Tag: Design

The Importance of Marketing

marketing

In order for a business to survive, it must have customers. In order to have customers it must sell a product or service that people want or need. Then it must find ways to reach out to those potential customers in order to convince them that their wants and needs can be satisfied by that particular business. In a competitive marketplace, where every business is reaching out to a finite universe of consumers, getting enough customers “in the door” not only requires excellence in the product or service being offered, but most certainly in the ways in which the business promotes itself and markets it product or service to the public.

Without marketing, a business may offer the best products or services in the industry, but none of its potential customers would know about it. Of course, not everyone will be interested in every product or service offered, which is why one of marketing’s functions is to research a company’s target audience – those consumers who are most likely to need and purchase what it is selling. This research includes paying attention to buying trends – what people are looking for – as well as investigating what one’s competitors are selling, how they are attempting to reach a similar target audience, and how they are pricing their offerings.

Another part of the marketing process involves promotion. Once the target audience is recognized, it must be informed about the value of purchasing from a particular company – the product or service’s features and benefits have to be communicated to the potential consumer artfully, engagingly, and consistently. Promotion can include advertising, direct selling, and public relations – all are ways in which a product or service is presented to the buyer. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of promotion – the best product in the world will sit on a warehouse shelf unless it is successfully promoted in the marketplace.

Yet another part of the marketing process involves post-consumer research. Not every type of promotion will work with every consumer. It’s important to gather feedback on each part of a marketing campaign in order to determine what is working and what isn’t. A lot of money can be wasted on promotional activities that don’t resonate, and, therefore, don’t do the job they’re supposed to do, which is bringing in customers.

Ultimately, the success of any company rests not only on the quality of its product or service, but on its reputation and name recognition in the marketplace. The reason that people will, for example, spend more money for a bottle of Advil, rather than generic ibuprofen, which is the exact same product, is because the former has built brand recognition and company trust over many years of marketing. No matter how great a product or service is, without marketing efforts, there will likely be no sales – and no sales means no company.

Steps to a Google-friendly Site

google-485611__180

There is no point in having a website unless people visit it. And people won’t visit it often enough, if it first doesn’t please Google, who, like it or not, is the most important arbiter of how your website will be ranked. So, while you are indulging in your creative fancies, trying to make you site the most beautiful and technologically sophisticated in the land, you also need to pay attention to grabbing the attention of Google – your new, best friend.

Number one on the list of creating a Google-friendly website is realizing that content is still king – not clever meta tags or sneakily inserted and endlessly repeated keywords. You have to provide unique content that is worth reading, viewing, or listening to, and that is updated regularly. And make sure that your content is original. Google is particularly annoyed when you lift content from another site and try to fool it into thinking that it is truly your own.

The good news is that if you provide unique and useful content, other sites will link to yours. Google likes that and attaches a lot of importance to inbound links. Again, don’t try to fool the Google algorithm; inbound links that are the result of schemes or link farms are a no-no. Google’s algorithms can distinguish natural links from unnatural ones.

Also, don’t try to out-maneuver Google by creating multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with duplicate content, or stuff pages with key words that don’t actually relate to the content therein. If your site contains pages, links, or text that you don’t intend visitors to see, Google considers those links and pages deceptive and may ignore your site, altogether.

Now, for the more technically minded, here are some other hints to making your site more Google-friendly:

• Ensure that your URL is optimized for organic search because its structure is important to its crawlability. Eschew unnecessary parameters and irrelevant characters.

• Test your page speed using Google’s own tool.

• Make sure that you’re not linking to non-essential pages in order to maximize your PageRank filtration

• If you’re using JavaScript, ensure that you’re coding it correctly so that it can be accessed by search engine spiders.

• Don’t use images to display important names, content, or links. Google’s crawler doesn’t recognize text contained in graphics.

• Use ALT attributes if the main content and keywords on your page can’t be formatted in regular HTML.

• Remember to create a Google Webmaster Tools account for your website so that Google can communicate with you directly.

A final word about the basics: Create your website for people, not search engines. The more usable your website is to humans, the more appealing it will be to search engines, anyway.

Does My Company Need a Mobile App?

mobile-phone-630413__180

There is only one way to answer the question: Does my company need a mobile app? And that is: It depends. It depends on a lot of things going on in your company and the type of business you’re in, so in order to answer the big question, you’re going to need to ask yourself a lot of lesser questions and keep probing until you have enough answers to get past the doubt.

Let’s start with some basic questions: Do you think that your business will benefit from having an app? Will the benefits outweigh the costs? What are your competitors doing and how will that impact your decision? These are not easy things to figure out, but perhaps using an analogy will help. Not too long ago, businesses didn’t have websites. If someone wanted to find your business they had the Yellow Pages and, if you could afford it, paid advertising in various media.

Today, you’d have a hard time finding a business that didn’t have a website. They’re just too valuable a tool for connecting with customers. Your business has a website and your competition does, too. Well, mobile activity is proceeding at a pace similar to the desktop/laptop activity of only a few years ago, and it may overtake it in the very near future. If you believe that most of your consumers will be on their smart phones most of the time, then you may well want to engage with them in that manner. And if your competition is already there, then you definitely need to consider having your own app, as well.

Today, the sectors that are most aggressively producing apps are restaurant and retail. Restaurant apps make it easy for users to find locations, review menus, place orders, and make reservations. Retail apps are very convenient when looking for a specific product or comparing prices. They are also used to find offer codes and coupons. And, of course, some companies, such as Uber, are totally dependent on their app. All these apps have specific purposes. So another crucial question you need to have a good answer to is: “What will your app do?” If you can’t readily explain your app’s purpose, you need to go back to square one.

Here’s another good question: “Is your current website ‘responsive,’ meaning does its layout adjust according to what device is being used to access it?” In the very recent past, most website interfaces were designed to work with a keyboard and a mouse on a large screen only; they didn’t work well on mobile platforms. But a responsive site can be accessed on a desktop or a smart phone and the interface will be optimized for each different device. If your business already has a website that’s mobile-friendly, an app might be superfluous; especially when you consider that apps have to be written and maintained for different platforms (iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, etc.), but responsive websites are all-inclusive.

Finally, here are a few more questions that you should consider that relate directly to the consumers you would be trying to engage with your mobile app: 1) “Will your app make life easier for them?” 2) “Will your app make life less expensive for them?” 3) “Will your app make life more fun for them?” Remember, there are already thousands and thousands of apps out there. The world is not screaming for another one – unless of course, it can answer all of the above questions, positively. Then there’s always enough room for one more good one.

This list of questions is by no means exhaustive. But they are the kind of business questions you need to start asking yourself before going to the expense of creating and maintaining an app that might not amount to much more than an icon on page five on someone’s smart phone. If, when all is said and done, you can undeniably ascertain that an app will benefit your company because you believe it will make more than it costs in the long run, and that if you don’t have one you will lose ground to your competition, than you can pretty much conclude that you need it. But ask the questions, first.

Don’t Drop the Ball on Your New Year’s Resolution for Your Website!

nyetceblogThe New Year is upon us. It’s a time for fresh starts and to make new decisions. Chances are you have made some resolutions along these lines. If you are a business owner, one of those resolutions may be to finally get your company that website it needs, or to finally get your existing website into optimal shape. Businesses without an adequate and professional online presence are increasingly being pushed out of the market in today’s business client, and the path to business success these days often leads straight through the Web.

If you have ever considered getting a website for your business, you know that it is a complicated prospect. There are lots of choices when it comes to domains and hosting, and myriad choices for the platform on which to run the site. On top of that, designing and building a website is a complicated process that is time-consuming. Some companies offer “free” websites and “all-in-one” services, but when you read the fine print, you find that the monthly fees are much higher with these companies and “free” becomes anything but. What’s worse, you don’t own the finished site. If you ever want to switch hosting, you cannot bring the website with you, and are forced to start from square one.

Having The Click Experts design and build a professional website for your business is the solution. Savvy business owners know that letting professionals do their jobs is the best way to succeed. Don’t waste your own valuable time muddling through the design process. We take the time to get to know your business and its needs, then take the guesswork out of the design process by recommending the right CMS and E-commerce platform for your business. We design and build the site for you the way you want, and you own the finished product. Let us make the process of designing and building a website for your business simple and easy for you, and avoid the long term nickel-and-dime tactics of so-called “free” website builders.

If you already have a website for your business but are looking to upgrade, redesign, or add custom or advanced functionality, we can help! We offer custom coding and software solutions for any situation. Don’t settle for a website that is less than exactly what you want. Let The Click Experts design a solution for your business and give your site the custom functionality that will optimize performance and set you apart Don’t wait for the website of your dreams any longer. Set your business apart from the crowd. We offer solutions to fit a wide array of budgets and applications. Contact The Click Experts today and let us provide you with a free quote.

5 Resolutions for Your Business This Year: