by Nick Throlson | Jul 27, 2017 | Business, Web Design
Once you have had a new website designed and it?s live, how do you ensure that you are getting the maximum traffic and the highest conversion rates possible for your business? With promoting your site, there are a whole load of things to consider and simple ways to ensure you are reaching the right people. Follow these steps and be on the road to more hits than you can handle.
When deciding to have a website built, you will have certainly thought about what you are going to use it for and who you are trying to appeal to. When trying to direct visitors to your site, you must be able to implement this in an effective marketing strategy. If you are seeking page hits, then you are going to use a different strategy ? for example, your business plan on sales isn?t going to work. Make sure you keep this in mind before you launch any campaigns and certainly before you spend any money. - Utilize Social Media
An obvious one, but not always put into practice effectively. Read up on the best ways to maintain brand identity across platforms, and make sure you do not publish contradictory information. The last thing you want to do is confuse potential viewers. If you are seeking visits to sell, make sure you are present in forums discussing the industry you are a part of. Never doubt that community can make or break a small business. - Implement A Search Engine Optimization Strategy
If SEO sounds like a foreign term, you probably need to do your research. Getting traffic to your page is not about sitting back, crossing your fingers and hoping to the high heavens that somebody will stumble across your page. Whether it is running a blog, outsourcing some content or targeting particular geographic locations, you will need to understand a little about SEO to get those all important clicks. - Make Sure Your Website Loads Well
A great looking, totally sleek website will not do much if whoever visits has to endure slow loading times and poor usability. More traffic than ever will be accessing your site from a phone or other small device, and so you need to find out if your website is up to the challenge. If not, you really must address this issue right away. You could potentially be losing half of your customers. Furthermore, if your website is slow to load, then your bounce rate will be artificially high. Look into the Best Web Hosting for your requirements; you will kick yourself if your server causes potential customers to leave, and a loss in sales.- Keep it fresh
There is no point in having a website that you don?t update; therefore, make sure it stays in line with the times and that there are new backlinks promoting it as much as possible. Remember that repeat customers will see your website many times, and if nothing changes in a few months, they are likely to become disinterested. Unless you are using your website primarily as a CV, aim to update the content on it as often as you can.
by Nick Throlson | Jul 25, 2017 | Business
Long gone are the days when office workers had to carry around projects, presentations and documents in hard copy, to each meeting they attended. The Modern workplace should be lighter and more minimal than the office of the 80s. Developments in technology have helped to remove clutter from our work spaces and free us from the infinite paper-trail of the past. Whether it is how work is done or the way we communicate, tech is an ever-prevalent benefit for the modern worker. That is, assuming you know how to best implement the technology in a functional way. If you are struggling to create a tech-friendly office space and need some pointers, read on.Speed up First and foremost, office managers must ensure that all the computers are operating at optimal speed. There are few things less frustrating than a slow computer, especially if you have a deadline to meet. If your computer is lagging, check to see how much RAM is available. Before you bin an underperforming machine, consider the addition of more RAM. Companies such as Offtek sell RAM for a multitude of devices, it might be the solution to your computer crisis. Replacing one or two computers might be feasible, but when thinking about upgrading the whole office updating your existing hardware can often be the best option.Don?t stick to office devicesAllowing employees to work from their own laptops, tablets, and smartphones is recommended. Not only do people feel as though they have more freedom and flexibility, often they are going to feel more comfortable working from devices they?re familiar with rather than office-based equipment. To ensure that this kind of policy works for your business put a system of checks and balances in place to ensure that any work or data set is secure if accessed from another device. While bringing in other devices can promote freedom and save money, it must be done in the right manner. ???Operate in the cloud While sending documents via email is still a viable option, cloud based technology is fast becoming the easiest way to share files. File sharing of this kind allows for easy distribution of tasks and nurtures collaboration between colleagues and clients. Making a simple edit to a piece of work now takes significantly less time. Using the Cloud is a fast way to promote engagement from staff and manage your files. If you have not updated your operations to include the cloud yet, do it now. Utilize streamlined softwareThanks to the rise of modern technology, there are many pieces of software that can be used to streamline tasks in the workplace. In terms of conversing between employees, there are various real-time communication tools such as HipChat, that allows everyone to stay connected at the same time. This obviously helps with being able to discuss work-related topics immediately, and also means that meetings can become a thing of the past. There also many other pieces of software that your business can take advantage of to improve efficiency. For example, programs like Trello assist in keeping track of all tasks that need to be completed, while there are various accountant-related software packages that make crunching those numbers so much easier.
by Nick Throlson | Jul 19, 2017 | Business
Software That Makes Business Communications EasierSmart company Intranet Is one of the foundations of a functional business, and this article explains how someone may create better communications with a few simple programs. Someone who wishes to invest in software today will find they have a number of options when they begin to research their choices. They will find that the company is much more efficient, and they will feel as though they are using their resources more wisely on a daily basis.
1: The Software Must Be Simple to UseEveryone in your office must be aware of how to use the software when you have it installed. There are many different people who will use the software to place calls or go on video conferences, and you must teach everyone how to use these items before you allow them to work. This is a simple process that may be completed quickly, and you will save yourself quite a lot of time when you are using the software correctly.2: The Software Must Do EverythingThere are many different things you may ask the software to do when you are working, and you may ask the software to do quite a lot of work for you every day. The software you use for communication will help you collect communications, phone calls and emails for your business. This is a storage program that will help you, and there are many different people who may access this information.3: The Software Can Be Integrated with Your DevicesYou may integrate your information with other programs that you use from your office phones to your computers. There are many different things that you may attach to the system that will go from the video panels and TVs in the office to the office phones and video phones. You may ask the installer to integrate everything for you, and you will find that the system is easier to access because it is all under one umbrella. 
4: Placing Conference CallsYou may use conference calls for all your distance employees, and you will feel as though you have everyone in the office even though they work in outlets around the world. It is quite important for people to ensure that they have a direct line of communication with the other people in the office, and you may ask anyone you like to join these calls at any time. 5: Video CallsVideo calls that you place with your clients and employees allow you to check in with them as many times as you like. There are many people who need to see you because they must get an idea of what is going on in the office. They will have many opportunities to judge your body language, and you may judge their body language when you are on video calls. Video calls are quite professional because you feel as though you are filling up the boardroom with many different people who are stakeholders in the company.
6: EmailYou may create video emails and large presentations to your staff or clients through an integrated email system, and you will find that you may store all the emails you have sent through the same system. There are secure servers available to protect your information, and you may check any email you have sent in the past. This is a simple system to use, and it is far more efficient than using private email. You may build a work email system that gives everyone an address attached to your company's website, and you will provide a much more professional way for your staff to send emails.7: Using Secure LinesThe phone calls and video calls you place every day must be completely secure as you share sensitive information about your clients and the work you have done for them. Your intellectual property will be quite important to you, and you may keep someone from intercepting all the things you have said. It is much easier for you to have safe conversations when you have purchased a software program that will help you protect yourself from the hackers and corporate spies who are out there.8: Video PanelsYou may have video panels in your offices that offer presentation materials or share videos with your clients. You may integrate these panels with the presentations you wish to give, or you may go so far as to create video content that may be spread throughout the office. You may play the videos in your waiting room, and you may play the videos in any place you want in the office. You have a myriad of options to play videos once you have integrated with your communication software, and you may drag or drop the videos that you have just received from a staff member into the program.9: The Design of The ProgramYou must choose a program with an interface that you are comfortable using, and you will notice that there are many programs to choose from. They have their own designs that you must test, and you will be the most productive with the product you think works best for you. You will save yourself quite a lot of time when you are using the program because you know it works well for you. You may take the free trial of the program, and it will tell you which one you believe is the best choice for you.There are many different people who will be interested in ensuring that they have the best communications software for their offices, and you will find that you may choose from a number of programs that you realize are the easiest to use. You will save yourself quite a lot of money on the purchase, and you may use them for as long as you like when you are working in a large office. You have distance workers who need this software, and you have staff who much communicate more efficiently.
by Nick Throlson | Jul 3, 2017 | Business
If a business is anything, anything at all - it's a relationship. Every single thing that a business is built on will feature or highlight some kind of relationship. Your business and its foundations are your relationships with your original vision. The products you buy forge a relationship with a supplier. The cashier that sells these products works harder based on their relationship with the business. The customers who buy those products that your business is selling do so because of some sort of relationship. Relationships in each and every form are critical to businesses worldwide. ?If a business wants to succeed, it needs to focus on building long-lasting and fruitful relationships across the board. To simply survive? It needs to do exactly the same. The road to success is built on positive and meaningful relationships in business. The relationships forged in meetings, at the checkout, in pitches, and within a company are the relationships that build great companies and successful businesses.At every stage of business - from the monolithic and huge monopolies, to the graduate going to his or her first job interview after University; relationships are crucial to combined, or individual, success. If an interviewee wants to succeed at an interview, they not only need to prove that they are capable of performing the tasks described, but they also need to forge some sort of relationship very quickly with the company and its proxies, the interviewers. If a company wants to get the word out about products, it will need to build a relationship with the local, or national media to ensure that the latest releases and news are documented in the media that the public consumes. Good things can only come from relationships in business.
A business would make a huge mistake if it ignored building a winning relationship with its workforce: its employees. Relationships with employees need to be built so that the employees feel valued within the company, which could lead to an increase in productivity. If employees are unhappy, or treated unfairly - a business will suffer in the long run. Working with a HR consultancy can ensure a business is protected, but also works hard to ensure it's working by the word of the law when it comes to employees. Happy employees are worth their weight in gold, but unhappy employees might ensure the collapse of a business. You always need to do the best by your employees if you want to get anywhere in business.A solid relationship with customers and clients leads to one great thing: repeat business. The greatest businesses across the world have one thing in common - the same customers keep going back and back. This might be the cult-like sensibilities of Apple, who succeed regardless of the product specification or it might be loyalty to a brand like Sony - these big brands are built on the same customers coming back to them and spending money. This brand loyalty is forged on successful relationships between a business and its customers.If there's one thing that matters in business - it's how well a business can connect with others. Build relationships to build a winning business.
by Nick Throlson | Jun 13, 2017 | Business
It's pretty much an accepted standard at this point that pretty much every business needs to have some kind of presence on the internet. The internet has taken over so many aspects of the modern world that a business that isn't online may as well not exist at all in the eyes of many customers. However, that doesn't mean that every single business that has any form of online presence is guaranteed to be an automatic success. As with just about anything else, the internet is a tool that you can use to your advantage. However, a tool is as good as useless if you don't actually know how to use it. Just because you have a website that doesn't mean that it's going to actually make a difference to your business other than being a waste of time, money and resources. With that in mind, here are some ways that you can make the most of your business's online presence.Think about your customer's experienceA lot of people think of the internet as little more than another delivery mechanism to get their business and their marketing out there where customers can see it. While this perspective isn't technically wrong, it does drastically underestimate the power that the internet has, and one way in which it's radically different to things like news adverts and TV commercials. The internet is fundamentally interactive. People can interact with almost anything that they come across online. They can pick and choose what they see with almost unlimited freedom; they can comment directly on things they see, replying to posts or commenting on videos. You need to think about this and be willing to take advantage of it in order to make the most of your online marketing. Create marketing that your customers will want to share and respond to. By using your marketing as a place to start a conversation with your customers, you're going to help them become much more engaged in both it and in your business as a whole.Consult the expertsJust because you're able to run a successful business, doesn't mean that you'll be able to market it effectively. And even if you have an understanding of marketing, that doesn't mean that your understanding will transfer over to a digital platform like the internet. Because of this then you might want to hand over the reins to people with a little bit more specific expertise. A company like JRC marketing has a lot of experience in creating digital experiences that can have a huge impact on the way that your customers perceive you and your business as a whole. Whether you need to get a decent website up and running, create a dedicated online marketing campaign, or simply understand how to link together your social media platforms and website, finding a company who can help and support you in these things can be invaluable. It's often quite difficult for many business owners to imagine handing over any aspect of their business to someone else, but you should think about what is best for your company. It is far better for it to be in the hands of an expert than it is to stay in your hands when you don't really understand what you're doing.Content is king!If you've spent any time learning about digital marketing, then you've probably come across this phrase at least once or twice. A lot of people use it as a buzzword without a decent understanding of what it really means. The idea behind the phrase is that, while you might have been able to use traditional marketing methods in the past, the digital landscape, particularly when it comes to the millennial generation, doesn't respond to that kind of marketing anymore. Instead, you need to be able to create the kind of content that will engage with your customers outside of whatever it is that you're advertising. Think about some of the most effective marketing methods of the last few years. Most of them have done one of two things. They've either connected with customers on an emotional level, whether that's through humor or any other emotion. Or they've created a piece of content that their customers want to share with other people on their social media pages. A lot of the time, the fact that these pieces of content are technically forms of marketing doesn't really matter to a lot of customers. What's really happening is that, whether they realize it or not, a strong positive association with your company is being made in their minds. It's this kind of association that can be incredibly valuable when you're trying to attract new customers.
by Nick Throlson | May 26, 2017 | Business, SEO, Website Security
Web design has to be one of the most arduous modern day professions. Seeing your website going live may make up for all the hardships during development, but the result does not erase the fact that to reach it, you had to spend countless hours perfecting the code, troubleshooting, and minding the overall design. We offer several Do's and Don'ts that might cut your checklist shorter by reminding you of the few things you should be aware of at all times during development.Don?t gamble early on
Don?t immediately go for the latest software or the greatest new build out, if you don?t have a solid plan how to go about working with it. Taking an unnecessary risk, in this case, might not grant you a high reward. By choosing the latest software that you and your colleagues might not be familiar with, you are using up time you do not have and opening up possibilities for bugs and troubleshooting for days on end. Start with a reliable software or platform, and once you have settled in comfortably, take smaller steps to experiment with completely new software. That way, if it even comes to losses, they are minimal.Don?t access a user database directly with user-supplied information
When a database is accessed directly with the information supplied by the users, you are leaving the door wide open for possible security breaches. This could erase archives with very sensitive data, or give access to confidential information regarding your users. And it can all go into the input box on your website. This is easily addressed by sanitizing user input: you limit how many characters they can use to input a username or a password, whether they can or cannot contain other symbols, and have the code reject any character input you have not pre-approved.Don?t neglect SEO
Many developers have the tendency to leave SEO as the last thing to do for the website when, in fact, it is something that needs to be tackled as you go along. SEO is more than just keywords, content, alt text in images, etc. It also deals with back linking between pages, accounts for load time, gets rid of duplicated content, and keeps the hierarchy of important pages and links refreshed and constantly updated. So, to avoid having to restructure entire sections of your website, later on, take SEO into consideration from the very start.Do keep users in mind
The safest way to stay on track with the original idea and design is to create a profile of what your typical user would be. When you know the demographic, and the target audience, it is easier to analyze the type of people that will be visiting our website. You can build the website around the given data: their age, occupation, financial standing, and lifestyle. These will dictate the user experience, from font styles to the navigation between pages.Do focus on multi - platforming
You can decide to optimize your website for PC users only. And in a time when fewer and fewer people sit at their computers for longer periods of time, this would be a big mistake. A lot of e-commerce and browsing nowadays occurs via tablets, smartphones and other devices. To ensure the website is visited as frequently as possible, adapt the website so it can be seen and read clearly across multiple platforms.Do save the user?s time
The attention span has been in decline over the last twenty years, and new technologies only sped up the process. It is the reality of the modern age and in order to succeed, you will have to adapt to this. Many expert web developers from Sydney advise ?trimming the fat? wherever possible. Get rid of excess imagery in your gallery or pages that cause slow loading time; write shorter texts, then blend them with pictures to create quickly scrollable content that will also be informative and useful.To sum up
Thoroughly plan how to go about the development process of your web page. There are countless factors that can impact not only the final outcome of your work but the process itself as well. As Murphy?s Law says ?If anything can go wrong, it will?, so prepare for everything. It is wise to make your own checklist of Do?s and Don?ts upfront and keep them around as a reminder. The best way to stay on track is to create your typical user profile and tailor the design to them. In this way, you ensure that whatever choice is made, it is in the user?s best interest.
1: The Software Must Be Simple to Use
4: Placing Conference Calls
6: Email
