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Hating on Apple? Take a number.

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:44:32 +0000

While there are a variety of reasons folks hate Apple, many of the most often repeated reasons boil down to two general problems: 1) Hypocrisy and 2) Draconian, closed methods.

Let’s take a little gander at these two general categories and see why Apple is so well described by these titles.

Apple’s hypocrisy takes a variety of forms, but one of the easiest to see is the advertising. Apple’s ad campaigns, ever since the first, “throw the computer at big brother,” ground breaking ad have been about the “little guy” versus the “big guy” and about the smart, cool apple user versus the dull, witless and completely uncool user of any other products.

There was the “Think Different” campaign and the “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” campaign, along with the “Switch” campaign, all of which imply that Mac users are somehow inherently wiser, more innovative and just generally have better judgment than those who use PCs. This is ridiculous, smug and arrogant. Clearly, the type of computer you use has nothing to do with how intelligent or innovative you are.

Apple advertises trouble free, crash free computers even though they also have crashes, and they also have notoriously high fail rates on certain pieces of equipment. Somehow, those problems keep getting byes from technology gurus and the public.

Apple consistently exaggerates speeds and device performance ability, with seemingly no consequences, while at the same time they aggressively call out any one else who does the same kind of exaggerating.

And another of the Apple hypocrisies leads directly into my next point. Apple professes to be innovative, individual and unique while at the same time aggressively crushing innovation and individuality while operating on notoriously closed architecture.

That closed architecture is the root of the claims of draconian techniques. Apple keeps it’s developers at arm’s length, keeps a tight leash on developers both by denying applications to it’s app store and by giving developers only limited access, and carefully managing its image in the outside world.

They act as a bully – see stories about them suing college kids for leaking info to the press and having the apartment of Gizmodo’s Jason Chenn searched by police and having his equipment seized after he bought an iphone prototype which was inadvertently left in a bar.

All these techniques leave a bitter taste in the mouth of many, especially those who would like to see the promise of Apple’s professed aura be reflected in the reality.

When should a company redesign its website?

admin — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:32:54 +0000

A company should redesign their website for many reasons. For a company the decision to redesign a website may be more compelling than for a personal website or community website. A small company may have budgetary constraints that prevent a redesign of their website. However the increasing role played by online marketing on the success of a business will in most cases justify expenditure.

Some of the reasons a company should redesign their website are quite obvious when you visit the company’s website. Whist some of the reasons may not be as evident. A company that sells services to other businesses will have a different design and lay-out to a company that directly targets end consumers. As such different companies are guided by different factors.

Some of the reasons why a company should redesign their website are discussed below:

Outdated design

A company’s brand is affected by the design of their website. Like with any other things, a website’s design can become outdated with time. The design trends 5 years ago were different to the design trends now. A company with an outdated website will present the wrong image to its prospective e customers who visit the website. A company’s website should reflect a modern design in line with the present times in order to gain a competitive advantage.

The design does not represent your market

A company’s website plays an important role in establishing its brand. When users visit a company’s website they form an impression about the company and its values. If your company’s website does not portray the desired image for your company then it should be redesigned in a way that it does. The design of the website should be based on the expectations of its target audience. Different websites target different customers. The website of a business to business company is guided by different design objectives to a website that sells directly to customers. If your company’s website design does not reflect the needs of your specific market then it probably requires a redesign.

Updating content on the website is not easy

It is more important to update the content on your website today than it has ever been before. The market today is driven by information. It is important for a website to provide up to date information to its customers. It is a common practice today for a company to offer independent information on their website in addition to information about the company and its products. Building an online community around your customers is becoming increasingly important to the success of a website. Companies are increasingly using their website to provide additional information and services that provide added value to their customers and offer a reason to visit their website.

If your company’s website does not allow you to update content easily, then it is time to think seriously about redesigning the website in a way it can be updated with ease. Many powerful content management systems freely available today allow easy updating of websites along with many additional features that can add value to a company’s website.

Lack of interactivity and marketing opportunities

A company’s website should provide a marketing and public relation opportunity. A company’s website should allow the company to interact with existing customers as well as prospective ones. At a most basic level a company’s website should allow it to manage customer requests and also collect information on prospective customers.

Today a company has to rely increasingly on the internet in order to remain competitive. Commercially successful company websites often offer a range of features on their websites that allow them to interact with their customers in addition to information about their products. Companies have successfully used features on their website to encourage participation from customers. These include customer registration and login to access additional services; request a call back option, newsletters, email enquiry form, blog, and forum. Different businesses follow a different strategy based on the market they target.

In most cases the scope of static websites is fairly limited. In order to have a commercially successful website a company needs to adopt well thought of strategy for their website. If your company’s website lacks interactivity and does not present an effective marketing and PR opportunity for the company then it is missing out on opportunities. If the website is scalable then additional features could be integrated without a complete redesign. However if it a static website then the chances are that a complete overhaul and redesign will be required.

10 SEO and Marketing-Friendly Title Tag Formulas

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:18:24 +0000

You want keywords in the title tag. Your marketing VP wants the brand. You know he’s wrong, because search engines are structured thinkers. He knows you’re wrong, because the title tag shows up in the search snippet and branding matters:

Now what?

Here are 10 title tag formulas that balance SEO and marketing and hopefully avoid wrestling matches in the boardroom:

[product name] – [company name]. If you’re selling products and you know your customers search for the product names, put the product name first, then the company name. Unless the product name is 125 characters long, in which case you have a whole other problem.
[article title] – [company name]. Worst case, put the article title first, then the company name.
[company name] – [product name / article title]. If the marketing VP just won’t back down, fine. Put the company name first, and remind them that you’re going to slam a drawer on their fingers when, 4 weeks from now, they come in to your office asking why the rankings haven’t improved.
[custom title] – [company name]. If you really have a nifty content management system, you can edit your title tag separate from your page or article title. Put that custom title first, then your company name.
[keyword] – [company name]. If you’re a one-product or one-service company, put the keyphrase that’s relevant to that page, then the company name, like this: Buggy Bumpers: Ian’s Buggy Emporium. Use a different phrase on each page! Repeating the same word again and again is a bad idea.
[keyword] – [product name] – [company name]. If your product name, company name and target phrase are all short, you can string them all together like this: Buggy Repair – Tune Ups – Ian’s Buggy Emporium. I try to keep my title tags under 60 characters.
[really cool sales phrase]. Remember, your title tag is what shows up in the search snippet. Come up with a great selling phrase like ‘Buggy repairs while you wait’. You work in the keywords and might talk the VP of marketing into leaving your title tag alone.
[company name]. Give them what they want, watch the rankings implode, and after you’re fired you can laugh at them from afar. I don’t recommend this.
[category] – [page or product name] – [company name]. This will almost certainly be too long, and get truncated in the search results. But if you have categories that are also search phrases, this is a nice, automated way to generate title tags throughout an entire store or collection of pages.
[ ]. You can always leave nothing in there at all. See number 8.

I used dashes to separate elements of the title tag. You can use dashes, colons or even pipe symbols (‘|’). As long as you separate the phrases, you’re fine.

And remember to keep your title tags under 60-70 characters. Less is even better if you can get away with it.

A few other posts worth checking
Search Engines are Structured Thinkers
The Easiest SEO Booster: Heading Tags
Choosing an SEO-Ready Content Management System

How can a web design company gain competitive edge with Joomla

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:56:34 +0000

A web design company needs to monitor the advancements in technology closely in order to remain competitive. A Web design company that offers only static websites is limited in its viability in today’s information driven economy.

Website design has evolved in recent years. The information publishing needs are more complex and powerful than they have ever been before. A web design company needs to offer dynamic features on their websites in order to remain commercially successful.

With the WEB 2 revolution and the recent success of social media websites such as You tube, Face book the days of static html websites are limited. Today no matter how small or large a company may be; it needs to present new quality information on its website in order to retain customers and also to rank higher on search engines such as Google. A website today needs to communicate with its audience and present a certain level of interactivity in order to be successful.

Designing websites in Joomla offers a web design company with many advantages. Websites designed in Joomla offer powerful features that traditional websites fail to deliver. Joomla enables web design companies to deliver dynamic database driven websites that can meet the growing needs of businesses however small or large.

Web design companies across the world are using Joomla to meet the dynamic needs required by websites of today. A web design company can benefit equally by using Joomla to design websites for smaller businesses as well designing websites with more complex requirements. Using Joomla a web design company is able to offer a powerful yet easy to use dynamic website at an affordable price.

Joomla is a free open source software. However a web design company does incur costs in producing a professional Joomla based website. As with any other programming area, Joomla requires skills and experience to implement. The core features are however easy to use and customise and can meet the needs of diverse businesses. A web design company can customise Joomla to meet a client’s requirements in a matter of days as opposed to months for a bespoke custom made system.

Outsourcing Your Website To a Web Design Company

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:19:52 +0000

Should a company outsource its website to a web design company or keep the process in-house? Outsourcing company’s website development to a web design company is popular among businesses. Over 50 % UK companies currently outsource work to a web design company. Outsourcing website development to a web design company is equally popular with small businesses as it is with established companies.

There are many reasons why a company outsources web development to a web design company. Web design and development has evolved significantly in recent years. With the popularity of Web 2 and recent advancements in internet technology, a web design company’s technical expertise can help maximize the internet’s potential.

Every company has its core competence that enables them to perform effectively within their business area. A web development and design firm’s core competence lies in utilisation of latest internet technology to develop an effective web presence for a company however small or large. The quality of website produced by a professional web design company will often result in a stronger and more effective web presence for your business.

Outsourcing has an added advantage for smaller companies. A small company may lack in house technical expertise to develop and maintain a cutting edge website for the company. Larger established companies may not have budgetary but often lack the technical acumen and experience of professional web design companies. Outsourcing is widely accepted as a popular and effective approach to maintaining an effective online presence.

Technology changes rapidly, and a professional Web design company has better knowledge and experience of the technological developments to determine which emerging technologies can be beneficial to your company. As website development and internet technology is evolving at a fast rate, a web design company’s technical expertise can bring many advantages to a business. A web design company focuses on complex issues in order to provide an effective web presence for your company, no matter how small or large its operations.

By outsourcing web development to a professional web design company, a company can concentrate on its core business areas. Outsourcing website development to a web design company also leads to a better quality of website and a stronger web presence. A web design company can deliver a professional web presence due to their expertise in the field which can not easily be achieved by an in-house team.

10 Rules for Setting Your Internet Marketing Budget

admin — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:17:34 +0000

It Costs WHAT?!!!!!

I'm tired of hearing that.

Budgeting your internet marketing project may seem like a crap shoot. But I can simplify things for you:

If you're building a new site, expect to spend 2X that amount again in the year after the site launches. Unless you want it to sit there, all alone, with no traffic.
If you want a site built by a single untrained individual who 'learned how to use Dreamweaver', expect to spend less than $2000. Also, expect to build a new site within 3 months.
If you want a site built by a 5-10 person, boutique-style agency, expect to spend, at an absolute minimum, $10,000. These are experts, and they deserve to be paid as experts.
If you find a 5-10 person, boutique-style agency that'll build you a site for $2000 or less, expect something that looks like they had a sneezing fit during the design phase.
If you expect to get a #1 ranking on Google for $99, you're insane.
If you hire a smart individual with a proven track record to optimize your site for search engines, expect to pay at least $5000, one time. Unless they're your friend, or they're willing to work hourly.
If you hire a big agency with all sorts of fancy tools, an army of copywriters and other expertise for search engine optimization, expect to pay, at an absolute minimum, $50,000 for a one-year engagement.
If you want to double your sales this year, you are going to have to pay more than $1000 to do it.
Reliable hosting costs more than $9.95 a month.
If you're spending $250,000 to build your product and get it to market, don't tell me you can't spend $15,000 to give it a decent web site, unless you want to watch my eyes bug out like I've been suddenly depressurized.

I may be unusually grumpy tonight because I'm at Disney World in Florida. It's 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity. I'm jetlagged, and I just spent $17 on a cheeseburger. And I'm here working.

Web Design: 7 Usability Strategies a Web Design Company Should Use

admin — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:29:14 +0000

A web design company’s one of the key challenges is to strike a balance between different web design elements. A web design company’s focus is equally on websites usability than on the visual design of the website. There is little doubt that the design of a website is key to its commercial success.

There are many reasons why a website’s design should be visually appealing. A professional web design is essential for a company’s brand. A web design company and a usability expert often do not see eye to eye. A web design company understand the importance of usability in the commercial success of a website. A professional web design company will hence often combine usability as well as graphic design principles in order to design effective websites.

It is easy for a Web Design Company to be so caught up in the visual design of a website they may fail to consider the usability aspects that determine the effectiveness of a website. A professional web design company will incorporate usability in the design from the start.

We have all encountered websites that are difficult to use. How many times have you come across a website which may have an eye catching web design but is difficult to use? A Web design company that does not address usability in the design from the start will only add to the overheads and cost in the long run.

Redesigning Your Company?s Website: Top 10 Tips

admin — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:16:10 +0000

A company’s web design is in constant need for improvements and enhancements. A web design company should understand the different issues that make a website effective. The importance of an effective web design for a company has increased manifold in recent years. Today a company’s website goes much beyond offering information. Web design plays a more crucial role in a company’s success today than it has done ever before.

The process of redesigning a website is quite different to designing a website for the first time. Following are some of the key issue that should be considered when redesigning a website.

Hire the right web design company

There are many web design companies that specialise in website redesign. Hiring the right web design company to redesign your website will play an important role in deciding the success of the new website. It is advised to hire a web design company that understands your needs and the market. It is better to hire a professional web design company for the task rather than the web design company with the cheapest quote. The overall quality of the service and design far outweigh the slightly higher costs involved.

Evaluate your company’s existing website

The first crucial step is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your current website. The web design company you commission to redesign your website can assist with identifying the major weaknesses of your current website so that they can be addressed in the new design.

Focus on Search engines Marketing

There is little doubt that search engine marketing will play a crucial role in the success of any website. Search engine marketing and optimisation should be at the heart of the redesign process. Web Design Company should ensure the new design is search engine friendly. Using keyword research techniques your web design company should be able to help you identify the top keywords for your website and ensure the new design is optimised for the keywords.

Identify your visitors

Being able to study and analyse visitors to your website offers a distinct advantage when redesigning a website as opposed to designing for the first time. Using sophisticated website statistics and reporting tools such as Google analytics, you can easily identify where your users come from and what they do on the website. This can help identify the strengths and weaknesses of the website and provide a useful insight on what areas or pages need improvements. The new design should address these issues effectively and help retain users on your website.

Identify your target audience

Identifying the target audience for your website is essential to ensure their needs are addressed. You should identify and categorise your target audience into groups. Both, the new design as well as the content should address the needs and expectations of the target groups individually. Websites that are designed specifically with the needs of the target audience are more effective and tend to have higher rates of retention and conversion.

Research your competitors

There is a lot that can be learnt from your leading competitors. Analysing the competition will not only provide valuable information on website’s design but also on technology and usability concepts being applied. With the help of search engines such as Google it is easy to identify the top competitors in your industry.

A modern design

The look and feel or visual appearance of your website is a key consideration. There is nothing worse for your company’s brand than an outdated design. No matter what your company does it is essential for your website to look modern and professional. The current trend is for clean-cut and minimalist designs.

A Perfect Web design for your company: Top 5 Strategies

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:57:41 +0000

A web design company may endeavour to design the perfect website for your business. However there is no set formula for a perfect web design. A Professional Web design company will strive to strike a perfect balance between various factors that contribute to an effective website presence for your company no matter how large or small your business. Whilst there is no formula for a perfect web design, your web design company can address key issues to ensure your website works for your business and is able to meet its objectives.

You should work closely with your web design company in order to identify the objectives that the website design should achieve. As the needs of every business are unique, a web design that may prove effective for one company may not be suitable for another. Whilst it is important for your website to look professional, it is by no means sufficient to determine its success.

In order for a website to be successful a number of issues need to be addressed in the design of the website. 5 of these strategies are discussed below:

Capture the Users attention

Visitors to your website will often decide in the first several seconds whether to stay on your website or not. The homepage of the website should be designed with this in mind as it is often the window to the rest of the website and the company.

Website usability and Accessibility

Usability is an important area that determines the success of any business website. Web Design Company should focus equally on usability of the website as they do on the design and look and feel.

The web design should be consistent across all platforms and be accessible to all users. With the recent growth in internet access on wireless and mobile devices it is a common practice to also publish a mobile version of the website design.

15 Features Your Site Doesn’t Need

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:39:21 +0000

The worst mistake in internet marketing? Making things too complicated. It pumps up costs, slows site launches and keeps you offline when you could be online, selling stuff.

Who makes that mistake? You do. When you insist that that one feature is so important you can't live without it, you're killing yourself. If you can get 90% of the function with 10% of the effort, shouldn't you?

So, here's a list of features I think your site can probably do without, at least for now:

Integration with your inventory management system. If you're already selling lots online, great! Spend the fifty grand it'll take to synchronize your store with your inventory system. Otherwise, forget it. Put it on hold.
A fancy content management system (CMS). A full-featured, enterprise CMS is a great tool when you need it. But do you really need it? If you have a staff of two, you don't. Use Wordpress or Movable Type, instead.
Community content. Yah, community content is trendy as heck. But you don't need to build your own bloody city. Before you spend the time and shell out the cash to add community content, ask yourself: Do you need to build the community yourself? Couldn't you use Facebook? Or MySpace? Or something else? Don't reinvent the wheel if you don't need to.
A talking, walking spokesperson. I'm sorry, but no one needs a little video person that walks onscreen and starts babbling about how wonderful this product is. I go online to get away from that. So save the cash. Don't add a virtual spokesperson. Plus, they're creepy as hell.
Video. I love online video. It's super-valuable to the right business. Is that your business? If you can't get your message across without motion or a 'face to face' human element, use video. Otherwise, save the money and time.
Credit card processing. If you're selling online you'll need to process credit cards. But setting up a merchant account with your bank will make you wonder if you're in a Kafka novel. Instead, use a service like PayPal. Later, when you're selling in volumes where a .5% reduction in costs is important, you can set up the merchant account. Or, even better, get a lackey to do it for you.
A custom store. Yes, you want your store to look just so. If you can save thousands of dollars and weeks of work, though, why not compromise just a little and use a prebuilt store like Prostores or Volusion? Be smart. Get selling.
A custom lead management system. You want a CRM system that lets you manage 3,000 leads a month. Problem is, you don't have any leads yet. Try Salesforce or HighRise. You can hook 'em right up to the contact form on your web site and get 90% of what you want at 5% the cost in dollars and sanity.
Web 2.0 features. Whatever the hell those are. If you really need a feature, trust me, you won't need to pigeonhole it with some trendy phrase. You'll know you need one-page checkout, or smart form validation, or a puffy logo that looks like it'll purr when you pet it.
Multiple languages. Think about your audience first. Do you have a sizable group of folks who don't speak English in that audience? If yes, spend the money to translate. If not, stop right there.
Your own server. Yeah. No. Start off in a shared, 'virtual' hosting environment.
A live webcam. Thank heavens, these seem to be going away. I don't really want to see what you're doing at your desk 24/7.
A 'wish list'. It's nice to save your favorite products in a little folder all your own. But is that why you buy? I don't think so. Add the wish list later.
A 'virtual office'. You don't need to make your web site look like a real office. I'm on the internet because I don't want to go to your office! Give me a site that loads fast and gives me the shortest possible route between my question and your answer.
A 'virtual mall'. See the previous item, and don't make me slap you.

When you're deciding on features for your site, analyze the costs and benefits carefully. Consider whether you want a feature because you think it's important, or because it'll really help your audience.