Is this the beginning of the end for IE 6?
It would appear that the end is nigh for IE 6 (Internet Explorer) with Google announcing that it will not be supporting this problematic web browser from 1st March on both the Google Doc’s and Google sites apps.
Add to this that You Tube no longer supports IE 6 and you start to realise that some of the most heavily hit sites / applications are all ditching support for IE6.
With the realease of Windows 7 expect to see the current IE 6 user base (between 10% and 22% depending on whose statistics you see) diminish more over the coming months.
The full article / post can be viewed here
“What do I need a designer for?”
This is a question uttered by many of those who have at some time invested in a new brochure, website or maybe a logo. “I can do that myself” – and why not, you are entitled to do so, you have Microsoft Word, you know what looks good… right?
It is very easy to dismiss the creative craft as ‘fluffy’ and assume that any individual with a design program and an ounce of creativity merits the title ‘designer’. But perhaps the role of a designer needs to be considered a little deeper. Let’s start with when you need a designer: simply stated this is whenever a corporate asset is audience-facing. In the case of your website or company intranet, not only does design consider the creative elements like colours and logos, but it is also responsible for usability and accessibility. Usability because there is no sense in investing thousands of pounds in integrated state of the art online technologies if the user doesn’t know where to log in. Accessibility; not just about considering the blind using a website, this is also about people who are dyslexic requiring text to be laid out in a logical way, or those accessing your site through a mobile phone. These are all users, all must be considered. A designer is there to think about these people, and knows how to talk to them.
“Can I use anyone who calls themselves a designer?” Well that is entirely up to you. You may know a chap around the corner working from his bedroom who says he can do it for a song, but… if he was any good surely he would be working in a studio? It is important to feel confident that you are getting what is best for you and your business, and that it is being represented in a way that best reflects your service. Good design can enable your business to operate on many levels. Don’t let a poor design be the deciding factor in someone placing their business elsewhere.
Getting a designer with the right attributes to take your business forward is paramount; as I have said it is not just about the ‘fluffy’, although that is a large part of it, but also requires experience and understanding of what has come before. Deciding to include or exclude/avoid certain elements on this basis is critical to the success of a design and its impact with the target audience.
So simply taking a brief and deploying based solely on the requirements without considering historical elements can lead to ineffectual design. On the flip side of this, consideration/incorporation of what has come before can lead to a more successful result. An example of this is the 2008 Obama election campaign, which drew considerable inspiration from the Kennedy Campaign and the iconic imagery of Dr King Jr. This influences the target audience, promoting an emotional response and trust in something /someone they know little about, largely by association. This is no mistake, the designer with his understanding of design and historical knowledge was able to use it to great effect: experience can give you something a little more.
Understanding how to overcome challenges is another thing that comes with experience. These may be challenges faced many times before, but finding a fresh approach to a solution is what adds value. An example of this can be found in the TaylorMade Center of Excellence site; this is a professional fitting service offered to TaylorMade customers, their site needed to be an engaging brand supported flagship for the service and act as a transaction booking facility. The solution to this was developing a flash site that worked as an online brochure and information source, with frequent calls to action to a simple calendar based booking system. The culmination of which has surpassed revenue expectations in the first year.
Getting it right first time. Now this is something every designer strives towards, and the longer you have been a designer the better you become at taking a brief and ensuring you have all the elements you need to produce the goods at the first attempt. Experiencing the feeling of utter rejection when a client throws the best part of two weeks’ work to the floor and tells you, “I don’t like it but I am not sure why” gives you even more incentive to get it right. This is, however, all part of being a good designer; if you don’t fall, you can’t learn how to pick yourself up.
Ultimately, fifteen odd years’ training and learning and a team’s collaborative experience of working with some of the most difficult… sorry… selective clients gives good designers an understanding of what works and what doesn’t. Design is still very much a collaborative effort between the client and the creative; it needs to be based on trust and belief. When this works the results can be… more than you expected.
Bilbo
The Importance of Being Earnest (with Data)
- ‘Rumpole of the Bailey’ DVD box set
- ‘The Beatles’ Rock Band PS3
- ‘Zulu’ on Blu-ray
- Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
- Tomy Octopals Bath Toy
What is this? I’ll tell you, it’s a list of the last five things I bought from Amazon!
- Sirloin steak
- Mixed salad
- Kellogg’s Bran flakes
- The Times
- Nurofen
What is it? The contents of my shopping basket and I’m on my way to the checkout. It’s a simple process, I just hand over my Amex card, my reward card and the job is done. And just before I came in, I used the same cards to pay for my petrol.
So where’s the rub? Well, if we fast forward a month or so, I will get ‘recommendations’ from Amazon – based, not only on what I’ve previously bought, not only what I’ve ‘viewed’ but also based on what other people who bought what I bought, have then gone on to buy!! Clever isn’t it? And then the lovely supermarket sends me some money-off vouchers for – wait for it – Fillet steak, own label Bran Flakes and Australian red wine (well something must have caused the headaches!).
In the data world, there is no emotion, no judgements, simply a set of binary transactions that it needs humans to write business rules and interpretations around. Of course it’s a bit more than just knowing I’m a closet Barrister, how I probably vote or what my likely household income is. In both cases the Retailer has built up a profile of me through the choices I make (and don’t make). My newspaper may hint at who I’m likely to vote for in an election and what kind of social demographic I fall into. My nightly purchases may indicate I’m single and the lack of nappies and baby food means it’s a safe bet I’ve no children under four. But hold on a minute – you bought the ‘Tomy Octopals Bath Toy’?? True – but it was for my nephew (age two) and simply a ‘rogue or unusual’ transaction as far as data trending is concerned.
Great lessons in how to use customer data, gathered through transactions, and then used to generate relevant, compelling offers. It’s an example of data mining and it’s used by more and more companies across the world. I’ll bet your supermarket/garage/High Street retailer does it, and it’s something you’ve probably bought into. But how do I, as a small B2B organisation, apply these strategies to my business?
In marketing, data mining’s used for quite a few purposes. Amongst other things, it can help companies identify their best prospects and segment their markets to personalise communications between themselves and the prospect. It can produce timely, relevant campaigns – reminding you that we’ve got a new version of the product you bought/lease finance you needed/coffee beans you use. It can also increase their cross-selling opportunities among existing customers, and help retain them. And it really is as easy as that – you hold all the data within your organisation – in spreadsheets, in Accounting systems, in CRM platforms, in website databases. So you know what customers have previously bought, what prospects and customers have viewed on your website, you know what they’ve clicked in your emarketing campaigns. You just need to access that information, pull it together, then use the information to create dynamic, relevant communication strategies for all your customers, both existing and potential. Simple in reality and in practice – it just needs an organisation to fully appreciate the value that can be generated by using data to properly profile and communicate with audiences.
10 Measures By Which To Rate Your SEO Agency
Customer Satisfaction
Your SEO Agency should be able to provide testimonials from satisfied clients. Satisfied clients should be happy with the following points.
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/many-satisfied-customers
Actual Results
The SEO Agency should be able to provide evidence of ranking improvement. Measures should also cover the volume of traffic and number of conversions.
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/great-results
Regular Communication
Communication should be regular, frequent and be proactive. Monthly KPI reports will show how well your agency
measures against agreed targets.
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/monthly-kpis
Understanding Your Business Model
There are 4 key online business models. Can your SEO agency name them and explain the differences between the measures?
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/what-do-you-want-from-your-site
Understanding Your Customers
Your SEO agency should be able to provide evidence of creating visitor personas for your site. Who uses your site? What do they want? How do they get what they want and convert?
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/who-are-your-customers
Structured Strategy
SEO is not rocket science, but your SEO agency should provide a structured approach to optimisation. How will they increase visitors? How will they improve targeting?
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/use-tried-and-tested-methods
It is Impossible Guarantee Relevant Number 1 Rankings
Beware of any agency guaranteeing number 1 spot. Is this term useful to you? Will it drive targeted traffic to you? Why aren’t your competitors there?
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/watch-out-for-cowboys
Provide Clear, Reasonable Pricing
SEO is very labour intensive for the agency. The cheapest option is not always the best investment. If you receive a very cheap quote ensure you understand a full breakdown of what you get.
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/avoid-really-cheap-quotes
Have the Ability to Link into Current Trends
Social Media is a good way of driving targeted visitors through to your site. There are many simple ways of linking SEO with Social Media to improve visitor conversions.
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/link-with-twitter-and-facebook
Offer a Range of Service Levels to Match Your Requirements
SEO should be tailored to your needs. Ensure that your agency understands how you work to get the most out of SEO.
http://www.purestone.co.uk/…/fully-managed-or-standard-service
How do you solve a problem like….CRM?
If I’m totally honest, I’m hardly being a visionary when I say that it’s strategically vital for all organisations to build customer loyalty and increase the ‘share of budget’ available? Research regularly tells us that the most significant increases in profitability are derived by increases in customer retention of as little as five per cent. Compare this to the cost of acquiring new customers – up to 10 times more than retaining an existing one!!. To my mind, it’s no surprise that Companies are focussing on customer retention strategies – often to the budgetary detriment of any new business acquisition programme. Getting the balance right is fundamental – May our effectiveness in retaining business be matched by a cost-efficient acquisition strategy!
My experience is that many companies felt they had ticked this particular box by implementing CRM ( customer relationship management) programmes. The investment made was considerable, the returns promised huge, but in practice the ROI metrics have not been delivered – and these metrics were largely predicated against customer retention and the increased revenue therein! So why is this? An effective CRM strategy comprises two elements –the first, deployment of an effective CRM technology. The second ( and IMHO the one on which organisations consistently fall down) is the strategic use of the CRM data to yield personalised, relevant, timely communications – via the optimal channel (s) – both on & offline. So many organisations concern themselves with new data when the real concern is not how much data they currently own or are able to obtain, but how to use the data effectively once they have it!
The net impact of this is a ‘double whammy’ – not only are organisations not making the returns they planned but they also risk losing long term customers through ignorance and an inability to address them with relevant communications.
The answer to this lies, not in a new technology , but in approaching the management of customer data differently and as the basis for the most basic of all CRM principles – “treating different customers differently”.
By using data to define Customer ( and prospect ) segments, by creating distinct and discrete content channels and by delivering this content across all media, we can accelerate the ROI by allowing businesses to drive profit through managing customer data to deliver intelligent marketing insight.