Archive for February 2011
Lawrence Kansas Web Design: Some Social Media Articles
I didn’t do a Funday Post on Friday and so today I thought I would get back into the swing of things by not only getting a post up, but trying (my darnedest) to post daily M-F. We’ll see how that goes.
Now as someone who preaches the use of a blog CMS as the way to host your business website, I really need to practice what I preach. Blogging is a great way to connect with your customers, and it also does wonders for your SEO. It should be no secret as to why I title each of my posts as I do, but the real key in getting traffic is 1) having enough content to be recognized by the search engines as a legitimate resource and 2) actually being a legitimate resource of information to your customers and/or fans. If I wanted to have 100 posts all titled the same thing with no pertinent content (or even worse, duplicate content) I’m not doing anyone any favors, either for my business of yours. Blogging must be consistent and worthwhile.
Here are some nuggets though from the past week.
As I have noted before, mobile telephony is going to be huge. Smart phones are getting smarter, and websites have to adapt. I am doing a project for a local pizza company and was doing some basic research this past week, and I was amazed at the number of websites that did not have mobile friendly versions. Worse yet, many had .pdf copies of their menu which are almost impossible and impractical for mobile usage. If over 50% of the people my age (18-35) use a smart phone, why would you take the time to order from someone who didn’t take the time to market to your usage?
This past week Google CEO Eric Schmidt talked a little about Google’s reaction with mobile, and it’s telling to hear the boss of Google say that Google’s estimates were on the low side. You can read more here: http://mashable.com/2011/02/28/schmidt-mobile-growth/
The Oscars were last night, and some enterprising folks took a look at what social media saw with usage during the show and general themes all around. There are some interesting numbers (Oprah’s presentation of best documentary drew 11,000 tweets; in the 24 hours after the Oscars, over 1 million people included “Oscar” in their status update). It’s an interesting but light read if you’ve got some time to kill: http://mashable.com/2011/02/28/oscars-by-the-numbers/.
That’s all for now. I don’t have an idea yet for tomorrow’s post but since I am fully committed to blogging 5 days a week, we will persevere and figure something out. 
Lawrence Kansas Web Design: Friday Funday!
I have been bad.
I said I would have tried out the free commerce WordPress plugin.
I said I would have some new WordPress themes out.
It’s been a busy week. So I lied.
This week has seen a new project come up as well as some consulting for a completely different industry. Some people I know were looking at buying a restaurant, and I was brought in to help determine what the project looked like. As such, I was not able to get what I wanted.
But, such is life, and that’s not to say I haven’t been thinking about some links I wanted to share this week.
The first is a list of augmented reality apps for Android phones. Augmented reality is going to be a major player in search on mobile devices but it is stay in its infancy. I would even suggest its in its gestation but whatever. The point is, there are apps on phones now that act like a search engine through what you see. You want to learn about a store on your way to work? You can use Google Goggles to search it by taking a picture. Better apps include Layar which project links and info over the screen your phone presents to you. You can read more here: http://compixels.com/441/top-5-augmented-reality-apps-for-android. Which just means it is important to have all of your basic webpages made and current. By this I mean Facebook, Google, Bing, Twitter and YouTube as a lot of these apps are pulling there basic info from 3rd party sites and not yours.
If you were watching Jimmy Fallon late this week, you might have seen him hold up a QR code to help promote a new band that was performing on his show that night. That little code box led viewers directly to the band’s website. If you still don’t know what a QR code is, it is important you get familiar. These are basically 2D barcodes that are very useful on Smart Phones. You can see the clip from Mashable’s writeup here: http://mashable.com/2011/02/18/jimmy-fallon-qr-code/.
I want to talk about QR codes in a way that rang true to me from my days in retail. Imagine having a store where the independent shopper, the one who doesn’t need help, is allowed to find information out about any product simply by using their phone to use a QR code which brings information back directly either from your staff or the manufacturer. This means shoppers are allowed to browse at their own pace without staff assistance if necessary. If you operate a food service operation, imagine placing a QR code in your front window which takes customers to a page describing your daily special.
And lastly, just in case you were wondering, Facebook isn’t going any where.
Happy weekend! I’m off to enjoy this weather!