Writing a website brief is a key step towards obtaining an accurate website quote and ultimately building a site that meets your needs. Unlike mass produced bumper stickers, websites are custom created for each client.
In short, the web brief outlines what you are about, what you are looking for and who you are targeting. Even if you are seeking active suggestions and recommendations from your web agency, a brief is a good starting point for discussion. As the adage goes:
A quote is only as accurate as the brief it is based on.
Where possible, include reference links and screenshots of specific requirements. The more detail you can provide, the more inspiration your web team can glean! Think of it as describing symptoms to your GP so that she can make an accurate diagnosis.
To simplify matters, we have put together a briefing questionnaire, which you are welcome to download and fill out (Word format, 117 KB):
Facebook is one of the most effective social media tools at your disposal. Set up a Facebook fan page (start here) and you have instant access to a wide range of goodies:
- A wall to post updates and notices
- Albums to share pictures
- A video repository
- Forums to initiate conversation
- An events app with RSVP feature
- And many other free apps
Not only does this allow you to share content with a global audience, it provides a platform to listen, engage and interact with customers on an intimate level.
Facebook pages do not apply to B2C companies targeting the youth only. Organisations from Caterpillar to Deloitte are levering Facebook to build their brands.
Here are some ways you can use Facebook, along with inspiring case studies.
1. Share useful content
Use your wall to share valuable content with clients.
Dell’s “Social Media for Business” page is not peddling its latest products and deals, but is specifically geared to providing marketing tips for small businesses. The company found that a large portion of its user base consists of business owners grappling with "this social media thing". Consequently, they use their wall to provide links to useful articles on marketing, initiate discussions on hot topics, share case studies and whitepaper videos, organize tweetchats, and so on. Business owners in their network receive regular bursts of ideas and inspiration:
2. Use pictures
Another way to engage users is via the use of imagery.
Steelmaster Buildings – another non-traditional user of Facebook – found that its fan base soared when they launched their photo campaign. This campaign encourages users (which include farmers and industrial users) to upload photos of their products installed on site. Competitions run seasonally and the winner of the most popular photo receives a generous gift card.
Zappos, another example, encourages users to submit fan photos and posts the winning weekly entry directly as their Facebook logo:
Flip through our website marketing ebook below (Flash required).
It's official – twitter is no longer optional! Companies large and small are using twitter to connect with
customers, strengthen relationships, humanize their brand and manage large-scale marketing campaigns. When used correctly, twitter can be an excellent addition to your social media toolbox.
In this article, we cover the do's and don'ts of corporate tweeting for those starting off with this tool.
First off:
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a free online micro-blogging platform that allows you to post public messages 140 characters at a time. The brevity of messages as well as the immediacy of information sharing makes it a very unique communication tool. Twitter reached new heights of popularity in April 2009, when it was hyped up by the likes of Ashton Kutcher and Oprah Winfrey, and later featured on the cover of Time. Over a short period, it reached an unprecedented growth rate, gaining the reputation as the fastest growing online community.
So let's begin...
1. Don’t let your twitter page become a running informercial on your business
Resist the temptation to treat twitter like any other advertising medium – it doesn’t work that way. Twitter is designed for relationship building. The most successful corporate accounts provide insights and value to the general listener. This involves tweeting about the industry at large, sharing links to useful articles, providing commentary on topical events and starting conversations with your followers.
Now and then, inject a marketing-based tweet about yourself – a link to a web update, information on upcoming promotions and additions to your service portfolio.
A well accepted ratio is one tweet about yourself for every 6 tweets about the industry:
Watch out for Google Wave! It's set to come out later this year and completely re-structure the way we communicate electronically. Some have called it the most exciting thing Google has launched since it brought out Google.
So what is it?
Essentially an online collaboration tool, Google Wave looks to answer the question, "what would email look like if it was invented today?"
While traditional email is based on the snail mail concept – posting messages back and forth between individual recipients – Google Wave treats email as shared conversations (called waves), which users can open up and collaborate on in real time. As such, it merges elements of traditional email with instant messaging, wikis, web chat, file sharing, social networking and project management software. Sound complicated? It’s actually not. Here is an introduction on the key elements:
1. Real time communication
Instead of waiting for the proverbial postman to arrive, Google Wave users can communicate in real time, seeing messages instantly as they are being typed. This allows you to formulate faster queries and responses, similar to face to face scenarios. The full potential for this feature becomes clear when you see how it can be integrated with robots like Rosy and Stocky (more info below).
2. Multi user collaboration
Have you ever tried to wade through a multi-colour email where different users provide input on the same project? Over time, it becomes a technicolour nightmare! With Google Wave, multiple users can collaborate on the same wave, with clear denotations of who contributed what. Replies can be posted contextually within the message, and late comers can "play back" the entire conversation, seeing all amendments and replies in sequence.
3. File sharing and embedability
File sharing is super-easy with Google wave! Simply drag and drop your videos, photos, maps and documents from your hard drive directly into your wave client. This makes it easy to share files with particular users on specific projects – and could replace intranets and online file sharing apps. Furthermore, you can easily embed a wave on your blog or website, and see it update in real time. View the demo here.
An Overview of your Website Statistics
If you are a website client of ours, you will receive a monthly report on your website statistics. This report will give you a quick overview of the who, the when and the how - how many visitors access your site on a monthly basis, the geographical distribution of visitors, the keywords used to access your site, and so on.
Here is a quick overview on the key components of your report:
1. Site Usage
Let's start with site usage. The visits figure indicates the number of sessions initiated by all visitors to your site, ie. the total number of new and returning visitors. To hone down on the number of unique visitors, see page 3 further down in your report.
The bounce rate indicates the percentage of visitors who entered and left your website on the same page. A high bounce rate (eg. above 80%) could mean that your website is not "sticky" enough – there is not enough engaging content to retain visitors, and it would be a good idea to add more resources.
The pageviews figure indicates how many pages were viewed in total by all visitors. You can interpret this in conjunction with the pages / visit figure – simply, the average number of pages viewed per visit. Again, a low pages / visit ratio could mean that your website needs more valuable content relevant to your consumer.
Avg. time on site indicates how long people stay on your site (typically measured in minutes and seconds), while the percentage of new visits reveals the ratio of visitors who have accessed your site for the very first time. By reverse calculation, it will give you an indication of the percentage of returning visitors.
