Archive for the ‘Website Design’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

How to save time by auto-posting your blog articles to Facebook

December 5th, 2011

If you’re trying to streamline your content creation and distribution efforts, an important step is configuring yourRSS Grafitti Facebook page to automatically post your blog articles. If you have your Facebook page linked to automatically update other social media accounts, then every time you publish a blog article it will automatically appear on Facebook, Twitter, and more.

While there are a variety of Facebook applications that accomplish this goal, RSS Grafitti is our favorite because it’s easy to configure and works with multiple accounts. Designed for Facebook Page administrators, the application actually allows you to post any RSS feed to any wall. If you’re managing multiple Facebook pages this would be particularly useful, but it’s also an easy way to automatically post your own blog content.

First, make sure you have a feed set up for your blog. We suggest you use Google Feedburner to manage your web feeds. Then, add RSS Grafitti to your personal profile and configure it for whichever Facebook page(s) you are administering. While the process takes only a few minutes and is intuitive, full instructions are available on the RSS Grafitti Wiki. The two important pieces of information are:

  • The name of the feed
  • The URL of the feed

After configuring the application, your blog posts will automatically be posted to your Facebook page with the blog source name, date, and RSS grafitti icon.

1 comment »

Posted in Advice, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Website Design

Top Takeaways from B2B Outbound Social Media Marketing Lunch + Learn

November 18th, 2011

Last week we had a great Lunch + Learn on B2B Outbound Social Media Marketing, led by ResponseCapture. Here are some of the insights from the lively presentation and discussion:

Understand what questions to ask before jumping on the social media bandwagon

When deciding how to use social media, first ask yourself, “Who am I trying to interact with? Are they using social networks? Would they want to hear from me?” Answering these questions will help you target your campaign and maximize activity on channels where your customers are active.

Learn about your target customer

Deciding whether to use social media is largely dependent on your target audience. How do you know which social media channels your target customers are using? Rather than guessing, try using a data driven analysis of your customers and prospects. The services FlipTop and RapLeaf allow you to get data from email lists; you can upload an email list and get information about which social media channels your customers use as well as information about their demographics.

Professional vs. personal email

When using a social intelligence platform like FlipTop or RapLeaf, be aware that your customers may have multiple email addresses. Individuals may use personal email addresses for some social accounts and professional email addresses for other accounts. Keep this in mind when drawing conclusions about your target customers’ usage of social media channels.

The “real person” behind the account

In B2B social media marketing, the person behind the account you’re engaging with may not be who you expect. For example, when it appears that you’re engaging with a business owner you may actually be engaging with an employee or a third party hired to manage social media.

For more information, check out the full slideshow:

View more presentations from synotac

Comments Off »

Posted in Advice, Lunch + Learn, Social Media, Website Design

Enhancing your contact success page

November 2nd, 2011

Did you know that you might have overlooked an opportunity to wow and engage your most valuable visitors? Have you checked out your contact success message lately? Some websites use javascript to display a quick “Your message has been sent” whenever someone submits a message, but some have a whole page devoted to the contact success. Contact success pages have the potential to further engage your most committed visitors. The contact success content is an opportunity to: Thank your visitors Thank the visitor for their message. After all, they did exactly what you were hoping they’d do: reach out to you for products/services. Reassure them that a response is coming Tell your visitor what to expect next. Do you have a commitment to returning messages within one business day? Tell them! If not, a generic statement that “you’ll hear back from us soon” is better than nothing. Provide alternativesSome businesses may be happy to receive a phone call if the request is urgent. Let your visitor know. For example:

If your request is urgent and you need immediate assistance, please call us now: 1-888-320-9255

Or, perhaps you have online resources they can access while they wait for you to contact them. For example:

Our website is full of information and resources. While you wait for us to respond to your email, feel free to …

  • Explore our upcoming events
  • Find inspiration on our Galleries
  • Learn tips & tricks on our blog
  • Read case studies

Provide additional opportunities for engagement Whenever a visitor fills out a contact form on your website, that visitor has already displayed a high level of commitment to your organization and is more likely than the average visitor to take more actions on your site. Suggest further ways for them to engage with your organization! Examples:

  • Join our blog conversation on xyz
  • “Like” us on Facebook
  • Fill in our online survey

Curious what a contact success page could look like if you integrate these suggestions?  Here’s an example of a Contact Success page that includes pertinent follow-up information and additional calls to action :

THANK YOU FOR CONTACTING [BUSINESS NAME]

We have received your message and will respond within 48 hours.

Looking for even more information about [business industry]? Sign up for free today, and receive our eNewsletter: delivered to your inbox and featuring tips, testimonials, new developments and unique coupons for discounted services!

If your request is urgent, and you need immediate assistance, please call us now: 1-888-320-9554

Comments Off »

Posted in Content and copywriting, Credibility, Persuasion, Website Design

Using the Business Model Canvas in Marketing

October 20th, 2011

Man Pondering Business Model Canvas

“A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value.”

-Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur

This week’s Lunch + Learn focused on “The Business Model Canvas,” a tool for strategic management and entrepreneurial development. Billed as a tool that “allows you to describe, design, challenge, invent, and pivot your business model,” (www.businessmodelgeneration.com) the Canvas enables envisioning and re-envisioning business models.

The Business Model Canvas includes categories for all components of a business model (you fill these in with sticky notes and a sharpie):

  • Key Partners
  • Key Activities
  • Key Resources
  • Value Propositions
  • Customer Relationships
  • Channels
  • Customer Segments
  • Cost Structure
  • Revenue Streams

By mapping your current business model – or your business idea – onto the canvas, you can identify gaps, weaknesses, and opportunities in your model. The Canvas is also helpful for strategically identifying your business model pattern (open business model, multi-sided platform, etc.). Perhaps  you realize that you’re marketing through a narrow channel base and you could expand to include web sales and partner stores; or, perhaps you realize that you could shift towards a self-service customer service model through providing web-based support services. The Business Model Canvas can be used to re-evaluate your current business model or to begin modeling a new idea.

When we experimented with the business model canvas during our weekly Lunch + Learn, we found the exercise helpful in analyzing our clients’ businesses and generating new ideas. Check out the slides from our Lunch + Learn below and let us know what you think of the business model canvas!

 

Thinking about redesigning your website?  Download your copy of the free whitepaper: What to do BEFORE you redesign your website.

 

Synotac Lunch and Learn: Using the Business Model Canvas

View more presentations from synotac

Comments Off »

Posted in Website Design

A Closer Look at Daily Deals

September 15th, 2011

Groupon was at the forefront of the daily deals industry and has received the most criticism of late (in a recent article titled Why Groupon is poised for Collapse, TechCrunch reported that, “In many cases, running a Groupon can be a terrible financial decision for merchants”). While Groupon has been most intensely in the limelight, online daily deals are still a relatively new industry and new players are continuing to appear, with TechCrunch reporting that there are over 650 daily deals services. Google’s launch of Google Offers is among the most recent additions.

As many of you know, Google chose Portland as its beta city for Google Offers, and Floyd’s Coffee Shop in Old Town Portland was chosen by Google as one of the first Google Offers participants. Floyd’s was chosen partly because of positive online customer reviews; on their blog, Google announced that “Our first Google Offer will be from beloved local java shop Floyd’s Coffee. Husband-and-wife team Jack Inglis and Cris Chapman opened Floyd’s seven years ago, offering up espresso, coffee, breakfast burritos and more. They now have two convenient locations—one cozy, brick-lined shop in Old Town and another Stumptown watering-hole in Buckman.” The Google Offer allowed consumers to purchase $10 worth of food and drink for a mere $3.

Floyd’s happens to be located just down the street from our Synotac office and is one of our favorite local coffee shops, so after seeing the mad rush of customers at Floyd’s on the first day of the deal we were curious how the Offer would pan out for Floyd’s.

Floyd’s co-owner Jack Inglis reported that the publicity generated by the Offer was worth the investment – of course, Floyd’s benefited from extra publicity due to participating in the beta Offer. Inglis wanted to draw customers from outside the neighborhood and found that the Offer did draw fresh faces. Inglis stated his awareness of other business’ criticism of daily deals and noted that a business’ success with a daily deal “depends on the industry you’re in”. When asked whether or not he would participate in Google Offers again, he said he would, but not until they’ve fully paid off this initial round.

Deciding whether to participate in a daily deal certainly does depend on your industry, business model, customer base, and how much potential you see for gaining repeat customers.  Businesses should weigh these factors carefully before participating in a daily deal.

4 comments »

Posted in Advice, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Website Design