Getting People to Come Back to Your Site

Posted on Dec 31, 2008 by Nicole to General

Getting people to come back to your site is something that every company wants and needs. I’ve gone to hundreds of websites while surfing the internet. I realize that 99% of them I do not return to. I can probably list all of the websites I go to on a daily or weekly basis on my fingers and toes. I can say that most people come back because they are members of the site, they know and trust that the site can provide what they need by one press of the button. Now, out of thousands of really good websites why do people only go to a select few and how do businesses keep them coming back?

For four years I’ve worked for companies whose businesses are solely internet based. They ran a monthly special and promoted the heck out of it and numbers always sky rocketed. People love to get a deal and feel like they finally get a break. Sure most online businesses offer “Specials” and “Discounts” but how do customers know about these deals, they’d have to visit the site every day! People just don’t see ads anymore, most of the time they go directly to what they need. They ignore all pop ups and fast moving bright flashy banners that tell them what’s new and what’s on sale. Honestly those banners don’t work for me and I do anything I can to block them from my view, like make my window smaller so I only see content I need to see.

So back to the question of how to get your customers to notice a “Special”, I say you should blast blast blast an email! People give their email out like they give chicken pox when their in kindergarten. Business’s have free access to people’s personal time and email, so make an email blast but make it hot and straight to the point with links that go straight to the deal! Don’t make an email just to your site where the user has to fish for the special. Get them interested, get them to your product, and then get them to buy. I also think a great designer is key to any surviving website, and I’m not just saying this because I am a designer. But without a good designer, a good programmer is useless and vice versa. Oh, not to mention if it’s not a well designed email blast you can be sure it will be deleted and any future blasts will be marked spam and go directly to the junk folder or what I like to do is “unsubscribe” that way they know their email blasts suck. I do keep the creative email blasts and yes I do go back to their website and check out what’s new, I’m a fan of William Sonoma’s and Bebe but that’s my interests. It’s also important for someone who is revisiting a site to see new things, new products, new colors, and most important new content.

Just wrap your head around how many sites you’ve been too, it’s a lot. Now think of the sites you go back to. Now think of why. Is it mostly because of the information they are able to provide you or because USPS is taboo for keeping in touch? You really do expect a lot from any site you visit and it does take a lot of components to make a good site. It takes functionality, accurate information, the product and the follow up. Another good technique for continuing business is the follow up, when you get a new comment on your social page you get an email, when you pay a bill you get an email, when you buy anything you get an email. People are now programmed to receive emails for anything they do on the internet. Wouldn’t it be a great idea for your company to utilize this free program? Slip another sale item in there or if you have really great marketing you can tell what demographic they are from and then place an ad that they would be interested in. The internet is growing so fast that you have to be ahead of what everyone else does and you have to pick up on trends right away. One trend that people will be slowing down on is “going green”, one trend they are picking up on is “change”. I’d like to see more online sites step up and create their own trend and stop following what everyone was doing 4 years ago.

In conclusion there is so much an online business can do to get people to come back to their business but it starts with a great product and a good company behind it. After that, hand it off to someone who knows what they are doing and trust them to make your website work, a website people will continue to visit.

PPC Advertising – Brand Name Bidding

Posted on Dec 29, 2008 by Rick to Pay Per Click

In the past, we’ve talked a little about the importance of running pay per click campaigns for searches related to your brand name. We’ve discussed several reasons why, even when your website ranks #1 organically for your brand name, you can still benefit from bidding on your brand name. Today, I want to talk about a couple more strategies that can be implemented when bidding on your and your competitors’ brand names.

Another reason to bid on your brand name

Pay per click ads are great for promoting specials. Having an end of season sale or trying to promote a new package or product discount? Try running pay per click ads promoting your specials and packages. When customers search for your brand, they will not only see the organic listing for your website, but also the ad promoting your most recent promotion. The advantage to running these ads is that you not only draw attention to your promotion sooner (at the point where customers are searching for you), you can also utilize a custom landing page better suited to promoting the special than your homepage might be. This may seem pretty obvious but many advertisers forget this method of promoting specials.

Bidding on your competitor’s brand name

Let’s say that your competitor has just launched a massive offline promotion aimed at driving people to their website. You can be pretty sure that searches related to your competitor’s brand name or their promotion will greatly increase in the upcoming days as consumers are exposed to the radio, TV, newspaper or other offline ads. Remember that the consumers searching during this campaign are more likely to be interested in your product or service because as they are motivated to search out the special offer they head about elsewhere. Consider running ads for your competitor’s brand name simultaneously as their promotion runs. In your ad, create a similar but better offer that will be likely to draw motivated buyers your way. In a sense, you’re piggybacking on your competitor’s ad which has attracted motivated buyers. Your main challenge will be swaying these searchers to purchase from you, instead. This strategy is most effective in situations where your product is a direct substitute and is considered to be ‘equal’ to your competitor’s.

Tags: brands, ppc tricks

THAT Agency Proudly Launches ME-Barcelona.com

Posted on Dec 16, 2008 by Damien to Projects

Sol Melia Hotels naturally turned to THAT Agency to once again deliver a five star website for their five star hotel located in Barcelona, Spain. The creative and vibrant result is ME-Barceona.com, a site that defines luxury, class and elegance in an urban setting.

Using a mix of vibrant aesthetics and thoughtful usability, THAT Agency proved it’s energy and creativity in producing a website of this caliber. Custom, clean, sleek and function driven design mimics the very essence of sophistication that comes with visiting a ME brand Hotel.

Using the latest in AJAX techniques, Flash animations and storylines, ME-Barcelona.com is a rich and full online experience of the hotel. Built on a solid PHP platform the site features several interactive photo galleries, online house music samplings and a full series of virtual tours – this site truly lets the user visit the site before ever booking a room.

Delivered in both English and Spanish the site spans a wide and diverse audience across the globe. Catering to the most sophisticated and discerning visitors it supplies the means to quickly and easily find what you need efficiently.

ME Barcelona is pure style.

View our hotel website design solutions.

Tags: Hotel Site, ME Barcelona, new website, site launch, web design firm

Effectiveness

Posted on Dec 4, 2008 by Neil to General, Web Design

First off id like to say that this blog entry pertains specifically to design but I do believe these principles apply to many (if not all) aspects of life.

When faced with huge tasks, effective use of your time is critical. Its probably the deciding factor of whether or not a project turns out amazing or just average. Effective designers usually have a system they follow and these systems allow you to follow a routine with your workflow. What’s great about having a routine  is that it takes the guesswork out of the process and allows you to free your mind up to concentrate on being creative.

Without any question the place where I developed my understanding of the importance of  this concept was while working at snowboarder magazine. Here we had a small crew that consisted of a photo editor, two editors, copy writer, and an art director. it allowed us to move quickly and make our own decisions but there was no room or time for mistakes. each month we delivered a 200 page book (magazine). The only way were able to achieve this was through strict teamwork and effective use of time.

The term effective is very critical here. To be effective you need to measure twice and cut once. Get the best photos on the page, place them so they have the most impact, then set the type around them. Photos create the visual impact so they take priority over the words. Once you have the items in place and the type is set…….bring in some design elements, align everything and hit save. Now move on.

Move on? thats right. this is what being effective is about. Don’t tinker with it.  The fact is – the page has its pictures in place and  the type is set with a basic design underway. So basically the article is 90% done.  At this point you should hit save and move on to the next article. This way you can get more pages out the door and as you get closer to your deadline you can gauge how much time you have left go back and hone your designs. Once you have a great deal of the articles assembled and saved it frees up your mind up to come up with cool colors schemes or layout styles knowing the nuts and bolts of the project are in place. I cant tell you how much time this system saves and it allows you to produce great work at a fast pace.

Earlier on I mentioned that these principles can be applied to many (if not all ) aspects of life. Take golf for example, every exceptional golfer has a rock solid and identical pre shot routine. It takes the guesswork out of preparing for the shot and frees up your mind to focus on the task at hand which in this case is making a great shot. This applies to personal habits as well. your morning routine if its evolved enough becomes automatic allowing you to plan for the day rather than dig around for your keys. The concept is a simple one but I strongly believe that having a routine is the key to being effective.