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  • 6 Reasons to Use Crowdsourcing

    6 Reasons to Use Crowdsourcing BY

    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:

    1. Reduce Cost

    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.

    2. Eliminate Overhead

    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.

    3. Minimize Management

    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.

    4. Maximize Options

    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.

    5. Optimize Creativity

    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.

    6. Create Buzz

    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.

    Read More  (Source: Peter Gasca, inc.com)

  • Benefit Portals Build Direct Relationships

    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)

  • 3 Reasons Why Responsive Web Design is the Best Option For Your Mobile SEO Strategy

    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)

  • New website launched for Sequoyah Group

    Here is another of our latest websites, just launched for Sequoyah Group.

    sequoyah

    Unique features: Iconic Image & Quote Form Integration

    The Sequoyah Group website was recently launched with a special focus on making it easy for the user to obtain a quote for individual insurance.  We integrated a quote request form into the home page and included a helpful FAQ about the Affordable Care Act. The site is easy to navigate, clear and concise, with the news blog featured prominently.

    Visit the new Sequoyah site at http://www.sequoyahgroup.com/.

  • Twitter set to become more like Facebook

    Twitter is to become more and more like Facebook with its new profile redesign.  The new exciting main features of the new look are the “Best Tweets” feature, which makes tweets with the most traffic appear to be slightly larger and more prominent, “Pinned Tweets”, which allow you pin a tweet to the top of your page and “Filtered Tweets”, which allow you, when browsing other profiles, to view tweets, tweets with photos and videos, or raw tweets and replies.

    How does this affect you – you may be wondering?  For the moment, not a great deal but Twitter will be rolling out the new redesigned profile across all of their existing users over the next few weeks with new users signing up today getting the new profile automatically.  Unless you have any Twitter site placement specific images – then there is nothing you will need to fix but being aware of the new look and features will help you get significantly ahead of the popular crowd. 

     

    Using the “Pinned Tweet” feature will almost be a supplement to your initial bio or indeed it could be used to be an easy in-house advert for your company.  For example, a “Pinned Tweet” could be pinned to make sure that everyone knows about the upcoming company BBQ or that you are running an April promotion?

     

    The core essence of Twitter will of course remain the same.  Don’t think that they will replace the beloved #Hashtag just yet but as they merge closer to being flashier and including more videos and pictures – will we still be able to contain our thoughts about the new Twitter within the 140 character set limit?

  • Everyone Benefits from an Employee Portal

    Not so long ago, it was only large corporations that could even consider setting up self-service portals for their employees. But now, thanks to the outsourcing model, companies with only a handful of workers are taking full advantage of employee portal technology.

    They’re saving everyone involved – employees, the HR department, management – significant time, money, and effort.

    Perhaps best of all, by reducing paperwork and speeding access to important information, such employee portals are helping companies to boost employee satisfaction and loyalty – and, in turn, productivity. Here’s how:

    LESS WORK

    Think of the employee portal as your HR department embracing the power of e-commerce. That means eliminating the tedious filling out and shuffling of paper forms and having to decipher employees’ scrawl. And it means no re-keying of data into a computer. In addition, most follow-up phone calls are done away with, as well.

    Instead, workers can visit their company’s employee portal via any web-equipped computer or hand-held device and gain direct – and entirely secure – access to a wide range of useful work-related information all on their own, with practically no need for anyone in HR to get involved.

    INSTANT ACCESS

    Employees can view insurance benefits, 401(k) plans, company policies, you name it, all with just a few clicks of their mouse. And they can browse or print out any number of important documents, such as the employee handbook. Likewise, should their employer decide to make it possible – and many do – employees may enter and update their HR-related data all on their own. They can change their withholding status, enroll for new benefits, or update time and attendance records.

    Naturally, all of this employee portal activity is controlled with the latest in security techniques. Each employee can be assigned his or her own, unique log-in ID and password for authorizing entry to the portal. In addition, the HR department can specify exactly which data and documents are to be made available to each particular employee.

    MORE PRODUCTIVITY

    Clearly, this kind of employee portal pleases its users. They no longer have to waste time filling out form after form or waiting on hold when calling HR for, say, an explanation of their medical plan. Moreover, the people in HR are freed to devote their time and energy to productive tasks, as well. It’s win-win for everyone.

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  • 10 Benefits of Using WordPress to Power Your Company’s Website

    WordPress has been around since 2003 and is the most popular blogging software on the market. Over the last few years, WordPress has also become the content management software of choice for non-blogging websites. Here are the top 10 reasons why WordPress is so popular and why you might want to consider switching to a WordPress platform for your company’s website.

    1. Ease of Use

    WordPress is very easy to use and has an intuitive interface.  Adding new pages, blog posts, images, etc. on a regular basis is a breeze and can be done quickly.  Because the technology is so simple, time spent on formatting is greatly reduced.

    2. Manage Your Website from Any Computer

    WordPress is browser-based. You can login from any Internet connected computer and manage your site.

    3. No HTML Editing or FTP Software Required

    WordPress is a self-contained system and does not require HTML editing software (such as Adobe Contribute or Dreamweaver). You can create a new page or blog post, format text, upload images (and edit them), upload documents, video files, image galleries, etc. all without the need for additional HTML or FTP software.

    4. Search Engines Love WordPress Sites

    The code behind WordPress is very clean and simple, making it easy for search engines to read and index a site’s content. In addition, each page, post, and image can have its own meta tag keywords, description, and title, and be optimized for specific keywords, allowing for very precise search engine optimization.  You can also use tags to further enhance your search engine optimization efforts.

    5. You Have Control of Your Site

    No more waiting for your web designer to make simple updates to your site. With WordPress, you have control of nearly every aspect of your site and can easily make those simple updates yourself.

    Read More (Source: Aspire Internet Design, aspireid.com)

  • New website launched for Seaport Dental

    Here is another of our latest websites, just launched for Seaport Dental.

    seaport

    Unique features: Panoramic Images over Unique Background

    The Seaport Dental website was recently launched with a special focus on making it stylish and upscale, with the feel of a day spa.  The client wanted to drive users to Schedule an Appointment so it is listed prominently on each page, along with special offers and testimonials.

    Visit the new Seaport Dental site at http://www.seaportdental.com/

  • New website launch for Mathews4Mayor | Keller, Texas Web Design

    Here is our latest pro bono project- a website we created for Keller mayoral candidate Mark Mathews.

    mathews4mayorscreenshot

    We love supporting our local community, and we are proud to provide web and marketing for Keller mayoral candidate Mark Mathews for his current campaign.  The new site allows for online donations, video clips of Mark Mathews and plenty of ways to get involved with his campaign.  Please support Mark come election time!

    Rockstar Technology is a Keller based Web and Marketing agency focused on small / mid-sized businesses that want professional services at an affordable price.

  • New website launched for Ross Law Offices

    Here is another of our latest websites, just launched for Ross Law Offices.

    ross

    Unique features: Memorable Image & Professional Affiliations Listed Prominently

    The Ross Law Offices website was recently launched with a special focus on making it memorable, easy to navigate, and very descriptive of all the services they provide.  The client’s qualifications are listed prominently, along with contact information in multiple locations.

    Visit the new Ross site at http://therosslawoffice.com/