Have a fun and safe 4th of July Weekend!
– From everyone here at eTekhnos
Have a fun and safe 4th of July Weekend!
– From everyone here at eTekhnos
Here is another of our latest websites, just launched for Johnson & Dugan.
Unique features: Integrated Video Library & Mobile-Responsive Design
The Johnson & Dugan website was recently launched with a special focus on optimizing the site to be viewed on mobile devices. We integrated a memorable image and comprehensive video library into the site as well. The site is easy to navigate, clean and concise, with UBA resources featured prominently.
Visit the new Johnson & Dugan site at http://www.johnsondugan.com/.
Here is another of our latest websites, just launched for Central Penn Benefits.
Unique features: Custom Integrated Forms using WordPress
The Central Penn Benefits website was recently launched to replace an outdated previous site. We integrated an iconic image on the home page and a new color scheme into the site to give it a consistent look and feel. The site is easy to navigate, clean and concise, with integrated contact forms on the Individual and Contact Us pages.
Visit the new Central Penn Benefits site at http://www.centralpennbenefits.com/.
Here is another of our latest websites, just launched for Becker Suffern McLanahan.
Unique features: Dynamic Navigation Menu & Mobile-Responsive Design
The Becker Suffern McLanahan website was recently launched with a special focus on optimizing the site to be viewed on mobile devices. We integrated an iconic image and a dynamic navigation menu into the site to give it a consistent look and feel. The site is easy to navigate, clean and concise, with newsletters and industry feeds featured prominently.
Visit the new Becker Suffern site at http://www.beckersuffern.com/.
Everyone have an enjoyable and safe Memorial Day Weekend!
– From all of us here at eTekhnos
Having difficulty coming up with a new idea or content? Here are six reasons to try crowdsourcing.
Our company, Wild Creations, is coming up on our six year anniversary. We have a number of new initiatives, and we felt now would be a great opportunity to shake things up and create a new “identity” for the company. We have a comprehensive plan that starts with the simply task of developing a fresh, new logo that captured the new company vision and the free-spirited, adventurous culture we encourage.
There was one problem.
Because we had developed our original logo and have been married to it for so long, it has been difficult to break the emotional bond we have to it. Indeed, every attempt we made internally fell short, and we were certain no outside firm could create a respectable replacement for our beloved “eyes.”
We were a victim of the IKEA Effect.
Then we decided to try crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining ideas, services, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, or more specifically, an online community rather than from traditional employees or service providers. We submitted a project on 99designs.com, the “world’s largest online graphic design marketplace connecting passionate designers from around the globe with customers seeking quality, affordable design services.”
The service is easy to use. You submit a project on the website with a description of your needs (in our case, a new logo). The online community of graphic artists then springs into action, submitting ideas with the ultimate goal of earning the project fee. Remarkably, for as little as $299, we had access to over 206,000 graphic designers, from all over the world.
The result was fantastic, and we received over 300 new and unique submissions. Ironically, we chose a design that did not follow our suggested guidelines (it has no eyes). It turns out we didn’t know what we wanted from the start, but we knew it when we saw it!
Crowdsourcing is a quickly growing industry, not only for graphic design but also numerous other services. If you are a small business owner, here are six reasons you should be considering crowdsourcing for your business:
Subcontracting a graphic designer could run hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and there is no guarantee you’ll like any of the designs they submit. Crowdsourcing gives you access to tens of thousands of designers for less.
Some businesses prefer to have graphic designers on staff in order to closely control the creative aspects of the business. Unfortunately this can be very cost prohibitive with salaries, payroll taxes, benefits, etc. As well, on-staff designers will not be fully utilized during down time.
Every new design project needs to be managed, from conceptualization through revisions to final selection. With crowdsourcing, you submit your idea and let the tens of thousands of designers manage the project for you.
You will most likely receive tens, hundred, and even thousands of creative options to choose from. While this could be a distraction, sites like 99Designs allows you to eliminate unappealing designs in real time, reducing the number of options as well as providing designers feedback.
With no paradigms, emotional attachments, or insecurities, the designers are free to be as creative as they want. Indeed, the more creative, the more likely they will get noticed and selected.
You can tap your professional, personal, and social networks to vote on your top choices, which will empower your fans and create excitement and anticipation for the contest.
Crowdsourcing is just starting to get the attention it deserves. It creates wonderful and affordable options for small businesses and entrepreneurs who need short term, creative work done. Indeed, prior to finding a new logo for Wild Creations, we used crowdsourcing to find the logo for our start-up crowd funding website, Jumpoff.co. It works that well.
Not only is self-service technology helping employer-clients control benefit administration costs, it might also be insurance carriers’ missing link to employee consumers once they leave the workplace.
This potential is not lost on MetLife, a large New York-based provider of non-medical group benefits with accounts at more than 3,500 organizations. To better service the needs of close to 17 million employees working at its client companies, MetLife embarked on an effort five years ago to build an online employee benefits portal called MyBenefits.
By all measures, the online self-service portal has been a hit. Recently, MetLife announced that the one-millionth employee had registered to access accounts online through MyBenefits.
The portal enables employees to log in-either from work or from home-and get answers to frequently asked questions, learn about plans and coverage specifics, obtain price quotes for certain products, and enroll in dental benefits, critical illness insurance, long-term care, life insurance, auto and home insurance, disability insurance, and banking services.
Users can also check their claim status for certain products, locate a dentist who participates in a MetLife preferred dentist program, or learn about retirement savings options. A popular feature is service e-mail, such as e-alerts that notify employees of claim updates.
The first iteration of the MyBenefits portal was launched in June of 2000, according to Sachin Shah, vice president of MetLife Workplace Solutions. MetLife has upgraded the portal several times since that initial launch, with the most recent upgrade taking place in 2003. Shah estimates the site is being accessed an average 800,000 to a million times a month, and transaction activity has been almost doubling each year.
There were three primary considerations in launching the portal, says Shah. First, customer companies were anxious to reduce processing burdens incurred by benefits administration.
“Our employer customers-plan sponsors, or HR offices-needed to promote more self service, and reduce the related costs of the administrivia with benefit programs,” he says.
The ability to lower administration costs has been a key selling point to employers, he adds. “In our business, things that we can do to provide employees a better way to manage their benefits, without having to call the HR office, are real winners. It takes work from employers, who would otherwise be getting phone calls and inquiries.”
Second, organizations are gradually reducing their financial stake in benefits plans. “Employers are beginning to cost-shift to employees, and that cost shifting continues to grow, certainly on a dollar basis, because costs in aggregate for medical programs in particular have gone up,” he explains.
“That cost shifting has required us to work with employers to begin to provide much more information to employees, and get them to become more aware of, and educated in, benefits offerings.”
Third, Shah says, there’s a strategic shift occurring in the benefits administration marketplace. “Employers are getting out of the benefits administration business,” he notes.
“Strategically, the marketplace is moving toward a world in which we have two customers – the employer, and more importantly, the employee. Making a sale to the employer is no longer a guarantee of revenue, as it was in the past. It’s just a point of entry. Ultimately, making the sale to the employee, and keeping the employee as a customer, has become our driver of revenues and earnings.”
Read More (Source: Joe McKendrick, Insurance Networking News)
As smartphone and tablet adoption rapidly increases, so does the importance of mobile-friendly websites. If SEO is a core component of your digital marketing strategy, having a mobile–friendly website is becoming essential.
Mobile sales have already overtaken desktop sales, and mobile Internet usage is predicted to overtake desktop internet usage by 2014. It is only logical that mobile search will overtake desktop search at some point in the near future as well.
Since 67 percent of users claim they are more likely to purchase from a mobile-friendly website, companies that rely on SEO are wise to begin making the transition to mobile-friendly websites, and responsive web design specifically.
The argument between whether to choose a responsive website or a separate mobile website is a highly debated topic. However, the truth is that both options have their pros and cons.
The option that is best for your business depends on many factors, such as the purpose of the website, the intended target audience, and whether SEO is a factor.
If SEO is a factor, here are 3 reasons why responsive web design is the best option for your mobile SEO strategy.
1. Recommended By Google
Read More (Source: Jay Taylor, Search Engine Watch)