posted
26/06/10
The response time of a website (that is, the time it takes for a page to load for a visitor) corresponds directly to the success of your website. Choosing a quality web hosting company to deliver your content is important, and as your website grows it’s important to pay attention to if and how the load time changes based on higher traffic levels.
Jakob Nielson conducted a great eye-tracking study using Norton’s website – the blue circles on the image below represent eye fixations.
Jakob Nielson
The image near the top of the page took an average of 8 seconds to load for visitors to the website – and you can see how the delay affects how the page is viewed. A quote pulled straight from Jakob Nielson’s article states:
A snappy user experience beats a glamorous one, for the simple reason that people engage more with a site when they can move freely and focus on the content instead of on their endless wait.
Keep in mind there are a variety different connections speeds and those speeds can vary from region to region if you have a national/international audience. Nielson reports websites that improve website response time as little as 1/10th of a second often see “juicy lifts in conversion rates”. Nielson recommends keeping your website response time within 3 seconds, and I completely agree. If your website currently takes longer than that there are a a variety of things a web development firm can do to speed up the site. From script optimization to lowering the quality/number of photos – it all helps. If the web development company runs out of ideas to optimize for speed, it may be time to look at upgrading your server or switching to a new web host. It’s also worth noting that different web firms will have different ability levels when it comes to this type of work.
The cost of bandwidth and hardware has fallen substantially over the past few years and many web hosts are charging older clients outdated rates. Take a look at competing web hosting companies to see what they’re offering for the price you’re currently paying. In fact the server this website is hosted on was recently switched for that exact reason – 1/3rd the price for an improved hosting experience was a nice upgrade.
posted
25/05/10
So while this post has no direct correlation to Internet marketing, I suppose there’s a small lesson in web based customer support and what NOT to do as an organization.
High definition webcams are on store shelves everywhere these days, and like all technologies, they’re getting cheaper as time passes us by. After planning a road trip (check out the 1000 km route) for the May long weekend, I figured I’d geek out and record the entire journey on video. I went and picked up the Microsoft LifeCam HD 5000 shown in the photo here – I prefer Logitech peripherals but there were no comparable HD cams for the same $50 price point, so I broke my own personal law and bought Microsoft over Logitech – woops. I installed the webcam on my laptop, set up a power mode so I could close the laptop lid without shutting the laptop down, put the laptop on the back seat, dropped the webcam on the dash and set out for Golden, British Columbia, the first stop on the road trip.
Short videos and photos worked perfectly, but after the 1 hour mark, or 1 gigabyte file size point (not recording full HD at this point, just 640×360), the software the Microsoft webcam comes with would crash when clicking on the “stop recording” button. Furthermore, the audio would cut out after the 10 minute mark. Considering the webcam works flawlessly with short video and the HD video looks great, I figured I’d give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt instead of returning the webcam. After digging around in their website I finally found a way to submit a form explaining my issues. I take 15 minutes to explain the issues and fill out the required information, hit submit and what do I get?
I’m no longer giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt. I figured I would save myself the hassle of returning the webcam by waiting for Microsoft to release an update for their webcam software if they acknowledged they were aware of the issues and expected a fix to come out soon. But if Microsoft can’t even run a web based support system without it breaking, I have no hope that their webcam software will be able to record long videos successfully anytime soon. I’ve already wasted 15 minutes finding a form and filling it out, and technically, 14 hours of video recording time with no audio. I’m not going to call 1-800-Microsoft and sit on hold while they transfer me around to the correct department. I would tell you I’m going to go out and pick up a Logitech HD Webcam, but it sounds if their software is having more issues than Microsoft’s.
I guess my HD recorded road trip dreams are going to have to sit on hold until someone figures this out. The up side to all of this is I did record some great video of the Rockies, and even have brief footage of a wolf! You never know what you’re going to see on a 1000 km trip, and it’s nice to have the memories in video. Digital cameras are great, but sometimes they’re just not quick enough, and you’re not going to find an HD video camera for $50!
posted
17/03/10
I was reading the local newspaper the other day and discovered a local start-up website called DesignTourney.com. While this is probably the first time a local newspaper article inspired a blog post for me, it reminded me about something I often bring up while working with clients looking for certain design work.
The process is fairly simple. For example, if you need business cards or a logo you simply fill out a form to post your project. You come up with a prize ($250 cash will do) and you post your project with whatever specific requirements you might have. The design community will then submit their creations and the owner can then choose the preferred design, awarding that designer the $250 cash. With this process, DesignTourney.com has entered the world of crowd-sourced graphic design which already has big players like crowdspring.com and 99designs.com.
I see crowd-sourced graphics as both good and bad for the graphic design industry. If you operate a small business and you need a logo, stationary or website, crowd-sourced graphic design is a great option. You’ll be able to set a fixed budget and hopefully you will receive a number of designs to choose from. It’s a serious contender if you’re looking for a quick, appealing design within a strict budget. However, there is a very legitimate reason why crowd-sourced graphic design won’t be turning the entire graphic design industry on it’s head. Chances are you’re looking for design work because you’re not a designer yourself – as soon as you enlist the creative abilities of a crowd you loose the knowledge and experience a design agency brings to the table. You might receive 60 different logo variations and fall in love with one, opting to use that logo for your new business or for your re-branding effort, but there’s no professional advice from an experienced agency helping you see that just because you like a certain design doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for your company. There’s no way to place a finite value on experience and knowledge within a field – but when it comes to your brand you want to be careful and make sure you can live with the decision you make for quite some time to come.
My opinion on crowd-sourced graphic design is let the crowds do the fun stuff – perhaps it’s a postcard for your clients on a holiday, or a new version of your business card. Just leave the brand sensitive stuff to the professionals that pull from years of experience. If you’re looking for that experience locally here in Kelowna, I’m consistently impressed by Touchpoint Agency – someone to consider!
As for DesignTourney.com, they have their work cut out for them. I haven’t had a chance to meet the founders to learn about their goals, but the success of their website relies on the crowd itself. In this case, the crowd is graphic designers that already use CrowdSpring and 99Designs to generate some extra income. And with brands like LG and Nissan using CrowdSpring, DesignTourney is going to have to host some decent projects to gain the same momentum the other players already have. Personally, if DesignTourney was my project, I’d play the regional card. Running a small business myself, I prefer supporting local talent and if I’m going to award a random graphic designer $250 – $5000 for a graphic design project, I’d like to keep that local, or at least within the country.
posted
07/12/09
Among the clients I work with, iPhone applications seem to be pitched on a weekly basis. I’m not going to argue the “cool factor” of some of the things that are possible on the iPhone and newer mobile phones in general, especially with the involvement of GPS – have you heard about foursquare? But the question is, does your business need an iPhone application?
A quick way to get an idea of how many of your customers/clients are using an iPhone to engage with your products is to check your website statistics. Most traffic analytics tools, including the free Google Analytics tool, will tell you how many visitors you are receiving from the iPhone/iPod devices. This number doesn’t necessarily represent what percentage of your customers have an iPhone, but it does give you a solid understanding about how many of those customers are actually visiting your website on their iPhone.
If you have a high percentage of iPhone visitors to your website, chances are the decision to develop an iPhone application for your business should be an easy one. The next problem becomes what features to build and who to build with – which I can help with if need be. On the other hand, if you don’t see a high percentage of iPhone traffic to your website, that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from an iPhone app.
There isn’t any golden formula that will tell you if an iPhone application will be successful for your business or not. But as more mobile networks start supporting the iPhone, it can be safe to assume that the iPhone will become an increasingly common way for your customers to engage with your brand. The possibilities are endless, but they’re effectiveness is limited by how many of your customers will actually use the application, and remember to use it on an ongoing basis. I’ve heard daunting stats claiming that over 50% of iPhone apps are only used once or twice, then uninstalled or forgotten.
I think the safest way for businesses to approach iPhone application development at the present time is in groups. A restaurant shouldn’t build their own app, they should unite with a dozen other restaurants and build one app to serve everyone’s purpose. Remember, to benefit your business it must be useful to the user, and that user doesn’t want to install six separate applications for his six favorite restaurants. Keep it functional and useful, and considering current iPhone trends, more and more people will come knocking…
posted
20/10/09
The tools available to the online marketer are plentiful, and with a broad topic or a fairly general target market, the possibilities are literally endless. There’s online video, social media, good old display advertising, mobile marketing with ads or text messages, email marketing, website optimization, rss advertising, search engine marketing, podcasts, blogging…well, my goal here isn’t to list them all. The point is that when marketing to a broad group an online marketing consultant or firm has endless options and can spend an eternity optimizing and improving over time. But what does a business do when trying to reach a smaller community? A number of smaller communities, let’s say communities with a population of less than 250,000 people, are in an awkward spot. Newspapers and local television are struggling or closing their doors, and for many businesses those mediums are where the bulk of the marketing budget is spent.
So with newspaper circulation dwindling and the future of local television undetermined in many smaller communities, now is an important time for businesses to start considering online marketing. In the past one could argue that a business can remain competitive using traditional marketing tactics – chances are that if you’ve spent a number of years marketing with newspapers, you’ve learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t. But as marketing budgets adapt to take advantage of new online marketing opportunities, these already struggling traditional mediums are going to be pulling in smaller percentages of their advertiser’s budgets.
A common excuse used to avoid using online marketing is that the company website isn’t up to par, and the good news is web development costs aren’t as high as they used to be. The bottom line is online marketing is becoming less of an optional marketing tactic and more of an obligatory tactic – but after a business gets that first taste of the new opportunity, measurably and flexibility online marketing offers, I just know the investment will be worth it.
The best part is you don’t have to jump into the deep end. I can work with your business to create an online marketing strategy that fits your budget and makes sense for your brand. Just drop me a note with any questions or thoughts and we’ll go from there!
