Is your business still rolling out the same marketing plan in 2009 as you have in previous years? If so, why?
There is now an abundance of evidence that audiences are changing their media consumption habits and that online is becoming the hottest place to start directing your marketing dollars. Even traditional media placement legend Harold Mitchell told Adnews recently that he saw 2008 as a year of significant change in the advertising industry, one that cemented the digital age as the permanent force in media.
But how many businesses owners and marketing managers have started making the transition with their own businesses? How many are currently sitting down and mapping out the same old marketing plan for 2009, allocating a budget to Yellow Pages that go unread or old media with declining audiences but higher rates?
There’s no doubt that we are entering a difficult economic climate. Businesses that adapt quickly and implement cost-effective changes reflective of the new media landscape will emerge in a much stronger position.
If you haven’t already begun exploring new options for your marketing, then make 2009 your year of transition:
Read the rest of this entry »
There are so many ways to do web design and so many theories about what is good web design. Unfortunately a lot of well-intentioned designers make fundamental mistakes that can reduce the effectiveness of your site. Here in Newcastle we come across poor web design every day. Many clients ask us to try to fix sites that other designers have created or to improve the SEO of their sites. In many cases it is necessary to start from scratch because these sites cannot be saved.
Of course, if you are looking for good web design for your business we think you should talk to Sticky, however if you are shopping around make sure that you look out for these common web design mistakes:
1. The user must know what the site is about in seconds: attention is one the most valuable currencies on the Internet. If a visitor can not figure what your site is about in a couple of seconds, he will probably just go somewhere else. Your site must communicate why I should spend my time there, and FAST!
2. Make the content scannable: this is the Internet, not a book, so forget large blocks of text. Bullet points, headers, subheaders, lists. Anything that will help the reader filter what he is looking for.
3. Do not use fancy fonts that are unreadable: sure there are some fonts that will give a sophisticated look to your website. But are they readable? If your main objective is to deliver a message and get the visitors reading your stuff, then you should make the process comfortable for them.
4. Do not use tiny fonts: the previous point applies here, you want to make sure that readers are comfortable reading your content.
5. Do not open new browser windows: Let the user control where he wants the links to open. There is a reason why browsers have a huge “Back” button. Do not worry about sending the visitor to another website, he will get back if he wants to.
Read the rest of this entry »
Australia now has over 14 million online users and according to recent research conducted by Ansearch, “each month over 8 million of these users hit one of the various search engines EVERY DAY.”
“And depending upon the source it is generally accepted that between 50-80% of all searches are commercial-in-nature.”
Compare these figures with Yellow (Pages) own published figures of over 7.7 million people using their printed directories to search for businesses EACH MONTH.
So why are you still spending a fortune on Yellow (Pages)?
Read the rest of this entry »
Subscribe to rss
