There are many ways to view websites, Internet marketing and the different components that comprise the online marketing ‘cloud’. Over the years, I’ve come to see that what we do for clients i.e. design and develop websites, is comprised of 3 parts; branding, marketing and functionality. And for a website to function properly, all 3 parts not only need to be implemented effectively, but also need to integrate well together. This is no small task and is rarely done well.

Part 1 - Branding

Branding on the Internet is an amorphous term that contains many parts, such as: a logo, tag line, user interface [look + feel], messaging [headline copy], text, photos, graphics, video, illustrations, motion graphics, demos, information architecture, interactivity etc. All of which fall under the term the ‘User Experience’.

This constitutes what is said, to whom and why it is said. Without the right message, to the right people, websites fail to meet their most basic task – communicate effectively to the target audience.

Typically the branding/user experience suffers because it is under too much pressure to serve too many interests. The ‘more is more’ rationale typically wins out. The best interfaces often are the ones where the content comprises the majority of the page and the ‘look + feel’ is secondary, minimal and simplified.

Part 2 – Marketing

The marketing component of a website is even more amorphous than branding, since it’s evolving and expanding into something very different than what marketing was originally conceived to be. So new terms have arisen such as ‘demand generation’, ‘inbound marketing systems’, ‘viral marketing’ and ‘search marketing’ as well as many new terms such as SEO, SEM, black hat techniques, landing pages, doorway pages, sales funnels, link farms, favicons, bounce rates, keyword density, link rot, CPA, CPC, PPC, meta tag generator, Twitter, Flikr, digg, del.icio.us and the list goes on and on.

Nonetheless, the most common types of Internet marketing programs are: e-mail marketing, search marketing, pay-per-click advertising and analytics/measurement.

Regardless of the shifting sands of online marketing terminology and processes, websites suffer if at least some of these programs are not effectively used. They suffer in many ways, mostly from reduced traffic and decreased visibility on the Internet.Read more

When a logo has been around for years upon years, it's hard to envision changing it. There is brand awareness that goes along with it, people see it and immediately recognize it. That is why when redesigning a logo usually only subtle changes take place. This allows the logo to get a fresh new, updated look but still remains easy recognizable. Remember, first impressions last so it's important that your logo is memorable. See below for examples from some well known corporations.
 

MSNBC

The easily recognizable peacock is left untouched while the clunky uppercase text is changed to a more readable lowercase sans serif.
 

THE SCIENCE CHANNEL

The Science Channel’s logo redesign makes sense in the fact that it’s playing off the scientific element table in its new, simpler, modern logo. As for the bright orange, it speaks bold, fresh and new; I love it.
 

DOLBY

The Dolby logo consists very subtle, but important changes. Keep in mind that this logo needs be effective when produced at extremely small sizes. Removing the box around Dolby, merging the double D’s and a slightly thinner font with more character.
 

DELTA

The new red on red pyramid gives a sense of depth without it being too much. The colors, kerning and new sans serif font give the new logo an overall much more sophisticated look. 
 

PEPSI VS. COCA-COLA

Pepsi is known for changing their logo and tag line every decade (the most recent coming later this year or early 2009) while Coca-Cola’s hardly every changes. Typically, one would say that changing a logo as much as Pepsi is a bad idea, but maybe not in this case. With Pepsi, each logo is like a cultural milestone. It shares a story and captures the style of that time period... Some food for thought.

 
When the term ‘Web 2.0’ surfaced in 2004, it’s pretty safe to say that few could have predicted just how extreme the impact was going to be on internet usage in only 4 years time.
 
It has taken the corporate world to new heights, one Web 2.0 application at a time.
 

Below are 4 useful applications and answers to the question
“How can this benefit me?"

1. YouTube
 
This video sharing site allows anyone to upload and share videos online and is a great way to increase website traffic and brand awareness, display product demos, and even share customer testimonials. You can even see who is watching your videos with the YouTube Insight feature. This is an excellent marketing tool that showcases how many views you are receiving per day, your popularity, and views by country and state using color coded maps.
 
2. Facebook
 
This is a popular social networking site that has come a long way from being a ‘college students only’ site to now allowing anyone with an email address to join. It is a way to interact with your colleagues and to network with other business professionals. Link sharing, joining interest groups, and sharing photos can dramatically increase your web presence. Also, taking advantage of Facebook Ads, Insights, Polls, Pages, and Platform can be very effective.
 
3. LinkedIn
 
Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn is a social networking site but has a slightly different approach in that it manages mainly your professional relationships. It presents you with the resources to find new business opportunities, gather knowledge from others, and connect with people you know. Once you sign up, you can get individuals to join your network simply by importing contacts from your email, searching for colleagues, or even old classmates. Don’t forget to join professional groups- it’s an excellent way to obtain feedback on your company or start an insightful discussion on the latest topics in your field.
 
View my LinkedIn profile as an example
 
4. Blogger, Drupal, Typepad, and Wordpress
 
Using a free blogging platform such as Blogger, Drupal, Typepad or Wordpress is an easy way to get started with a blog. Having one can increase traffic to your site, allow you to share your areas of expertise, display photos, and interact with other bloggers. You can use targeted keywords in your text that link to your site or to other sites you find useful. Even on a relatively low budget, a blog can be designed, developed, and search engine optimized to bring you the most web traffic.

See 2 recent blogs created for clients by Bartlett Communications:
Boston Design Blog
D Scale Blog

Planning is Everything (and Ongoing)
Setting out to build a truly great web site is a noble goal, but is a task doomed to mediocrity without a thoughtfully composed project plan. Whether you are building your site in house or are working with a design firm, insist on using a plan which allocates the following:

• Project personal + responsibilities, both internal and external
• Design + Development milestones
• Deliverables, clearly defined

Each of the above requires an estimate to be reached collaboratively with the project members responsible. Talented web workers can only compensate for so much pressure to finish tasks in a timeframe they did not create.

Progress Checks: Fruitful or Fruitless?
Today’s businesses are focused on reducing bureaucracy and excess managerial overhead, but the value of a project leader who keeps the burn rate under control is priceless. Frequently keeping a current view of what has been done and what needs to be done as hourly figures is crucial if your goal is uncompromising quality.

Getting Stuck
Nothing will blow a budget faster than pushing off stakeholder approval or a lax schedule. Once a web site is underway, any administrative or communication delays are inefficient and will eat the time needed for the team to do their best work. Keeping everyone moving with frequent reminders is a great way to maintain momentum on a web project.

The Last Mile
More often than not, the last mile of a web project requires the most effort. Carefully tracking even small changes (and increasing your budget accordingly) will preserve your time for the oh so important testing, review and bug fixes which accumulate at the end of every project. Details define a great site and a well tended plan will give your team a solid foundation to get them right.

Fletcher is a project manager at Bartlett Communications and has been creating web sites for the last 8 years. Learn more about how we can deliver a killer web presence for your organization.

Search Engine Optimization [SEO] is a process used to increase page rank on a search engine results page. SEO refers to 'natural' or 'organic' search engine listings as opposed to paid listings that appear at the top and/or the right hand side of a page.

While SEO can be great at driving traffic to a site, it has much less value if a user isn't converted. Using traffic as a success metric for SEO is misleading, since the traffic might be the wrong audience resulting in a high bounce rate. Using a conversion metric [i.e. how many people were converted either by purchasing a product or completing a form] is a much better indicator of the success of an SEO program.

The diagram below outlines the SEO process for achieving conversions:

Read more

Any type of marketing during a recession poses multiple problems. How can you get the most out of a small budget? How can you connect with customers wary of making purchases? How can you increase the probability of success?

The following article addresses specific methods B to B marketers can use to get the most value out of their Internet Marketing budgets.

MESSAGE

The key messages to emphasize during a recession often revolve around safety. This means creating messaging that speaks to ‘reducing risk’, such as reliability, time-tested, value and ROI. During good times, some marketers have been shameless in trying to scare people into purchasing a product/service but when times are bad emphasizing benefits that protect against failure is warranted.

Understanding ‘the problem’ potential customers have is the basis for developing the message, whether it’s specific to the features of a product/service or the overall economic climate a company is operating in.

MOBILITY

Mobility here refers to the portability of a concept or campaign. Being able to re-use an e-mail campaign as a blog post, trade show hand out, or application brief on a website can stretch your marketing dollar. This is just like getting more by recycling or re-using. You could even think of it as ‘greening’ your marketing by getting the most out of your resources such as copywriting, photography and creative concepts.

METRICS

The secret sauce of Internet marketing. The tool that defends, when management wants to cut marketing budgets. The place to look for the answer to the persistent questions - Will this work? Will we get more leads? Will we sell more product?

Analyzing metrics is never easy though. There are always variables that make apples to apples comparisons difficult. It takes a certain ability to read the tea-leaves, to really know if an e-blast will generate more leads than a Google AdSense buy. But it’s necessary and hard, but really, really important. Not only viewing, but honing the reports to get the valuable data, the actionable analysis. This requires regularly tweaking reporting tools and making sure variables don’t get out of hand.

But once the data is in then voila! It becomes clear what programs work better than others. Then milk it for all it’s worth. Sales will be happy, management will be happy and you will be happy, even during a down economy.

Questions to ask before choosing an e-commerce platform.

Buying software from small businesses is often a roll of the dice. One of the added problems of evaluating e-commerce software is it's difficult to get honest, 'real' reviews. Much of the information online is biased commentary, disguised as genuine. The only way to really know is to actually use the programs or delve deep into forums for specific comparisons.
Here are a few questions to ask before making a commitment:

What version is the software? If it's v1.3 then avoid it at all costs. The higher the version the better.

How large is the software company? There is much more chance that software from Adobe will be around in 5 years than a 5 person software company's will be. If you commit to an e-commerce platform and the company goes away, so does most of your investment.

Open source or commercial software? Buying open source ensures you have access to the code but also means you will be relying on a web developer for maintenance and upgrades. Since e-commerce software is changing rapidly, choosing open source can be a more costly choice.

What marketing features does the software have? Using a platform such as ProStores, owned by eBay, has the added advantage of being pre-integrated with one of the largest online shopping networks around. Leveraging other marketing programs such as SEO and e-mail integration are critical to the success of an online store.

Can any user interface design be used? Often e-commerce software restricts the 'look + feel' of a website design. Check to see how restrictive the template system is or if you can develop your own template.

For a more comprehensive list of questions to ask before purchasing e-commerce software, see our 'E-commerce Project Profile: Questions that help define the strategic goals and scope of an e-commerce project'.

Creating desire, the time famine and how Google aced branding
 
Visual communications and graphic design serve three purposes:

1. To effectively communicate information
2. To increase usability
3. To create desire for a product or service.

While communicating information and increasing usability are critical to successful design, creating desire has become a key component of a company’s ability to differentiate themselves from competitors.
 
To learn more on how to get the most value out of your design, visit: The Value of Design

Don’t let your prospects become dead—turn them into qualified leads with SalesForce.com

A surprisingly high amount of sales leads get lost because there is nowhere to put them. According to MarketingSherpa, a Cahners CARR Research report indicated that an average of 70% of leads given to sales are never even contacted. Why go through the trouble of having people fill out a form on your web site, for example, if the information is just going to be sent to an unorganized database, never to be seen again?

Luckily, that problem can be solved.

SalesForce.com is a CRM system that is not like traditional software in that it is an Internet service. This makes it accessible to anyone, anywhere.

One of the great features is its ability to capture the leads from your web site.

You can create a form for your web site by using selected fields such as Name, Email, Company, and Address as well as creating custom fields specific to your company.

- For instance, let’s say you are a company who makes Products 1, 2, and 3. If a potential client was able to show an interest in Product 2 when they filled out the form, then your sales department could divide the leads up according to the product.

Once the ‘Web-to-Lead’ form has all the fields you want, you then ‘generate’ the form. An HTML is displayed which you give to your webmaster to put into your live site.

Now you don't have to ask Joe at the desk next to you where he put the information about that prospective client from a few weeks ago. Now, every time someone fills out a form on your web site, you have all of their information inserted directly into SalesForce.com without even lifting a finger.

It is up to you, however, to take those new leads and become proactive!

To read SalesForce.com success stories, please visit:

http://www.salesforce.com/customers/

10 Ways to Reduce the Impact on the Environment

Over the last several years, greater focus has been placed on environmental issues and individuals have realized just how unsustainable our lifestyles really are--on a personal as well as business level. Many companies have already taken the initiate to look into ways of reducing the impact of unsustainable business practices.

To find out how your business can reduce unsustainable business practices, visit our web site: Green Tips