It goes without saying that Web site statistics should be regularly reviewed for changes in traffic patterns, but other evaluation methods should be used to ensure that your Web site is properly reaching your target audience:

• Evaluate your Web site on the newest versions of each of the popular Web browsers: Display capabilities change with each new browser version, so it is imperative that you stay on top of how your Web site appears on the latest browsers. At a minimum, test on the latest Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, and Netscape. If you have access to a Mac, be sure to test Safari as well. Some advanced statistical packages will also tell you which browsers are being used to view your Web site. If you are getting significant traffic using an alternative browser such as Opera, be sure that your Web site works with it as well.
• Evaluate your Web site at different screen resolutions: There are several display resolutions currently being used by the vast majority of Web surfers. Change your Windows display resolution to match some of the different resolutions and visit your Web site. If you have a difficult time finding information on it at a different resolution, chances are that your visitors are too.
• Search for and compare with online competitors: Just because you’ve always faced the same competition from the same firms since the inception of your business doesn’t meant that there aren’t new competitors out in cyberspace who are taking your business. You may be pitted against many competitors that you’ve never heard of and your Web site might not be stacking up well.
• Determine what questions an interested member of your audience would be seeking answers to on your Web site and determine if the answers are easy enough to find. Many Web site owners approach their Web site as being a method of “telling visitors what I want to tell them”, but the most effective Web sites are constructed to easily allow visitors to find answers to questions that they have. After all, your visitors are the reason that the site is there. If they cannot find the information they are looking for, then your Web site is not doing its job.

Tools

There are many powerful tools that are inexpensive or even available at no cost that can help you evaluate and evolve your Web presence:

Evaluation Tools

• Google SiteMaps. This free service from Google allows you to learn a great deal about the searchability of your Web site and even allows you to “push” new content to Google instead of waiting for their spider to revisit your Web site every few months.
• Advanced search engine. An advanced search engine that shows the popularity of searches will help you determine what your visitors are looking for but cannot find in any other way than through the search engine. These results will allow you to more properly position and develop your content.
• Advanced Web statistics. An advanced statistical package will show you which browsers at what screen resolutions are being used to view your Web site, which pages are being visited (and which ones aren’t), and more. Services such as WebTrends and Web Side Story can help you evaluate the effectiveness of new marketing campaigns and edited Web site content.
• Feedback solicitations. Perhaps the best way to gather feedback about the effectiveness of your Web site is to solicit feedback on every page of your Web site. This will not only make it easy for your visitors to submit their comments, but will show them that your company is committed to delivering the content that they are seeking. Survey tools can also be used to solicit feedback.
• Link checkers. Most modern Web sites are built in such a way that internal links (links to other resources on the same domain) are always accurate, but even if yours is built in this manner, mistakes can still happen and external links (links to pages or resources on another domain) are always at risk of being broken.
• Browser checkers. There are many resources available to automatically check the appearance of your Web site in multiple browsers, platforms, and screen resolutions.

Evolution Tools

• Web content management (WCM). Web content management is a simple solution that allows your Web site to be changed as quickly as the market demands it to.
• Dynamic reorganization of content. Your Web site can be set up so that popular searches and links appear more prominently on your Web site automatically to help visitors easily find what they are looking for.
• Personalization. Each visitor has his or her own unique needs and viewing preferences. Allowing your visitors to personalize your Web site to their tastes will allow them to stay more informed about your company. The drawback to personalization is that a login is required.

NuRelm offers complimentary, personalized assessments of Web sites with no obligation. To request a free assessment, please visit http://www.nurelm.com/assessments and one of our Web experts will be in touch to present a professional analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your Web site.

The 800 pound gorilla in the room, Google, is at the top of the Internet feeding chain and seems destined to stay there, at least for a while.  Google’s innovative online marketing programs are the best deal around for businesses that want to attract a large volume of motivated visitors to their Web sites .  If you don’t already know about it, you owe it to yourself and your company to get on-board with Google AdWords – a marketing program on the cutting edge of modern technology that actually delivers what it promises, IF you know how to work the system.

AdWords is an advertising tool that a rapidly growing number of businesses and marketing professionals are using to generate highly targeted online leads for their products and services.  Adwords uses a Pay-Per-Click system, meaning that you pay Google every time someone clicks on your ad.  It’s really not expensive considering that not many keywords are over $5.00 and a lot are under $1.00.  Sounds like the ultimate advertising tool, right? It can be, if you (or your online marketing vendor) understands the numerous tricks to get your ads ranked higher and noticed by your best prospects.  For those who want to boost sales by improving their online lead generation skills, here are the top 10 useful tips for Google AdWords.

1. There should be a viable online market for what you do before you start. You can go to google.com/trends and type in keywords that you believe encompass your business. If the trend is going downhill you may want to rethink your online business model.
2. Once you know that you have a target audience, you need to figure out what they are searching for (keywords). You can use the keyword tool in AdWords to see what keywords are most popular and which ones attract the most traffic. Another helpful site is www.askhowie.com/freewords. This site shows you what the top keywords are in that market.
3. Put someone in charge of your AdWords campaign. If there are too many people working on these campaigns, you won’t be able to see what trends are happening because they will be changed too often without notice. There is a lot to know about AdWords  so it’s best to put someone in charge that will spend time researching and implementing a cohesive strategy.Tip: The AdWords Learning Center is a huge help! You can study all there is to know about AdWords in either text or multi-media format, whichever works best for you. There are quizzes for each lesson to assure that you are absorbing the information. This is a great way to begin because it helps you learn the basics quickly so that you don’t make novice mistakes.
4. Quality scores matter! You should not have every campaign going to the same page on your Web site. Direct them where you want them to go. They aren’t going to sign up for your newsletter if they are landing on the contact page. If you test an ad for a month and it has received little or no clicks, either delete or pause it, because it is affecting your quality score. Don’t bid on keywords that people aren’t using. If there are no impressions, there will be no clicks.
5. Don’t assume you know everything there is to know about AdWords. It seems easy at first, but the more you learn about it the more complicated it gets. A great resource is AdWords for Dummies.
6. The goal is not who gets the most clicks! You want people to either buy a product, become a lead, or sign up for something. You must make sure that your landing pages are interesting and full of content. Web surfers are impatient. Make sure all your links and buttons are functioning properly.
7. Writing ads can be tricky. It’s hard to tell which ones are getting traffic because of what they say. The best way to “test” ads is to do different ad variations. Use the same content but change it around a little. See what works better, such as numbers or text.  Just put yourself in your target audience’s shoes. Think about what you would look for and apply that to your ads. Google automatically rotates them and shows them when the search is most relevant for that ad. Then you can compare and see which one is getting more clicks. Take your time…Rome wasn’t built in a day.
8. Don’t think you can be tricky and use keywords that have absolutely nothing to do with your ad. Google has figured you out. Your ad will be considered irrelevant and moved to the end of the sponsored list, or Google will stop showing your ad all together. Make sure your keywords match your ad.
9. Make sure your ad is relevant to your Web site. For instance, you cannot claim that you are the best at something without having a third party confirm it on the landing page of your Web site. You also cannot offer Free downloads or 50% off of a product if that information is not available on the landing site. And of course, the trick of all tricks, having something like Paris Hilton Pics as your headline will not work. Not only will you get into trouble with Google, you will be paying for clicks and no one will be taking action on your Web site. These practices could have your ad placed at the end of the sponsored list or not shown at all.
10. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If your ad is doing well, it doesn’t mean that you should only do one campaign.  If your ad is doing poorly, don’t give up. It takes a lot of time and patience to make an AdWords campaign work. The key is to switch things up until you hit the sweet spot. You’ll never know what really works until you try a little bit of everything.

Type

Type is the basic building block of any piece, and often one of the most compelling features of design on a page. The major question is how do you know which typefaces work effectively together? There are typically three types of relationships between typefaces: concordant, conflicting, or contrasting.

Concordant – is the relationship between typefaces where you use only one type family without much variety in size, style, weight, etc. This gives the piece a subtle, more formal feel.

Conflicting – this relationship occurs when you have two similar typefaces in weight, size, etc. The similarities are there but the visual attraction is quite different, therefore they conflict with one another.

Contrasting – in this relationship you combine two unlikely and separate looking typefaces and elements that are distinct from one another.  By choosing visually appealing typefaces, you already have a lot of contrast built in. When paired with another typeface that contrast is emphasized.

Even though most designers typically wing type combinations, you can recognize the problem quicker and fix the problem faster when you are able to name the problem.

Categories of Type

While there are thousands of types available in this day and age, most typefaces can be dropped into one of six categories. Knowing each of the categories will help you in deciding what typefaces works well with another, and so on.

Oldstyle – Based upon the hand letter of scribes, Oldstyle always has serifs,including on lowercase letters. Imagine writing with a wedge-tipped pen, therefore giving the letters a slanted angle ending. There is also a thick/thin transition where the stroke of letter has a slight variation. Oldstyle has a diagonal stress (which means you a draw a line through the thinnest parts of the curved strokes). Typically if you are going to have a lot of text that needs read you’ll want to choose an Oldstyle because of it’s easy of readability.

Modern – These typefaces have serifs but are a horizontal lines instead of the penmanship slant of Oldstyle. The serifs are very thin, causing a radical contrast between the thick/thin strokes and giving a perfectly vertical stress. Giving a cold and elegant look, modern fonts give a striking appearance but are not good for large amounts of body copy.

Slab serif - Slab serif has very slight thick/thin transitions if any at all. Slab serif fonts are usually very heavy in visual weight but can be used in an extensive amount of text because of their easy readability. These fonts are often used for children’s books because of their clean, easy and  straightforward look.

Sans serif- “Sans”  means “without” in French, and “sans serif” means “typefaces without the serif endings on the letters.” These typefaces are typically “monoweight,” meaning they are the same thickness all the way around. Alternatively, there are a few sans serif fonts that do have a slight thick/thin transition. Use caution with these fonts because of their similarities between classic Oldstyle fonts. Sans serif fonts have a lot of versatility and can be very helpful with all their font weight options (ex. thin, extra thin, bold, extra bold, heavy, black, etc.)

Script – This typeface is any that tends to look like it’s been handwritten whether via calligraphy pen, brush, or pencil. Scripts are fonts that should be used sparingly, and never in all caps or large blocks of text.  However, Scripts are a font that can look striking when placed in large text.

Decorative – One of the easiest types of font to recognize. Because each of these fonts are so distinctive, their use is rather limited, although anytime you want to make a bold statement or have something stand out, a decorative font is a good choice. When using a decorative font, try to go beyond what your first impression is and see if you can make something new come out of it.

The Contrasts of Type

Going beyond aesthetic appeal, type  enhances the communication of a specific piece. The reader should have a clear concept of organization, purpose, and flow of information.  All of which should be recognizable at a single glance.

Size – A contrast in size can make a big impact, so don’t be afraid.  If you contrast too little, people can think it is a mistake and not what you’re trying to convey, so make it obvious.  Alternatively, you don’t have to make the type large to have a contrast in size. You can have a small line of type on a large page, which still creates contrast.

Weight – Weight refers to the thickness of strokes. Most type families have a variety of different weights. Don’t go for the regular type with the semi-bold counterpart, use the extra bold or black version.  By efficiently using weight, you can visually organize the information on the page (via headings, sub headings, etc.). If you lack the room to put graphics or other visual elements in an otherwise drab and boring newsletter, bold the key phrases or headings.

Structure – Structure refers to how a letter is built.  One major rule to remember is to never put two typefaces from the same category together on the same page.  An easy rule of thumb would be to choose a serif font and a sans serif font until you get the hang of the different type categories.

Form – The shape of the letters is referred to as form. One of the easiest ways to think about it is lower case letters versus capital letters. An example would the form of a “G” capitalized and lower case, some fonts have the letter form the same for both capital and lower case (just slightly smaller).

Direction – The obvious choice for direction would be to type from a slant, but another interpretation of direction would be how the type is set on a page horizontal for straight across and vertical direction for when you use columns.

Color – Color has obvious interpretations as well. When choosing a color to include in your piece, knowing the meanings of colors is helpful.  Warm colors are forward whereas cool colors recede.  Also just having black text is still considered a “color” and is considered the most sophisticated of them all.

Combining the Contrasts

All in all, don’t be wimp, the most effective layouts take advantage of contrast. For good inspiration, leaf through a magazine and check out the articles and advertisements. Verbalize what you see, if you can name the dynamics and relati0nships you have power over them. Before trying a better solution identify the problem. Go ahead, experiment!

What now?

If you’re still confused or need help please don’t hesitate to call Liz at NuRelm 724.430.0490! Or email Liz at liz@nurelm.com.

Technology has enabled instant communication via telephone, email, instant messaging, and texting.  Texting or SMS (Short Message Service) has exploded onto the communication scene over the last few years. Over 2.4 billion use this service today.  For local businesses in need of relaying information to their patrons and prospects, texting has become a popular outlet for instant updates.  Special offers, sales promotions, and event information are all great information to relay via text messaging.

A Pittsburgh-based company, JA Interactive, has begun working with local companies to set up text messaging systems.  The administrator logs into the system and can create custom lists to send text message updates to clients, prospects, and stakeholders.  They also have the ability to change the message going out and the auto-responding message for anyone who signs up for the service.  Since this is a hosted service, it is budget-friendly.  A low monthly fee gets the business up to 2000 outgoing text messages per month.

If you have a business that could capitalize on using technology to communicate with your patrons and prospects, join in the discuss below or give us a shout at NuRelm to learn more about the latest tools to help you get the most bang for your marketing buck.

You’ve heard the old cliché – a picture is worth a thousand words. The Internet is a visual medium – and in everyday life, on buses, buildings and through TV, we’re visually attacked. Why? Because images are effective!

Web site managers often consider their text needs when planning their Web site. They’ll perform research on keywords, revisit all their marketing materials, and even hire outside copywriters to provide a fresh outlook on their firm. But while the text presented on your Web site is important, how many of us consider these needs in images?

Images – photographs, logos, designs, wallpaper, and other graphic forms of communication are more effective in communicating general content and professionalism than text when used appropriately. So how do you choose, and how can you evaluate the pictures on your Web site?

From the perspective of the average Internet user, the Internet is a research tool. It’s a place to learn more independently. But they have to sift through the information, and so have become very adept at scanning. When people scan for information, their eyes are naturally drawn to color and shapes – because text is predictable, even dull in its appearance, it is difficult to hold a viewers attention with just text. (If you wear glasses you can test this theory by removing them and seeing where your eyes wander). When glancing at a photograph or drawing, our minds process the information faster than if we had read it. What we gather from those images is the source of many marketing tales of success and woe. So how does one choose? As always, this depends on your industry and target market, but here are a few tips to help you select the best images possible:

Products vs. Services
Does your business provide a service, product, or both? Services usually depict groups of people working together or one person engaging the viewer directly. This conveys a sense of teamwork and defines a “we’re here for you” relationship. Avoid the “tools we use” trap – while it was once popular for companies to depict the tools they use, (a hammer for construction, for example) this approach is outdated and obvious. It’s better to show people happily at work or receiving your services cheerfully.

Companies that provide products usually want to depict every product they offer, but resist this temptation! While this strategy makes sense for the commercial retail industry in an E-Commerce setting, this approach is really visually dull, and does not effectively communicate the results available with the product. A more effective solution is to depict the result of the product – better hair, happy people – try to visually answer the question, how does this make life better?

Communicating Results
Just like a good salesperson would, a well-selected image conveys a feature/benefit statement worthy of considering a purchase. Consider a cup of coffee – yum! But as one item in the center of the frame with a plain white background… kind of a boring picture, even if well done. Now consider two attractive people sitting at a table, talking over a cup of coffee. The latter suggests a relationship that visually describes the result of drinking coffee, something our subconscious responds to whether we want to or not. Your Web site visitors will see that image and understand the social benefit of having coffee with a friend before they’d bother to read about it.

Composition
Effective composition is a very important factor in selecting the right pictures for your Web site. Within the image, objects should be aligned at a diagonal or off center to be more visually interesting. Remember the cup of coffee? Even by itself, it’s much more interesting on a warm background and off center than perfectly lit like before.

Color
Colors utilized within the image need to complement your Web site colors. An image with bold primary colors looks odd on a Web site in pastels. Choose your colors carefully, and relate your images to your other marketing materials. Colors also convey mood, so be aware – what adjectives do people use to describe the mood of your selected images?

Placement
Depending on your industry and the section of your Web site, the photos you select to feature on your Web site will vary. For example, it’s appropriate for a chamber to include snapshots of members socializing at a networking event on the events section of their Web site. However, the home page should include professional pictures of the surrounding area businesses and business people working together, to indicate the services and target market of that chamber.

Take time to pay attention to the details, matching your pictures to your text and company image. Consider refreshing images at least quarterly, as people respond to images first, they’ll notice a different picture on your home page before they’ll notice new text. This can be handled through an easy to use Web application or manually changed from time to time. NuRelm offers custom and stock photography as well as Web site photo editing services. Contact NuRelm 724.430.0490 for details.

One real statistic that should be the real motivating “fear factor” is that as of March 31, 2009, over 251,290,489 North Americans are online, according to the Internet World Statistics Consortium (http://www.internetworldstats.com).  That’s 74.4% of the population, meaning that 3 in 4 of your customers and prospects are using the Internet and that if your competitors offers more on their Web sites than you do, you’re putting your firm at a distinct disadvantage.  Also, according to AC Nielsen, the Internet is now third in media consumption, ahead of newspapers and magazines, and trailing only television and radio, and each of those two most popular forms of media has continued to lose ground against the Internet.  You can read more about AC Nielsen’s findings at this Web address: http://www.marketingpower.com/live/content21023.php.

Overcoming Web Phobia

Questions such as “Where do I start?”, “How much will this cost?”, “What if the finished product isn’t what I had in mind?”, “What guarantees are there?”, “How do I choose a vendor?”, “What do I put on my Web site?”, and “What’s the ROI on a Web site?” may be some of the first thoughts that someone has when considering a Web site.  These are all common questions that those shopping for a Web site should be asking.  The answers are easily found, and finding them can help set expectations and reduce the fear factor of purchasing a Web site.

Here are some ways to become more confident about your Web decisions:

Get out there and use the Internet! If you only use the Internet to check your email or for a few favorite sites, try visiting some unfamiliar Web sites to get a feel for what’s out there.  Spending a few minutes a day on the Web can help you become comfortable with Web sites and what they can offer.  Soon, you’ll determine what you think is useful and you’ll begin to visualize your ideal Web site.

Don’t fear the price tag. Quality, custom design prices have fallen sharply over the years as supply has increased to match demand.  If you compare the cost of your up-front investment on a Web site to the cost of one radio, television, or print campaign, you’ll find that the costs are considerably lower, but the life of a Web site is much, much longer.  To make a Web site even more budget-friendly, many companies are now offering lower up-front fees with monthly service fees that, even after many years, will not equal the up-front fees that were charged only a few years ago.

Arm yourself with information. The first step in curing your fear is research.  The Web provides a free, convenient way of conducting this research.  Researching competitors, the wants and needs of your target audience, the industry, and users can be as easy as typing a few words into Google.

Plan your Web site to help alleviate burdens on you and your staff. A Web site doesn’t have to be a simple advertisement – it can be a utility that can make your company operate more efficiently.  For instance, if your administrative personnel are often spending a great deal of time talking with callers who want employment information, a job listing may be a feature that you would like to have on your Web site.  The limitations are nearly endless, and your Web site can help to alleviate or eliminate a wide array of inefficiencies.

Grow your Web site as your needs evolve. The one-time limitations that apply to print advertising do not apply to the Web.  You can change your Web site at any time you wish – meaning that corrections and changes can and should be made well after the Web site has launched.  A quality Web site will include ways for you to change your Web site, and a quality vendor will offer a phased approach to development so that you don’t have to incue a large initial cash outlay.

Choose a vendor who can handle any need and who can offer guidance through the process. A quality vendor will not only abide by your wishes, but will also present alternatives and opinions based on your plans that may increase your Web site’s effectiveness.  When choosing a vendor, consider their prior work in your decision.  If a vendor’s previous work all seems very similar and resemble a “cookie-cutter” style, that vendor may not be able to help you grow your Web site as your needs evolve.  You should be looking for a custom tailor, not a factory.  Also, if your vendor makes the process seem complicated, you may want to consider using another. A good Web designer should make it easy for you by removing any complexity from the process.

Be ready to promote your Web site and gain visitors – on a budget. Return on investment is directly linked to the amount of traffic that your Web site gets and it’s a little known fact that you can generate Web traffic yourself, or with the help of an intern or administrative employee.  One of the secrets of increasing traffic is to get your site linked to related Web sites.  Not only will visitors of those sites be presented with your company, but the search engines count each link to your Web site as a vote for it and will place your site higher in its rankings.  The logic is that if your Web site wasn’t any good, why would someone link to it?  Getting linked can be as simple as finding related Web sites and requesting a link via email.  If your Web site contains some free information, such as articles written by your staff about your industry, the other Web sites will be more willing to link you.

Some other inexpensive ways of getting the word out about your Web site are to list it on your business cards, print advertisements, and all other “traditional” media, make references to your Web site in all press releases, send out email newsletters, and to announce it on bulletin boards and in chat rooms.

Set realistic expectations. Realize before you start that a Web site is like any marketing expenditure – success cannot be guaranteed and the effects of a new Web site will probably not be felt immediately.

Just because it hasn’t been done doesn’t mean that it can’t or shouldn’t be. You may have some great ideas for your Web site, but you haven’t seen any examples of it through your research.  It is very possible that your idea could be very useful to your target audience and you should consult with your vendor about implementation.  Don’t be afraid of asking questions or making suggestions – every idea for the Web hasn’t been thought of yet.

If you follow these recommendations, you will have learned a lot about the Web and will be ready to make an informed, fearless decision about your company’s Web strategy.

Web 2.0 Explained

Web 2.0 is more than just current trends in website design. In fact, 2.0 includes current Web phenomena like social networking websites (MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn),  blogs, wikis, and video-sharing websites.  According to Wikipedia, Web 2.0 is “characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web.”  To sum it up, Web 2.0 is all about simplicity and getting more done with less.

2.0 Design Principles

The characteristics of Web 2.0 lend themselves to the design innovations of 2.0.  Aside from the glossy buttons, rounded corners, and reduced clutter,  some of the trademarks of a 2.0 design include:

• Larger font and ample white space  that allow the user to quickly scan a website to locate what he or she is seeking  instead of reading through paragraphs of 12pt text just to locate one line of information.  Many current sites use sans-serif fonts (Arial and Verdana, for example) since these fonts are generally easier to read on-screen, and they retain their crispness at varying font sizes.
• Strong Colors:  Solid, vivid colors are often used to highlight areas of importance or interest. While gradients are used for background effects and special objects such as buttons, solid colors are used for call-outs on other essential areas of the website.
• Bold Logos: Since font sizes in general are larger amongst modern web designs, a company’s logo needs to stick out more than ever.  Many companies account for this by re-working their logos and using bolder, rounded fonts. Usually, these logos are again surrounded by a decent amount of white space to prevent crowding, and to allow their logo to flow with the rest of the site’s text and graphics.

Branding with 2.0 in Mind

Today, many companies are looking at the design fundamentals established in Web 2.0 websites, and are incorporating them into their own marketing campaigns.  One of the most popular and most recent examples is Pepsi’s logo re-design.

The new Pepsi cans and bottles feature a revamped Pepsi logo against a simple blue background, with the word “Pepsi” to the lower left of the logo in rounded, lowercase letters. The text aspect of the logo, and the solid blue color of the can, is very similar to 2.0 web design.  All lowercase letters,  in a strong,  sans-serif font,  highlighted by the solid blue can and offset by the new Pepsi logo itself,  remind one of a simple 2.0 website.

Other companies are following suit. Examples of  companies that are using 2.o styles in their branding decisions include Wayfaring, Pando, Mozilla, and Eventful. Notice how each makes uses of clean, rounded fonts in their logos, which mesh well with the rest of their site’s design.

Think Outside the Web

Although the design elements in Web 2.0 may give way to different design methods further down the line, it is easy to see that what is online today has a large impact on branding decisions in all forms of media. Keeping your web and print branding consistent can go a long way toward solidifying an impression in your customers’ minds, and will make you look more professional in today’s rapidly evolving medium.