Sell, Sell, Sell – All Day Long

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Stellar Team

Having an e-commerce site, such as a Stellar Shopping Cart, is a great way to rack in the business from anywhere, at any time. Whether you have a brick and mortar destination or an office basement, an e-commerce store opens the doors to so much potential.

When you have a local retail business, you can capitalize on local advertising and local search. But with an e-commerce store, you expect and want business from California, Kalamazoo, Canada and beyond. But how do you tackle your website’s presence across the web so the Canada Google user finds your website? Stellar Blue offers 5 quick tips to help you tackle your e-commerce site’s search engine optimization (SEO) so you can have better results with all major search engines. This will help you get more visitors, which ultimately means more customers:

  1. Product content – You can have five products for sale or 5,000. But treat each product as it’s own designated page. Provide detailed descriptions and variations of the product. Describe the ideal user and function of the product for each. Let’s say you are selling high-grade spatulas (very exciting):

    The titanium handle of the spatula offers long-term flipping for all your culinary needs. The spatula’s flexible blade, made of polyglass, is great for spreading and lifting materials while cooking for family and friends. The polyglass is a composite plastic that allows the spatula to be heat resistant up to 470 degrees Fahrenheit. The above is a much more effective description than just “Titanium spatula made of polyglass.”

    It also provides Google with more authoritative content to associate with your website.

  2. Create categories with search terms – First off, create categories to help direct users to your products. Second, make each category topic search worthy. Search worthy terms, also known as keyword phrases, are 2 to 4 words long. So instead of “Cookware” call it “Quality Home Cookware”.
  3. Interlink pages – Having internal links not only help website users navigate through your web pages, but it also helps search engines. Keep the links relevant but if you are on the high-grade spatula page and you happen to mention the matching high-grade mixing bowl, hyperlink the text to that particular page.
  4. Allow people to share your products on social media sites – Addthis.com offers free code that you can place on individual web pages to share the content. And there are plenty of other ways to get those “share widgets” so people can post your products within their networking forums. Did you know that 34% of online shoppers are likely to share their purchase information on a social media site?
  5. Include and update a sitemap monthly – Having an ecommerce means you have the ability to update your products whenever you need. Consider creating a sitemap to help Google and all search engines have a checklist of all your content on your website. This will clearly help them find and define your web pages and content. Ideally you want to submit a special XML sitemap each month (Stellar has a special service or this!) to keep the links updated and relevant.

The freedom of selling your products while you are sleeping, during vacation, or out for lunch is a great way to generate continuous revenue. Contact Stellar Blue at info@stellarbluewebdesign.com to boost your online sales! Or check out the freedoms of the Stellar Shopping Cart!

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A Chrome Ice Cream Sandwich?

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Stellar Team

What do you use to browse the internet? Safari? Firefox? Internet Explorer? Millions of people use Google Chrome as their primary web browser. And it’s no surprise that the web browser’s success is mirrored by Google’s other protégé, Android for mobile. So doesn’t it make sense that these two super powers sync up? Up until now, Android users have had to live with a basic Android browser or other third-party browsers when surfing the web.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich System

Google recently introduced Chrome for Android Beta–but only if you have the very latest version of the operating system, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. (Google thinks it’s “sweet” to name each revision of Android after a dessert. Previous versions have been called Honeycomb, Gingerbread, Froyo, Eclair, Cupcake and Donut.)

Chrome for Android may take a while to adapt because only a small fraction of Android phones are currently powered by the new Ice Cream Sandwich system. However, the new mobile browser is as heavenly as the dessert named system and focuses on speed and simplicity, featuring seamless sign-in and sync to enable a personalized web browsing experience wherever you go, across devices. Stellar Blue will continue to monitor the activity and growth as this browser sweeps through the Android system.

“Chrome for Android is designed from the ground up for mobile devices. We reimagined tabs so they fit just as naturally on a small-screen phone as they do on a larger screen tablet. You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you’re holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web,” stated in Google’s Blog post written by SVP Sundar Pichai.

Other features of the new mobile browser include;

  • Get smarter suggestions: If you visit a site often on your computer or have it booked marked, an auto complete suggestion for it will pop up on your mobile device, so you can spend less time typing.
  • View open tabs: If your Android device is signed into your Google account, Android Chrome will automatically open up the tabs you left open on your desktop, picking up exactly where you left off.
  • Fine-grained privacy options.
  • Font boosting for better viewing of text on small devices.

Google is aiming to create a better web experience on a platform that defines mobile—and Stellar is excited about it. We can’t wait to keep developing specialized mobile websites and watch how this browser amplifies the end product!

Contact Stellar Blue at info@stellarbluewebdesign.com to start your mobile marketing today. We can take your company mobile!

 

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Evolution of Apple Design

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Stellar Team

We joke the technology is old the second it goes public. But in actuality looking back on some of the major technology players, it’s amazing what we have accomplished and witnessed over the decades. While reading a daily e-newsletter sent by ZDNet Tech, a video caught our attention. It’s fun, it’s fast and it’s meant to give a history lesson on the evolution of Apple Design.

Every Apple Design Ever (ish) in 30 seconds

 

Do you remember those split keyboards?

Every company has their own evolution whether it’s branding, color schemes, taglines, etc. Stellar Blue wears our design right out front on our portfolio page. Maybe we’ll make a video montage of our design history….

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Google+ Integrates Photo Editing

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Stellar Team

Imagine social networking sites without images and photos – absolutely void of visuals and subsequently less popular than their current standings.  Photos are the attractive element to social sharing.

A photo speaks a thousand words and with the help of Adobe Photoshop and other editing programs we have the ability to alter our photos to make them speak whatever we want them to express. Google’s new social form, Google+ (also known as G+), has already taken the initiative to provide users effortless photo editing and sharing of pictures through the integration of the picnick.com photo editing website.

Picnick.com provides a user-friendly way to edit photos online. The site provides an alternate editing route than Adobe Photoshop and requires no software or highly developed programming skills to master. Picnick has features such as  “instant thin” fix up, seasonal “stickers” and frames, or color and texture effects to enhance photos and create fun images. Picnick.com official website will shut down April 19th and will fully integrate into G+.

Dave Giruoard, Google’s VP of Product Management said,
“we acquired this online photo editor in 2010. We’re retiring the service on April 19, 2012 so the Picnik team can continue creating photo-editing magic across Google products. You can download a zip file of your creations or copy them to Google+.”
When you upload a photo in G+ it is stored in a Picasa web album called, “Photos from posts”.

Picasa is an online image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos. When you edit photos in this album and post them, the posted photos will change accordingly at any time. Currently, G+ offers only six types of editing effects. However, with the integration of picnick.com, users will be able to utilize new fun features to edit Picasa photos. For example, if you wanted to create a fun holiday image for your business or organization, you could upload a photo of your employees and edit it with a fun snow effect and text to wish your circles Season Greetings (or any other holiday such as Valentine’s day).

To use Picnick, simply find the folder called  “Photos from posts” and click the picture you want to edit. You will see Picnick’s logo (a green hill, blue sky, and cloud.) Click that and you’ll have Picnick’s editing features to use however you please! Contact us if you wish to discuss more features of G+ for business.

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‘What’s in a domain? That which we call a….’

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Stellar Team

Do you know that you can find the Stellar Blue site by typing in any one of the following addresses:

www.stellarbluewebdesign.com
www.stellarblue.net
stellarblue.co
stellarwebpro.com
stellarshopping.com
stellarblueapps.com
stellarmobileapps.com
stellarbluemedia.com
stellarblueinternetmarketing.com
stellarbluewebdesign.co
stellarbluehosting.com
www.stellarmobile.net

These are all redirect links to our website, not separately hosted domain names.
The point? It’s not that we are mildly amused by having 12 domains point to our site, it’s more so for a few benefits:
•    If we don’t register domains with our company name, we risk losing the domains to competitors or liked named companies.
•    Helps direct type-in website traffic. Some people try to type-in a company name or service directly into the URL bar to find their site. Multiple domains help those users find your site.
•    Our main domain is www.stellarbluewebdesign.com. That is 28 characters of space that sometimes can be too costly. Using StellarBlue.co on online ads, with its 14 characters, is half the cost!
•    Lastly, when we discuss areas of service with clients and leads, we will provide them with a special link that adds an emphasis on that particular service.

There are many theories when it comes to owning multiple domains. Some companies create multiple catchy domains to help sell a product. Others think it may have an SEO benefit.

Overall Stellar sees it as a marketing benefit.

There are a lot of domain possibilities for your website with the inclusion of new domain extensions such as ‘.co’. To search for a new domain, use our domain check – click here!

Click here to learn more about what your domain extension means.

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Types of Mobile Marketing Channels

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Stellar Team

Stellar Blue just had the privilege of giving a seminar on Mobile Marketing Success and taking a deeper look into what Fortune 500 companies are doing to reach their consumers via mobile. From the presentation, we had many questions regarding mobile marketing; a topic we are delighted to discuss! To help get the ball rolling as we continue to break down this topic throughout 2012, we want to highlight 8 types of mobile marketing/advertising:

Short Message Service (SMS)- Commonly referred to “text messaging,” SMS is used for sending short messages up typically up to 160 characters to mobile devices, such as cell phones, smart phones, and personal digital assistants, like PalmPilots. SMS is similar to “paging,” but doesn’t require the mobile device to be active and within rang. Uses of SMS include notifying a mobile phone owner of a voicemail message, notifying a salesperson of an inquiry and contact to call or notifying a driver of the address of the next pickup.

Multimedia Message Service (MMS)- As an enhancement to the SMS text messaging service, MMS enables images, audio and video files to be transmitted with the text message to a mobile device.
A multimedia message can be a photo with text, audio and/or video clip, or a synchronized playback of audio or video.

Mobile Websites-The Mobile Web refers to the use of Internet-connected applications, or browser-base access to the Internet through mobile devices connected to a wireless network. Mobile websites sizes down and displays current website content across a mobile phone, tablet and desktop devices. The biggest benefit to mobile websites is the ability for users to access Internet website content anywhere.

Mobile Apps- Mobile Applications are software programs developed specifically for a certain task. Mobile apps may be downloaded to any mobile device and developed by anyone with proper software knowledge. Some mobile apps include games, social networking, music, or lifestyle apps such as calorie counting.

Mobile Paid Search- Searches on mobile phones have increased 400% year over year and 29% of searches are done on mobile devices. Mobile advertising is key in today’s marketing world. Mobile paid search works similar to traditional paid searches. Image and text ads are displayed in search results and in the content of mobile sites. The advertiser pays when an ad is clicked. However, mobile paid searches generally work best for inexpensive, low-consideration products because people are looking to consume information quickly; such as finding places to eat or buying movie tickets.

Mobile Display (banner) ads- Mobile display ads are a type of mobile advertising in the form of a banner or long horizontal image, similar to banner ads on ordinary web sites. However, mobile display banner ads are smaller and are limited to one per page.

Location-based marketing- Today, mobile advertising is becoming more location-aware. Location-based marketing relies on geo-local information to offer users more relevant content. Location-based marketing goes hand-in-hand with mobile marketing strategies. For example, your mobile phone may recognize you are in the Fox Valley and therefore will have a banner ad for a popular restaurant in the area. (Location-based marketing can be based of off the popular social network “Four Square”)

QR Codes- Quick respond codes are comparable to traditional barcodes and are quickly readable. They can be found on any type of visual advertising and can be scanned by a user’s mobile device to access information, such as direct access to a promotional mobile website or percent discount. For example, mobile couponing, where a company’s discount can be capturing using a QR code is popular. Many times a QR code decoder, which is a free mobile app is needed to read QR codes.

Contact Stellar Blue today on ways to begin your mobile marketing strategy!

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Response for Proposal Tips for Success

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Stellar Team

It’s a new year and a new year usually means a new project for many companies and organizations. When setting up the platform for a new project, Response for Proposals (RFP) are created to help inform bidders on the scope and desired needs. As a company that receives RFPs, we understand their importance and how the establish the first bit of communication between our work and the prospective client.

RFPs should be viewed as a communication channel; one that expresses your needs, expectations, as well as inquiries on trending topics and solutions. So as you begin any new project that requires a selection process, we wanted to provided three great tips that we have learned over the years that help lead to success using a RFP.

* Truly understand your own needs. This might require some self research, ask your clients, and shop around in your industry. When you know, specifically what services you want to buy, it lends to a much more thorough bid. What you don’t want to leave our bidders having to figure out what you mean. Every play the telephone game? Interpretations never work out so well.

RFPs should be long enough to allow your organization to fully describe where you are today, where you want to be in the future as well as any challenges so the bidder can help you address that. Also establish the type of relationship you desire out of the bidder long-term along with your expectations for both parties engagement in the project.

* Create a selection process. And share that information with all RFP bidders up front. Create timelines for the bids and provide timelines for them on your process. This keeps both parties on target and organized. Then by sticking to the timelines allow you to be fair and respectful to all recipients. We have found that when projects begin with a well-organized process, it lays the groundwork the beginning such a project.

* Make yourself equally accessible to the respondents. Treat it as any prospective relationship. Upfront and clear communication that is equal helps to grow healthy long-term relationships. Not providing accessible communication can signal to the bidders that it’s all right for them to proceed without your input.

* Ask for case studies that mirror your expectations. Even if you don’t like the creative, you can see an insight to how they effectively provided a solution for a client to reach a desired end result.

Overall, being a well-organized machine prior to sending out an RFP will help avoid pitfalls in the bidding process. Don’t assume that a bidder will know enough to provide a great solution without you providing adequate groundwork. An RFP is like an interview. You are looking for a consultant while the prospective consultants review your RFP to determine if they want to bid. Strong RFPs will receive the best quotes.

Best of luck for 2012 and all your upcoming projects!

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Internet Alert: Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Stellar Team

Many major websites believe the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would over sensitize the web and impose harmful regulations on American business, changing the Internet forever. Suggested in October 2011, SOPA aims to eliminate copyright infringement by restricting access to sites that host or facilitate trading of pirated content. However, the bill was quickly evaluated and accused of taking a few steps too far, resulting in negative feedback from Google, Wikipedia, Craigslist, and other web content sharing sites. According to CNNMoney.com, “the proposed bill’s text says that a site could be deemed a SOPA scofflaw if it ‘facilitates’ copyright infringement.”

“YouTube would just go dark immediately,” Google Public Policy Director Bob Boorstin said at a conference last month. “It couldn’t function.”

In efforts to protest the bill, a “SOPA Blackout” was conducted. Any website against the bill could visit sopablackout.org and receive a code to encrypt on its site and “blackout” the entire content, making the site unavailable for 24 hours. Wikipedia was a major site that took a stance.

“This is an extraordinary action for our community to take,” Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said earlier in the week about the blackout, adding: “…we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA endangers free speech, both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world.”

The illegal copying and broadcasting of music, movies and other content has long been an ongoing issue despite the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, making copyright infringement illegal. The problem with DMCA, critics say, is that it is does not regulate foreign sites. For example, The Pirate Bay’s servers, a site to easily download TV show seasons for free, are physically located in Sweden. The US can’t force oversea sites to remove copyrighted work, so therefore the government will stop US companies from providing their services to those sites.

“SOPA’s goal is to cut off pirate sites’ oxygen by requiring U.S. search engines, advertising networks and other providers to withhold their services,” said in an online article of CNN Money.

Voting of the bill will take place on January 24th.

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