For anyone with something to say, the internet is the fastest way of getting a message out to a mass audience. Since its inception, it appears to have sparked the writing instincts of many who otherwise would never see their words published.

Blogging has exploded over recent years and there are quite a number of bloggers who have made a name for themselves and built impressive fan bases by consistently producing content that people want to read.

However, business blogs can work wonders or fail miserably if you don’t follow a few simple rules. It’s not simply a case of telling your readers you have a blog then sitting back and waiting for something to happen – they do need to be worked on.

Business Blogs

Many businesses have caught on to the fact that having a blog on their websites is not only a good way of keeping readers up to date with what’s happening in their particular industries but also keeps search engines happy by providing a stream of fresh content for them to index which consequently means showing up in more searches and extending website reach.

Regular Posts

For a blog to be truly effective, new content should be added on a regular basis. The frequency of posts is entirely down to you as the business owner and there is no set rule to say what that frequency should be.

It will totally depend on the time you have available and whether you’ve got something worth saying. Posting just for the sake of it but not actually saying anything of worth will defeat the object and you’ll end up losing readers.

Platform

Choosing a platform that suits you is important and the most often used are WordPress and Blogger both of which are free and can be set up to publish pre-loaded posts on designated days.

There is a comment box after each post where readers can let you know what they think: not only ideal for telling you how well (or badly) your blog is going but a good way of developing a dialogue with your readers.

What I’ve mentioned so far is just a very brief outline of what a business blog can do and in a future posts; I will be looking at SEO and design aspects. 

Until next time.

In my ongoing search of the internet for interesting web design news and topics, I stumbled across an intriguing site displaying a selection of Cinemagraphs; something of which until then I was entirely unaware.

What?                                                                                  

For anyone else not in the know, a Cinemagraph is described as a cross between a moving video and a still image. Most of the image remains in its normal photographic form whilst small selected portions are animated, such as a subject’s hair blowing in a breeze or a flickering candle on a table for example.

Why?

It’s highly probable that many will question the reason for a Cinemagraph; after all, there’s video and there’s photos, so what can you possibly gain by mixing the two? Well, here’s the thing; you would really need to see them for yourself to decide whether or not they work for you. 

How?

As Cinemagraphs are very new to me, I’m not yet familiar with the more technical processes used to create them, but from what I’ve learned so far, the simple explanation is that the still image is made into a .gif file which is then manipulated using Photoshop or similar programmes.

Where?

These particular examples created by Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg have a quality that’s hard to define which somehow makes them even more interesting, but whatever that quality is, as a new fan, I for one think that Cinemagraphs will definitely add a lot of flavour to a website and offer something just a little different to visitors.

It’s all a matter of personal taste of course and it’s likely they won’t suit everyone. However, for those website owners and visitors who take little or no notice of static images or have no time for videos, Cinemagraphs could well be a happy medium.

Until next time.

Long before the internet came into being, one of the most effective ways of advertising products and services to a mass market was through television, but only for those companies who could afford it.

YouTube

Television advertising was and probably still is a cost-prohibitive option for the vast majority of businesses, many of which have to work with severely limited marketing budgets. However, YouTube has played a huge part in changing all that by allowing them the chance to compete with the bigger players on a more equal footing.

Limited Effect

The use of videos on websites isn’t exactly a new idea anymore but still relies on visitors finding a site if they’re to have any significant effect; consequently, website owners have to continue actively marketing their sites for them to work with any degree of success.

Reach Out

However, adding your video to YouTube could change all that not just because of increased reach but by reducing the dependency on website visitors alone. The phenomenal popularity of YouTube may have even outstripped television as a viewing medium but either way the potential to spread your brand to a mass audience is enormous, and as YouTube is free, your advertisement can remain for as long as you want or until you update it.

Spread the News

Once your video is uploaded, it’s up to you to encourage people to view it, so mentioning the fact on your website or informing friends, clients and even casual acquaintances is a good way to get the ball rolling.

If you currently use video on your website and haven’t yet thought about the possibilities of YouTube, then perhaps now is the time to consider it. After all, where else could you get others to expand your reach on a potentially global scale for free? It could be worth a try!

Until next time.

If you’ve ever conducted business with a particular company over a long period of time, you’ve no doubt formed relationships with the people you regularly speak to and also built up a mental image as to what they look like. Understandable when more often than not, the only visual connection with them or their company is their website.

Say Cheese!

I have clients I’ve dealt with for years but never met face to face: all communication has been via phone or email. Recently though, one of those clients added staff photos and bios to their website and now I could see the people I had been dealing with all this time.

I quite liked the fact that I now had an image that came to mind whenever I communicated with anyone from that company and felt I knew them just that little bit better. At the same time, I got to wondering if staff images play a significant part in attracting website visitors and converting them into paying customers.

Good to See You

To my knowledge, there are no definitive statistics as to whether the use of staff images actually makes a significant difference to sales one way or the other, but from what I’ve researched so far, many companies feel that putting a face to the name is more about forging closer business relationships than anything else. To me, this makes sense because it follows that if a business relationship is strong and solid, the sales should follow naturally anyway.

No Pictures Please!

I’m sure those businesses that dislike the idea of displaying staff images have their own good reasons for not doing so such as data and privacy issues or perhaps just a preference for anonymity. Whatever the reasons their views should be respected as it’s obviously a matter of personal choice.

The internet has made it easy to form business relationships all over the globe but perhaps at the expense of personal interaction so the use of staff images on websites might in some small way go towards redressing the balance – or not, depending on your point of view.

Until next time.

As web design techniques and technology become ever more advanced, users’ demands and expectations are growing at the same pace, and one area in particular is perhaps growing faster than most.

It’s no secret that the likes of Facebook and Twitter have had a massive impact on corporate marketing strategies and brand building; a trend that for the present at least shows no signs of slowing down.

More and more companies are joining Facebook and Twitter because they’re beginning to appreciate the phenomenal amounts of time people are spending on social networking sites and the increased reach they provide. 

As efficient and detail-filled as Google and others are though, there’s little that beats word-of-mouth when it comes to selling products and services, and I recently got to wondering whether users searching for companies, services or recommendations or whatever are now looking more towards trusted friends on Twitter and Facebook for answers rather than search engines themselves.  

Nothing stays the same and it’s only a personal thought of course, but the speed with which internet user behaviour changes as new trends emerge means it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that at some future point social network sites could pose serious competition to search engines.  

Whilst researching my theory, I came across this review by Jim Magary who was talking about the new Rock Melt browser which integrates social media and content feeds, and what stood out for me was his comment that as a self-confessed social media addict, it totally changed the way he uses the web.

Social media sites may or may not end up reducing the power or popularity of search engines of course because internet users are a fickle breed and what’s favoured today could easily be old hat tomorrow, but it’s a thought and only time will tell.

Until next time.

Although employed by some websites already, making more effective use of web page footers looks set to become a common practice. Far from being just the end of a page where copyright details, disclaimers and site maps are normally found a footer is now the ideal place to repeat menu options, contact details and even contact forms as in this example from the in.house.media website. 

If you think about it, placing a contact form in a footer is actually quite a clever idea because it allows interested visitors to enter the required information without having to go to another web page which is something they’re almost certain to appreciate.

It’s Not the End

In addition to their more practical advantages, footers provide a web page with a more visually attractive finish as opposed to a plain and abrupt stop, and in the case of longer web pages that require a visitor to scroll all the way back to the top to reach the menu, placing a second menu in the footer is also bound to please them no end.

Repeat Yourself

Building brand awareness is as much about the subconscious mind as the conscious and repetition plays a key role in that process so placing your company logo and colours in footers as well as headers will be instrumental in establishing your brand in the minds of visitors whether they realise it or not. 

From a branding point of view, making better use of footers would appear to be a sensible move with no obvious downsides. A second menu could end up as being a standard item but only time will really show how useful and creative footers will become.

Until next time.

There’s no doubt that the use of bold, striking colours on a website can go a long way in engaging visitors as soon as they arrive on the landing page especially when displayed with creative and artistic flair. However, the end of one year and the start of another has inevitably resulted in numerous articles and blogs focusing on web design trends, and one in particular has interested me.

Minimal

Personally, I’m a fan of extremely colourful websites as long as they are tasteful and pleasing to the eye. However, I’ve started taking notice of sites like this one here for example. With lots of white space and more subtle tones, I have to admit that done correctly they can be every bit as effective as their more colourful counterparts.

Simple

As good as colour-filled sites can be, it’s a nice change to occasionally come across a site without the eye candy that does exactly what it says on the tin. No superfluous copy or graphics, simple menu options and easy navigation can make for a good browsing experience, but that’s not to say they would work for everyone.

A Matter of Taste

The look and feel of a website is a matter of personal taste and opinion and there are probably some who think that more white space and less striking colours is visually a step backwards, but that’s the thing about trends – they come, they go and they return, so it will be interesting to see whether this particular one is still with us this time next year.

Until next time.

There are those who like Flash, those who don’t and some who don’t care either way, but love it or loathe it, Flash has made a significant difference to web design and website users alike.

For many website visitors though, their main gripe with Flash is its use in intros and to be fair, I think they have a point. I’ve said before that using Flash animation for website intros tends to be a bit off-putting for visitors who I think are inclined to skip them more often than not.

Reducing Vital Seconds!  

The problem is best summed up by that oft-used phrase ‘you only have seconds to capture a visitor’s interest’ which is still true and perhaps the only thing to remain constant about internet marketing since its inception so the use of Flash in intros seems to contradict this generally accepted rule.

Slowdown

Flash takes that little bit longer to load and longer still on older, less powerful computers, but even for those with newer machines, a Flash intro is sometimes enough to make visitors leave the site altogether. As a user, there’s little doubt in my mind that Flash has its place, and done correctly plays an important role in engaging visitors and persuading them to a desired course of action.

Quicker and Quicker

Website visitors are notoriously impatient and usually want to browse at an extremely fast pace when looking for information or products and services and as such unlikely to bother with or even appreciate a Flash intro regardless of how creative or visually stunning it might be.

Opinion?

I’ve asked friends and colleagues about their opinions on Flash intros and most of them told me that although they quite liked or didn’t mind the use of Flash  itself, they’d never actually watched an intro because they usually skip them to get to the site’s other pages.

I’m sure the debate about Flash will continue and probably more so with the emergence of HTML5. Personally, I quite like Flash and especially the creative things web designers manage do with it, but along with others, I don’t think it helps websites when used for intros.

Until next time.