Get a 2nd Opinion for your Website Project
Website 2nd opinions
Overview
Doing a website is a major undertaking and an important investment. A website is important to your business and your livelihood. As a business owner, it is hard to know if you are making the right decision. Therefore it is a good idea to get a second opinion from reputable trustworthy consultant that cares about the success of your livelihood.
- Will your website be able to grow with your business?
- Are you making the right technology and design choices?
- Are you paying too much?
Here is how it works.
Initial consultation
- We start with an initial consultation where we will talk about your website situation and your goals. This service is free
- We can review any website proposals you may have received
- During this discussion we will give you initial impressions about the internet project and any immediate pitfalls or concerns we see
Here is what else we can do for you:
- Give you questions to ask your contractor about the website project
- We can perform a in-depth analysis of your website project
- We can provide a competitive proposal
- We can develop new ideas that can be added on to your website
Click here to contact us
Wolf down direct answers from Wolfram|Alpha
Ever have trouble analyzing the current data of a particular stock or figuring out how many miles you have to walk each day to lose 20lbs. Relying on search engines such as Google or Yahoo, you come up with a list of web pages that have some of the keywords, but may not have the answers. Well your frustrations are over, now there is Wolfram/Alpha. Wolfram|Alpha is a “computational knowledge engine” available on the web. Unlike search engines that give you links, it takes factual queries and computes answers from structured data in the form of graphs and figures.
Wolfram|Alpha isn’t a site for any question, but the answers you’ll get to the questions you ask can’t be found anywhere else. For example, you can use Wolfram|Alpha to calculate activity-specific calorie burn, analyze illness symptoms and generic drug options, and make sense of your confusing family relationships.
Check out how Wolfram|Alpha answers the following:
The nutritional value of 10 M&M’s – http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10+peanut+M%26Ms
Calculate what a dollar amount from the past would be worth today –http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/HistoricalMoney.html
Compare cities – http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=New+York%2C+London%2C+Tokyo
Compare the unemployment rates of cities –http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=unemployment+rate+NYC%2C+Chicago
When is the next solar eclipse – http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=next+solar+eclipse
The range of topics is truly endless. View more examples here.
Wolfram|Alpha quenches one’s appetite for knowledge and makes all the direct answers you get a wealth of meaningful information to wolf down. No wonder it was voted the greatest computer innovation of 2009 by Popular Science.
Try it out here!
Measure Your Website Now
Nearly everyone agrees that having a website is essential for most businesses today. What many small businesses do not realize is when they do not actively monitor and measure their website’s performance they miss the opportunity to capitalize on their investment. So how do you make sure your getting the most from your site? Website Analytics is the spark of energy that illuminates the business potential locked in your website. It can turn a dim, dead, static website into a thriving information platform lighting the way to greater business profits.
Website Analytics tracks the traffic coming to your website. For example, it can tell you that a significant amount of visitors are coming from mobile devices, or using a certain keyword. This information can then be used to jump start a new marketing campaign for your business.
Here are some of the ways in which web analytics help improve your website’s response to your business:
- Low cost of entry
- Refine your keyword strategy and identify new keywords
- Segment and analyze website traffic by any metric that is important to your business including location, referrals, keywords, and time spent on site
- Improve your conversion rates (that is leads and sales!)
- Track the impact of any changes to your website
- Extend insights into online customer behavior to other channels of your business
- Learn the demographics of your visitors for better targeting
- Justify and make a case for specific website changes
- Improve your PPC (pay per click) campaign’s ROI (return on investment)
- Determine the most popular content on your website
- Cut unnecessary marketing costs by eliminating ineffective campaigns
- Save money on customer support
When measuring analytics always keep this in mind: “Don’t be data rich [and] insight poor,” says Jim Sterne in his book Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment. Analytics can tell you outright what is working for your online business. It helps you identify missed opportunities and help you process any online business problems.
It is important to agree on what your KPIs (key performance indicators) are before utilizing Analytics . Is a visitor’s geographic location important to you? Are mobile devices a factor to consider? Which keywords are being used by people to find your site on Google? Set your goals. Find where your best visitors come from and which campaigns worked for you in the past, then invest more money and resources there.
A no hassle way to keep your company’s website working optimally to boost sales and improve your business strategy is C2M Interactive’s periodic analytics review program. Click here to get started.
Give Your IT Professional Access to Your GoDaddy Account
Do you need to have an Internet professional do some work on your GoDaddy account, but don’t want to give out your password? You can set them up as an AccountExec which will give them rights to manage your products from their own account. You may revoke someone’s AccountExec status at any time.
In GoDaddy’s own words: “AccountExec lets someone manage your product accounts without compromising security.”
It’s really easy to setup, but the problem with GoDaddy is that it is hard to find and there is no direct link to the form. Also GoDaddy tries to over sell you on other services along the way, that it is easy to get lost in all the options.
So here is a link that takes you to the page on the GoDaddy site. It only works if you are logged into your account. Look at the diagram following the link for instructions on how to set it up.
https://mya.godaddy.com/Account/AccountSettings/AccountSettings.aspx?ci=17041
Need a 2nd opinion for your website project?
In most cases your website is vital to your business and important to your livelihood. You should make sure you are making the right decisions. A second opinion consultation from C2M Interactive is a great way to achieve that goal.
Click here to find out more about how our 2nd opinion service works. The initial consultation is free.
6 Savvy e-Commerce Tips
One day you wake up and you say to yourself this is the day. The last day you will have to wake up at 6am, commute long hours to work, or listen to your boss’s demands. Or perhaps you opened a store years ago that has had long-term success, but suddenly sales are dropping and you are looking for a way to stay competitive. In either case, you decide to start an e-commerce business. And according to the experts, you’re headed in the right direction. Studies suggest that E-commerce will thrive despite the economic turndown and more businesses will be investing in e-Commerce to attract more customers and keep their businesses afloat. Investing in e-Commerce can be a good move for merchants, but to make sure that your investment is successful you need a layout and design that gives your customer confidence. e-Commerce effectiveness is proven, but it’s success is not guaranteed. So before joining the bandwagon, consider some basic firsts or you might get lost in your own virtual store.
Consider the following tips for your online business:
1. Try to sell them something which can’t be found in the local store. Keep in mind that there are a plethora of options available to the consumer. It’s going to be near impossible to compete on price. So try to be unique. You may be surprised at the performance of a site that offers unique items or a selection of items that caters well to a very specific audience.
2. Show great, detailed pictures. Bear in mind that online pictures are free. Show great, detailed pictures. Let the user zoom in and appreciate the item you’re selling.
3. Write great copy and descriptions. Think of how the product will benefit the consumer. But don’t talk too much. Overselling kills. But don’t be afraid to show personality.
4. Take advantage of user permissions. Consumers are obsessed with being asked to sign up. Most often than not they do sign up even if it’s just to get coupons.
5. Utilize wish lists to the fullest extent. People love to shop when someone else like a friend or loved one will ultimately pay for the item. And studies have shown that the conversion rates for wish lists are very high. So let your customers store those Christmas lists on your website!
6. Encourage the posting of reviews. Great e-Commerce sites aren’t afraid of consumer reviews. Be it negative or positive, reviews help improve their site. It keeps your finger on the consumer’s pulse.
The main purpose of your e-Commerce site is not just to showcase your products and services, but also to provide them a business environment in which they can transact in the comfort of their homes. The number of consumers visiting your virtual store is a big factor. Keeping those consumers loyal to your store is another story.
Find your ecommerce solution now at http://www.c2minteractive.com/contact.php
Visualize What Words Mean
An online graphical dictionary? I didn’t believe it myself when I heard about it. So I clicked the url and presto! There it is! The graphical representation of word associations from a single word you’ve typed in or tried to look up the meaning of.
Visuwords™ is a dictionary and thesaurus rolled into one. It lets you look up words to find their meanings and relationships to other words and concepts. The graphical representation reminds one of a synaptic or neural nerve. With this visual aid, you learn how words connect to one another.
Visuwords™ is very easy to use. Just type the words in the search box and press enter. A node will appear onscreen and “burst” into numerous nodes with words on them. You can double-click a node to expand it further, revealing more word associations. You can also click and drag the background to pan around or use the mouse wheel to zoom in our out. To see definitions of the words, hover over the nodes; click and drag the individual nodes to move them around to further clarify the word connections.
What makes Visuwords™ fresh is the twist the developers added to make words fun. Rather than the usual online dictionary/thesaurus that have limited word meanings, Visuwords™ bring words together creating a cohesive understanding. This online graphical dictionary is also great for writers, journalists, students, teachers, and artists. It stokes up the fire of creativity to use words in new and novel ways.
See how Visuwords™ works, and who knows? You may never find yourself at a loss for words!
See how Visuwords™ works, and who knows? You may never find yourself at a loss for words!
Why criminals want your Facebook account
You may think that your facebook account is benign. You don’t spend any money there and it’s not like criminals can gain access to your PIN number. However, criminals deem these accounts to be very valuable. Criminals steal log-in data for Facebook accounts, typically with “phishing” techniques that tricks users into disclosing their passwords or with malware that logs keystrokes. They then use the accounts to send spam, distribute malicious programs and run identity and other fraud.
Facebook accounts are attractive because of the higher level of trust on the site than exists in the broader Internet. People are required to use their real names and tend to connect primarily with people they know.
Demand on Video Conferencing Soars High After Air Flight Ban
The ashes coming from a Vulcan in Iceland causes massive cancellation on flights in the European region. Many business travels had been disrupted from this flight bans and the huge ash clouds puts the business continuity on misery.
The unfortunate event brought Airline companies major losses but it open up a high demand on Videoconferencing. CISCO Systems announced that they got a huge spike of usage after the travel disruption on Europe caused by the Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano.
The rise of Videoconferencing demand was due to travelers stranded by the Icelandic volcano are using telepresence and videoconferencing to stay in contact with their businesses.
On Monday, Cisco became the biggest provider of Videoconferecing equipments as it finally closes the acquisition of Tandberg amounting to $3.3 billion.
Videoworks, a new Videoconferencing provider CEO also said that the timing of the Volcano’s disruption is just right and that most businesses should consider Videoconferencing as a vital part of the continuity of their businesses.
A boom of Videoconferencing market is expected because most companies are cutting travel expenses and will be relying on Videoconferencing and Teleconferencing for business transactions.
The 5 Players of a Web Development Team
You have finally decided to give your business an online presence. You are not sure if you need a web company or if you can just get one of those software packages. Before you decide you should know there is more to your online presence than just putting a website up on the internet. You want to make sure it helps grow your business. For your website to be a successful business tool it must pass through five phases of development. It doesn’t matter if these phases are carried out by an individual developer or a team. What is important is that none of these steps be overlooked in taking a project to completion. So before you hire your nephew, who “seems” to know something about the web ,to put up your site consider whether or not he has the following expertise.
- Strategist – The strategist is the tactician of the team. He determines what kind of approach to take and what things to consider first before starting the design process. Strategists are important because they can save you time and money as they set and help the team meet deadline, create the overall message, and target the right audience for your website.
- Designer – The designer implements the strategist’s visions. The designer is the one that provides a website interface for the user. The designer must see to it that the design is pleasant and the content is well delivered to the target audience. The designer usually works on the physical lay-out of the website such as the images, graphics and animations (if needed).
- Developer – The developers are the one in-charge of the functionality and the additional features of the website. The developer’s tasks involve providing the necessary plug-ins, widgets, modules, forums and different tools to improve the usability and performance of the site. The developer usually creates codes that will integrate social marketing or networking site to the website or code a program to optimize the website for the search engines.
- User – The user decides the fate of the website. When developing a website, the team must always put themselves in the place of the users. The team may think that they have the best strategy, design an “eye-candy” site or developed a ground-breaking widget, but if it doesn’t appeal to the user, then it is a waste of time and effort. It is a good practice to always remember that the website is being built for the user’s purpose and not for your own satisfaction.
- Marketer – The marketer is the strategist’s partner. The two must always collaborate on their plans of the site. The marketer’s works usually starts when the site is live and running. The marketer is the driving force after all the phases or the roles performed their tasks. He continues the SEO plans, links the site, improves the traffic, creates landing pages or in short – drives traffic to the site.
Each role must be performed skillfully to move a project forward through to the next stage. If the strategist comes up with a weak strategy then the designer will come up with a design based on that strategy and obviously it will be a faulty design. If the marketer fails to drive traffic to the site then no matter how well the other phases were carried out, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
RingCentral: World-class phone capabilities for business
RingCentral provides cloud computing based business phone systems designed for today’s mobile and distributed business world. The RingCentral technology platform eliminates the need for expensive and technically complex on-premise legacy phone systems. By combining a hosted, multi-extension business phone system with advanced voice and fax functionality, RingCentral simplifies business communication for modern, flexible business environments.