Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category
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
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!
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.
Mind Maps: Visual tool for capturing ideas
What are Mind Maps?
Mind maps are graphical methods of taking notes. It is effective because it provides visualizations to ideas and connects them with different ideas. Though not commonly practiced in web projects, mind maps played an integral role for the success of all C2M’s web projects.