Friday, January 27th, 2012
- 1. Be Open For Business 24 Hours a Day
Your business is open to the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no labour costs. An online store never closes. And a website faces no time zone barriers.
- 2. Look Big, Important, and Credible
If you still do not have a Web presence you are inadvertently making a statement about your inability to embrace technology and adapt to change in today’s dynamic environment. Especially for a small business, a well-designed website is a great way of creating credibility and looking bigger than you actually are. When one compares the cost of establishing a website to what it costs to promote a business on the traditional media (newspaper, radio, television), it is evident that a website is the cheapest form of marketing ever created.
- 3. Make Information Always Available
You can provide 24 hour customer services without hiring any additional employees. Your customers are better served when they can access information about your product or services immediately via your website rather than waiting for a mailed brochure or a return telephone call. Provide answers to frequently asked questions on your website. Information requests can be processed immediately via online forms and autoresponders whether someone is in the office or not.
- 4. Update Your Brochure for Free
A website is your online brochure or catalogue that can be changed or updated at any time at a much cheaper and faster rate than print material. It saves you money on printing and distribution costs.
- 5. Change Your Marketing Strategies
You can provide photos and detailed descriptions of your products or services, and show people how your products or services can help them in their personal or professional lives. Link in to Social Media to create a buzz around your brand and boost Sales.
- 6. Ensure Stability
You may move your place of business, change your phone number, or even change your hours, but your website address never changes, and your website is always open.
- 7. Take Control Over Your Own Internet Identity
Your own domain name (www.yourcompany.com) establishes a strong online brand identity, and allows you to set up email addresses specific to your own company.
- 8. Promote Your Services
Lawyers, doctors, financial consultants, entertainers, realtors and all service-oriented businesses should take advantage of the massive reach of the Internet. Millions of users are logging on to the Web to compare various specialists and practitioners before they purchase a specialized service.
- 9. Be in Touch With Your Customers
You can gather information about your existing and potential customers by using online forms and surveys. Provide a feedback form to make it easy for your customers to send their input. Conduct surveys to find out how you can improve your products and services. Your site statistics can also help you understand how your visitors and customers use your site.
- 10. Function As a Great Recruiting Tool
Your website is a great recruiting tool for building your business. Everyone looking for a job today checks out businesses in their field for job openings, and some of your best future employees may find you online.
So whether your business is large or small, you need to use the web smartly and right now if you want to make an impact. Try it and you’ll be amazed at the results.
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Thursday, January 12th, 2012
The way your website works will change in 2012, as ways of accessing and using information keep changing.
Here are some of the top Web Trends predicted for the year:
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More and more people will access the Web from their mobile phones:
According to Search Engine Land, more than 1/5 of all searches will be conducted on mobile devices in 2012. For this reason, it is extremely important that all company websites can be easily navigated as well as read on the small cell phone screen. Companies are going to have to improve their websites for mobile search convenience and keep this in mind when advertising |
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No more Flash – think CSS3 and HTML5:
Flash was once extremely popular amongst web designers, but it has slowly lost momentum. In 2012, smartphones may not be installing Flash for consumers. It simply does not work well with mobile devices, and CSS3 and HTML5 offer many benefits (interactivity for users, faster loading, etc). This will force companies to rethink their websites and rework solutions. |
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No more boring fonts:
More browsers now support different types of font, which means more and more websites will start to utilize more creative ways to use lettering. While in the past typography was tangled up in copyright issues, CSS3 will allow designers to use free and/or subscription-based typography services. This will help get you away from those boring Arial and Times New Roman fonts you’re so tired of seeing. Also, 3D graphics are expected to grow in popularity – use shadows and textures to help create dimension, but remember not to go overboard! |
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QR Codes will get more popular
Last year was about consumers understanding Quick Response (QR) Codes and trying them out for fun. This year, many companies are hopeful that QR Codes will make a big difference. They are completely free to create, and many more people understand how they work. |
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Facebook may lose some popularity
Google+ could very well take users away from Facebook. According to Search Engine Roundtable, Facebook lost 6 million users in the US in 2011. This number will likely continue to rise because people are in search of newer social networking sites. Facebook has also had several problems with privacy, forcing many young graduates to monitor their Facebook pages. |
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Real time analytics will be used more often
With the recent addition of real time analytics to Google Analytics, more companies will realize just how valuable these can be to a company. Although this has been offered in the past, Google sets the standards for many smaller businesses. Now that Google Analytics offers real time data, more and more companies will be using this feature to measure success. |
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| Part of creating a well-designed website is creating something unique that will stand out; not something that follows the trends of other websites. However, these trends that you will see in 2012 will allow creativity while also ensuring that your website is accessible to more people where they want it and when they want it. Good luck with your new website! |
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