traffic by getting repeat visits. As the Internet becomes more and more crowded with websites and home pages, it's more important than ever to take a proactive approach to your Internet marketing. If you wait for them to come back, you might be waiting a long time.
The iPhone launches today and will change the cell phone industry forever. But I believe it will also change web design. It may be a gradual change but this is the start of something new for the industry.
Up until now browsing a website on a hand held device has been cumbersome and unappealing. The pages are usually stripped down and do not display the same as they do on a computer. The iPhone looks like it will change that. The early reviews say that this is by far the best browsing experience anyone has had on a cell phone.
So far, all of Apple’s marketing material only shows a couple of sites being browsed using the iPhone. And these are large volume sites like The New York Times and Amazon. They likely have been displaying their content to fit mobile devices for a while now.
How many websites will display properly on a screen with a resolution of 350 pixels wide? Many websites have sections that are explicitly told to display at a width much larger than that. What happens when these sites are viewed on an iPhone? Will this version of the Safari browser scale the sites automatically? No one knows for sure yet.
But what we do know is that more people will begin viewing websites on cell phones. The iPhone is just the beginning. If it indeed does deliver a successful browsing experience then more and more consumers are going to expect this type of experience on their own phones.
Over the next few years it will become commonplace for users to view websites on a cell phone. Right now only a fraction of sites are optimized for mobile phones. This means that along with all of the other things that go into creating a successful website, optimizing a site to work on a phone will be added to that list. As for current sites, it will likely be necessary for them to be overhauled or tweaked in some manner to properly display in this new age of website viewing.
Up until now browsing a website on a hand held device has been cumbersome and unappealing. The pages are usually stripped down and do not display the same as they do on a computer. The iPhone looks like it will change that. The early reviews say that this is by far the best browsing experience anyone has had on a cell phone.
So far, all of Apple’s marketing material only shows a couple of sites being browsed using the iPhone. And these are large volume sites like The New York Times and Amazon. They likely have been displaying their content to fit mobile devices for a while now.
How many websites will display properly on a screen with a resolution of 350 pixels wide? Many websites have sections that are explicitly told to display at a width much larger than that. What happens when these sites are viewed on an iPhone? Will this version of the Safari browser scale the sites automatically? No one knows for sure yet.
But what we do know is that more people will begin viewing websites on cell phones. The iPhone is just the beginning. If it indeed does deliver a successful browsing experience then more and more consumers are going to expect this type of experience on their own phones.
Over the next few years it will become commonplace for users to view websites on a cell phone. Right now only a fraction of sites are optimized for mobile phones. This means that along with all of the other things that go into creating a successful website, optimizing a site to work on a phone will be added to that list. As for current sites, it will likely be necessary for them to be overhauled or tweaked in some manner to properly display in this new age of website viewing.
Cornerstone Media Group is pleased to announce the launch of the website for Precision Turf. Precision Turf is known for their high quality athletic field renovations and is a leader in their industry. To show off their work we incorporated high quality imagery into the site at every point possible. We did this using Flash slide shows, Flash pop-up windows and JavaScript image replacements.
In January, we launched a new website for The Providence Group, a group of professional Realtors affiliated with RE/MAX® Greater Atlanta. This website has met with much praise; from the eye-catching design, to the 100% FREE home search, to the search engine friendly blog. With all these features, we were able to deliver to our client a website that they can be proud to show off, and that will serve to promote them to future new home buyers in Atlanta.Visit The Providence Group today.
Cornerstone Media Group is proud to announce that our latest client site has launched. The site is for The Association of Video Professionals, a national association of independent video studios "that strive to provide quality video services to both consumers and corporate clients."
Some of the features of the site are:
Some of the features of the site are:
- A professional design that matches AVP's high reputation in the industry
- Callouts at the bottom of the page to highlight important information
- A blog that allows AVP to communicate news and tips to their audience
- An RSS reader built with PHP that automatically displays the most recent blog entries on the front page
- An interactive map that allows the viewer to locate a member of the assocation anywhere in the country
You now have your website designed and you finally feel as if you are competing in the global Internet economy. The next step is to make certain that your website is giving you the return on your investment that meets your goals.
In any business you always look at the KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) to determine if your marketing, customer service, retail operations, etc. are producing the results you want and need. Your website is no different. We have developed a tracking system to know the what, where, why, when and how your website is performing month to month.
The following are the top ten basic website KPI's:
1. Defining visits and unique visitors. Your hosting company should have access to this information 24/7 in the form of analytic software like <a href="http://awstats.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">AWStats</a> right on your server. If your hosting company does not have this information available you need to find one that does. Remember that most people confuse the large number of hits their site may be getting with the often time much lower number of unique visitors. The number of unique visitors is what's important. For the sites that we host, we make certain that this information is tracked monthly at the very least.
2. Search results. You typically find a search function on the larger websites on the Internet. This makes it easy for a site visitor to find exactly what they want. If the right search application is installed, it tracks the numbers of searches visitors are making and what it is they are looking for. Armed with this information we can expand and beef up those areas on your site where necessary. The application can also track the keywords visitors are using to search with. That information can be used to maximize your keywords for search optimizations of your site.
3. Visit duration. This is important when looking at your site's traffic analytics from your hosting provider. It shows the average duration that each visitor spends on your site. Considering that the average person spends less than two minutes, often times less than thirty seconds on any given site, you want to look for an average of two minutes or more. When that time continues to climb your site is really beginning to work for you and grow your business.
4. Conversion. Conversion events is another factor we examine. These indicators give a strong notion that what information you have on your site as well as the offers you are making are what site visitors want. Here are just a few (non exhaustive list) conversion events:
- Makes a purchase.
- Opts into a Newsletter,
- Submits some type of personal information,
- Subscribes to a RSS feed,
- Prints a page,
- Uses "email this to a friend" functionality,
- Spends more than ten minutes browsing the site.
- Downloads a document or an application.
- Looks at a set of important pages.
- Views a set number of pages during a visit.
- Clicks on a particular link to leave the site.
- Search for a specific product or piece of information.
Those are a few of the conversion items we track month to month.
5. Cost per referral. The nice thing about the web is that your site takes a visitor from a cold prospect to a warm referral. A warm referral is already familiar with your company, knows about your products and/or services and is comfortable enough to contact you by phone or at the least complete a contact form with their information. We make certain your contact form works for you and qualifies your visitors’ needs. Expanding your contact form alone can improve significantly your return on referrals.
6. Reach. With today's analytics we can actually track the number of visitors, including what cities they have come from to reach your site, from the ‘global marketplace.’ That alone is a huge advantage over your competition. You can use that data to target marketing campaigns, franchising efforts, expansion, and more.
7. Stickiness. This is not just a buzz word. We consider a site 'sticky' if it has the sort of resources and fresh content that encourages return visits, and as an end result, more purchases. We create blogs for our clients and that is one of the easiest ways to create stickiness. Our goal is that our own Brainstorm Blog becomes 'sticky' for many visitors.
8. Measuring offline activities using online support. If you want to improve website use and decrease call center costs, we have a recommendation for you. We have more and more of our clients using unique URLs or landing pages for their offline communications. We suggest that you use a unique telephone number of the call center that can be found only on your website. This will eventually reduce your costs and provide important tracking information.
9. Feedback Often times feedback from your existing or past customers can help you identify the areas in your business (including customer service) that need improvement. There are some very interesting ways to get that information that doesn't cost a lot of money or take much of your time. You can do it by running an online contest for a drawing. The bigger the prize the more information you can ask them to give you about your website, your products, services and your company overall. An online survey, without the visitor being required to give their name, is the best way to get the truth.
10. Profit The defining measurement of the success of your website is your profit. Using all of your KPI's from your website, and those from the offline portion of your business, we help you define if the web is working for your business, and most importantly, growing bottom line profits.
Having the knowledge of your KPI’s, we can improve your website based on the most important information available - what your visitors are telling you.
In any business you always look at the KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) to determine if your marketing, customer service, retail operations, etc. are producing the results you want and need. Your website is no different. We have developed a tracking system to know the what, where, why, when and how your website is performing month to month.
The following are the top ten basic website KPI's:
1. Defining visits and unique visitors. Your hosting company should have access to this information 24/7 in the form of analytic software like <a href="http://awstats.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">AWStats</a> right on your server. If your hosting company does not have this information available you need to find one that does. Remember that most people confuse the large number of hits their site may be getting with the often time much lower number of unique visitors. The number of unique visitors is what's important. For the sites that we host, we make certain that this information is tracked monthly at the very least.
2. Search results. You typically find a search function on the larger websites on the Internet. This makes it easy for a site visitor to find exactly what they want. If the right search application is installed, it tracks the numbers of searches visitors are making and what it is they are looking for. Armed with this information we can expand and beef up those areas on your site where necessary. The application can also track the keywords visitors are using to search with. That information can be used to maximize your keywords for search optimizations of your site.
3. Visit duration. This is important when looking at your site's traffic analytics from your hosting provider. It shows the average duration that each visitor spends on your site. Considering that the average person spends less than two minutes, often times less than thirty seconds on any given site, you want to look for an average of two minutes or more. When that time continues to climb your site is really beginning to work for you and grow your business.
4. Conversion. Conversion events is another factor we examine. These indicators give a strong notion that what information you have on your site as well as the offers you are making are what site visitors want. Here are just a few (non exhaustive list) conversion events:
- Makes a purchase.
- Opts into a Newsletter,
- Submits some type of personal information,
- Subscribes to a RSS feed,
- Prints a page,
- Uses "email this to a friend" functionality,
- Spends more than ten minutes browsing the site.
- Downloads a document or an application.
- Looks at a set of important pages.
- Views a set number of pages during a visit.
- Clicks on a particular link to leave the site.
- Search for a specific product or piece of information.
Those are a few of the conversion items we track month to month.
5. Cost per referral. The nice thing about the web is that your site takes a visitor from a cold prospect to a warm referral. A warm referral is already familiar with your company, knows about your products and/or services and is comfortable enough to contact you by phone or at the least complete a contact form with their information. We make certain your contact form works for you and qualifies your visitors’ needs. Expanding your contact form alone can improve significantly your return on referrals.
6. Reach. With today's analytics we can actually track the number of visitors, including what cities they have come from to reach your site, from the ‘global marketplace.’ That alone is a huge advantage over your competition. You can use that data to target marketing campaigns, franchising efforts, expansion, and more.
7. Stickiness. This is not just a buzz word. We consider a site 'sticky' if it has the sort of resources and fresh content that encourages return visits, and as an end result, more purchases. We create blogs for our clients and that is one of the easiest ways to create stickiness. Our goal is that our own Brainstorm Blog becomes 'sticky' for many visitors.
8. Measuring offline activities using online support. If you want to improve website use and decrease call center costs, we have a recommendation for you. We have more and more of our clients using unique URLs or landing pages for their offline communications. We suggest that you use a unique telephone number of the call center that can be found only on your website. This will eventually reduce your costs and provide important tracking information.
9. Feedback Often times feedback from your existing or past customers can help you identify the areas in your business (including customer service) that need improvement. There are some very interesting ways to get that information that doesn't cost a lot of money or take much of your time. You can do it by running an online contest for a drawing. The bigger the prize the more information you can ask them to give you about your website, your products, services and your company overall. An online survey, without the visitor being required to give their name, is the best way to get the truth.
10. Profit The defining measurement of the success of your website is your profit. Using all of your KPI's from your website, and those from the offline portion of your business, we help you define if the web is working for your business, and most importantly, growing bottom line profits.
Having the knowledge of your KPI’s, we can improve your website based on the most important information available - what your visitors are telling you.
I am frequently asked by business owners if they should design their own websites. Let’s look at the issues involved.
Cost is a primary consideration. It is true that professional websites can cost anywhere from $3,000 to tens-of-thousands of dollars to build, depending on the complexity of the site. And yet everywhere you look you will find affordable and accessible software available to teach you how to design your own website for under $350. There is a learning curve involved to do it yourself that you may not have the patience to endure, or you could pay the professionals for their experience and expertise.
Time is a factor to consider. That is your valuable time away from your business as you learn to design, code and develop a website for yourself. You will need to understand multiple programming languages, how to make a website go live, and how to build a site that works on multiple web browsers. Using a web design professional is a proven time saving investment.
Many facets of web design are necessary for maximum success. For instance, a user friendly website is the professional designers goal and if you design it yourself, you run the risk of creating usability problems with your own site that you aren’t even aware of. That can be time consuming on your part to correct it, and it will cost you site visitors and potential sales until the correction is made.
Search engine optimization is mandatory for the success of your website. You don’t want to find yourself on page 110 of a Google search as your prospective visitor will more than likely only look at the first few domains listed. You will have to spend time researching the reasons for your bad search engine representation, realize you need to redesign and recode your website, and then hope for the best. Professionals are constantly studying the latest evolution and demands of search engine optimization, and will maximize your position to allow for the most visitors and potential sales.
If you use a professional web designer, you will produce results right from the launch. Those results mean immediate revenue for you! You can now make a more informed decision to plunge ahead and design yourself, or hire the professional web designer.
Cost is a primary consideration. It is true that professional websites can cost anywhere from $3,000 to tens-of-thousands of dollars to build, depending on the complexity of the site. And yet everywhere you look you will find affordable and accessible software available to teach you how to design your own website for under $350. There is a learning curve involved to do it yourself that you may not have the patience to endure, or you could pay the professionals for their experience and expertise.
Time is a factor to consider. That is your valuable time away from your business as you learn to design, code and develop a website for yourself. You will need to understand multiple programming languages, how to make a website go live, and how to build a site that works on multiple web browsers. Using a web design professional is a proven time saving investment.
Many facets of web design are necessary for maximum success. For instance, a user friendly website is the professional designers goal and if you design it yourself, you run the risk of creating usability problems with your own site that you aren’t even aware of. That can be time consuming on your part to correct it, and it will cost you site visitors and potential sales until the correction is made.
Search engine optimization is mandatory for the success of your website. You don’t want to find yourself on page 110 of a Google search as your prospective visitor will more than likely only look at the first few domains listed. You will have to spend time researching the reasons for your bad search engine representation, realize you need to redesign and recode your website, and then hope for the best. Professionals are constantly studying the latest evolution and demands of search engine optimization, and will maximize your position to allow for the most visitors and potential sales.
If you use a professional web designer, you will produce results right from the launch. Those results mean immediate revenue for you! You can now make a more informed decision to plunge ahead and design yourself, or hire the professional web designer.
I recently started working with a new client here at Cornerstone Media Group. And as part of the planning process that we do for all of our clients, I researched the client's competition and looked at their suggested sites for designs they like. One site in particular caught my eye because it was the only one with a seemingly professional design. I say "seemingly" because It had nice imagery and a pleasing color scheme but there was clearly no thought to SEO or site flexibility.
The most glaring problems on the site were these two items:
1. All of the text on the site is in images
If the content of a website is inside of an image then it isn't visible to search engines. One quick way to tell if the content is inside of an image is to try and highlight it on the page. If you can click and drag your cursor over the text and it highlights, then this is good, it is real text. If you can't do this then the content is likely part of a larger image. The text you are reading on this blog can be highlighted but the name of our company, Cornerstone Media Group, at the very top of the blog cannot be because it is an image.
Search engines can't read the text inside of images. So if ranking in Google is important to you, and it always is, then this is a major no-no. The same goes for text in a Flash file, Google can't read it.
The other reason text in an image is bad is because it makes the site hard to update. What if you want to reword a sentence on your home page? If the text is part of an image then you're going to have to open Photoshop, find the right file, change the text, then export it out and upload it to a server. This is a tedious process.
2. The site was built using frames
The other glaring problem on this site was that it was built using frames. What are frames? Essentially, frames are a couple of web pages stuck into one page. For example, you can have the left side of the page be one frame that contains your navigation and the body of the page can be another frame. When the user clicks on one of the navigation points in the left frame, the right frame is then filled with the appropriate content. It's a quick and dirty solution for building a website.
But why is this bad? Search engines like for every page to have it's own unique address. Frames don't do this because there is only one address that loads in the various pages. Therefore the search engines aren't going to be able to see all of the content in the site. They may see part of it or none at all. If you View Source on a page with frames you will see that none of the content is visible, just a few lines of code. Google likes content, not code.
These are just a couple of the factors that go into creating a smart website. I was surprised to see a popular professional organization using a site that was so poorly constructed. It only requires a little more planning to do things right but will ultimately save the client a lot of time and a lot of money.
The most glaring problems on the site were these two items:
- All of the text on the site was in images
- The site was built with frames
1. All of the text on the site is in images
If the content of a website is inside of an image then it isn't visible to search engines. One quick way to tell if the content is inside of an image is to try and highlight it on the page. If you can click and drag your cursor over the text and it highlights, then this is good, it is real text. If you can't do this then the content is likely part of a larger image. The text you are reading on this blog can be highlighted but the name of our company, Cornerstone Media Group, at the very top of the blog cannot be because it is an image.
Search engines can't read the text inside of images. So if ranking in Google is important to you, and it always is, then this is a major no-no. The same goes for text in a Flash file, Google can't read it.
The other reason text in an image is bad is because it makes the site hard to update. What if you want to reword a sentence on your home page? If the text is part of an image then you're going to have to open Photoshop, find the right file, change the text, then export it out and upload it to a server. This is a tedious process.
2. The site was built using frames
The other glaring problem on this site was that it was built using frames. What are frames? Essentially, frames are a couple of web pages stuck into one page. For example, you can have the left side of the page be one frame that contains your navigation and the body of the page can be another frame. When the user clicks on one of the navigation points in the left frame, the right frame is then filled with the appropriate content. It's a quick and dirty solution for building a website.
But why is this bad? Search engines like for every page to have it's own unique address. Frames don't do this because there is only one address that loads in the various pages. Therefore the search engines aren't going to be able to see all of the content in the site. They may see part of it or none at all. If you View Source on a page with frames you will see that none of the content is visible, just a few lines of code. Google likes content, not code.
These are just a couple of the factors that go into creating a smart website. I was surprised to see a popular professional organization using a site that was so poorly constructed. It only requires a little more planning to do things right but will ultimately save the client a lot of time and a lot of money.
