Main Contents
July 28, 2008
Search Engine Optimization doesn’t only optimize websites for crawlers, it optimizes websites for people too! Humans utilize visualization and familiar terms to remember web addresses. SEO aids in this by providing simple URLS that perform complex functions.
For example, let’s say I created a PHP script that retrieved information about cities. Since there are many cities with the same name, I’d have to include state also. My PHP script URL may look something like this: mywebsiteaboutcities.com/index.php?state=WA&city=Seattle&timezone=Western. This URL is non-SEO friendly and very hard to remember. The average person isn’t going to remember all the ?’s &’s and =’s.
With the aid of SEO we can change this address to mywebsiteaboutcities.com/WA/Seattle/ and the users can then catch on and utilize the site in a whole new way. Even if there are links or not, a user could simply change /WA/ to /TX/ and /Seattle/ to /Dallas/ without having any programming knowledge and receive information about Dallas, TX.
Now, if your site information is worthy, in human conversation among friends someone could communicate your URL. All parties in the conversation could easily remember how to navigate to your website information on Dallas, TX thanks to our friendly neighborhood superhero, SEO.
Filed under: SEO |
Comments (0)
June 30, 2008
Continuing with real world examples of how companies are missing the point of error messages, I offer this example from the Urban Outfitters online store.
This image was posted while the online store was offline. They’re missing a great opportunity to redirect interested parties to other areas of the site.
- Why not send these shoppers to the Urban Outfitters blog where they can get fashion tips and ideas for outfit combinations while they wait to shop?
- Introduce them to new products and tell them why they should care (why they should purchase).
- Why not let them enter their email address for the newsletter?
- Allow them to browse on the site and have an instant message system set up so that they will be alerted when the store is back online.
Never miss an opportunity - there’s no guarantee that they won’t find something similar at an online store that’s not down. Keep them entertained - keep them on your site.
Filed under: Customer Service, E-commerce, Marketing, User Experience |
Comments (0)
June 23, 2008
You may have a perfectly-coded site with no broken links, but you can’t expect every page to stay on your server forever nor can you expect those linking to your site to remember the “l” in “.html”. Someone else’s typo can derail any hopes of word-of-mouth advertising from those who are enthusiasts of your site. Lets look at two examples at random:
Done Well:
Here we see that CNN has wrapped their site with their normal navigation and design so that you always know the site is legitimate and have the opportunity to find the page for which you were looking - or navigate to another area of the site. This keeps their visitor on CNN.com even after his or her initial disappointment in not finding the originally intended page.
Done Poorly:
Here we see the University of Washington’s error page displaying nothing similar to their main pages and offering no navigation. In this situation, the visior is not as likely to stay on the site - they have been met with a brickwall, courtesy of your site.
The user’s experience should be a fluid as possible. Even when they get a little lost they should feel like you’re looking out for their interests. Hopefully no one that visits your site will ever see your error message, but it’s very important that they’re there just in case.
We practice what we preach! Go ahead, try this broken link to see our error page.
Filed under: User Experience |
Comments (0)
June 19, 2008
Abandoning a customer with a full shopping cart is always a good way to do it. Example #8,290 of how support makes or breaks a sale.
Filed under: Complaints, Customer Service |
Comments (0)
June 9, 2008
Stock photo houses are a good way to get a little creative energy flowing into your veins when you may not know what to do with a project. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an advocate for relying on stock photos for the finished project (photography of real employees is always preferred) but they’re useful as placeholders and to create an overall feeling for what the finished product may look like.
Anyway, if anyone has spent anytime at all searching for stock photos, they’ll know that a lot of the photos from the same photoshoot make their way into the search. So, you’ll see the same people doing different things and doing different poses.
This one caught my eye today:
And no, I wasn’t searching for “over-protective girlfriend.”
Filed under: fun |
Comments (0)
June 5, 2008
Like it or not, we at Skiilight accept the fact that certain marketing tasks are going to always be done by the secretary or the owner him or herself. In fact, we fully recognize that when it comes to personal connections, front-line employees are the most important marketers your business could have.
However, when it comes to marketing materials, Seth Godin, marketer extraordinaire, has published a few tips on his blog this week, worthy to pass on to our readers and those within your organization who may have Photoshop or PowerPoint installed.
- If you want professional results, hire a professional.
- Don’t use the built-in fonts that come with your PC. (Type is cheap. Invest.)
- Headlines in sans serif. Body in serif. (Easy tip—headlines are bold and condensed.)
- Black type/Light background. Don’t screw around unless you have some sort of design point to make. (Goth bands, it’s all yours).
- Headlines look great reversed. With two caveats: 1. don’t overdo it. 2. make sure you leave plenty of black around the border.
- TYPE SIZE! Too big is good. Too small is good. Just right might be a problem.
- Line spacing! Use less or more than the automatic. 14 point type probably deserves 15 or 16 point spacing.
We’re the professionals he’s referencing. If you lose your way in the middle of a PowerPoint presentation or an internal newsletter, we’re not above jumping in and righting the ship. We’re here to make you look good whether or not we originally made the file. Have a look at our print and web solutions and if there’s anything we can do, you know how to reach us.
Filed under: Marketing, beginners |
Comments (0)
May 19, 2008
Marketing is a form of communication. You (the business owner) desire to communicate with your customers (and potential customers). You may be speaking to your customers already, but are you communicating?
Getting to know your customers means listening to your customers - and knowing to whom they listen. You may think to yourself, “We have a website. Its lists what we sell. We put it at the bottom of our ads. What else could our customers possibly need?”
If you sell a product and your website says something to the effect of “come in to our store and browse our products” - you’re already a step behind. Take a look at your competition. Are they selling something that you’re also selling? Are they selling it online? If the answer is yes, you’d better get with it and start competing for those dollars. If the answer is no, you’re in the perfect position to get the jump on your competition.
Your website is your storefront to the world. If your customer is researching online, more often than not they are prepared to buy online. That means your website visitor probably became a customer at your competitor’s online store moments after visiting your site. Why? Because you don’t have e-commerce!
Even though your product may be sold at a lower price on Amazon.com, keep in mind that you may be in the position to offer brick-and-mortar services like person-to-person customer service, in-person returns/exchanges and a friendly face to greet them when they walk through door. These are all things a seasoned marketing professional can accentuate in your marketing communications.
At Skiilight, we know that recognizing your strengths, identifying honest weaknesses and assessing the competition are the cornerstones to any successful, business-driven marketing plan. If you need an independent eye and a jump start to your business efforts, we’re just a phone call or e-mail away.
Filed under: E-commerce |
Comments (0)
May 14, 2008
Bill Gates and Paul Allen shared a bold goal in 1975, “A PC on every desk and in every home.” 20 years later, Microsoft had grown into one of the largest computer companies, and 30 years following one of the most respected and valuable brands in the world.
Without a vision, your company is treading water. Do you have a real mantra? Are you committed to growth? Are there aspects of your marketing plan that are spinning its wheels (or even worse, on cinder blocks in the back yard)? Do you even have a marketing plan?
If you’re answers are defiant yet cloudy, we like you. You should be defensive - it means you’re passionate. You want to succeed, but you haven’t set a lofty goal. Without lofty goals we would be accepting of mediocrity. Take a look at these innovators who had bold ideas:
- 1916: The first self-serve grocery store opens in Memphis; a Piggly Wiggly,
- 1947: Self-serve gas station introduced by George Urich in California,
- 1967: London-based Barclays bank opens one of the world’s first ATMs,
- 1995: Alaska Airlines sells a airline ticket over the internet for the very first time.
A recurring theme there is self-service; one of Time magazine’s “10 Ideas that are Changing the World.” By bring self-service into your marketing plan, you’re empowering your customers and streamlining productivity within your organization.
In a previous post, I gave examples of web applications that would help you do whatever it is that you want to do (kind of our mantra here at Skiilight). Take a look back and see if any of those ideas fit into a current need of yours and let us know. We’re ready to improve upon the way your customers interact with your business. Set the customer service bar high and consistently pole vault over it.
Filed under: Customer Service, User Experience |
Comments (0)
May 1, 2008
…and not in the way that you think, either. What first comes to mind would be to improve your contact page. Closing the feedback loop is the easiest way to give your customers some satisfaction. Even more important is the need to have someone answering those emails. If the feedback loop ends with a customer’s email sitting in an inbox never to be checked, well then you’ve angered another customer.
The real point of this post is to bring to your attention the need for quality web applications. By using applications on your website to keep customers informed, you immediately cut the amount of time your paid employees are using to answer requests that could have been answered on your website.
If you’re a busy company with workers who are already stretched to the breaking point (that means most businesses out there) you can improve your outreach by utilizing web applications. A few examples:
- Create press releases on-the-fly and have them displayed immediately on your site
- Find the best people by using an HR application that allows visitors to create a profile to upload their resume and cover letters for future positions
- Use that same HR application to email visitors when that dream position becomes vacant
- Allow your employees view sildeshows, download photos or create captions from this year’s company holiday party
- Use that same application for the photos of your new office location opening or even to announce the arrival of the administrative assistant’s new child
- Contribute to and pull from an already existing knowledgebase to deliver content to your customers
- Broadcast your site via RSS (like this blog) so topics can be read at the leisure of others wherever he or she may like
- Post interactive maps so that your customers can find you on their terms (and without leaving your site)
- Publish a blog to make your business thoughts public and establish a more personal connection to your audience
- Build a following with e-mail newsletters sent directly from your own domain rather than going through a third party.
Put the power of interactivity in the hands of your visitors and see important metrics like pages visited and visit duration rise. Meanwhile, watch your employees waste less time explaining how to get to the office or telling someone that a position has been filled.
Skiilight is dedicated to building your brand into self-sufficency. The last thing your company needs is a tether attached to it. By embracing smart technologies your company will succeed in ways you may not have thought possible.
Filed under: Customer Service, User Experience, programming |
Comments (0)
April 22, 2008
Would you take the sign off of your front door or over your store front for a year? Of course not, because sales from those walking by would plummet. Internet users are sort of the same way. When browsing the internet, millions of users are “walking by” and looking at what everyone has to offer. Do you really want to miss out on these potential sales?
Long-tail keywords are search engine queries internet user’s perform that are 5 words in length or more. For example, you own a cloud making shop (fake business) in Skytown, Skystate. Let’s say Skytown, Skystate has a population of one million people. Let’s also assume that 20% of the population moves in and around Skytown each year. (Yes, I’m pulling numbers out of nowhere to make a point). So when someone moves and they need to find a new place to make clouds, what do they do? The days of looking through the ad-ridden yellow pages are over, they’re going to sign online and search “Cloud Maker in Skytown, Skystate”, print off contact info and directions to the cloud making store and prepare their order. If each cloud costs $5 and the average cloud buyer purchases 10 clouds, your business could be missing out on 200,000 customers and $1,00,000 dollars in business each year in Skytown!! That doesn’t even include national sales from the national footprint that owning a website provides. This also doesn’t include the other 80% of the web-savvy population in Skytown that spends at least 1 hour on the internet a day. Now the question is, will your company be #1 on those search results for skytown?
Let us help you! Skiilight provides all the services required to make your company’s web presence seen. We provide programming, marketing, design, and many other services businesses like yours need. Send us an email and quit missing out on those customers that are surfing on by to your competitors!
Filed under: SEO |
Comments (0)
