You may have noticed the recent significant changes to the appearance of the Google search engine website. Google is constantly changing their search engine to provide better, more relevant search results to visitors, and we work with a number of our clients to keep their websites optimised for Google’s changing algorithms. I expect the most recent user interface changes to ultimately have a significant impact on the effectiveness of your website’s rank in Google.

Depending on what browser you are using, when you go to http://www.google.com.au/ you may no longer see the ‘pages from Australia’ option which used to be found just below the search box. After entering your search terms (helped by Google’s new autocomplete feature in the search box) and hitting enter / go, you will see a left hand navigation with lots of new options in it, including a ‘Pages from Australia’ option. You can click on that link to restrict the search results to just Australian sites.

The new options in the left hand navigation include additional ways to restrict the search results, which will help you find what you are really after more quickly. You can specify that you want results for content published in, say, the past 24 hours. You can also search for content over a specified date range. The oldest content I found for our eNudge online solution was published in 2005.

It is my view that many people who have been using Google for years won’t be using the new functionality yet - there’s been much demand for the old, simpler view to be returned! I have also noticed that our clients, who have regularly visited particular websites, now find that those websites appear higher in their list of results compared to the results that other people see. This is an important behaviour to be aware of when you are evaluating your Google rank.

As people start using the more advanced searching options, it will become even more important to ensure that your content is kept fresh and change often. This ties in with the growing use of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networking sites by businesses. Similarly blogs continue to be advantageous as posts are usually considered fresh, up-to-date content by Google, and therefore more likely to be listed quickly.

In addition to the user interface changes, Google has recently improved their ability to find and index new website content (dubbed ‘Google Caffeine’), making it allegedly twice as quick for new content to appear in the search engine results. This is likely to help existing websites, who publish content regularly, to have that new content appear very quickly.

If you have tried out Google’s new features, share what you think of them by adding your comment below.

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I’m often asked what the next big thing is going to be in the IT industry. I’ve been thinking lately about Apple’s amazing success with the iPhone and how many people who are PC users through and through (myself included) have embraced the iPhone as a must have due to how easy it is to use. I continually hear stories of pain trying to get smart phones setup to receive emails and connect to the internet; with an iPhone it’s a breeze.

Given Apple’s recent amazing successes, it struck me the ‘next big thing’ in technology is probably going to come from Apple, and perhaps that ‘next big thing’ will be the iPad. Whilst initial reviews show that there is a long way to go for the iPad to be really useful, Apple wasn’t initially successful with the iPhone either, but made changes based on user feedback.

Australians have shown themselves to be keen to take up the new technology with Apple stores around the country selling more than anticipated, with uncertainty around when new stock will arrive.

Do you have an iPad or know someone who does? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

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There are people who passionately answer Yes to this question, as well as those who passionately say No, it doesn’t matter - what is more important is the product / price of your goods or service, and that the website is easy to use. In taking this side of the argument, an example is usually given of a very basic / ugly looking website, which is easy to use, and has a large sales volume going through it continually. Who wouldn’t want the sales volume?

It’s the ‘form over function’ debate.

So how can we account for the ugly, yet very successful, website?

• An excellent sales and marketing strategy.

However, you have to think that if you continue with the excellent sales and marketing strategy, and add a great looking and easy to use site to the mix, then surely the results would be even better?

I’ve just received an email from a client telling me that her business has increased dramatically since we moved her website from being a basic one page design (it wasn’t ugly, but it certainly needed improvement) to a professional looking site with pages describing her services, testimonials, her background, etc.

The bottom line is that getting the most out of your web presence is, and always has been, about doing a range of things well: a design that connects with your target audience, a site that is easy to use and guides the visitor to where they need to be (this is about design, content and functionality), a strategy to market your site (and your business) to attract prospects and stay connected to your client base over the long term, and a well-oiled system to handle website enquiries and deliver your product/service.

It is possible to do better than your competitors by only doing some of these things well; but if you achieve them all, then you will certainly receive the results.

At Contact Point we are passionate about both the form and the function of a website, with different members of our team specialising in these different areas. We can also assist you with marketing your website and utilising email / SMS marketing to stay connected to your customer base.

What do you think?

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My humble predictions for 2010, in the area of technology for small business are as follows:

• use of iPhones and other Smart Phones for browsing the internet, collecting mail, etc will increase at a steady pace (I took up an excellent mobile offer that included an iPhone just before the end of December, so give me a call if you want to hear about my experience).  This doesn’t mean that you have to rush out and change your website for very small screens because the smart phones handle full size websites fairly well, but having an alternative version of important data access areas of your site could be worthwhile e.g. for data searches / operational data entry / ordering functions and the like.
• larger businesses, who to a large degree have held back from embracing the internet and electronic channels for marketing, will employ email and sms marketing to a greater degree, integrating traditional media and web-based campaigns to reach out in a meaningful way to their target market and existing clientele.  This will take away some of the competitive advantage that smaller, more agile businesses have had over their larger competitors.  It will also mean that your marketing campaigns have to be even more focused on delivering value and unique messages, not just selling.
• more and more people will use Google to find things on the web, and generally use the internet as a research tool.
• social networking sites will gather more momentum in the business arena, primarily through LinkedIn, Plaxo and Xing (rather than Facebook and Twitter), but I think there is still a long way to go before their use in this realm becomes imperative, and level of use will vary dramatically between industries.
• cloud computing / software-as-a-service where you utilise internet-based servers to run shared software applications and store your operational information will continue to grow at a slow-moderate pace, as businesses still prefer the bricks and mortar approach of having control of their data and applications within their own environment.  
• Finally, it’s fairly clear that Broadband speeds and computer processor speeds will continue to get faster and cheaper and hard disk capacity will increase while the physical size of the disks will reduce and become cheaper per gigabyte.  Will we use all this extra cheaper speed and capacity?  I expect to see the improvement in technology infrastructure paving the way for a myriad of innovative gadgets and software applications to make it easier to do common tasks, from anywhere.  Perhaps one of these will be the next “killer app”.

What’s your thoughts?  Found a killer app lately?  Add your comments below.

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Though it’s been around for over 10 years now, the concept of Software-as-a-Service model is becoming more prevalent, helped by the increasing launch of new web based applications such as Google Apps, and dare I self-promote, eNudge!

So what is Saas? Wikipedia describes it as “… a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand. SaaS software vendors may host the application on their own web servers or download the application to the consumer device, disabling it after use or after the on-demand contract expires.” The model is pay as you use, for what you use.

There are lots of benefits, the most common being: cheaper software costs, paying for software just while you need it, without high costs of installation and purchase, and easier to work with others and remotely from your organisation through web-based applications.

I know that some of you are using SaaS applications to assist you to collaborate with virtual teams e.g. Google Calendar. So, I have three questions:

1/ Are you satisfied with the reliability and performance of the applications?
2/ Have you found them to be value for money?
3/ Are you considering utilising more SaaS applications in future e.g. are you considering using Google Docs (the SaaS ‘equivalent’ to Word, Excel and Powerpoint), Gmail for Business (rather than Outlook)?

Share your answers by posting a comment below.

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In our edition of eNudge News describing 4 Keys for Business Growth in 2009, the 3rd key was:

Continue to grow your List by promoting your communications in all your customer touch points. This is very important as it does two things: 1/ ensures that you keep focused on your communications with your customers. If your emailing / sms list is continuing to grow there will be less chance that you will tire of sending your messages, and 2/ adds new prospects to the start of the sales process. Most people need to feel that they trust you and understand what you can do for them before they will be ready to buy.

Here are 10 ideas for ensuring you are making the most of all your customer touchpoints:

1. Invoices - one of the most neglected touchpoints in terms of promoting the benefits of your products and services. You should use a portion of your invoices to:
   describe the benefits your products or services offer, or
   draw attention to other products that the customer is not currently purchasing, or
   promote special offers.
2. At point of sale - supermarkets do this with the chocolate bars and magazines sitting at the check outs. If you have a shopping cart facility on your website, are you suggesting related products to your customers just before they checkout? Amazon has been doing this for years. If you have a retail store, ensure that your sales staff ask customers if they are on your mailing list so that they know when the latest products come into store, and so that they hear about sales.
3. New Customer Telephone Enquiries - when the phone rings and it’s a new enquiry, part of your standard process for handling the enquiry should be to ask if you can add the person to your mailing list. Make sure you describe the benefits of receiving the messages, and how frequently they will be delivered. If you describe these things and then ask for permission (and the person’s email address), if the caller is at all interested in your products or services 9 times out of 10 they will be happy to be placed on your mailing list.
4. Meetings with Prospects - at your meeting to discuss a potential new client’s requirements, make sure you ask them if they would like to go on your mailing list. Again… advise them of the benefits and frequency of messages, and most times they will be happy to be added to your list. This gives you further opportunity to build trust with the prospect.
5. Written Proposals - make sure you add a section at the end of your proposal that promotes other products / services you provide, which may also be of interest to the prospect. Describe the benefits of being added to your mailing list in the proposal, which will also act as a trigger for you to ask for their permission to be added.
6. Business Cards - if there’s space, include your unique selling proposition and how to sign up for your mailing list perhaps on the back of your card. You can also have cards printed that have a perforated, tear off section that a prospect can fill in to give you permission to add them to your list. As you hand your card to a customer or prospect, that will also act as a prompt for you to ask the consent question.
7. Letterhead and other Stationery - include a statement of the benefits of your products and services, and a web address to sign up for your newsletter - again describing in brief the benefits and timeframe for sending.
8. Printed / Online Directory listings - depending on available space, your slogan or statement of benefits of working with your organisation should be included in the listing.
9. Meetings Prospects at Networking Events - if you meet a person who is genuinely interested in your products or services, but might not be quite ready to transact with you yet, ask them if they would like to be added to your mailing list to hear about what your other customers are doing / hear about special offers etc.
10. Front page of your Website - this seems obvious, but many businesses who have a mailing list don’t promote it well on their website. It should be on the front page of your site, allowing a visitor who is interested in your offering but not yet ready to transact, to still connect with you.

Out of 10, how many ideas are you already employing? What have we missed?

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An article I read recently about shopping carts has radically changed my view on the best process for the final step of checking out. The Contact Point shopping cart requires a customer to ‘register’ with the website or log in with their email address and a password if they are a returning customer, in order to finalise their purchase.

It turns out that many many people are put off by the requirement to register, but by simply changing this screen to give the customer one more option - to continue their purchase without registering - provided an online business an increase of 300 million dollars (that’s USD) in sales over a one year period.

This quote from the article sums up my [previous] view of the issue:

The team saw the form as enabling repeat customers to purchase faster. First-time purchasers wouldn’t mind the extra effort of registering because, after all, they will come back for more and they’ll appreciate the expediency in subsequent purchases. Everybody wins, right?

Instead, their research showed that the requirement to register was resented by a large percentage of their test audience, who felt that they weren’t there to be in a relationship; they just wanted to make a purchase quickly. Returning customers also had issues because they couldn’t remember their username and password, so a large number of return visitors ended up registering again; thus making it harder for the retailer to do anything useful with the data on return visits.

We’ve taken this research on board in the Contact Point Shopping Cart, and have already implemented a change across 3 shop sites, allowing customers to purchase without registering. For an example, check out the Melbourne Storm Shop.

Some of our client sites will still want to ensure that customers register, for reasons of additional functionality such as shopping lists, and storing sensitive information. In the remaining circumstances, we will be in touch with you over the next few weeks to discuss implementing the change.

What do you think? Has the requirement to register ever put you off from making a purchase online?

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The following predictions are made by Contact Point for the most important technology opportunities that will exist in 2009 for small to medium enterprises in Australia:

1. The Internet will continue to grow in its use as a research tool before businesses / consumers make decisions on products, services and getting involved in organisations.
   This means you should make it very easy for people to find the key benefits (not features!) of your products and services on your website, and testimonials / product reviews on your site (and other websites) will grow in importance. It also means that if your website presents your business poorly because it is out of date and looks unattended, you will be missing out on business.
    
2. The Internet will continue to grow as a place to purchase goods and services, particularly niche products, and products where it is much more convenient to shop online instead of going to a physical store or waiting in a telephone queue.
   Allowing your website visitors to purchase goods and services doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive if you are just selling one or two items; in this case allowing customers to pay by PayPal or direct deposit will be acceptable. If you have a wide range of products then you need a full shopping cart system, and provide credit card payment options.
    
3. Search Engine Optimisation will be important to ensure that people find your business via the search engines, but when this happens those visitors are comparing you with others (e.g. getting 3 quotes).
   Therefore if you are wanting to capitalise on search engine optimisation your website content has to be compelling, it must inspire visitors to get in touch, and your follow up and all facets of your response have to be excellent in order to win the business.
    
4. Pay per click online advertising will provide great results for certain types of products and services.
   Testing is needed to ensure a good ROI is available for your particular business. We recommend that you allocate a budget and run tests of different advertisements over a minimum of one month, measuring to ensure that you know which enquiries were generated from which ads, and track the outcome of each enquiry. We expect high value products with an internet savvy target market to benefit the most out of pay per click advertising, but you have to test!
    
5. Social networking will continue its rapid growth. Participants will more deliberately separate their business networks from their personal networks. Tools in social networking will continue to improve to make it easier to connect with others, get real conversations happening, and also to manage your multiple networks.
   I believe that organisations that can provide not only online networking opportunities but also physical connection opportunities, marrying the two, will be the winners. People still want face to face interaction.
    
6. Because it allows much more rich communication, the use of video online will grow in popularity, and almost be expected in certain market segments.
   It’s important for your business to embrace video in communicating with your visitors about who you are, what benefits your products and services provide, and how your products and services can be used.
    
   
7. The integration of television programs and radio programs with the internet will expand. Expect to see more ‘continue to chat with us online after the show’ and a more options for viewing / listening to programs or segments again online. There are still huge opportunities available for the media and entertainment industry to improve the experience of their viewers and grow their viewer base through viral marketing (visitors sending online content to their friends and family).
   Business owners who can present on television or radio have great opportunities here also.
    
8. The astute use of electronic marketing (email and sms) will provide great benefits to business via more sales and improved customer retention.
   Your messages must add value and provide unique offers and opportunities to interested recipients. Adding value is made easier when you target your messages to relevant sub groups of your contacts, not just sending everything to all. I make this prediction not based on my personal desire to promote eNudge, but based what I continue to see happening in the business of eNudge subscribers which are expanding through electronic marketing. Even the major banks are starting to use email marketing, despite their ‘traditional’ view that they can’t use email because of the security risks (being a major target for phishing attacks). So few businesses in Australia are using electronic marketing well, that the scope for increased sales and improved customer retention is significant.
    
   
9. The scourges of spam, viruses, phishing, trojans and other malware will continue to try and infect your PC and rip you off. Overall I don’t expect this to grow in impact, but nor will it abate.
   You need to continue to be vigilant, ensure that your computer(s) are protected with firewalls and anti-virus solutions, and don’t click on links that look even remotely suspect. I’ve noticed a decrease in phishing emails pretending to be from the major banks, and an increase purportedly from the next tier down instead e.g. the Australian Trading Post. So again, stay vigilant, and if you’re not sure ask the company allegedly sending the email, or ask your technology support provider, before clicking on links or opening attachments.
    
   
10. Taking control of your internal technology systems for managing networks, backups, application access, hardware, internet and email use will continue to be vital to the smooth operation of business.
    If you have a great service provider in this area, maintain your relationship as they can be hard to find! If not you need to find yourself an excellent provider in this area - we can provide some recommendations.

What do you think?

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Many of the tools that have been available on the internet for some time, are now being utilised by businesses and delivering real results in the areas of sales, branding and relationships with other business.

You should at least consider how the following tools may help you extend the reach of your business:

Social networking - more business people everyday are starting to use online social networking tools for networking with business colleagues, not just gathering more online ‘friends’. Many of my colleagues (and I’m in this situation as well) have their details listed on a number of different business oriented social networking tools such as Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Xing as well as some of the more ‘traditionally’ leisure time networks such as FaceBook and MySpace. These last two are also increasingly being used for business purposes.

Next time you are looking for a particular type of business, consider using your online networks to find that business. One way to do this is to use the Ask A Question feature in LinkedIn. Kathie Thomas of A Clayton’s Secretary uses this facility very well to extend her business.

Another way to utilise these online networks is to provide comment on your topic of expertise via a Blog and invite others to comment / learn from you.

Yet another way is to join a topic group (such as those in Plaxo) and comment on / add posts to the group about that topic, thus helping to establish yourself as an expert in the area.

Video promotion - promoting a key solution you have to a particular problem can be done quite easily via video sharing websites, the most popular of which is YouTube. The recent American elections saw many videos added to YouTube by both sides of politics. Creating the video doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and can be just a recording of your PC slide show or navigation around the screen + sound narration. The funnier / more quirky your video is, the more likely it is that people will tell their friends about it. The more popular the video, the more likely it is that people will find the video via YouTube features such as ‘Videos Being Watched Right Now’ and ‘Most Viewed’, ‘Most Discussed’ etc. There is also the opportunity to pay to promote your video in the ‘Promoted Videos’ section.

Tools to help people manage their favourites - as people use the internet more and more, managing favourites can quickly become very difficult using the browser ‘favourites’ facility. That’s why tools such as Stumble Upon, Del.icio.us, Digg and Furl have become so popular. We’re linking to each of these sites from our of our recent client projects. Linking to the bookmarking sites from your site makes it that bit easier for people who use these tools to add a link to your site, and serves as a reminder as did the old ‘Add to Favourites’ link.

News sites - allowing you to submit news articles for dissemination around the internet such as Reddit (where you can, by topic, quickly see what’s hot, new, controversial and top), Digg, Propeller and Newsvine. In the words of Newsvine: ‘updated continuously by citizens like you, Newsvine is an instant reflection of what the world is talking about at any given moment’.

Clearly, you’re not going to be able to do all of the above at once. I suggest that you choose one or two ideas that are appropriate to your business, and give those a try. Apart from potentially reaching new audiences about your business, participating in the above sites can also help to build your rank in the search engines.

Areas such as social networking take time to develop into meaningful results; both time that you need to put in, and also elapsed time for other participants to see that you are sticking around and getting involved. This is not surprising; it’s just like face to face networks. The difference is that you can meet people all around the world in your area of expertise, not just the people that can meet at a nearby venue.

If you would like to recommend or share your story about using any of the above or different tools, please feel free to post your comments.

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News coming out of the USA indicates that online auctions are becoming serious contributors to funds raised by charities. This article published on 23rd July describes the tools being used to run the online charity auctions, including eBay, and details of the millions of dollars being raised on the sale of novelty items.

Obviously the US market is different to ours, not just in size, but our not-for-profit clients may like to consider adding a new bow to their fund raising quiver. Now to find those highly sort after items to auction…

Let’s all get involved and help brainstorm something to auction - post your ideas here.

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