Debbie

The world of the web is changing every day with the way we view and use websites. Have you redesigned your website in the last 2-3 years? Maybe it’s time.

Here are 5 signs that it is time to rethink your company’s website in 2019.

1) Is your site promoting your social media? Do you use social media? While it seems obvious that people have and update social media, it isn’t so obvious that businesses do. Your website is where you want to send people, and social media is the best place to do that. While time consuming, social media is what people primarily use their phones for. When you post or do anything on social media, it should include a link back to your website.

Social media profiles can contain a great deal of information about your business, but overall it should be used to guide people to your site – where the information that you really want them to see lives.

This works both ways though. When people reach your website first, you want to make a connection with them that will bring them back in the future. Social media is a great way to do this. If they can easy click on a Facebook icon, they can “like” or “follow” your page in an instant. Once this connection has been built, you have access to their timelines to promote events and news related to your business in the future.

2) Is your site mobile-friendly? I mean, viewable without scrolling right, pinching and zooming. If you look at your site on an iPad or on a mobile phone, is it as readable as it is on your desktop? While readability is key and shows you want to be inviting to mobile users, it also helps you with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google cares that sites are mobile friendly, and so should you.

Read More About Mobile Design »

3) Is your design fresh? Aside from not being mobile friendly, does it look like a modern website? Is it visually pleasing, with large fonts and simple navigation? Todays designs are horizontal, not vertical, and when someone visits your page they will know if you’ve redesigned your site in the past few years, or if it hasn’t been touched since the last decade.

4) Is your site secure? Hackers are everywhere and if you are collecting any information, you should have an SSL certificate on your site. Even if you aren’t collecting information, it gives your visitors piece-of-mind knowing that they are surfing on your official site on a secured connection.

How do you know your site isn’t secure? If your site shows well with the ‘https://’ protocol, you are secure. Try it now. Most browsers give an indication right next to the URL. Being secure shows your customers, again, you care.

Oh, and it helps SEO as well!

5) Is your site gathering statistics? While a pretty site is nice, are you reviewing your statistics and finding out what people are looking at on your site. After collecting this information you can tweak it in the early months after going live to set users up for success when looking for information they need.

It is as simple as adding a bit of code from Google Analytics. After a few days of Google collecting information, you can see what people are looking for, whow they’ve reached your site, what pages they’ve read and how long they were on those pages — even heat maps of where they are clicking!

So… do you need a new website? 2019 is very promising for website design and development innovations. Starting out, we want you to be caught up so new ideas can be implemented quickly and easily to keep your customers coming back to a site that they see is well managed, just like your business!

Zach King: My Magical Life uses augmented reality to bring story to life

This morning on my drive to work in my mobile classroom, I listened to an interview with an author of a new children’s book, Zach King: My Magical Life. I was amazed at what they discussed.

According to the podcast, recently developed and published a hard covered book that includes the use of Augmented Reality (AR).  AR has been around a while, but something that uses it that you may be familiar with is the Pokemon Go app. In the app, you can look through your cell phone camera, and you can see animated Pokemon you are trying to catch come to life in front of you through your camera.  That is Augmented Reality. This book comes to life for young children. As they scan the pages through a camera on a mobile device using the app that comes with the book, characters are alive in front of them.

This book with an app using AR is the first of it’s kind. The author also has a movie contract for his new story. He wanted to get kids reading, and wanted to use his film skills for a children’s book – the result is a revolutionary use of his talent.

“The book comes complete with a code for a downloadable app that brings Zach’s vibrant world to fully animated, three-dimensional life. Zach King: My Magical Life is also coming to theaters soon, as the project has been picked up by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.”

How cool is this?

Imagine what the next generation will be “reading”! Hey Zach, if you are reading, send me a copy!

If you want to see more of Zach King’s film work, here’s a compilation of his vine videos — fun to watch if you have the time.

Like a Realtor will tell you the importance of location when selling or buying a home, developers and communicators will tell you the importance of content. Developers can create sites, but without content, there is no site. The responsibility for the Media Communicator, who is often also the writer, is great as customers expect new content and responses to their social media posts 24/7. The importance of a writer who can develop interesting content, cannot be overstated.

I’ve spoken with students in high school who are starting to ponder what they want to study in college, and others who may be thinking about a degree change. It is obvious that with an increase in social media usage and the expectation of constantly updating and posting with new content, media/communications and writers are the high-demand fields to watch. Social Media Directors come in a close second, but that is for a different post.

Basically, businesses consider building their new updated websites, but often they don’t have updated content, so they have a blank site or use old content. This makes it difficult to meet go-live deadlines. Without a communicator’s content to guide the website design, fill the pages, and direct the social media expert, you have a very poor Internet presence. This is your business’s first impression to many people. It would be impossible for a company to attract new business and grow without proper presence and without new content. I have built site shells and handed them off to customers, only to see them sit on the virtual shelf for months, when there was no one to fill the pages.

You can think about opening a twitter account, but you can’t even start posting without enticing communications tactics. You don’t start reaching out to new business with just a logo, and a tag line. You start with stories, rich photos, news, and information for people that is both interesting and desired. How else will you keep them coming back, opening pages or clicking on your posts? This keeps your business at the top of their list when they need your product or service.

Fresh daily content is expected. It is the new normal. Who will do this for your business?

I’ve decided that I spend enough time in my car driving around that I should use that time more wisely… not news, not even music, but rather learning something new.

My flavor of the week: Digital Marketing

Having the technology to play audio on my phone and iPod through my car speakers… I considered an e-book, but those go out of date so quickly for technology info and wanted ‘free’. So my choice was simple – podcasts. Load em up and they play continuously queuing the next one. They are up-to-date, actual people talking and interviews of people doing, and they are free. Just audio, so I can listen in the car – and listen to something I’m interested in… they’ve become the favorite new habit and now I can’t wait to learn something new and apply it!