INTERNET MARKETING

Happy Halloween everyone! So, as promised some more websites that may send a shiver down your spine. For this edition I decided that I would focus on web design choices that are particularly unfortunate. The reason behind why these sites are so bad is not just that they have basic design flaws (which they do) but also because it is for services that rely on good design and aesthetics for their business. If you run a graphic design or other design company people will look to your website to get a sense of you taste and the kind of work that you can deliver. That is why it is especially important for design companies and businesses that offer design services to have a well-designed website. Again, brand names have been eliminated with grey squares to avoid embarrassment. Read more

Halloween is my favorite holiday. This is mainly because it is an excuse to dress up in crazy clothes and eat tons of candy. Another reason why Halloween is so fun is because it is scary. It is a tradition among my group of friends to watch scary movies on or around Halloween (and hide under blankets through the scariest parts). Sometimes it is fun to be scared but not when it comes to a business. At inSegment we think that a great looking, well optimized, well designed site is one of the most important parts of running a business in the digital age. Not having a great website is like owning a store but keeping the “Closed” sign up all the time, no one will visit it or if they do they will leave quickly. In honor of this haunting time of year I decided to compile a list of some pretty frightening website designs and my reasoning behind my choices. I will be doing this post in two parts one today and one on Monday because this is an important topic (and it is fun). Get prepared to be scared!

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 Today on Mashable there was an infographic about the so called “social consumer” and it showed some interesting statistics about how people are using social networks and online resources to make purchase decisions. However, the infographic also revealed some interesting statistics about online consumers beyond social media.

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This past week, SearchEngineLand released a leaked document from Google outlining criteria and guidelines for Google’s quality ratings. This document is the handbook used by Google’s quality raters; essentially Google’s fact-checkers who make sure the algorithm is doing its job. In the world of search engine optimization, this is pretty big news. Rather than scour the full 125 page handbook, I read a summary of the takeaways from our friends and SEO experts at SEOMoz. Their post provided sixteen valuable takeaways from the guide.

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The newest changes to Facebook carried a great impact on the social network site, but one of the changes that may have flown under the radar was the addition of Facebook now posting “Top News” at the top of your newsfeed. Facebook also decides what posts or status updates qualify as your top news. This newest edition of Facebook, it seems to me, has a very loose definition of the term. In fact, I recently posted that idea as a status to my friends. I wonder if it made anyone’s top news…

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Lately, it seems as though Google+ has lost face. While initially there was a tumult of buzz and excitement about Google’s social network this died down and then proceeded to get less than complimentary. Regular users stopped logging on and participating on the site. The reasoning behind this is obvious, no one was using it. Initially people could move the information about their Facebook friends over to their Google+ account and easily find those people on Google+. However, Facebook quickly blocked these efforts to switch from their service to Google’s site. This was a good move on Facebook’s part but had unfortunate consequences for Google+ because users could not easily transfer their contacts from one social network to the other.

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Back in early September I wrote about the importance of brand names and the effects that names can have on marketing and brand perception. Recently it was reported that RIM, the company behind the popular BlackBerry phones, is facing criticism for the name of their newest phone operating system. RIM announced that they would be calling the newest BlackBerry OS BBX. Unfortunately for RIM a company has already claimed that name, sort of. As reported by the NY Times a company in New Mexico called Basis International has a trademark on the name BBx and has decided that RIM’s newest OS bears too close of a resemblance to their product. Experts speculate that Basis International may want to gain share in the mobile app development market and that by going up against RIM for this blunder they might do just that.

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 Awhile back I wrote about how sites like Google and Facebook were being criticized for their collection of user data like location and search history. Many people (and consumer rights groups) felt that this was a violation of privacy and were especially offended that this information was being used to sell them things (even if targeting people by search history and location often provides a better user experience along with the increase in conversion rate). Facebook addressed these concerns by updating their system and making the way that people shared information more transparent. Google decided today that they were going to make an effort to make users feel more secure when using their search services.

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Last week I wrote about how video marketing can be an important part of a brand’s marketing strategy. The end goal for most video marketers and individuals is for their video to go “viral”. First, I will explain the term “viral” as it applies to online content.

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Since inSegment is an online marketing agency we don’t usually talk about traditional forms of advertising. First, I will start off by defining “traditional” media. Media that is considered traditional is any platform that existed prior to the launch of the web. This includes print advertising (magazine and newspapers primarily but posters and flyers as well), radio (excluding music streaming services like Pandora and Spotify of course) and television. There are some other categories of advertising (like telemarketing) but those three are the ones that account for the largest portion of many companies’ ad budget. In fact, The NY Times recently reported that 38% of advertising budgets is being spent on television advertising in major companies. This is despite the fact that more and more people are watching television online.

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