EeZee Web Blog

After the introduction of the iPad2 in March 2011 having a business case for an iPad has become rather more interesting.

Not long ago I saw a rather funny cartoon of Steve Jobs telling the crowd "I'll simplify a lot of tasks you never had to do before". I initially had a laugh to myself and then had a good think about this.  Why is this the case?

It is often true that people are attracted by shiny objects and in business it is exactly the same. Ultimately it is important that all the tools you have access to provide and help you do you job more efficiently.  So have we as a result of the iPad created tasks we never had to do? I am sure we have. I see a lot of people spending time consuming social media on an iPad.  Other consuming "tasks" that are not business related are games and movies. I feel most people would have not played or watched these but now do because it is so accessible via the App Store.



So here are my top 10 most helpful apps that I have used on the iPad for business:

1. Evernote - excellent for taking notes and synchronizes with your desktop and your iPhone.
2. Reeder - great for consuming a lot of content and staying current in your market and passion.
3. PDF Expert - excellent for signing documents on the run, no printing and faxing!
4. iThoughtsHD - gather your thought, create sitemaps for clients.
5. Dropbox - basically keep all files I want to access on my desktop, laptop, iPhone and iPad from here.
6. GoToMeeting - attend meetings and webinars on the go.  Works well but you cannot see comments.
7. TextExpander - lets you shortcut typing for all common email responses.
8. 1Password - makes sure you have strong passwords and can access them from all devices.
9. Flipboard - probably the nicest way to consume all your social media.
10. Instapaper - great way to save and read content without distraction offline.

It is clear that you can create a business case  to use the iPad.  I would however highlight that you need to be disciplined in doing so as it is very easy to get consumed with other things that can waste time.

As people start to wind down for Christmas holidays in 2010 I am looking at what is going on in our business.  Surprisingly nothing has slowed down and does not look to be slowing down either.  Last week we launched our largest project with a long standing partner of ours and we have many more on the way.  So how do you make money while on holidays?

Simple, have an online presence, be it a website, blog, online store, Facebook to name a few.  We forget, people do not stop looking for products, solutions and all sorts of things everyday.  They may be off work but they are all looking and searching.  Over this Christmas in 2010 people will be renovating, doing up their kitchens, doing the gardening, painting and even searching for great holidays.

So it means that being found is the key.  Speaking to one of our clients last week, The Complete Kids Party they told us that sales were going very well.  They wanted a rest over Christmas!  But guess what, their online store does not close for Christmas.  Kids have birthdays every day so they will continue to make money while traditional stores close for the holidays and loose business.

If you want to be found and make money while everyone is on holidays then contact EeZee Web now.

One Page Does One Thing.

Why is this such an important idea? Because you have 3-8 seconds to catch your Website visitor's attention!

Too many people have so much happening on their Website, that their visitors end up confused! Worse still, some Websites have 'diversions' competing for the visitors' attention. A good example of this is 'Follow me' links to Facebook and Twitter pages that sit in prominent positions on a Web page. If this is the first thing your Site visitors see, they are likely to ignore what the page is really about, follow those links and end up on Facebook or Twitter but never come back to your Site!

Is your Web page's 'one thing' clearly and easily leading your visitor to do what you want them to do on that page? Let me give you four examples so you can understand this better.

• At Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com) they want you to "Watch a Video" and "Download Dropbox". You will notice there is no other distraction on the page and no avenue for you to do anything else.
• At Tungle.me (http://www.tungle.me) also, they want you to watch their video and "Signup for free". Notice that while there are other things on the page, the actions they want you to do standout because of their colour and bold heading “Scheduling made easy”. They also have a list of “Featured In” showing all the places they have been in the news. This lends them credibility.
• At Picnik (http://www.picnik.com), they want you to "Get started now!", so they've pit this in the middle of the page - you cannot miss it! There is also a bold headline "Photo editing made fun" just so you don't forget why you need to use Picnik now.
• At Google (http://www.google.com), they want you to search. There is no other distraction until you hover near the top of the page and the other Google services appear.

To make sure One Page Does One Thing:

• Keep your pages simple - simple enough for a 12 year old to understand! No fancy jargon and boring, complicated language!
• Be clear what the objective of a page is and stick to it.

Follow these 3 Steps to Improve Pages on your Website

Look at other Websites in your industry and those you compete with and see:

1. What are the successful ones doing?
2. What are the unsuccessful ones doing?
3. Now look at your Site and change it so that every page leads your visitors clearly, to do what you want them to do on that page.

Google loves local search results.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a Chinese restaurant to get some take-away. The first thing I did was to search for Chinese restaurants in the area. Believe it or not, I found only one with a local Google listing! I then tried to find their menu online but couldn't - they didn't have a Website!

More and more people are using specific location criteria to find things on Google. A large number of these searches are done on the go - approximately 32% of people with an iPhone or some sort of Smart Phone conduct local search (Google). To go back to my example, I searched for 'Chinese Restaurant Baulkham Hills'.  In the case of this search, Google Maps listed all the Chinese Restaurants in Baulkham Hills that had a Google Local Business Center Listing.

Having a Google Local Business Center Listing is a vital and valuable way to promote your business, services and products in your local target market.

6 steps to get started with your free Google Local Business Center Listing

1. Search for your company in Google like this - 'your-company your-location'. If the listing exists, you will see a map and your company's details.  This is also to check if anybody else has provided the listing. I often see 'Business listings provided by Yellow Pages®'.
2. Go to Local Business Center.
3. Watch the introductory video.
4. Add your listing with your logo, address, opening times, services, pictures and video. The more information you add, the better.
5. Verify your listing by phone.
6. Wait and search for your listing in Google, this can take between 20 minutes to a couple of hours.

A survey showed that 82% of local searchers followed their search up with a phone call, in-store visit or purchase (TMP-comScore)! Enough reason to get yourself a great Google Local Business Center Listing?

Why use online marketing?

Thanks to work, I meet a lot of small to medium business owners and am often surprised at how they forget to market their Website online. I often hear comments like "people will find me on Google" or "I am not spending anymore money. I've spent it all on my Website". When I ask, "... if you have a store front and no one knew where to find it, how would they visit your store and become a customer?", the answer is usually, "I don't know"!  Just like in the real world, no customers through your Website's 'front door' means no sales. 

The first thing to do is use your online budget more effectively by saving on Website design. Use existing, highly customisable templates and tools. You really do not need to go out and spend tens of thousands of dollars to design a Website from scratch!  The money you save by doing this, you can use to promote your Website with online marketing.

Three ways to use online marketing to get more people to your Website

1. List your business in Google's free Local Business Center. (http://www.google.com/local/add). This will ensure that your company shows up on search results when somebody does a search in your area, for the kind of business/services you offer.   Example: mobile beauty sydney will show search results for all mobile beauty service companies in Sydney.
2. Add your business to local business directories. Many offer free listing services! (http://www.truelocal.com.au/, http://www.localbusinessguide.com.au/, http://www.livepages.com.au/, http://www.searchmysuburb.com.au).
3. Market your business using Google AdWords. This works on the pay-per-click principle. You only pay when somebody clicks on your ad in Google's search results, to come to one of your Website pages. Click costs start as low as 11c per click!

Google AdWords is a great way to begin and if you're strategic about it, your Website can be displayed at the top of the search engine results page for your targeted keywords. The 'trick' is to use the right keywords... the ones your target customer is using to search on Google. This is a science in itself, so I am not surprised when I hear clients say how they had a go and ended up spending thousands of dollars and getting few or no results. An experienced search engine specialist can help you get qualified visitors and buyers (not window shoppers using up your online marketing budget) on to your Website via Google AdWords.

Finally here is how to check if you're on Google? Type in "site:www.yoursitenamehere.com.au" in the Google search bar.  If you see results of your pages then it has been seen by Google.