Blog

  • New website launched for Wolff & Associates

    Here is another of our latest websites, just launched for Wolff & Associates.

    wolff

    Unique features: Iconic Image & Quote Form Integration

    The Wolff & Associates website was recently launched with a special focus on making it easy for the user to obtain a quote for both individual and group insurance.  We integrated a quote request form into the home page and also on its own separate page. Resources like RSS feeds, Affiliations, and Newsletter Signup are featured prominently.

    Visit the new Wolff site at http://wolffassociates.net/.

  • 4 Things You Need to be Doing on Social Media — Now

    By now, if social media isn’t a critical element in your online marketing strategy, it should be. Having a presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can add value to your product, to customer service and ultimately to your brand.

    But simply having an account and broadcasting company news isn’t enough. To attract and keep customers — and to build a strong brand online — business owners need to be active on social media. They have to provide valuable information and engage with their followers.

    Here are four things businesses should be doing on social media in order to grow the brand online:

    1. Engage with followers and provide customer service.
    Your customers are engaging with your brand wherever they are — including over social media. Don’t miss this opportunity to listen to what they’re saying to and about you, and to provide the best customer service.

    Why is this so important? Responding to customer questions and resolving issues over social media shows everyone who’s following you — and potentially anyone who is online — that your company cares about its customers, potential customers and goes the extra mile for people.

    Related: 10 Tips for Using Twitter Like a Pro

    Tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck can be handy for monitoring mentions of your brand over social media. As for when and who you respond to, set the tone early. If you reply often, people will expect it. If you don’t reply a lot, people will see that as well and might stop engaging with you as often.

    2. Crowdsource ideas.
    Use social media as a marketing research tool. Just as people can reach out to you, follow you and stay connected with you, business owners can do the same with their customers. Social media is a two-way street.

    Say, for instance, you’re getting ready to launch a new product. You can ask your fans and followers what they think about specific details like which colors they prefer or what types of features they want. Not only can you get real, valuable market research at no cost, you’re involving the consumer in decisions. Asking customers for their opinions can help show that they matter, and when they see their ideas become a reality, ideally you create brand and product champions.

    Read More (Source: Scott Levy, entrepreneur.com)

  • Why your Business needs an Intranet

    These days, most corporations have their own intranet, which is somewhat like the internet except for the fact that it’s only accessible to those within the company. However, Intranets are not just useful for large enterprises, SMEs can benefit from them hugely too.

    An intranet means that internal communications within a company are simplified substantially and make for more success in terms of growth, as productivity increases. It’s basically an internal database which every employee can access, with different permissions for various staff.

    For example, it’s doubtful that you want junior office staff to be able to access all of your financial reports and forecasts for the year, so these are just given permissions to access certain areas of the intranet which is relevant to their job.

    According to Microsoft: “In order for a company to succeed, all players must understand its goals. Neither long-term nor short-term goals should be confined to upper management meetings. It’s Business 101. Everyone needs to be working toward common goals”.

    By building an intranet, employees and bosses alike can share information across the board; not only is it easier to set up and share appointments and information, but as a part of an intranet, employees can communicate better, leading to less confusion following meetings, when everyone has to take notes and remember everything afterwards.

    Not only that but intranets have evolved dramatically over the past decade as CMS and social are added and the introduction of cloud computing often means that an intranet can be accessed from anywhere. This is ideal in these days of BYOD and telecommuting, as it makes for a more flexible workforce and again, ups productivity

    That’s even before we go into the benefits presented by ROI, which can be substantial, depending on what model you use and the size of your business.

    Developing an Intranet

    It’s a good idea to carry out sound planning before implementing an Intranet; whilst they can and will benefit a business of any size, needs vary and so it’s worth investing primarily in a decent consultancy firm. These will be able to carry out an audit of your company and recommend what will benefit your business the most.

    A modern intranet should be well organized and easy for users to navigate, especially if you don’t want to spend a fortune training your staff; again, this is something that can be discussed with a consultant.

    A well planned business infrastructure is much more likely to be a successful one and one that your company can see clear benefits from. The ability to share internal information across the whole of your staff often does away with the need to constantly send internal memos and emails.

    Discussion boards on an intranet can also help staff to come up with collaborative ideas before meetings or when working on a project, cutting down the time needed for physical meetings as everyone is aware of their position on a project.

    Read More (Source: Kerry, elcomcms.com)

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  • Consumers Increasingly Using Mobile Devices as Their Default Gateway to the Internet

    Consumers are migrating away from PC-based Internet usage and are increasingly using mobile devices as their default gateway to the Internet, according to the latest release of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide New Media Market Model. The United States leads that trend, with Western Europe and Japan only about two years behind. In the U.S., the number of people accessing the Internet through PCs will shrink from 240 million consumers in 2012 to 225 million in 2016. At the same time, the number of mobile users will increase from 174 million to 265 million.

    In 2015, for the first time ever, there will be more U.S. consumers accessing the Internet through mobile devices than through PCs.

    “In the consumer world, mobile Internet usage is already beginning to displace PC usage, and the United States is leading this trend,” said Karsten Weide, program vice president, Media & Entertainment at IDC. “There has been much talk about how the future of the Internet will be mobile first and PC second. In the United States, that future is now.”

    Additional findings from the New Media Market Model include the following:

    • Online PC activities will also be impacted as consumers take their usage mobile. IDC expects that the share of users accessing social networks such as Facebook on their PCs will decline from 66% in 2012 to 52% in 2016.
    • Worldwide mobile advertising will almost quintuple from $6 billion in 2011 to $28.8 billion in 2016
    • Worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) m-commerce spending will grow six fold between 2011 and 2016, reaching $223 billion at the end of the forecast period

    “The Great PC Exodus on the Internet is happening because the PC was never truly a consumer product,” added Weide. “Many consumers use them because there was no better alternative. Now, with the huge and growing installed base of more user-friendly tablets and smartphones, there are.”

    The IDC study, Worldwide New Media Market Model 1H-2012 Highlights: Internet Becomes Ever More Mobile, Ever Less PC-Based (IDC #237459), features the most interesting findings from IDC’s latest Worldwide New Media Market Model.

    Source: Karsten Weide, IDC, www.idc.com

  • New website launched for CSG Companies

    Here is another of our latest websites, just launched for CSG Companies.

    csg

    Unique features: One-of-a-kind Image & UBA Resources Integration

    The CSG website was recently launched with a special focus on what makes their agency unique and local to Fort Worth as a driving force for the site. We found and worked with a local photographer to add a one of a kind image of the newly build 7th Street bridge on the homepage. UBA resources like RSS feeds, Compliance, and Healthcare Reform are featured prominently.

    Visit the new CSG site at www.csgcompanies.com.

  • New website launched for Coordinated Benefits Group

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

    They realized the importance of having an easy to navigate website with lots of up-to-date information to help their clients and prospects.

    Special Feature – The addition of the Community Focus section is a great way for agencies to highlight local non-profit organizations they support.  It also helps to draw increased web traffic to the site and keeps readers engaged when they visit the site.

  • How to Attract More Customers With Content Marketing

    Are you looking to attract prospects, convert them to customers and keep them coming back?  Then social media and content marketing are a match made in heaven.

    The key to success is to make the connection between content marketing and social media.

    Let’s look at the content needed to get your marketing to that lucrative intersection.

    #1: Attract Prospective Customers

    The first question on a prospect’s mind when considering a purchase is, “What solutions are available?”

    Your goal is to create awareness and make sure that your solution meets the buyers’ need when they’re ready to make a decision.

    According to data from Google and Shopper Science’s Zero Moment of Truth report, consumers in 2011 consulted an average of 10 sources before making a buying decision. That’s up 100% from five sources in 2010.

    zmot sources used
    The number of sources a buyer consults before making a decision doubled year over year.

    Successful businesses are communicating with prospects on social networking sites and directing them to the material the prospects need to make an informed decision. How are they doing this?

    One way is to create informational articles.

    Social network users are constantly sharing, curating and consuming informational content. Often, the headline or a short description of the content appears on the social network together with a link to view the content on a company website.

    Businesses need to share this informational content and have it written for prospects who are in research mode, learning about the solutions that are available.

    Charles Schwab, a financial planning company, distributes links to resources via social networking sites and makes them available for prospective leads who reach out via social media.

    Read More (Source: Russ Henneberry, Social Media Examiner)

  • 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)

  • Happy Holidays!

    Happy Holidays from everyone here at eTekhnos!

  • Is your website ready for the road?

    Surely you have seen people glued to their smartphone screen while walking across the street or out at dinner.

    But how does business insert itself into such familiar scenarios, knowing today there are literally more smartphones than toothbrushes in the world?

    First consider your website. How will yours look on a smartphone or tablet? If you are expecting people to just “pinch and spread” your website while they are viewing it on a phone, you will rapidly lose mobile visitors. There’s only so much dragging and tapping and flicking a person can endure.

    If your business targets people on the move, such as retailers, restaurants, dry cleaners, Realtors do, you just have to do better.

    There are two ways to ensure that the experience of viewing your website on a smaller device is more pleasing. You may have heard of the two terms for this: Responsive Web Design (RWD) and Mobile. These are two markedly different approaches.

    In creating a responsive website, you basically make your “big” website – your desktop website – adapt to the frame of whatever device a person is viewing.

    With this approach, the site and its content will transform to match the width of the web browser used to view it. This allows the website to be viewed in an optimal way on every device from smartphones all the way up to large computer monitors. Since the site is programmed to conform to the device, horizontal scrolling never is required. Neither are panning or pinching to zoom as they are when viewing fixed-width websites on small devices. Buttons will be the right size to tap on small devices, etc.

    Responsive web design senses the dimensions of the available screen and morphs into that receiving shape. There’s no more pinching and pulling. Everything is essentially visible from the start.

    Still the content is “linearized” so that all people have to do is scroll down.

    However, when people are on the fly, they don’t necessarily want to scroll down on a pre-squeezed page to read the deep content. They really just want the facts, ma’am.

    Read More (Source: Laurie Macomber, Northern Colorado Business Report)