It is predicted that smart phone usage will dominate web browsing in the coming years. This is definitely one of the faster growing ways that people are finding your site online.

So is your website mobile friendly?

I don't just mean can it be viewed correctly on a mobile - but is it allowing for "fat finger syndrome". A mobile version of your site, detects what kind of device you are using and shows a version of your site that suits that device.

Ask yourself these questions

• do you have a version of your site that specifically is designed to suit a hand held device
• if you do, is it easy for fat fingers to navigate
• does the copy flow straight up and down and not across and then down
• does it suit our tendency to browse with our thumbs when on the phone

If the answer is NO - then you need to start thinking about a mobile version of your site right now!

The Apple iPhone, Android and Windows 7 phones are fast becoming the norm rather than the exception – in fact in June 2011, there were 29.28 million mobile services in operation in Australia (more than the number of people that live here!) and 46% of those were Smartphones.  

Industry estimates put this figure at 60% by the end of 2012.
 
This kind of growth is hard to ignore and Smartphones are changing how consumers access the internet, search for products,  consume news and manage social networks. 

In July 2011, Telstra in association with The Nielsen Company released their yearly Smartphone Index Report which highlights some interesting facts relevant to small businesses marketing.
 
The full survey can be found here - but I have summarised 4 key points to consider below 

1.    44% use Smartphones daily to check email.
 
It is important that your email communication is clear and easy to read.  Clear call to action graphics will work wonders in email campaigns.
 
2.    24% use their Smartphone to find locations of retail stores.
 
Hook up your address to google maps - claim your business location in Google Local. Make sure your phone number is text to allow for easy one click calling.
 
3.    61% of Smartphone users are accessing the mobile internet daily.
 
The Smartphone is likely to overtake the desktop as the device most consumers use to get access to the internet. This is predicted to occur at some stage in 2014. There is a higher proportion of MALES using smartphones at present - so if your site is a natural fit with a male demographic - than a dedicated mobile version of your site is a must (ie a trades site, technology, automotive etc)
 
4.    31% of users compare prices of products before going to the store.
 
To be considered by consumers, your products and pricing must be available on your website. If you don’t clearly display your product information, how do consumers compare? Vital for all sites - not just mobile versions!

May is going to MOBILE MONTH here at bosweb systems, so if you wish to take advantage of our exclusive offer for any Adobe Business Catalyst site, contact us now 

Some samples of recent mobile sites are listed below ( the images are not their actual size - have a look at them on your phone!)

 www.cwcu.com.au

www.dcls.com.au

www.wpa.net.au

www.popupparramatta.com.au

While in San Francisco last week, I took a two hour trip north of San Francisco to the webcasting studio's of TWiT.tv (This Week in Technology) in Petaluma, California.

This fabulous (web only) broadcast station, (http://twit.tv) has as many as five shows a day, and I spent a whole day meeting their team and interviewing Leo Laporte on the technology used in the station including sitting in on his shows.

Over the course of the day, I met with their technical staff, Eileen Rivera (Supervising Producer and featured below on mixing desk), CEO Lisa Kentzell and Sarah Lane (host of iPad today & The Social Hour) and was also given a guided tour through the operations and technology that powers the studio.

We're looking forward to applying what we learnt towards Rocket! tv, the establishment of our own interactive education and support webcast station for our Business Catalyst clients & reseller partner network. So stay tuned!

* Special thanks to Eva Laporte for organising my time with Leo & Lisa at TWiT.tv :)

 

Many businesses have websites today, but how many are effective?

How many attract the right kind of clients and convert them to customers?

Lots of people just look - but we want the buyers.

We put together a list of 7 deadly website sins and what you should do to avoid them.

Sin No 1: - Starting with a dud logo

No site will work if your logo is crap. As the saying goes, you cannot make a silk purse out of sow's ear.

Sin No 2: - Not promoting your site enough

Many first time website owners can 'forget' their traditional marketing methods when promoting their new site. 
'Build it and they will come' - is not how it is done.

Remember: -

• Good Banner graphics ( yep that dud logo is really going to drag you down )
• Consistent taglines as part of your brand - you need a hook
• Good SEO practices, including perhaps Google Adwords for key times of the year
• Social Media - Facebook, Twitter and Linked in - tell everyone, in every network
• Blog - you know your stuff, share, create interest, you are an expert in what you do!
• Offline - yes your traditional marketing tools - don't forget them!

Sin No 3: - No WIFM

If a client can't see the 'what's in it for me' - they are gone. Make sure your site is about benefits and not features. Everyone sells widgets, but how will yours benefit your clients?

Sin No 4: No Calls to Action

Your website must be a lead generator. If you are not picking up contact details, then you are not using your investment to its fullest. Make sure you entice viewers to signup to newsletters, click here for more, fill in forms to get more information, give away free tools. Do whatever you need to do to grab a future lead.

Your blog and your social media channels will also help with this - make sure people can subscribe to your news feeds, twitter, facebook and linked in accounts.

Today they are browsers, but tomorrow they might be buyers!

Sin No 5: It's all about me

Actually it's not - it's about your customers. So whilst your vision, mission and values may be vital to you, your customers don't really care. Awards, flash office photos have a place, but it is well in the background. Your site is all about attracting and converting clients.

Sin No 6: Not looking at the numbers

Like any investment, you need to understand your ROI. With your website, you need to track the metrics and regularly be across them. What are your visits, what products are being viewed or searched on, what forms are being filled in, what is your most visited pages?

Sin No 7: Poor Auto Responders

What do you feedback forms say to people when they fill them in? Are they welcoming, professional and in the tone of your business? Or are they very blunt and robotic? Make sure you use your forms like you expect your front line team to answer the phone. Bring your business personality into your site, from every angle.

Remember if your website is an extension of your office, how do you greet, meet and treat your potential clients.

I recently flew to Los Angeles to represent Bosweb Systems at the Adobe MAX conference with 5000 other designers, developers and online marketing companies.

As part of our involvement, and as one of the leading Business Catalyst partners globally, I presented to other Business Catalyst partners from around the world.

Predominantly I focussed on 'Customer Care & Support' including discussions on the value that Business Catalyst offers to the online businesses of our clients, appreciating the needs of our clients and understanding the satisfaction of our clients with us as a service provider.

Photos of the event can be found here

In addition I was interviewed by Adobe along with other premier partners for our opinion of Adobe Business Catalyst and our partnership with them (I appear at 3m12s).  

 

BC @ MAX 2011 - What Partners had to say from Business Catalyst on Vimeo.

Remember several years ago when most websites had thousands of annoying pop ups occurring everywhere?

Everyone turned pop ups off!

What those sites were trying to do was to engage their potential clients, quickly with additional information that related to their product or service. They were overused and very annoying.

Circa 2011, we are seeing a return of this kind of engagement, but in a much more user friendly and non-instrusive kind of way.

Using MODAL POPUPS, you can have information pop up after a certain amount of time, or can be  triggered by a CALL to ACTION on the page that can serve a variety of purposes.

• Provide further information about information specific to the page
• Provide assistance when people are browsing a particular page for a period of time
• Encourage a customer to fill in their details for further followup
• Advise when a form has been filled in incorrectly.
• Make the most of the space on your page, but popping open more information that is relevant to that page.

We have a few clients utilising these techniques to mine for customer information in a quick and easy way - Western Plains Automotive is making great use of them on their new and used car pages to offer further assistance. KLR Marketing is taking advantage of this feature as well to encourage visitors to Grab an Information pack.

We even have a little example on our Web design page. A form automatically pop's up after people have been viewing the page for a while. This pop up guides them to interact with us quickly and is a great way to engage them instantly.

This modal dialog feature or LIGHTBOX effect is a great way to funnel your visitors into your sales pipeline, why not chat to us today about the possibilities of this little tool on your website.

What's going on with E-commerce in Australia?

We have been inundated with requests for Ecommerce solutions so far this year - with 4 on the go!  Here are some facts to digest, including trends from HitWise Australia

• While Australia has experienced rapid growth in online shopping, the lack of local big brand retailers selling online is forcing shoppers to buy from overseas competitors  - creating space for local and niche operators to flourish!

 

• Industry commentators say Australia is several years behind the US and UK and Australian consumers are voting with their wallets when it comes to shopping online - there is growth on the way.

 

• Online shopping in Australia is expected to expand its share of the retail market from 2 to 3 percent to 7 to 8 percent - closer to the threshold it already occupies in the U.S. and the U.K

 

• Huge growth in the online House and Garden sector (where consumers browse online and buy in store  - we love to research!)

 

• Growth in the electronics sector - with car audio, games, LCD TVs, DVDs, XBox 360s and CDs all commonly searched

 

• Continued growth in traffic to shopping and classifieds websites

Security remains a key factor for both buyers and sellers. Buyers want to know they can trust the site to get their goods and that the privacy of their credit card details will be preserved. Sellers want to know that they are not being defrauded.

Trends such as these create opportunities for businesses to sell their products online and take advantage of store-pick-up methods of shipping. Or simply to showcase them and publish stock levels. Either option grows business revenue and cuts down on postage costs which are a huge deterrent for both buyers and sellers online.

Providing your customers with an easy-to-use shopping experience, good selection of payment options and a strong security policy to build trust can help online businesses be a success.

Australia is poised for an online shopping explosion.

As a business, how well are you placed to take advantage of it?

Have you thought about introducing Video into your website?

We recently launched the KLR Marketing revamped site and that site extensively uses both Video and Audio files to engage with their audience - both public and the mastermind members. 

Western Plains Automotive and iKiFit are other sites that also extensively use video at their sites.

They are terrific tools to engage and more importantly educate your customers and potential customers about your business.

Adobe Business Catalyst recently introduced streaming tools for audio and video files.

The "Streaming" literature type can be used for audio and video files that you'd like to stream on your website using a Flash/HTML based player, or syndicate via RSS to media players such as iTunes (eg. podcasting)

This literature type supports 5 file formats, including:

• MP3
• MP4
• M4A
• MOV
• M4V

This Literature type is readable by iTunes, a range of desktop media players and most streaming Flash-based players. 

Our tools give you the benefit of easily tracking file usage over time. In the case of podcasting, this makes tracking listens or downloads simple.

We have some great industry contacts that we work closely with to deliver cost effective and quality video outcomes. Our friends at Thrive Media spring immediately to mind!

Talk to us about integrating sound and video into your site - it is a great way to generate interest in your products and services and it is an excellent ice breaker for your business!

We welcome our new clients that have joined us over the last 2 weeks - DataVoice Communications, Harmoni's Kiss, Central West Community College, CR Rail, Dubbo School of Performing Arts, and a special mention to Ardee.com.au (upgrading to our Galaxy Package and launching their online business with eCommerce in 2011). To find out how we can give your website a health check visit http://ow.ly/3HIiP

 

Things move fast as you age don't they! Here we are almost Melbourne Cup time and then the run down until Christmas.

Congratulations to all Rhino Business Award finalists and good luck this Friday night. We will be tweeting on the night, so follow us on Twitter @bosweb #rhinos, can't promise to be @wil_anderson, we'll see! (If this is all Geek to you, then you need to find out about our Pulsar Package - launching this week!)
Congratulations also to Amy Lawson - Lawson Communications as the winner of our Chumby giveaway competition.  Amy is now a loyal follower on Facebook and Twitter. Follow the links above and you can win one too! ( Selected at random )

Launching our Pulsar Package (are you engaged?) We have developed our Pulsar Package to provide expertise, direction and a plan to integrate these tools into your marketing activities. For more information on social media please visit Social Media & Marketing. Many of our clients already using social media tools include Dubbo City Image, Mary and Me,  Dubbo Regional Theatre & Convention Centre and at our own Misson Control.

Who has launched in the last month? Browse below or view our portfolio Dubbo City Image - 100K visitors later, it was time for a new look with enhanced features. David Payne Constructions- a long time client with a sophisticated new look. Larsen's Transport- a great result for a small investment.

Training Program - 2010

Limited places in October for SEO Techniques this Thursday.

October In-House training- SEO Techniques - some basics - NEW COURSE
November In-House training- Announcements and Bookings
December- Social Media Techniques - Facebook, Twitter and Linked in - it's not just for your kids!

Contact support today to book your place!

Support Centre

Just a reminder that the fastest way to communicate with us is to email support@bosweb.com.au.

This is a group email accessed by several staff to ensure that we do not miss any questions.

Alternatively 1300 721 481 - option '2' is your next fastest option.

We are proud to announce that we are finalists in three categories in the 2010 Rhino Business Awards;

• Excellence in Products and Services (under 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Customer Focus (under 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Presentation and Marketing (under 10 employees)

In addition, we congratulate our awesome clients (and their staff) that have also been selected as finalists in this year's Rhino Business Awards!

Central West Catchment Management Authority 

• Christopher Dunning, Trainee of the Year

Chizen Health Club

• Excellence in Presentation and Marketing (under 10 employee's)

DCL Architecture & Locksmith

• Excellence in Business Development (under 10 employee's)

Dubbo City Council 

• Amy, Sutton, Apprentice of the Year

Dubbo Neighbourhood Centre

• Excellence in Community Service

Fuze 

• Excellence in Products and Services (under 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Customer Focus (under 10 employee's)

Gilgai Farms

• Excellence in Rural Achievement
• Excellence in Environment Sustainability

Nangar Gems

• Excellence in Customer Focus (under 10 employee's)

Natalie Bramble Management

• Best New Business 

Principle Focus

• Excellence in Business Development (over 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Rural Achievement

Rhino Promotions

• Excellence in Products and Services (over 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Customer Service (over 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Presentation and Marketing (over 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Business Development (over 10 employee's)
• Excellence in People Development (over 10 employee's)

Vanguard Business Services

• Excellence in Business Development (under 10 employee's)
• Excellence in People Development (under 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Rural Achievement

Western College

• Excellence in Products and Services (over 10 employee's)
• Excellence in Environmental Sustainibility

We wish everyone the best for another successful Rhino Business Awards 2010!