The article lists a number of key arts organisations and highlights how they are using social media to attract Sydney audiences. For instance, the Bell Shakespeare Company has used Twitter to promote their downloadable John Bell ringtones, and the Australian Ballet gave six young dancers BlackBerrys and encouraged them to tweet every moment of their lives. Even Sydney’s Art Gallery of NSW apparently ‘conducted a live “tweet tour”’ of a recent exhibition.

Perhaps most interestingly, however, the article mentions the fact that social media use in Australia is actually some of the most frequent on the planet. ‘In a Nielsen poll, Australian social media use was deemed to be the highest in the world, ahead of the US, Britain and mainland Europe’.

Why is this so? Is it perhaps a reflection of our Australian obsession with ‘keeping the bastards honest’? Is it a sign of our commitment to a fair go, and egalitarianism? Perhaps Australians regard our peers as more honest reviewers than the experts? Or maybe it’s a sign of how fast-paced and frenetic our lives have become and the fact that we’re obsessed with ‘real-time updates’ like never before.

Whatever the reason, it’s certainly interesting that Australia has embraced social media in this way. Sydney, in particular, appears to be quite the social media hub – with organisations like the Social Media Club Sydney hosting regular face-to-face events where Twitterers can congregate and chat about social media stuff.

Is your business located in Sydney? Have you thought about embracing social media but you’re not quite sure where to start – or how?

If so, we’d love to have a chat. Although Big Click Studious located on Sydney’s Central Coast, we’re only an hour from the CBD and we already provide website design, website strategy and Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) services to countless Sydney businesses. The virtual world makes things very easy – and we’ve got dozens of success stories to prove it. So if you want to learn more about social media and how it can help you market your business, give us a call!

Online forums and media coverage showed consumers were a little sceptical about the device at first – claiming it was nothing more than an oversized iPhone, doubting its usefulness, and ridiculing the name.

However, when the iPad officially launched in the U.S in April, demand was staggering and uptake has been incredible. According to an iPad article on ninemsn, Apple sold one million of the devices in the first 28 days after launch, and two million in just two months. Sales have now hit three million and show no signs of slowing down.

The benefits of the iPad for the everyday consumer are quite obvious. It’s a great way to look at photos and a very lightweight and convenient way to surf the web. The scale of the iPad, and its easy-to-use keyboard means time-poor consumers can quickly access their email wherever they are – and can bang out quick email responses on the couch or down at the cafe while keeping one eye on the kids.

But does the iPad have a more serious, business-oriented side?

The answer is yes. Definitely.

Perhaps most significantly, the iPad makes huge financial sense for businesses that have a print-based commodity to sell – particularly newspapers and magazines.

According to media and marketing website Mumbrella, The Australian’s iPad application had over 4,500 downloads just one week after its launch. Priced at $4.99 a month, this opens up a very significant and growing revenue stream for the newspaper.

This uptake follows similar success overseas. The same Mumbrella article points out that in the U.S, the Wall Street Journal app now has over 10,000 customers – each paying US$17.29 a month (or free to subscribers) and in the U.K, sales for News Corp’s The Times app reached 5,000 just three days after launch. Apparently, Fairfax is soon to launch an iPad app for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

A similar article on engadget.com quoted statistics from the Wall Street Journal, which claimed that in the U.S, the ABC’s free iPad app was downloaded 205,000 times in just ten days following the launch of the iPad, and has already been used to watch over 605,000 TV shows. The article also claims that ‘the app has served up “several million” ad impressions, although the exact number is apparently still being calculated, with ABC only adding that it is “pleased with the results.” ‘

Of course, all this ties into the fact that Australians are spending more time online, and doing more online, than ever before. The iPad taps into this – making browsing easier, more convenient and much more portable.

As Mumbrella points out, in a report from the Australian Communications and Media Online data and information services, ‘consumer take up of 3G mobile and wireless broadband services was strong during 2008-09, growing by 162 per cent’. Similarly, ‘growth in mobile services has been driven by a continuing surge in the take-up of 3G mobiles, with 12.28 million services in operation at June 2009 compared with 8.55 million at June 2008, reflecting in part increased 3G network coverage and handset functionality.’

However, publishers aren’t the only ones getting in on the iPad action – and it’s also not just about creating apps for consumers to download.

A few top end restaurants around town, including Quay, are believed to be leading the way by creating iPad applications that serve as interactive and engaging wine and food menus.

Jetstar has also announced that it will be hiring iPads to passengers. According to Mumbrella, Jetstar has announced it will trial the iPad on its aircrafts to be used as in-flight entertainment, and the iPads will feature movies, TV programs, eBooks, music videos, games and CDs at a cost of $10 per passenger.

However, what about for smaller businesses? What else can the iPad offer on an everyday level?

Here are a few great ways you could adopt this technology for your business:

• Create an application. An iPad app could create a new way for you to sell products or services – depending, of course, on what your business has to offer. Because the iPad is a mobile-based device, there’s enormous potential to create smart and very powerful applications that focus on a user’s location.
• Use it as a presentation tool. The iPad is a fantastic tool to take to meetings – and can help add a professional edge to your presentations.
• Empower remote sales teams. If you have people on the road, the iPad makes it very easy for them to stay connected to the office, surf the web, and check their email no matter where they are.

Of course, if you would like to find out more about the iPad – or about how an iPad application could work for your business, talk to us and find out how we can help!

When it comes to having a successful online presence, the quality of your website is just as important as how you market it. In most cases, there’s no point having flawless website design if no-one can actually find your website in the first place.

To help users find you online, there are a number of techniques you can use. Two of the most popular are Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

To the uninitiated, these terms can sound a little intimidating – so here’s a quick explanation of each, and the difference between the two:

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

To understand SEO, it’s important to first understand how search engines work.

When users search the web, they do so via a search engine such as Google, Yahoo! or Bing. These engines automatically and regularly “scale” the web – looking for content and websites which offer the most value to users according to terms (or keywords) that users are actually searching for. These engines then index this content, and match it to relevant keywords. For instance, when you enter the words “Central Coast SEO” into Google, you receive the results that are based on the websites which Google perceives to be the closest matches to these keywords.

Search Engine Optimisation is then, quite simply, a smart way of writing, designing and building your website so that it is favourably indexed by these search engines – or shows up in their top search results.

All search engines have different “algorithms” with which they index online content – and they change these formulas quite frequently. As such, SEO can be quite a complex process. In general, however, there are a few key factors that ensure your website gets positively indexed by the major search engines:

• Create high value content. Typically, search engines give high rankings to websites that provide a high level of value to users. You can aim for a high ranking by inserting keywords which match those that your users might be searching for. Keywords used in headings and page titles are typically given the highest rankings – however it can also be beneficial to insert keywords into your page copy. Importantly, don’t assume that the most popular keywords are necessarily the best. It might also be worth optimising for terms that are less searched for (as they will often be the most competitive), but which still relate to your brand.
• Have a good linking strategy. The more websites that link to your website, the higher your website’s perceived value – and the better the ranking you will be given. As such, it’s worth registering your website with business directories as you can – to encourage the number of clicks your site receives. Similarly, it’s important to have a strong and well thought-out linking strategy within your own site – i.e. you need to show how the content on one page links through to another, to encourage users to click through. The deeper they explore your site, the more value your content is perceived to have– and the higher your potential ranking may be.
• Insert metadata. At any stage of your website development, you can insert keywords and a description of your website into the code of your site – and many development agencies will encourage you to write a meta description and meta keywords so as to boost your rankings. However, while metadata used to be a very important aspect of SEO, it’s definitely becoming less so. Nevertheless, it’s beneficial to understand what these terms mean:

1. Meta description is a short, keyword-rich “summary of your website”.
2. Meta keywords are the key terms which you believe your users might be searching for. For example, if your business is in website design, your keywords may be: “design, web, graphic design, website, web design, advertising, marketing…” etc.

Importantly, this form of organic Search Engine Optimisation needn’t cost you a thing. It’s completely free to optimise your site. However, for the best results, it’s worth engaging an expert agency such to help - as the right web designers and web copywriters can ensure your content and website design is optimised for maximum results.

It’s also important to note that as search engines change their algorithms on a regular basis, it’s important to regularly review your SEO strategy and refine it according to what’s working, and what’s not.

And lastly, when it comes to SEO, honesty is very important. There’s no point attracting a click to your website if the content there has no value to your user. You’re simply damaging your brand. You also need to pay close attention to how you optimise your site. Insert too many keywords and “optimise” too far, and you could end up getting black-listed by the major search engines, who will perceive your website as fraudulent or as spam. Speak to us about how you can avoid this.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Some people use the term “Search Engine Marketing”, or “SEM” as a very broad one that encompasses anything to do with marketing your website via search engines – and subsequently includes SEO. However, a vast majority of people in the digital sphere simply use “SEM” to refer to the process of paying for your website to occupy the top spots within certain search engines. The New York Times, for instance, defines SEM as “the practice of buying paid search listings”.

In essence, there are three key aspects to SEM:

1. Search Engine Advertising. This is where you place traditional online ads onto search results pages – and you pay the search engine for the privilege of doing so. These ads will be indexed against certain keywords – and if a user searches for a particular keyword, your ad may appear. Usually, you pay according to the number of impressions (or views) the ad receives – regardless of the number of clicks it may receive.
2. Paid Inclusion. Some search engines (not Google) also allow you to pay for your site to be added to their database – rather than waiting for it to be indexed in the normal way. This means your site will display sooner than it usually would if you simply relied on Search Engine Optimisation.
3. Pay-Per-Click Advertising. This is where you pay a search engine to give your website prominence at the top of the search results page. You can purchase top listings through programs that are run by the major search engines – mostly Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCentre. Importantly, you typically have complete and ongoing control of your ads and can specify which keywords you want to link to your ad, what copy you want to feature, and how much you want to pay. Payment occurs on a “pay-per-click” basis – i.e. you only pay when a user clicks through and lands on your website.

So, which should I use?

The short answer to this question, is both.

SEM can deliver immediate clicks to your website, but it can be expensive if your website isn’t actually converting any new leads. As such, you need to consider how much a new lead is worth to your business, and evaluate SEM on that basis. You also need to ensure that your website is designed, written and built in a way that won’t disappoint users when they arrive – else the click-through (and the associated cost) will have been for nothing.

On the other hand, SEM can help you work out which keywords are getting click-throughs for your website – and these can help form the basis of an effective SEO strategy. For instance, if our Google Adwords statistics indicated that a vast number of people were clicking through to the Big Click Studios’ website after searching for the words: “central coast web design”, we would be wise to optimise our site around these words accordingly.

Overall, it could be argued that the benefits of SEO as a marketing strategy are perhaps more long term, and longer lasting. This is largely because SEO will grow organically over time. The more clicks your site receives, the higher the ranking it will receive – and if you are prepared to tweak your site over time based on what’s working and what isn’t, you can do more to boost your results on an ongoing basis.

Most importantly, before you set about doing any marketing, it’s important to make sure you’re 100% happy with the website that you’re driving people to. So if you’d like us to take a look at your website and provide some recommendations or steps on how your rankings could be improved, please give us a call.

Gradually, along with their web design, businesses began to implement Content Management Systems (or CMS):  functionality which allows authorised people to upload, edit and manage website content.   Typically, these CMS were either custom-built, or were enterprise-grade solutions like Vignette or Interwoven.

In the last four years, however, content management has changed considerably.  The rise of open-source and quasi-open source content management solutions has significantly changed the CMS landscape. We’ve witnessed a considerable shift away from enterprise-grade solutions, and have seen more and more businesses letting open source solutions like WordPress drive the design and structure of their websites.

So where do things stand now? And which option is right for your business?

Here’s a quick overview of the different types of CMS available, and the high level pros and cons of each:

Custom content management

This is where a company engages a web design or web development agency to develop a custom-built content management system to suit a specific internet, intranet or extranet site.  This is often the option that’s chosen by small businesses with specific content management requirements.

Pros

• Can be a cost effective option for small businesses.
• Completely customised to your business – so there are no unnecessary features or tools.
• Highly scaleable
• Lightweight in terms of the install and effort involved.
• Training is specific and customised.
• Often easier and simpler to use as they are purpose-built. As a business, you can have input into how it’s designed and configured and the terminology that’s used.
• An affordable solution as you don’t need to pay for features you wont use.
• You wont have to compromise on your ideas or procedures to try and fit into an existing CMS capabilities

Cons

• If you wish to change agencies it may be difficult to find someone who will work with another companies CMS
• If you want a non-standard feature developed it will usually cost more than an off the shelf module.
• Documentation doesn’t always exist for how to use it – unless it’s developed on a custom basis by the agency.
• Often have a longer development time

Enterprise-grade content management

This refers to large-scale content management solutions that are often implemented by major corporate businesses. These systems are often implemented on a nation-wide or even a global scale, and can control and manage everything from a company’s website to its payroll systems. Examples are Vignette, Interwoven. or IBM WCM.

Pros

• Can be integrated into complex websites and internal legacy systems such as human resources applications, payroll systems etc.
• Trusted, reliable and proven.
• Huge amount of functionality – enabling you to update anything from an image caption to your overall navigation structure.
• Includes training and support.
• Range of licensing options depending on your needs.
• You will have access to ongoing updates as they are rolled out.

Cons

• Often way too involved and complex for small-medium business websites.
• Can be hard to use and require extensive training.
• Some of the terminology is somewhat confusing.
• You often pay for functionality and features you just don’t need or will never use.
• Additional, non-standard features usually come in at a premium
• Large setup and maintenance costs

Quasi-Open Source Content Management

This refers to content management solutions for which you pay a licensing fee – yet which are essentially open source as you can update the code as necessary.  This can include solutions like ExpressionEngine.

Pros

• Can be very cost effective – especially for mid to large businesses.
• Include web 2.0 features such as blogging and social integration.
• Can also include formal support channels.
• Allow modular components to be created and delivered from a broad development pool.
• Somewhat tried and tested.
• Can be customised.

Cons

• Aren’t necessarily the most cost effective option for small businesses.
• Require specialist web development skills in order to be customised which can be expensive over time – even though up-front costs are low.

Open Source Content Management

This refers to free content management solutions that are widely available on the internet – like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla.

Pros

• Can be incredibly easy to use and implement.
• Ideal for small businesses with small budgets who simply want to publish and manage content on a regular basis (such as write a blog).
• Now include web 2.0 features such as blogging and social integration.
• Can try before you buy. The website www.opensourcecms.com has demo versions of over 70 open source solutions.

Cons

• Lack of formal support channels (although there is plenty of community developer support on the web).
• Total cost of ownership. While the initial costs tend to be lower (due to lower licensing costs), they can be expensive to upgrade in the future as your needs grow
• Not many open source solutions offer direct compatibility with back office software or Microsoft Office applications. This would need to be custom developed.
• Stability. Open source solutions are often only as robust or as reliable as the developer community that’s supporting it. They also tend to have more issues in terms of their stability – since they’re new and constantly in flux.
• Training. Most open source products don’t offer formal training but you can usually find good community support if the CMS has a lively development base.
• Security – open solutions may not be as secure as proprietary solutions and wouldn’t have been tested as extensively as the enterprise grade products.

Importantly, deciding which CMS to choose is a big decision and is one which impacts all areas of your business: IT, marketing, sales, management and finance.   It’s also important to note that the above list of pros and cons is very high level – and that there will be considerable considerations for your specific business. As such, it’s essential that you talk to the experts. The team at Big Click Studios can help you find the right CMS for your business – so why not get in touch?

Most importantly, social media has put control back into the hands of users – giving everyday people the opportunity to get involved, have their say, and provide feedback in an extremely open and honest way.

Here are a few interesting stats worth considering:

• 66% of the world’s web-surfing population visit social networks and blogs.
• ‘Member communities’ have overtaken personal email to become the world’s fourth most popular online sector after search, portals and PC software applications.
• The time spent on social networks and blogging sites is growing at over 3x the rate of overall internet growth.
• In Australia, 57% of people published their opinions online last year.

Source: Nielson – Global Faces and Networked Places – March 2009

Yet – while social media has taken the marketing world by storm, many businesses remain unsure about how they can utilise it in their business – or why they should do so.

As such, here is a quick overview of social media, how it can be used, and a few important reasons about why your business should get involved.

What is social media?

According to Wikipedia, social media is defined as:

“media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratisation of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.”

Essentially, social media refers to any media channel in which people are invited to comment, contribute, and have their say. It’s all about inviting and publishing comments from as many people as possible and building up networks of captive contacts. When most people think of social media, they think of popular websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube. However, it can actually take many different forms – including internet forums, blogs, wikis, podcasts, video postings, bookmarking or ratings. Social media can take place via third party websites, or via tools that are embedded into your own website (such as a discussion panel or blog).

Why should your business get involved?

1. It’s free
Social media tools allow you to promote your business, as often as you like, without sacrificing anything except your time. You can set up a Facebook page, LinkedIn account, YouTube channel or Twitter profile without paying a cent. You can then use these channels to post information about your business, or your products and services, whenever you like, in an engaging and rapid manner.

US book company Amazon, for instance, uses Twitter to cost effectively promote up and coming offers to their 35,811 followers. They then include links to their website. If users like the offers, they will re-tweet these offers to their own contacts – meaning rapid and highly cost effective word-of-mouth advertising.

2. It’s real
Social media encourages honesty and transparency, which resonates well with customers. By embracing social media, you’re indicating that your brand has nothing to hide. Instead, you are communicating the fact that you are open, honest, and can be trusted. You can also engage in real-life discussions with consumers in a more public forum. For instance, if a customer submits a query via Twitter, you can respond openly.

In turn, the transparency of social media encourages honest feedback from users. Take a look at this Facebook page recently created by Raffaello.

Users are encouraged to submit their own “little white truths” for the chance to win free boxes of Raffaello. So far, the site has attracted over 3,000 fans – several of whom regularly enter their humorous truths in quite an open forum.

3. It’s a two-way dialogue
For years, marketers have dreamed of having a two-way dialogue with their customers - wanting to know where they are, what drives them, and what they think. This is where expensive surveying and customer research groups have always played a big role. However, with social media, your business can find out what your customers are thinking and what they want, on the spot.

4. Social audiences are there because they want to be
When someone joins your fan page or follows you on Twitter, it’s because they have a genuine interest in your brand. This means that you can easily market to a very captive and responsive audience.

Consider, for instance, this Facebook page which was set up by Pizza Hut in Australia:

Through word of mouth and occasional product giveaways and special offers, this page now has over one million “fans”. Pizza Hut can directly market to their fans – simply by posting comments on this page. Users can also then comment or rate the promotions.

A recent post advertising $10 pizza Days, for instance, attracted 162 comments from users and was rated by a staggering 853 people. Not bad for a free advertising channel!

5. It can be fun
Most importantly, engaging in social media provides your business with a fresh, fun new way to advertise. In mid-2009, for instance, Levis embarked on a clever campaign to position their new range of jeans.

They set up a Twitter identity - @iSpyLevis – and created a real-life “treasure hunt” type competition - in which people could win pairs of jeans by following clues on Twitter and hunting down a @iSpyLevis character in various cities across Australia. The promotion gained rapid momentum, and @iSpyLevis secured over 2,000 followers.

Social media gives your business a chance to communicate freely, openly and quickly. You can reach your customers on new levels – and understand more intimately who they are, and what they’re looking for.

Importantly, social media is not just about Facebook and Twitter. There are hundreds of social tools and platforms which can be utilised, depending on your needs and what you want to achieve.

How can you get started?
If you’re interested in using social media tools to promote your business, give the team at Big Click Studios a call. We’d be more than happy to help.

Nielsen calls his usability insights “heuristics” and uses the word “system” to refer to a website or an online entity of some kind. In a nutshell, Nielsen’s observations are as follows:

• Visibility of system status. The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
• Match between system and the real world. The system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.
• User control and freedom. Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
• Consistency and standards. Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.
• Error prevention. Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.
• Recognition rather than recall. Minimise the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
• Flexibility and efficiency of use. Accelerators - unseen by the novice user - may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
• Aesthetic and minimalist design. Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
• Help users recognise, diagnose, and recover from errors. Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
• Help and documentation. Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

While Nielsen tends to be quite aggressive in his usability principles, many of his observations have since become commonplace in web design circles. Perhaps most importantly, he made people realise the critical importance of the user – and the fact that businesses need to build websites for real people.

Today, there are some fundamental usability principles that good web design adheres to. Here are our top ten:

1. Structure your site according to your user, not your business.
Build your navigation as your customer would interact with it – not based on what’s important to your business. For instance, if your business sells shoes, then make your first navigation something about “in store now” rather than “about us”, which will be much less interesting to your user. Since research indicates that customers view websites from left to right, you should make sure that your navigation is structured in this way.

2. Write for the fact that online users scan rather than read.
Studies indicate that online users scan rather than read. In fact, in the online environment, you have just a few seconds to capture their attention. With this in mind, it’s essential to write copy for online users. You can do this by using:

• Bullet points
• Sub-headings
• Short sentences
• Brief sections of text – with no unnecessary rambling.
• Links to find out more information.

3. Avoid design for design’s sake
Unless a website is being designed for an artistic or creative purpose, don’t implement slow, high-bandwidth technology simply for the sake of making a site “look” impressive. Long intros built using Flash animation will frustrate customers and turn them away from your website – especially if they are on a slow connection. Only include a Flash introduction or weighty imagery if it means something to your brand and your user.

4. Carefully design forms and functionality
This is a very important one. Too many websites lose users at critical points when they are submitting their details and sharing information with you. Form design is a very important area and requires a logical thought process. Think very carefully about how you would like to fill out a form, and design yours accordingly. Keep everything as simple as possible.

5. Don’t assume anything about your user
Because anyone can visit your website – from anywhere - you need to be very careful about how you structure and put forward your content. Cater for the lowest common denominator. Make your navigation titles logical and coherent. Avoid anything too obscure.

6. Break down large volumes of information
If your website is and information-focused website and you have lots of information that your users need to absorb, break it up. Section it into manageable chunks, and enable users to search it or pick a section at a time.

7. Include a good search tool
If your website is a large one, include a search tool that enables people to search via keywords or areas of interest. Make sure the results are well indexed so your user gets plenty of relevant responses.

8. Make it fast
Optimise images and content so that your website is fast to download – unless, of course – your website needs particularly creative or design-based content to enhance your brand.

9. Be legible
Use a font that’s optimised for the web – such as Verdana and Georgia. From a legibility point of view, use contrasting backgrounds. Don’t use white on grey, for instance. Don’t also use too many fonts – and avoid using too many CAPS – especially in body copy. They can be quite overwhelming and hard to read.

10. Be consistent
Give your users an easy way to go back to where they have come from, and always keep your navigation structure consistent throughout your site. This is a crucial element of website usability. Users should be able to jump to any section of your site, from any page within the site. They shouldn’t have to use the back or forward arrows in their browser at any stage.

Want to chat about your website and whether or not it meets web design usability standards? Talk to the team at Big Click Studios.

However, whether or not eCommerce is right for your business requires careful consideration. While eCommerce tools can certainly streamline your sales cycles and generate significant returns, it can also be costly to implement and challenging to maintain. You need more than just quality web design or web development. You also need a very robust and in-depth eCommerce strategy.

If your business is thinking about incorporating eCommerce into your website, here are a few important things to consider:

• Why are you considering eCommerce? Is it to save your business time, push through more orders, or are you simply implementing it because you think you should be?
• Will eCommerce genuinely deliver a return on investment for your business? Will you sell enough products online to generate return on the cost of building and maintaining your online sales engine?
• Do you have an existing website that you plan to integrate your eCommerce facilities into – or will you want something entirely new designed for this purpose?
• What are your competitors doing in this space? Are any of them using eCommerce? Which ones are doing it well?
• Do you have the people/systems in place to fulfil orders?
• How will the delivery costs be managed?
• How will you fulfil orders received online?
• Do you have quality photography and a full inventory of your products to put on the website? This can take considerable time to pull together and can be quite an expensive exercise depending on the type of photography you need.
• What follow up will there be after someone has purchased from you? What will your after sales service be like?
• How will eCommerce impact the structure of your current team? For instance, will it replace your customer service or sales staff? Or will it simply help them perform better?
• Who will have ultimate responsibility for the eCommerce facilities on your website? Who will respond to issues if there are any? For instance, if a customer is mid-way through a transaction and something happens, who will they call?

Most importantly, when it comes to eCommerce, it’s essential that your business gets the right advice. There’s no point investing in a solution that won’t meet your needs or generate the returns you expect. So if your business is thinking about venturing into the online space with eCommerce, get in touch with the team at Big Click Studios.

In a recent benchmarking report (December 2009), one of Australia’s leading email marketing agencies, Returnity, outlined some key findings from their experience over the year. Three of their top findings included the following:

• A short, sharp subject line of 30 characters or less generates a 24% better open rate than longer subject lines (50 characters or more) within the B2C sector.
• The only keyword to drive higher than average open rates was ‘exclusive’, with ‘free’, ‘win’, ‘$’ and ‘!’ all showing open rates lower than the benchmark.
• The ’stickiness’ of an email was directly proportional to the size of the list it was sent to, indicating that segmentation and content targeting are still the key drivers of high performance.

When it comes to email marketing, it’s very important to get it right first time. If not, you risk alienating your users and encouraging countless people to unsubscribe.

Here are a few important things to keep in mind:

• Promote your brand. The design of your email should look professional and it should match your website design and your brand. Make sure you engage a specialist agency such as Big Click Studios to design your email templates for you. Similarly, if your email clicks through to any landing pages, make sure the design of these pages is consistent also.
• Always be brief. People won’t read too much content in an email. Use headings, bullets and short sections of text. Include lots of links so that people can click through to your website if they are interested in finding out more. They won’t read it in the email.
• Don’t bore people. Only send an email if you have something relevant to say – or don’t send anything at all. Otherwise, when you do have something valuable, you may well be ignored.
• Segment your database. Make sure that you’re sending people information that’s specifically relevant to them. There’s no point sending a 16 year old boy information about walking frames – or sending an 80 year old grandmother information about upcoming hip hop gigs (unless she’s specifically requested the info, of course!). As Returnity’s findings indicate, this data segmentation is very important.
• Your subject line is very important. Avoid using words such as ‘free’ or ‘win’ or using exclamation marks or dollar signs in your subject line – as this might encourage email security systems to classify you as spam.
• Include privacy and unsubscribe information. Besides the fact that this is a legal requirement, you risk damaging your brand if you don’t provide users with the opportunity to unsubscribe from your email.
• Be personal. If you have a user’s name in your database, address them directly. This makes the email seem more targeted.
• Send when the timing’s right. Don’t send email during holidays (such as over Christmas or long weekends) when most people won’t be in front of their computers.
• Create clear calls to action. Always be very clear about what you want people to do. If the call to action is particularly important (such as entering a competition or downloading a document), enter it a few times in the email.
• Structure is important. Put the most important information at the top of your email – where it will immediately be viewed, and put less important information at the bottom. This will give users a chance to view the email in their email preview pane before necessarily opening it. If the offer or information is good, they might take further action.
• Review your statistics. On a regular basis, determine what’s working and what’s not. Don’t continue to blindly send out emails to your customers if you’re not getting any traction. If something does work (such as a special offer or a particular article) pay attention and ask yourself why it did work. If you’re not sure how to interpret email statistics, speak to the team at Big Click Studios. We can help.
• Encourage refer a friend. Give incentives for people to refer a friend (for instance – if they encourage a friend to sign up to your newsletter, they get an extra entry in a competition) so as to grow your database.
• Make it easy for subscribers to change their details. If someone changes their job, and changes their email address, it’s important that you give them a quick and easy option to update their details. Include a link on the bottom of your emails.
• Send at the right time. There has been considerable research done into the best times to send emails, and when people are most responsive. Typically, it’s agreed that the optimal time is on a Wednesday or Thursday.

Want help with your email marketing, or with email marketing design services? Contact us.

Here are five great ways in which your website can generate a return on investment:

1. People can find you.
These days, customers do their research on the web. If you’re there, customers are more likely to find you – especially if you advertise with the right directories, optimise your website for search engines (SEO) and practice some cost-effective online marketing (SEM). The more leads you have, the more potential customers, and the more potential sales you will make.

2. Qualified leads.
Once your customer has visited your website, they are more likely to know whether or not they want your products or services – and can therefore approach you as a pre-qualified lead. This reduces the burden on your sales team and means that you have a greater likelihood of selling to this customer base.

3. Inexpensive advertising.
Once your website template exists – and provided you have an in-built content management system – it should be very easy for you to publish content on your website on a regular basis. This can help you promote new products or services as soon as they are released – or communicate with your customers about special offers or opportunities to buy. This makes you appear current, and gives you a cost effective channel through which to advertise on a very regular basis.

4. Basis for all advertising.
Once you have a website, you can easily put all of your advertising content on your site – to back up any offline promotions. You can use other channels to encourage interest, and then put all the detail that’s required on your website at very minimal cost. This saves you money in producing costly mail-drops or multi-page print brochures, or in making extensive follow-up calls.

5. Customer service centre.
Your website is available (or should be) 24/7. This means that if a customer has a question about something, they can go straight to your website any time of the day or night – without calling you or your customer service teams. This obviously lowers your staffing burden quite significantly.

However there is, of course, somewhat of an art to ensuring your website is an effective sales channel – and that it delivers return on investment. You need a sound navigation structure, quality web design and branding, and an appropriate content management solution. You need to ensure that these elements are carefully balanced with your business objectives – and that you’re not investing in wasted functionality or features that you won’t use.

To find out more about how you can drive greater return from an existing website – or build a lucrative website from the beginning – talk to the team at Big Click Studios. We’d love to help.

Twitter (www.twitter.com) is known as a micro-blog. Users sign up and post their ramblings/links/ponderings in 140 characters or less to their group of ‘followers’. It was launched in 2006 and has fast become one of the internet’s biggest success stories. People credit it with changing the face of world news, and call it the “new Facebook”.

According to Wikipedia, Twitter is “sometimes described as the ‘sms of the internet’” due to the fact that Twitter is used to send and receive short messages of the kind usually received or sent as SMS.

As well as broadcast messages, Twitter also provides the option to “direct message” a follower – a private message that’s just shared between the two of you.

Who uses it?

Millions of people, all over the world. It’s used by individuals, businesses, big brands, small brands, celebrities and wannabe celebrities.

According to an article published on Mashable, there are currently around 6 million registered users on Twitter. This doesn’t include the huge volume of ‘passive users’ – people who observe Twitter and read posts, but who haven’t registered. According to Oprah, there are over 14 million total Twitterers (and she’s one of them).

What’s the point of it?

Twitter provides rapid, real-time sharing of information – with people all over the world. Someone once described it as being like “group instant messaging, a water cooler and market research all wrapped in one”.

Why is it valuable?

• It’s real-time. People post thoughts as they come to mind, or facts as they come to hand. There’s no editing, reviewing or delays. Information is on Twitter as it happens.
• It breaks news. Details about the Mumbai bombings, for instance, were first spread around the world on Twitter, and news of Michael Jackson’s death hit Twitter before it hit the Australian newspapers. According to Wikipedia, Twitter has also been used in campaigning, legal proceedings, education, emergencies, protest and politics, public relations, reporting dissent, to survey opinion and even in space exploration.
• It’s mobile. People can update their Twitter account from their PCs or their phones – any time of the day or night. This means that the Twitter community is always connected, and never out of touch.
• It’s international. People from all over the world use it – so the perspectives and opinions on Twitter are global as well as local.
• You choose who you follow. This means that information is pre-filtered depending on who you trust. As such, you’re only getting the information that you want to see.
• It’s ruthless. Twitter is fast paced and changes on a daily basis. If you’re not happy with a follower, you can simply ‘un-follow’ them. You have ultimate control over the quality and type of information you see.
• It’s honest and transparent. There’s nothing to hide on Twitter, and false information or exaggerated claims will quickly be publicly slammed – so you can be fairly certain that what you’re reading is based in truth. Also, Twitterers will often include links to third party information to back up what they say.

How can businesses use it?

While Twitter does receive its share of criticism for allowing people to publish “nonsense”, Twitter does have a serious side – and can provide enormous marketing potential. There are countless examples of how the site has helped businesses achieve record sales figures and generate return on investment.

For your business, some of the key benefits of Twitter include:

• Free research. This is perhaps the most valuable aspect of Twitter. It allows you to receive up-to-the-minute statistics and information – and to stay in touch with what’s happening in your industry. By following the right people, you can ensure that you always have access to the right information.
• Free marketing. You can communicate with your followers regarding anything you like: new products, new services, up-and-coming offers, or simply what’s happening in your business on a daily basis.
• Free PR. Twitter is a fantastic public relations channel for any small business. You can position yourself as a thought-leader by sharing valuable articles and information with your customers.
• Free customer service. Twitter also provides you with a fantastic avenue to have a two-way conversation with a customer who happens to be following you. You can respond directly to a comment that they post – or could perhaps send them a direct message suggesting how you will fix an issue that they may have had.

Here’s an example:

Kogi BBQ is a Korean mobile BBQ truck based out of the US: http://kogibbq.com/.
They have over 52,000 people following them on Twitter.

They use Twitter to alert their eager followers as to where their mobile taco trucks are – and when they’ll be in specific areas. Being a mobile business, Twitter is the perfect way to drive awareness and encourage people to pay their truck a visit and make sales.

Still confused about Twitter? Not sure if it’s for you or what you could be doing? Talk to the team at Big Click Studios about how we can help.