IASP: News

Traffic is King, Content is Queen!

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:30:00 GMT

It's important when first planning to develop your website that you have a clear set of objectives to work with. You need to be able to measure the performance of your website by pre-determined criteria.

Planning essentials include:

Who is your website targeting?
What do you expect to gain from your website?
How will you know if your website is a success?

A good corporate website must:

Clearly reflect your corporate image and branding
Clearly relate what you do and why your customers should do business with you
Lead visitors to a clear call to action

TIP: It's much better to have a smaller "completed" site that can be added to as you go, rather than a bigger site with areas "under construction".

Finally -- and vitally -- on the Internet, traffic is the King - attracting new visitors is one thing (check the 'See Also' panel to the right for more information about attracting first time visitors), but encouraging visitors to return is another thing entirely.

The best way to attract return traffic is to offer engaging interactive functionality; eBAY, YouTube and MySpace are successful examples of engaging web sites. Selling products and services online is also great way to engage customers and encourage return traffic.

Unfortunately most of us don't have the budget to publish websites with the functionality of eBAY, and many businesses offer products and services that are just not practical to sell online.

In this case, the most logical way to encourage return traffic is to update your website content regularly.

Unless your business has in-house website programmers, the most cost-effective way to regularly update your website is to use an integrated Content Management System (CMS).

Learn more about Content Management via the IASP CMS.

If you build it, they will come? Rubbish!

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:00:00 GMT

"If you build it they will come" could not be further off the mark than when it comes to publishing a corporate website.

Once your corporate website is live on the Internet, the real challenge of making it famous begins.

TIP: It's very important to understand that the way your website is developed has a fundamental impact on its overall search engine friendliness.
If it's not too late, ask your developer about the considerations given to the underlying programming framework of your website.
Best-practice development will allow search engines to regularly and accurately catalogue your entire website and if your developer is not up to speed on the latest techniques, you may be behind the 8-ball from the outset.

Once your website is live, there are countless numbers of ways and means to optimise the level of traffic it attracts.

If you're serious about the return on your investment, it's worth looking into professional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) initiatives.

SEO and SEM services along with traditional mass media advertising can be highly effective yet often expensive, but don't depair; with some creative thinking, there are plenty of effective and economical ways to proactively market your website.

If you're clever (and lucky enough) to have secured yourbusinessname.com.au, consider producing an alternate version of your corporate logo that incorporates your .com.au identity.

I'm not suggesting that you throw away all your current corporate identity material, but, for example, if you sponsor a local sporting club, be sure to provide them with a logo that includes your website address so that potential customers who see the venue signage will have an easier way of remembering how to contact you than through your telephone number.

You might think it's obvious to suggest that you incorporate your website address within your corporate identity and in ALL of the proactive marketing and advertising that you do, however, I am constantly amazed by the amount of IASP client advertising I see/hear/read which does not include the company website address in Television, Radio, Yellow Pages, Press advertisements, or even on business cards and in other corporate promotional material.

Visitor To Customer Conversion

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:00:27 GMT

How many times have you visited a website that, whilst at first may have caught your eye, left you wanting that extra-little-push when it came to making a commitment? That commitment might have been something as simple as submitting a general enquiry, or registering your personal details, or indeed purchasing the vendor's online product(s).

The web is now such an ultra competitive medium that - as a bona fide vendor - if you're not mindful of current best practise ROI (Return On Investment) techniques you can be certain that some of your competitors are going to leave you behind.

So how do you convert more visitors into customers?

Most corporate website operators are now well aware of the importance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Being "seen" in major search engines is essential, however, driving traffic to your website is just the first step - albeit an important one.

Fact: More than 40% of website visitors do not click beyond the homepage

Fact: Website visitors make judgements about the business publishing the website within 1 ~ 3 seconds of arrival.

Successful corporate website operators are employing innovative methods to instantly capture visitor attention and invite deeper website exploration.

For many businesses 'high-end' functionality such as production and publication of corporate videos and provision of live chat 24/7 are cost prohibitive. There are however many simple, cost effective methods that can dramatically increase the conversion rate of new web visitors to regular online customers.

Two of the simplest, most powerful (and sadly often overlooked) ways you can improve the conversion rate of your website are:

Testimonials:

Publishing positive testimonials from your existing customers at strategically important areas of your website can be a powerful influence.

According to leading Internet Marketing specialist Marketing Sherpa "Testimonials can differentiate your online subscription product. They can help convince visitors to give your service a try".

Calls To Action:

One of the golden rules of sales is to ask for the business.

Too many websites publish a wealth of information about products and services but fail to ask for the business by publishing any call to action.

A call to action does not have to be a big flashing button - it can be as simple as a link to your contact page - the important thing is to give visitors the next logical step to take in their buying decision.

If you're serious about increasing the conversion rate of your website visitors to customers contact IASP to arrange a confidential discussion today.

Top Tips for Website Design

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:00:08 GMT

When visitors arrive at your website, they are accustomed to a certain set of usability norms and are prone to judge your business based on your homepage design quickly.

It can be argued that good web design should obey the five (5) second test in forming the right impression of your website: in five seconds, visitors must know roughly who you are and what you do.

Why not see for yourself:

http://fivesecondtest.com/

Consider that the human brain is hit by 4,000 advertisements per day, which doesn't take long for a brain to combat the right sense to rapidly filter through a huge amount of information.

If what the user sees is to their expectation (before they can scroll to the back button), your website must consequently maintain user attention to lead to some form of "action", be it a general enquiry, targeted contact or even an online purchase.

Suffice to say design plays a huge role in this process, and here are my 1, 2 & 3 primary points of vital factors your online business should consider to this end;

1:Logo / Branding:
Even though it's not a predominant factor in website layout, your logo is crucial as visitors will instantly categorise your industry market based on its design. Human beings like to pigeon hole, or put things in boxes as it's fast, easy and efficient (no surprises here).

Take the ToysRus logo, for example: colorful, round fonts... perfect for kid-related products. The website layout is also an extention of the look & feel / colour of the logo. Is it time for you to sit down and ask "Is my logo accurately reflecting my company?"

Here's a great read on the topic:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/26/vital-tips-for-effective-logo-design/

2: Colour:
The colour, look and feel of your website is a major factor in forming the right first impression. Before considering site design, you will need to know the overall "feel" and ambiance you want to create around your branding. These days you can pretty much go in any direction, from a safe white background to a grungy layout, as long as the site is consistent throughout and related to your industry.

3: Design Layout:
Whichever layout you choose, you must draw the attention of the customers to the important items of the website. Smart layout is not only related to representation of your brand, but is also a tool to convert curiosity to commerce.

The best way to increase the effectiveness of your site is by using 'Calls To Actions', which are directly linked to an area of your website that allows visitors to interact (make a purchase, submit an enquiry, register for your newsletter etc.). Not only do they bring colors to your website, but guide your visitors to the interactive areas of your website.

Have a look at how Skype's website is laid out. From page-one the user is guided, step after step, to download and create an account:

http://skype.com.au

Keep an eye out for more strategic design tactics for your online business, or feel free to contact our office for more information.

Seasons Greetings!

Goodbye Internet Explorer 6?

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:00:02 GMT

There has been a lot of debate recently about whether or not web developers should actively stop developing websites to display to standards compliance in the Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) browser.

Web searches made on 'IE6' or 'Internet Explorer 6' return various websites running petitions on the topic, pleading their case as to why people should turn a cold shoulder to Internet Explorer 6 why it should no longer be used.

Arguements for saying goodbye to Internet Explorer 6 range from;

Internet Explorer 6 is not compliant with W3C web standards,
Internet Explorer 6 is not compliant with transparency in PNG image files,
Internet Explorer 6 is extremely unsecure and therefore vulnerable to malicious attacks,
Internet Explorer 6 is not compliant to advanced features that make the Internet dynamic and interactive.

and the show stopper...
Web developers require additional time writing 'hacks' into their websites to overcome such problems (above), ensuring that websites viewed in IE6 are cross-browser compliant.

It is suffice to say that the Internet Explorer 6 browser has become a deadweight and is holding back the progress and the evolution of the Internet.

In January of 2005, almost 65% of people using the Internet were using Internet Explorer 6; so supporting IE6, and all of it's flaws, was justifiable. Now, just 4 years later, only 15% of users are viewing the Web in IE6; and this small remainder seems to be enough (for some) to set the dogs onto IE6.

The call is spreading like wildfire, but are we overlooking the bigger picture?

Your website is more than just a source of information about yourself and your business, it is an extention of yourself and your business. Viewers associate your website, and the experience they have using your website, with you.

Does it matter that a portion of your audience will have a different view of your website? Does it matter that a portion of your audience will have a different experience using your website? And in this case, it will more than likely be a negative one.

Many businesses, as well as City Councils and Government bodies are on networks that don't allow their staff to upgrade their current browser or install another web browser. Their only option is to use Internet Explorer 6, and until such operating system are upgraded this will always be the case.

The older demographic are also more likely to continue using Internet Explorer 6, simply because it works for them and they are less likely to move from something which they trust. Installing a new browser, and then sitting to learn how to use it can be a daunting experience, so sticking with a tried and true method can be the better option.

So the choice to support Internet Explorer 6 should not just come down to the flashy features you can or can't use, or that additional time is required in development; your choice should also come down to how your target audience will be viewing your website, and how important your business image is to you.

It would be a poor decision to move your business to the 23rd floor when a lot of your customers have a fear of heights. Sure, the view will be great, but look at the customers you will lose? Do you think they are going to work on overcoming their fear to get to you, or will they go and find another store at ground level?

Just as it would be a poor decision to overlook supporting Internet Explorer 6. We can't force people to upgrade or change their web browser. If they're happy with IE6, then that is their choice, and we must work with it. If our website appears to be broken to a user, then that user will just go and find another website that isn't broken.

Until there is no longer a single person using IE6, you should continue to ensure that everyone viewing your website has a positive experience that encourages them to return again.

Efficiency = Survive and Thrive

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:47 GMT

Running a business at the best of times can be a challenge, but the current economic conditions doubtless relate to additional concerns for many operators.

While the "experts" endlessly debate the global economy, here's a fact you don't need an economics degree to understand: Businesses that operate more efficiently than the their competitors are better placed to survive and thrive in any economic environment.

The overall efficiency of a business is made up of many individual components.

Major changes to certain areas of business operations such as overhauling production or manufacturing processes may require substantial investment and lengthy lead-times to implement.

On the other hand, minor modifications can have major impact on efficiency in other areas of day to day operation.

An example of how relatively minor changes can have major impact is reflected in IASP's recent implementation of a new sales process.

Our new sales process is designed to determine if a potential client is well suited for our products and services and if so stepping through a system of events that assists them to make an informed decision about investing in an IASP solution.

To date the new sales system is proving to be a great success and we are enjoying the highest conversion rates in our business history. The relatively minor investment we made in developing this process has been returned several times already.

Technology, which plays a substantial part in our new sales process, is a great way to increase operating efficiencies.

The new IASP sales process features a high level of automation and in that regard we are fortunate to have access to the same technology we provide commercially to our clients.

Other areas technology delivers efficiency to our business include publication of this website, which is a strong source of new enquiries. We also publish a dedicated technical support website (www.iasp.net.au), which provides our clients with direct access to a substantial knowledge base that in turn minimises the level of personal client support we provide.

IASP also benefits greatly from the efficiency our integrated CRM system delivers. The CRM system, which includes a client e-mail system, facilitates partially automated management of client relationships, sales, production, accounting and support process.

In all I estimate our investment in efficiency through technology is saving our business a minimum of 3 additional staff.

IASP clients have access to substantial underlying resources designed to improve business efficiency and we would be pleased to provide confidential consultation relating to how best to apply these resources to your business on request.

The Get Smart school of navigation

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:09:16 GMT

If you're looking at your website every day, you already know how to get around it, and may be the worst person to assess the usability from the point of view of the public.

I want to mention two usability issues which I am surprised to still come across.

Imagine that when users enter your store they need to pass through a door. Then another door. Then another door. Then they need to operate a secret series of switches to take an elevator to a basement... All very well for Maxwell Smart, but not the way you want your website to work, is it?

Splash/Entry Pages

Is there a good reason to have a splash page? Really? If there is one, please comment and let me know because I can't see any benefit to adding an extra click to the user experience and reducing your search engine visibility. Tony Bartlett posted about this same issue a year ago (I encourage you to go back and read if you didn't see it the first time around) and in the last 12 months I'm pleased to notice that I'm seeing less splash pages and more content: but I'm sad to report that it is still an issue. Still have a splash page on your site? Remove it. Really.

Links & Underlining

I recently saw a logo where the main text in the logo was underlined. It looked very strange and daggy to me and I realised that as it was underlined I expected it to be a link. I'm sure you did too; underlined text which doesn't go anywhere is bewildering and frustrating. Similarly users still expect links to be underlined: Okay so underlining isn't 'pretty', depending on your target market some compromise may be available. If you are absolutely against having underlined links then they absolutely must be a different colour to your body text! (preferably blue!) and underline and/or change colour on hover.

How many clicks?

Remember that you're probably already an expert on your own website, so you already know where to find what you're looking for! In some cases, several clicks will be appropriate - I know I've spent hours "Wiki-hopping" on Wikipedia. If you have a large amount of information, then sorting it into categories will help your users navigate - if you only have a small number of products or pages then adding extra clicks will aid frustration, rather than clarity.

Abandoned Shopping Carts

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:30:27 GMT

When I was a kid, I often rode at the front of the shopping trolley when Mum was doing the household weekly grocery buy. Having loaded all the groceries into the car (brown paper bags, in those days), Mum would wheel the trolley over to the designated trolley bay. I remember noticing even then that not all shoppers did this: some Mothers would look around and, upon noticing that no-one was 'really' looking, leave the trolleys astrew in the carpark for the supermarket junior to come and collect.

Not long after I became a shopping trolley chaser myself. Things have changed, however. The larger chains are making us 'rent' trolleys; either a one-dollar or two-dollar coin can give us access to shopping trolleys (which we can redeem upon return).

But not everyone is physically shopping anymore, with a lot of us shopping on-line. And look out vendors, cos' there's a lot of shopping trolleys - or 'Carts' - that aren't being returned. So much so that shoppers are abandoning their trolleys / carts - with all items intact - before they proceed to checkout. A survey conducted in 2006 by Marketing Sherpa indicated that 59.8% of on-line shoppers are browsing, adding items to their cart, but then leaving the arcade without paying.

Our CEO is passing around a book at work at the moment called Web Design for ROI (Lance Loveday & Sandra Niehaus). Amongst all of the wonderfully presented 'Return On Investment' advice they provide for online businesses, Loveday & Niehaus' slant on 'abandoned shopping carts' is truly thought provoking. Posing a similar scenario in an actual supermarket, the store manager would consider abandoned shopping trolleys around the checkout area as an emergency of epic proportions! 'Web Design for ROI' paints this extremely serious picture of how online businesses are simply not paying anywhere near enough attention to their (lack of) online sales.

There's always a flip-side to every argument. Sure, we've all walked through a physical bricks & mortar supermarket and noticed something not-quite-right. A plain-paper wrapped parcel of cabana precariously nestled in amongst the chocolate biscuit section; a brand-new children's toy sitting on top of a stack of bananas; it's not hard to work out that shoppers are finicky and clearly change their minds from time-to-time. But on a SCALE OF 59.8% ABANDONMENT (sorry for shouting) the major chains would employ an armed security guard at every aisle-corner to monitor every mother & child's movement after inserting items into their trolley.

(Note: Maybe next they'll design shelves and trolleys like mini-bar fridges in hotels: when an item is removed, you can't put it back... and when you've put something into your trolley it can only be released by the check-out supervisor).

Shopping on the Internet is different. I can literally purchase anything in my underwear because no-one is looking. So why aren't online businesses adjusting their sales 'closure' strategies to suit the medium? Is it because they simply don't know that shoppers are engaging in commercial mutiny? Are they checking their monthly / weekly / daily statistics? Was their shopping cart tested? Heaven forbid their shopping cart is broken! Is the cart usability 'usable'? Is their service provider asking them the questions that need to be asked? The list goes on...

According to Marketing Sherpa, they believe there are four important steps in addressing the issue. 1: Promote return / exchange policies. 2: Post reassuring security icon(s). 3: Include privacy and trust language next to fields asking for personal data. 4: Remind shoppers of their abandoned cart.

As the song lyric suggests, it certainly is a small world - after all. And as far as real-time, online credit card payment
e-commerce solutions are concerned, it's only going to keep on getting smaller. Dear vendor, before taking the big leap into the e-commerce pool, have you checked that all the boxes are ticked? And - most importantly - can you afford to have 59.8% of your shoppers 'virtually' dumping their shopping carts at your checkout?

(Note: I'm glad Mum never abandoned our shopping trolley... I'd still be sitting at the front of it).

Should Links Open in New Windows

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:00:03 GMT

Should links open in a new window? I think not!

Browser users are becoming more sophisiticated. The latest versions of most browsers have been developed to provide greater control over browser behaviour. The advent of tabbed browsing has revolutionised the way many users surf the web. Providing users with greater control over browser behaviour has significatly improved the user experience. Forcing links to open in new windows effectively takes that control out of users' hands. Many users become frustrated and irate when confronted by sites that effectively hi-jack the control of the browser.

I can already feel a number of site owner cringing. The old way of thinking was that if links from your website to external sites opened in the same window you would lose your visitors. That argument seemed to hold water, but the trouble is that if the content of a website is not compelling enough to hold the attention of the user or to motivate the user to return to the site, there is very little you will accomplish by making sure all subsequent navigation occurs in a new window. Additionally the browser's back button is one of the most frequently used navigation tools. If you open a link in a new window you effectively break the back button. It can be extremely confusing to users when they try to click back within the new window only to find the back button no longer works.

Users of the latest browsers now have control over whether or not to open links in new windows, new tabs, or within the same window. Those that use these controls to full effect are becoming increasingly frustrated with websites that fail to respect what they consider to be improvements in usability.

The World Wide Web Consortium have weighed in on the subject. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 released back in May 1999 states that "new windows can be very disorienting to users" and suggests that until browsers provide the capability of turning off spawned windows "do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user". Older websites generally used the link attribute target="_blank" to open a link in a new window. The use of the target attribute will no longer validate as standards compliant within HTML 4.0 strict and XHTML 1.0 strict websites.

There are rare circumstances in which it could be considered appropriate for links to open in new windows, for example links to PDFs. These should be the exception and not the rule. Remember to treat your visitors with respect. I have read some heated debates over whether or not links should open in new windows, but in general visitors do not want to lose control of the browser. Remember it's better to lose a visitor temporarily than to lose them permanently and if you hi-jack control of the browser that may be the end result.

Is Traffic REALLY King?

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:49:29 GMT

Imagine you operate a retail shop in the main street of your town or city. At the end of each month how do you measure your performance?

It's highly unlikely to be based purely on the number of customers who entered the shop. While this statistic is important, it should surely be just one factor in determining more important metrics such as profitability trends.

Since developing one the world's first proprietary content management systems (CMS) in the 1990's, IASP has remained at the forefront of the corporate website industry by successfully anticipating market trends and investing in development of new products and services to meet future client demand.

Among the hottest issues in our business in recent times are Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing - activities designed to attract more visitors - almost every potential client we meet has search engine optimisation and marketing near the top of their list of questions and requirements (and we believe we have all the right answers in this regard).

Attracting more visitors to your website is a fundamental aspect of increasing return on investment, yet it is only one factor and alone is no guarantee of real improvement of your websites performance.

For the record IASP provides clients with access to comprehensive real-time website statistics that include vital information such as entry and exit pages, unique visitors, page views per visit, referring websites, search engine keywords and phrases used to find the website and much more.

The battle for top placing in search engines is becoming more intense every day. The cost is rising and higher rankings are becoming more difficult to achieve, accordingly, I see conversion metrics optimisation: pro-active monitoring and management focussed on conversion of a higher percentage of visitors into customers as one of the next "big things" on the Internet.

In our experience fundamental oversights can dramatically affect the conversion rate of visitors into customers.

While we reserve extensive professional advice in this regard for the exclusive benefit of IASP clients, here are three simple tactics for improvement that are so often overlooked in the real world:

1: Include clear calls to action in key areas of you website.

If you sell products and services online this can be as simple as a Buy Now button, if you only publish your product catalogue online for reference purposes, include a button that offers visitors the option to Enquire about pricing.

If you don't offer visitors a clear option to take the next step, in many cases they won't: and rest assured your competitors are only one click away.

2: Make certain to repeat your key search engine advertising content in the landing page on your website.

Visitors clicking search engine advertisements expect to see a webpage that contains information relevant to the advertisement they clicked.

Expensive search engine marketing campaigns that include advertising content such as 50% off this week, which is not prominently repeated on the webpage linked from the advertisement, is akin to simply throwing money away.

3. Invest in a usability study.

While professional usability studies can be expensive (IASP's usability studies start from $8,000.00), they can also be one of the most effective ways to identify strengths and weaknesses in your website.

If you don't have the resources to invest in a professional usability study, ask some of your key clients for feedback about your website. Does it contain the information they need? Does it encourage them to visit regularly? What do they want/expect to see? Do they get lost looking for information?

As most of us know, long gone are the "good old days" when simply having a corporate website justified the exercise.

Today, with almost 10 million Australians pro-actively searching for products and services online everyday (according to BRW, April 2008), the Internet medium has seriously arrived.

If you're serious about gaining real return on your investment in a corporate website solution think about what visitors to your website expect and give it to them.

Don't be afraid to experiment: but carefully and regularly monitor key statistics and conversion metrics and make modifications as required.

To Blog Or Not To Blog

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 05:40:37 GMT

You'd be surprised to learn that there is a good percentage of people (perhaps even 'Bloggers') that are unaware of the origin of the term "Blog".

According to Wikipedia, a Blog is an abridgement of the term web log, and is described as a website which - usually maintained by an individual - has regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Were you aware that Blog is not just a noun, but can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a Blog?

Dictionary.com was - as expected - rather plain with their description: "to write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog". Don't you hate it when you look something up in the dictionary and, because you don't understand the meaning of one (sometimes more) of the words in the actual definition, you spend half the morning consequently looking up other words just to piece together a meaning! Thankfully, we can move forward as we already know the term's origin...

Two things that both of these definitions failed to clearly outline is that Blogs are - by nature - written with the intent of the author gaining some kind of response. After all, they've put quite a bit of thought into what they want to say! The other is that an important part of a Blog is the ability for visitors to interact with the author by posting comments and / or voting on the article.

What this means to the novice Blogger (yours truly) is that fundamentally all Bloggers not only wish to be heard (read), but desire some kind of reaction. It is one thing to 'post' your opinion, but if no-one is going to 'comment', what's the "blogging" point?!

Incidentally, how modern day language has changed since when I first took English literature class, desperately trying to understand what John Donne meant when he said, "Busy old fool, unruly Sun, why dost thou thus?" And what if Shakespeare were here today? Would he Blog? More importantly, how would we explain this new interactive technology and convince our literary forefather of the marvels of bringing lightning speed information so much closer to everyone's fingertips?

To Blog, or not to Blog, that is the discussion;

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to post a comment

The Slings and Arrows of Political Correctness

Or to show your wares against a Blogosphere offensive,

And by opposing, moderate them off. To delete, to log-off;

In my Sales role at Enotia [Enotia is IASP's parent company], I was recently tackled with explaining the difference between a Blog and a Forum. In true patient / doctor confidentiality-style, my client shall remain unnamed (much like the dentist that never shows their face). However, I successfully convinced my client to opt for a Blog component - for their website - instead of the fuss and hassle (not to mention expense) of a Forum. Just because publishing your brand new website is an exciting process, it does not automatically mean that everyone else will agree. It takes time to gain loyalty and interaction, and Blogging is the perfect way to encourage this process.

The Managing Director of a learned competitor of Enotia recently claimed that there is far too much meaningless information on company websites, suggesting that Blogging is an undertaking of vanity. This was compounded by adding that the number of Blogs outnumber the readers. However, as the cliche suggests, you have to be in it, to win it! Will no-one read or respond to my Blog? I doubt it.

What is the moral of this Blog? A Blog post may just be a great way for your company to communicate with users, clients, partners and anyone involved in your business, in the pursuit of receiving valuable feedback. Blog content need not necessarily be work or business related; why not post Blogs about your field of expertise or something about which you are currently very passionate!?

You don't have to be a literary genius like Donne or Shakespeare, either (I'm not). Blogs that are well written, however, encourage interest with users hopefully linking to them (which means they're linking to your website!). Hey, this is a great segue to talk about the POWER of Search Engine Optimisation and its countless benefits to your business (oops, I'd better take off my Sales hat)

An afterthought... Thank you for reading my Blog - whoever you are - whether you post a reply or not. To find out how a Blog can benefit the performance of your website, call me now! (Sorry, that's me with my Sales hat on again...)

Web Standards on Mars

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:17:00 GMT

I am unable to do my online banking using Camino, my browser of choice. I need to use Firefox in order to view the site correctly. Let me tell you how this is all relevant to Internet Explorer.

Last week Joel On Software published an excellent article "Martian Headsets" about the Compliance issues confronting the team behind the upcoming Internet Explorer 8 which has recently been released in Beta.

The heart of the issue is that Internet Explorer is both popular yet badly behaved. Whilst browsers such as Mozilla Firefox are gaining market-share, Internet Explorer is still the preferred browser by the majority of users. Internet Explorer is a standard feature of Windows and for many users the terms "Internet" and "Internet Explorer" are entirely synonymous.

Each web-browser interprets the HTML and CSS code behind a website slightly differently. The W3C publishes the "rules" for how the web-browsers should behave but each browser still interprets the rules (standards) differently. In the case of Internet Explorer (particularly prior to Internet Explorer 7) some of the rules aren't followed at all. The impact of this problem is that web-developers simply cannot use the W3C standards to code websites.

Websites need to be tested in various browsers to ensure that they display consistently, and "hacks" need to be implemented to ensure that they display correctly in Internet Explorer. To their credit, Microsoft has recognised this problem and plans to use Internet Explorer 8 to change it all forever. But here's the problem: almost all current websites use Internet Explorer specific "hacks" to ensure that Internet Explorer displays websites correctly. Many websites only display correctly in Internet Explorer because the web-developers didn't initially code to standards compliance. When Internet Explorer 7 was released many websites appeared to "break". With Internet Explorer 8's stricter compliance to Web Standards the problem will be even worse - if the feedback from the Beta Testers is anything to go by. How will IE8 respond to the IE-specific "hacks" necessary to force IE6 and IE7 to behave? And what will be the impact of the hundreds of websites coded specifically for IE6 and IE7 suddenly not working correctly?

There is no simple solution to this problem. Microsoft can build IE8 to interpret the old websites as if it were IE7 perpetuating the problem of inconsistent implementation of standards, or IE8 can more strictly comply to the Standards forcing many websites to be re-coded. The best web-developers will code to standards but there's no way to anticipate how IE-specific "hacks" - necessary to make the old versions of IE behave - will be interpreted by a new version. The beta-version of IE8 contains an IE7 emulator allowing users to switch it into IE7 "mode". If the IE8 transition problems are widespread, I foresee this becoming irritating. IE8 behaving like IE7 by default becomes a very tempting "solution".

This is a complicated issue. If almost everyone uses the same browser then it's easy to ensure that a website will display correctly for the majority of users (but those in the minority using an alternative browser may get completely unexpected results). With so many alternatives out there, far more cross-browser testing is required to ensure that all users can view your site correctly (but if both browsers and web-developers conform to standards the testing and problems are both minimised).

Whilst Firefox is far more standards-compliant than IE it isn't perfect and the standards themselves are so extensive that problems with interpretation may always arise.

Here's where my banking problem comes in: my bank's website was built to work in Internet Explorer and in Mozilla Firefox. Whilst I'm happy that I'm able to do my banking on my Macintosh Computer - at all - it's disappointing to see that the website has been built for specific browsers rather than coded to standards. With a Monopoly of one or two browsers it's much easier to code for the majority, and very frustrating for the minority who are unable to experience the web to the fullest.

These problems won't be solved in the short term; while one or two web-browsers account for a large proportion of web-surfers, users who use the minority browsers will suffer. Until those same browsers comply to standards, web-developers will be unable to anticipate how future websites will interpret their code. The choice is between building a website which will work now (but might break in the future and/or minority browsers) or... well, it's not much of a choice, really.

In the short term I'm stuck with switching browsers to do my banking. But I hope that if the Web Browsers continue their trend toward consistency and Web Developers make cross-browser compliance a high priority, future versions of Web-Browsers won't continue to rattle the web-development community and users will be able to choose a browser based on it's features - not on whether it allows them to do their online banking.

Google Page Rank Explained

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:00:49 GMT

The Google Search Engine is fundamentally a popularity contest.

The more popular Google rates a web page, the higher it appears in relevant search results.

The popularity rating Google assigns to every web page is called the Google Page Rank.

In an imaginary case where two web-pages are otherwise identical, the one with the higher Google Page Rank should appear higher than the other in relevant Google search results.

Page Rank, which was originally developed by Google co-founder Larry Page at Stanford University, fundamentally relies on the link structure of the web, where a link from page 1 to page 2 is considered a 'popularity vote' by page 1 for page 2.

The actual volume of 'popularity votes' each page receives is a factor in determining Page Rank, however, Google also analyses Page 1 (the web page 'voting' for the other page) and considers a link (or vote) from a more popular page to be more important than a link (or vote) from a less popular page.

The actual Page Rank is calculated via a complex algorithm and is expressed as a score on a continuous distribution between 0 and 1. The higher the Page Rank, the more popular Google rates the web page and the higher it will appear in relevant search results. Using tools such as the Google Toolbar, it's possible to receive an approximate reading of the PageRank of a given URL, expressed as a value between 0 and 10. In our experience, the actual effective 'value' of this figure is logarithmic (like the Richter scale) - that is, a 4 is an order of magnitude more important than a 3, which is an order of magnitude more important (and thus harder to obtain) than a 2, and so forth.

Google typically updates the 'trade-secret' algorithm that determines Page Rank values without notice around 4 times each year, often with major impact on the Page Rank of some web sites, so it is a good idea to regularly monitor your web site's Page Rank score via readily available tools such as: http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php, or by using Google's own Toolbar in your browser.

The Google Page Rank has proven to be subject to manipulation via various unethical means. Google vigilantly protects the integrity of Google Page Rank scores and employs advanced techniques to determine unethical manipulation. Where activity that unethically manipulates Page Ranking is detected, Google applies various penalties to the offending web site, which may in some cases result in the Google Toolbar and other tools returning an estimated Page Rank of '-1', indicating that the site has been excluded from Google altogether.

IASP offers a comprehensive range of Search Engine Optimisation services, including quarterly reports in which we provide an estimate of the Google Page Rank for up to 5 competitor web sites against the client's web site we are analysing.

In our SEO Reports we classify the Google Page Rank on the following scale:

0 (or -1) - Poor
1 - 3 - Average
4 - 5 - Good
6+ - Excellent

For practical reference, even without dedicated search engine optimisation, the majority of IASP web sites achieve an initial Google Page Rank of 2 to 3 the first time they are catalogued by Google.

The IASP.com.au website has a current Page Rank of 5 while the Sydney Morning Herald and NineMSN web sites have a Page Rank of 6.

The Page Rank is a vital component in gaining higher search rankings within the Google Search Engine, which accounts for 87.5% of search engine referrals to the extensive IASP client network, however, it is important to remember that it is only one of many factors that must be combined to deliver consistent optimised search engine ranking performance.

Labor's Broadband Plan

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:00:04 GMT

The Labor government has pledged 4.7 billion dollars of taxpayer money toward improving broadband service within Australia. The proposed fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network will unquestionably require a contribution from the private sector if it is to be realised. The total cost of building this network has been estimated as 8 billion dollars. Telstra has already rejected entering into any public-private partnership (PPP) with the government. Telstra enjoys a monopoly ownership of the current copper-wire infrastructure and only wants to be involved in the provision of a fibre network on it's own tems. Co-ownership of the network would not allow Telstra the freedom to set it's own prices for use of the network. It is possible that the telco is just looking to provide itself with some leverage in it's argument for regulatory reform.

The government aims to have tenders for the roll out of the network awarded by mid 2008. So if Telstra aren't interested then what alternatives are there out there? The G9 Consortium headed up by Optus are a possibility, and there may be other players that are prepared to throw their hat's in the ring. Hopefully whoever wins the tender provides more competitive pricing among all players in the Australian market. Given the investment of public tax dollars we should expect a network that will provide more competitive pricing across the board. That may not suit whoever wins the tender, but it is essential to ensure that the Australian community benefits into the future.

Minister for Broadband, Stephen Conroy has stated that the government is interested in hearing proposals for a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network. Which would provide faster broadband than the current FTTN proposal. There has been quite a bit of criticism of the governments choice to implement FTTN over the faster FTTH. Many are saying that by choosing the slower of the two, Australia is falling behind even before it starts, but it is highly unlikely that anyone will be prepared to invest the funds required to run fibre directly into Australian homes. It could cost anywhere up to three times more than providing fibre to an exchange, and then providing ADSL the rest of the way.

Currently, Australia ranks 25th in the world for available internet bandwidth. We must upgrade our domestic network to provide greater availability of bandwidth. The recent announcement of an undersea cable from Sydney to Guam, the fourth such link, should provide cheaper and faster broadband between Australia and the rest of the world. The direct benefits to Australian society of faster broadband are difficult to assess. It is likely to lead to increased competitiveness and innovation and potentially greater foreign investment. We are also likely to see an improvement of e-services within government, health, and education. More importantly we should start to see growth in online business opportunities, and a widening of the market place available to all online businesses.

The Dangers of Web 2.0

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:05:13 GMT

There's no doubt that Web 2.0 is a hot buzzword, but what does it really mean? It's a used and abused term which covers community features, social networking and 'rich' media.

It's certainly cool stuff but a couple of blogs I've read recently point out some of the "dangers" of Web 2.0.

Jakob Nielsen makes some good points in his recent column "Web 2.0 Can Be Dangerous". He advises caution in rushing into Web 2.0 technology and providing bells and whistles that will confuse your users. After all, users who are confused will leave your website - and probably won't return. He also points out that trying to 'tap in' to the social networking sphere by having user-generated content may backfire if it's done inappropriately - too few users, or poor quality users will generate only poor user-generated content.

Usability with web 2.0 is a crucial issue.

"The fact that a technique is "2.0" is more likely to harm than help your users if implemented with poor usability." - Jakob Nielsen

Inspired by Nielsen, Librarian Idol discusses Web 2.0 within the context of Libraries.

"From a practical point of view, I quite agree with a lot of what he says. I mean, when you design a library website, you're not trying to create the next facebook. It's hard enough just to get users to use public library OPACs and online databases, let along start generating user-created content!

That said, usability is *always* going to be an issue, as long as technology changes. I often end up helping 30-something year old adults, who have little to no computer literacy skills, just read their email." - Librarian Idol

Neither Nielson or Mr Idol are trying to turn people off Web 2.0 - but I think it's a very fair point that just because something is new and exciting doesn't mean that it's appropriate everywhere - and usability and relevance are still the most important features of the vast majority of websites.

M-site? dot-mobi? News Limited goes mobile

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:12:11 GMT

Yesterday News Limited's digital arm launched a mobile version of their primary news portal, at m.news.com.au.

This is the second mobile version of a News Limited site in Australia launched in recent months, following the mobile version of CarsGuide going live at carsguide.mobi.

It's an indicator of the embyronic nature of the space that there's no single expected format for a mobile URL, even within the same corporation. I'd tend to place my bets for the moment on 'm.companyname.com' - mainly because it's used by what's becoming a central driver of people towards using the mobile web (I know a few people who use it and would never have considered using the mobile web before), which is m.facebook.com.

The .mobi domains (along with .info and .biz) may have limited value (except of course to Domain Registrars) as when all's said and done a '.com' on the end of your domain name is expected by a broad range of the audience.. just as 'www' is expected at the front.

Will the emergence of M-sites lead to an expectation of an 'm' prefix for the mobile version of any website, in the same vein of the service prefixes of a decade or so ago? (telnet.yoursite.com, gopher.yoursite.com, etc.) Only time will tell.

Indeed, the use of a separate hostname may merely be another indicator of the age of the medium -- Elise Kendall points out that advertising a separate URL for mobile devices highlights that a company has a mobile site at all; it's certainly not taken for granted yet that they would. Remember the time when webmasters would go to the extent of producing their site once for IE, and once for Netscape... and sometimes at slightly different addresses?

Gmail, as an example, used to advertise a different URL for mobile devices, whereas now it "just works" on a mobile device if you go straight to www.gmail.com. Making the experience as seamless as possible for the user is the ideal but it of course has to be balanced for the moment with making people aware that a mobile site is even available.

There are certainly disadvantages in keeping your mobile site on a different address. In the News.com.au article linked to above, they've got a picture of an HTC TyTn of some variety (branded in Australia as either a Dopod 838pro -- which nearly all of us here in the office use -- or the iMate JasJam) viewing the mobile news site.

If I pick up my 838pro, and enter 'www.news.com.au' into Internet Explorer, I'm presented with (after a download of 630kb -- which could cost up to $0.80 in some situations) an indecipherable soup of mangled page fragments; It would be nice if at very least I was given a link to the mobile site if not automatically redirected to it.

m.news.com.au, to their credit, is a much more manageable 31kb, utterly readable, and looks great. I'm sure it'd look even better after personalisation.. but what happens if I stumble upon a mobile URL from a desktop computer? This is what happens. It's readable, yes, but formatted for the wrong media, and once again, I'm not even given a link to the desktop version, or (which would be even better) redirected.

It could be a result of the software driving m.news.com.au being separate to the software driving news.com.au, but it remains a usability issue.. once Google starts indexing the mobile site it could return the mobile results in desktop searches (Appropriate MIME type and DOCTYPE for mobile output doesn't necessarily prevent them from doing this).

The mobile web (or m-site) space is evolving rapidly. Successful entrants into the space keep simplicity at the forefront of their mind.

A mobile device is not just a small computer -- people expect and require different (that is, limited) feature sets on mobile devices, as a necessity of the size of the gadgets and the situations in which they're used.

It's all too easy and tempting to throw everything out there, but you'll overwhelm your users and make their experience both impractical and (for the moment) expensive.

Studies show that mobile users are after the stripped down bare essentials of what they'd use their desktop for, plus a few things it might be less practical to use a desktop for, e.g:

Maps and directions
Social Networking (In basic and altered forms including messaging, email, and broadcasting updates, twitter style)
News (especially Sports)
Transport information (timetables, etc.)

The second study linked above indicates that consumers aren't ready for "Web 2.0" in the mobile space yet. Side-stepping the difficulty in defining what "Web 2.0" might mean in that context, it's not just consumers who aren't ready - many of the core technologies of Web 2.0 are either unavailable (AJAX) or impractical (Video Streaming) on mobile devices.

In short, a Mobile site should look and behave very much like a well-designed "Web 1.0" site of eight to ten years ago, with no flashy animation, bandwidth-eating graphics or video, but should be optimised under the hood to conform to WAP 2.0 / XHTML Mobile Profile (some gadgets won't display content that doesn't validate!) and use the absolute minimum CSS possible. m.news.com.au is only 31kb, and their desktop site is over 600! 30-50kb is a good benchmark for the maximum size (including all images and CSS) that a mobile site should be.

Mobile sites should -- as m.news.com.au and m.facebook.com do -- fit neatly at a bare minimum into the 240x320 size offered by most PDA style phones, and work in landscape and portrait orientation fluidly (to cater for phones like the HTC TyTn/Dopod/JasJam that can rotate their screen, and for the ever-expanding ranks of Blackberry clones), but if they can deal with a little less resolution too, that's even better.

As for what hostname they should sit on, that's something only time will tell. m.yourcompany.com may be a winner, but whatever you do, make sure that mobile visitors to your desktop site are redirected to the alternative (or given a link), and desktop visitors to your mobile site likewise. If you can keep the two functions on the same hostname, even better - it'll make for a less cluttered business card, and less explaining to do.

Is your current website doing more harm than good?

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 02:03:16 GMT

There are many practices I see commonly employed by web designers and developers that I believe are counter-productive and often detrimental to the overall performance of the website.

A good corporate website should be thought of as a virtual extension of physical business premises.

Whether or not you actually sell your products or services online is irrelevant - visitors consider your website a 'virtual shop-front' that reflects your real-world business.

To form and support my opinions about good and bad web design I often compare web-based practices to their 'real-world' equivalent. I've outlined five of my 'favourites' and will leave it to you to make up your own mind.

Real World Scenario:
As a customer enters your shop you greet them with "Welcome, you are the 1624^th visitor to our shop since January 2005".

Website Scenario:
You publish a 'hit counter' on your website.

Comment:
Customers couldn't care less about how many other customers have entered your shop, especially if it relates to a handful of customers each day, so why publish a 'hit counter' on your website?

Hit counters were one of the very first 'interactive' features developed in the 1990's, but they have long past their use-by date. Of course meaningful statistics that allow website owners to analyse where visitors are coming from, what they are doing on your website and where they are going to is an essential component of pro-active website management, but these should be 'private' and not available to the public. If your website still contains a hit-counter I urge you to remove it immediately.

Real World Scenario:
As a customer enters your shop you greet them with "Welcome, everything you see here is exactly the same as it was three years and four months ago".

Website Scenario:
You publish the 'Date Updated' on your website - and don't update the content regularly.

Comment:
While IASP's business is built on providing content-driven corporate website solutions, I appreciate that not every website requires updating every day, however, if you do not update your website regularly (at least once a month) for goodness sake remove all references to the 'Date Updated' and stop telling the world that the content they are reading was published when Adam was a boy.

Real World Scenario:
As a customer enters your shop a band starts playing loud music that wakes up the baby in the pram the customer is pushing.

Website Scenario:
Your website automatically plays an audio/video file when visitors enters your website.

Comment:
When integrated correctly, audio/video can be powerful inclusions in a great corporate website, but you must consider the consequences of 'forcing' media onto visitors without first asking their permission.

Consider the fact that you have no control over the volume level a visitor has their local computer set to - and you have no way of knowing the environment they are in when visiting, for example they might have a baby sleeping in the next room, or they could be at work, and as soon as they open your home-page the baby wakes up (or the boss wakes up) and you can kiss that visitor goodbye forever.

If you use media files, give visitors the courtesy of turning them on - not the inconvenience of turning them off.

Real World Scenario:
Your advertising, marketing, signage etc. works well enough to encourage a customer to walk into the front door - but instead of walking into your shop, they walk into another 'front door'.

Website Scenario:
The dreaded 'Splash Page' - a page published at the front of your website that contains a message along the lines of 'click to enter'.

Comment:
Apart from a means of providing graphic designers with a way to demonstrate their creative flair (and increase the design budget of your website), I cannot think of a single positive reason that justifies publication of a 'Splash Page' on a corporate website.

Splash pages are nothing more than a barrier to visitors - and if produced in Flash as is often the case - they also render the website virtually invisible to search engines such as Google.

If your corporate website features a Flash Splash Page and you disagree with my opinion in this regard, please post a comment on this article (please include your website address) and I'll reply after looking at your website with my 'human' eyes and then with IASP's special 'electronic' eyes (which allow us to see a website the same way Google does).

Real World Scenario:
Customers enter your shop to see some products are available but many of the aisles are closed and marked with 'Under Construction' signs.

Website Scenario:
Same deal: 'Under Construction' published on pages within the website.

Comment:
A great corporate website should be a work in progress, and the content/functionality available on day one will in many cases be only a fraction of the content/functionality ultimately available.

There is no shame in conveying to visitors at one or more strategic locations within your website that future expansion/improvement is coming, but ideally clear timelines should also be published (and adhered to).

Over-use of 'Under Construction' is a common practice with static websites (static meaning the navigation structure would have to be modified on every page to remove a specific link from a navigation menu), but even if your website is static, I believe it is worth the effort to totally remove navigation links to 'future' content to avoid over-use of the 'Under Construction' phrase wherever possible.

Protecting your online integrity

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 06:52:45 GMT

In the online world, like the physical world, is important not to associate your business with the "wrong" types of people.

I recently became aware of a website claiming to be a directory service. Subscribing to this directory would give potential customers the ability to find your website by doing a search from the directory. Sound great? The reality was far more alarming.

Rather than linking directly to the subscriber's website this directory service copied the html of the front page of the subscriber's website. In simple terms rather than looking at the website itself the pontential customer was looking at a copy of the website. A very poor copy.

Because a single page had been plagiarised the links from the copied page didn't work correctly, no special features worked correctly and the copy would become out of date as soon as the genuine website was updated. This means that any potential customer viewing this website would believe that it was 1. Not Functioning Correctly 2. Out of Date. Rather than helping potential customers find you it may only be giving you a bad reputation.

Imagine a bookstore that started selling a poorly photocopied version of your introduction and index. Unless they realise that the bookstore is dodgy it just looks like you've written a dreadful book!

Another example is an Internet Marketing company I found recently. This company claimed that some of their services were Code Optimisation and W3C Validation. Upon further investigation it turned out that not only did their homepage not validate and contained serious html errors - but none of their clients (as listed on their website) had W3C valid pages!

In the online sphere it can be difficult to know exactly who you're dealing with - it's important to make sure that the people you entrust to promote your online presence will do it in a way which preserves your online integrity.

All systems go!

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:22:54 GMT

Launching a brand new corporate website is always a big job; sometimes it can feel like working with Russian dolls -- the further into the process you get, the more work you realise there is to do -- but persistence pays off.

We're absolutely thrilled with our new look, but in the end what we think doesn't matter -- we want to know what you think!

If you've got a moment, please fill out our website launch survey -- there's only a few easy questions to answer, and we'd greatly appreciate your feedback.
Please try our new website out on your phone! We're a pioneer in the mobile website game, and we'd love to hear your thoughts, compliments -- or gripes -- on how usable this website is on the move.
If you've got any other questions or thoughts, please post a comment on this blog article, or contact us.

The web industry moves at a mile a minute -- we've been working frantically behind the scenes to stay at the forefront, and we think we're showing that off pretty well now... What do you think?

Web to SMS - RIP

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:44:35 GMT

IASP was a pioneer in the web-to-SMS space. We have operated a dedicated SMS gateway since 2003 and continue to offer integrated SMS via the built-in messenger system within our websites along with a stand-alone web-to-SMS service via our smsport.com.au website.

Over the years we have become acutely aware of the severe limitations of the SMS protocol in the practical commercial environment: an 11-character header limit, a 160-character message limit, the high cost per message, and the unreliability due to network incompatibilty all combine to make SMS likely to be consigned to the same fate as Beta Video and Digital Cassettes.

These technologies had their time in the spotlight, but the new generation of mobile e-mail and mobile Internet overcome most if not all of SMS's limitations and are destined to replace SMS as the preferred web-to-mobile communications platforms.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, the mobile Internet revolution could see the biggest upheaval in the industry's brief history; very few players are prepared -- for example Google is fully Internet-ready for mobiles, while Telstra products such as WhitePages are, apparently, not.

Perhaps the release of Apple's iPhone in Australia later this year will be a tipping point in the evolution of the Mobile Internet. One survey indicated 28% of Australians would consider investing in this new generation device that delivers integrated mobile telephone, mobile e-mail, mobile web browsing and all the related bells and whistles you would expect from hardware that some experts have labelled a glorified iPod.

Regardless of whether or not the iPhone fast-tracks evolution of the Internet from traditional desktop computers to mobile devices is irrelevant in the long term. It is as certain as night follows day that at some time in the future the Internet will be totally mobile.

The importance of good website design

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:35:36 GMT

The design quality of your website impacts directly on how professional you appear to your potential customers. No matter how big or small your business, you need to make sure you get the right look and feel to deliver your message online. Visitors judge the credibility of a website and the business it represents by the design, the usability, and the content within it. The design makes a first and lasting impression upon visitors when they arrive at your website. You may offer superior products or services over your competition but if a visitor perceives you have an inferior website they may well choose your competitors over you.

Make sure the design of your website helps you to portray your message and achieve your goals. There is no point having a bleeding-edge website design that incorporates images that have nothing to do with your business. It is also really important to make sure the designer produces a design that incorporates your logo well. You don't want a website that looks great except for your logo that seems to stick out like a sore thumb.

Flash animations often look great and can really bring a website to life. It's important to remember though that websites built completely in flash are not search-engine friendly. You may end up with a great-looking website that no one will ever find.

Make sure you find a really good web designer. Lots of great print designers are capable of producing beautifully presented brochures, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will be able to produce great web designs. Web design is a specialist field; some designers don't understand that the medium in which they are designing is different than print. Websites should be dynamic, they should be designed in such a way that they can incorporate more or less content and still look just as good. Ideally, they should provide room for more menu options to be added into the navigation menus as they are needed.

Businesses can grow, they can diversify. Your website should be adaptable to the changes within your business. Some designers choose to produce web designs they know will require changes in the future in order to ensure they make more money from the client. Don't be fooled into thinking your website will not need to change. A static unchanging website is unlikely to meet your current or future needs.

The great thing is that you don't have to compromise on design in order to have a dynamic website that will grow with your business's needs. There are some great web designers out there producing designs that provide clients with highly professional online presences that are both scalable and dynamic. Some of the best web designs that we have seen in recent years have been designed by brb Design and Marketing. Websites such as BK Homes and Artlounge are excellent examples of websites that both look great and allow for dynamic content.

Here are a few tactics for choosing a good web designer: Make sure you ask to see your designer's website portfolio. Don't be won over by amazing print designs. Check out how each of the web designs differ and how effectively the designs target the websites potential customers. You need to be sure your designer knows how to create a website that will provide you with the best return on your investment now and into the future.