Category: Website Design

One small minor incident resulted in an online backlash, which resulted in diminishing the value of the airlines brand and giving consumers an outlet to vent their frustration.

This airline is not the only company who has failed to manage their social media. Facebook is immediate and can spell disaster for companies that do not manage their Facebook campaigns.

Important to note – never forget to respond to customer complaints asap.

Check your Facebook wall for comments, good or bad. If they are good then get back to people with appreciation and gratitude and perhaps a free offering. If bad, then address this immediately. Do everything possible to turn this around as one negative comment on a Facebook page can do severe damage. All customers will appreciate your engagement and by doing this you are building great customer relations.

Never…break contest guidelines
Facebook competitions are a super way to bring followers on board and build your brand. Be certain to have a thorough knowledge of State and Federal laws when it comes to running contests and competitions. This way if there is a complaint you are fully covered.
A point to note is that contests requesting submissions or votes through likes or comments, are banned and are not to be part of your marketing efforts – in other words leave it out. Above all be ethical and fair. It is your competition so try to be as neutral as possible when it comes to awarding a winner.

Be selective with your posts.
As tempting as it may be to publish as many posts as you can, the aim on Facebook is to publish quality content rather than quantity. Your followers will appreciate and in some cases anticipate your postings if they are worth waiting for. Publishing juicy content will drive awareness to your brand or product and keep you in the good books with your followers. Over posting will be perceived as spammy and you will pay the price.

Don’t…try to get as many followers as possible.
People that having as many followers as possible is good look as well as good for your search engine rankings. In both cases this is false. Having 5000 friends form India will dilute your brand and will have absolutely zero affect on your SEO. There are companies that can get you as many followers as you want, but this has absolutely no benefit as these people are not interested in you or your brand. Try to get legitimate, loyal followers
 

If you have never had a website designed or developed before then the following information should be very useful and give you a good idea about website prices.

An overview of website costings:

The first step is talking with a web agency like us at Hopping Mad Designs to formulate a brief or an idea of the type of website you want, and then we can tailor a web design package to suit. Website pricing can be divided in to 3 main categories:

1. Website Prices For Business Start Ups

Suitable for start up or small businesses needing to have a presence online. These are usually a 4-5 page website, with key information about the company or service to get your business message across. The design is customised to fit with your corporate branding, to deliver a unique and relevant site.

The navigation and interface ( UX ) of these websites are quite simple, but can all be added to or developed further in the future as the business expands and grows. All of these sites are built around a WordPress content management system, which allows for ease of updates. They sites are all mobile friendly and are SEO ready. This is a great solution for small businesses that want a website up and running quickly. Obviously, there are free websites out there and templates online but these do not work and offer a ‘cookie cutter’ approach so your site well end up looking like every other site out there – not a good idea!

Web design prices for sites like this are generally between the $2,000–$4,000 price range.

2. Website Prices For Larger Established Companies

This is suitable for businesses looking for a more involved web design solution, combined with back end functionality, such as databases, e-commerce solutions, membership areas, photo galleries, responsive (mobile friendly web design), and search functions integrated with a WordPress content management system.

Websites like these are usually for larger, more established businesses needing to make more of an impact online and drive sales. Often these sites are stage two of an online presence – the company might have had a basic style website in the past and are looking to upgrade or just want to move forward with a few more “bells n’ whistles”.

Websites like these usually require a higher level of design time and the interface is generally more complex. There will be a heavy emphasis on SEO, which is implemented throughout the design and development phases. These sites can have various structures and layouts depending on the requirements of the owner. But one thing that is a common thread among these type of sites is that they are all designed to either sell a product or service and generate vast site wide traffic and visitors.

Web design prices for these sites will fall anywhere between $5,000–$15,000. It is important to note that these sites are all built around a content management system or CMS, which means that site owners can make product, service or prices changes through out the site at their discretion. This is an extremely powerful marketing tool which is what the site was intended for.

3. Complex Website Solutions

These websites are usually reserved for those businesses, companies or government bodies that not only require a highly complex interface but need a lot more in terms of design and web site architecture. They require a team of web designers to work on the design and top programmers to bring it all together. They will also have web copy writers and site architecture specialists to coordinate the page links.

Prices for sites like this generally start at around the $20,000 level.

Why use Hopping Mad Designs for the design and development of your website?

We are flexible in our web design prices and can meet your business budget constraints if required. Most businesses starting out or under going a transition need to be watching their marketing spend. At Hopping Mad Designs we are acutely aware of these constrictions and are able to advice you on the best web package or web design price to match your businesses requirements.

We take the time at briefing stage to look at your business, learn about what you want to achieve and advice you based on this information on a web design solution that will give you the best results. We are not interested in offering you every plug in available, but prefer to start with a relevant and workable solution that can grow with your business needs.

We can handle any sized web project and are always on time and on budget. As a very experienced Sydney based web design studio we are able to scale up our resources to meet the demands of any sized project. Give us  your design brief and we will tailor make a digital online solution that meets your requirements. We are just as comfortable with the small start up jobs as with the complex eCommerce, database driven websites.

Hopping Mad Designs is not a web design studio that operates with “hidden extras”. We are upfront about all costings from the start.

There are some guarantees that go with each site we design and develop, no matter what the price point.

• All websites are built around a very user, and SEO friendly WordPress CMS platform.
• You deal with a team of professional web designers who have been in the industry for a long time and have the experience to deliver a successful website.
• If it looks like there will be a cost blow out we  make sure that you are aware of this prior to making any decisions.
• All web coding is implemented with the intention of having your site ranked well on Google.
• We offer web support as soon as the site goes live. If you run into any problems – we are here to help.
• We advise you on social media, blogging and mobile websites.
• Our team of web experts will advise you on any design or interface issues that were not brought up in the initial meeting.
• We will never present template designs. All our websites have been carefully thought out and customised based on your specific business requirements. This way you end up with a unique looking site that’s different from all your competition.

If you would like to get some more information about our website design prices & SEO packages please call 02 9360 8514.

The very best way to utilise your blog is to make frequent updates or a regular basis. The only issue with this is how to find inspiration or blog topics to write about. I know personally that I may have to do hours of research about relevant topics before I even begin to write an article for my company blog. The reason why these topics are so hard to come across is that they have to be fresh, unique and highly engaging otherwise online users will just bounce off the page exiting your blog and look elsewhere.

Ways for Creating Your Ideal Article Topic

The most important task when composing an SEO article piece for your blog is to search for a well searched for topic and write about this. Short, snappy, heading with well thought out personal articles are sure to keep your readers interested. Think of eye catching headlines like:

– 10 ways to improve your….
 – How to find the best way……
 – Case studies that will……
etc etc –

as you can see these are headings that are going to get peoples attention and leave lead them down the path to be just that bit more inquisitive. If they click on the article in the blog and like what they read then chances are, they will share this and pass it onto other people. It’s such a great and very powerful medium that businesses that don’t write blog articles are really doing themselves a disservice. Whilst writing your blog article there are some important do’s and don’ts. If you keep these in mind when you start blogging, the whole process will be just that bit easier.

5 DO’S for Your SEO Blog Article

1. Offer Free Advice for your Visitors?The main aim of your blog articles should be to dispense free advice. By blogging you become an authority on your chosen field or area of expertise and by offering free information you are gaining a following of people who look to your blog for information. If you update this regularly and engage users then you are building a database of people that may decide to use your services in the future.

2. Ensure that your Article Message is Compact?Keep the message short and sweet – over complicated, long winded articles will just bore people and you may end up loosing them. Ideally keep all blog articles to around 500 to 1000 words.

3.Stay on Topic?Use short paragraphs with high lighted headings and try not to drift off topic. There may be a temptation to write more than necessary, but most people will get the idea if you can keep things brief.

4.Make things easy to read.?Utilise bullet points with strong headings. Breaking up the article content makes it easy to read and allows people to skim over the article and focus on points that interests them. If they find a pont relevant then they will stay on the page. This saves them time and in turn will keep them coming back for more nest time you post a blog.

5. Internal LinksThroughout Your Article?If this article is going to help with your SEO then its good to highlight a few relevant keywords in the blog piece and link them to a relevant page within your website. This internal linking structure is looked favourable upon by the search engines and if implemented correctly will give your website a huge SEO boost. This can get confusing to the non web savvy person so it’s probably best to get some advice about this. Talking to  website designers like hopping mad designs is a great start and will get you pointed in the right direction.

3 DON’TS to follow for Your Blog Article

1.Plagiarise Content is a huge NO NO.?If you copy content do not expect to be rewarded by the search engines. They will pick up on this and it will not get ranked. Also you may end up getting in trouble for intellectual property copyrightt.

2. Oversell Yourself or blatant promotion?. People are coming to your article to get information. If they want to be sold to they can go to your website. You may have an author ownership at the bottom of the blog article, but thats about it. People will tune out after the first paragraph if they feel like they are being pitched to.

3.Exit readers From Your Website?Any links that drive users away from your website or blog is considered bad business. Why on earth would you go to the trouble of writing a blog if you just send readers elsewhere through a link. Keep online readers engaged in your content and make 100% certain that if you have any links then they are diverted through to web pages within your site.

If you are part of a company or small business owner and are interested in writing blog articles to help improve your SEO then i s also a great idea to get some staff members to write a few blogs as well as clients writing a few guest posts. This helps you out by:

– having a different style of content – sort of vary and mix it up a bit
– keeps staff on their toes and forces them to become a bit more involved in your business.
– frees you up a bit more to focus on your business.
– you may even like to try using a copy writer if all else fails. They can give you a new perspective on how blog articles should be professionally written.
 

Cleverly shot, concise and professionally produced video will be one of the most powerful marketing tools used over the next 12 months. Whether these are uploaded to Youtube or hosted on other social media platforms, that appetite for this type of communication will only get stronger and develop further as technologies grow.

It all started as I understand it in 2010 when there was a quick news grab, ‘News in 90 Seconds’ service played on one of the many iPhone apps. Every day I religiously turned to this app to get a quick glimpse of what was happening in the world in just 90 seconds. For me, that was enough. It was quick, efficient, I knew what I had to know and felt happy that a new war or major crisis had not broken out. Simply put, my time is very limited and I need to get as much information; whether its the news or not, in the shortest period of time possible. I have been so overwhelmed with online content over the pervious couple of years that this short 90 second brief was all I was prepared to invest time in.

Over the last say 24 months I have seen the uptake of this type of video streaming become more and more popular. In fact I cannot go to an online newspaper, without some kind of video pop up coming right at me. Whether it’s selling cars, holidays, travel sites or internet dating, the use of video content has exploded and in an exponential manner.

In fact my social media feeds seem to be around 50% video and 50% text. This is way up form the year before and if you are a marketing manager you should be starting to think about how all this will effect your marketing mix, moving forward. I have been so accustomed to video feeds now, that if I do not see one I start to think that somethings gone wrong.

If you look at the current trends and read all those statistics you will see that online video watching is growing at an even, steady pace, but the interesting point to note here is that mobile device browsing of videos is exploding at a quicker rate than ever. If you take a second to absorb this and think about it, just think about your own mobile video watching habits and you kind of get the general drift of where I am coming from. For me, I love to watch YouTube clips on my iphone and I know that my partner absolutely loves to watch her dogs play around on live mobile video streaming from their day care. In fact, even overseas we can keep tabs on what they are up to. It’s pretty amazing stuff and the possibilities for marketing your product, business or service are unlimited. What about the power of Facebook and uploading a product video on there for all your followers to see. If they like what you’ve got they will share it with friends and even Like it. It is not uncommon for a video to receive hundreds of thousands of hits a day. Never before in the history of the marketing landscape has a medium been so over powering. You can safely say that online video content will be the next big trend. One point to note however, if you are planning an online video content campaign then make sure it’s well thought out. You do not want it falling flat on it’s face and destroying your image. An image broken by bad PR is very hard to fix especially if people post comments on other review websites.

It is important to note that roughly 10% of SME’s which opens up all kinds of interesting opportunities for those internet savvy marketing people looking for another medium or channel to sell their products or services in to. And the absolute beauty of this is that any one can do it on any type of budget. Start ups with little or no money can create video content using their phone and upload it to YouTube or Vimeo.
Following a a few small pointers to help you out if you are thinking about creating a video.

Make Sure the Video is Planned: Have some kind of script or cheat notes prepared. It is harder than you think coming up with dialogue that looks half decent, and is not embarrassing to watch. Perhaps you may need to look at getting a copywriter on board to help you draft something that will sound like you know what you are talking about. If you feel that this is not necessary and you feel like you are in total control of the dialogue then perhaps just make a few notes to keep you on subject.
Sound is very important. People are very visual and if they have spent the time downloading your video then they want to hear what you have to say. Speak clearly and directly into the microphone and never talk from a distance. If you want to add music, watch out for copyright issues or intellectual property infringements. What may seem like a good idea to you, might at some point down the track, cost you money.

Keep it entertaining. By this, I don’t mean that it as to be a comedy where people are laughing, but it has to keep them interested enough to stay to the end. You are the only person that can determine what this will be, so be careful not to offend or deter watchers. Being inspirational is a great way to go. Again, it’s your call but if you are going to all this effort and are wanting your mobile video content to gain traction then you will need to seek the services of a team of content experts like us at Hopping Mad Designs. We have the the whole packages for you so you don’t have to worry about anything. In our team we have copywriters, video producers, graphic designs, web experts plus an all round business + marketing advisor who can take a good hard look at what you are trying to achieve and come up with some great advice and input. All we need is a brief, and you can sit back and leave the rest to us.

Short n Sweet: Keep it under say 1 minute – no one wants to view a full length feature film. So the mantra here is keep it simple and quick. If you have a product that you want to video then a quick shot is fine with some basic voice over. If it is a service then a full 60 seconds outlining exactly what you do and why you are different it sufficient at this stage. Make it a teaser style video and leave them wanting more information from you.

Just remember, if you can have a little fun whilst producing your mobile video content then in most cases it will be well received by mobile phone users.

If you think that you would like to know a little bit more about all your video content options then please contact us here at Hopping Mad Designs on 02 9360 8514 or email us at info@hoppingmad.com.au

 

Look at you main business objectives and target these.

Just because you are getting a website, this does not mean that you have to throw every new bit of new whizz bang technology at the designer. Try to work out:

– what you are trying to achieve from the website; that is, is it to drive sales, increase brand awareness, inform the users about a product or service or even to just have a basic online presence.

Once you have this one goal in mind you can then work out a clear website brief based on this information. For example, if your goal is to drive sales and traffic through to the site, then an important note to remember in the brief is to keep large amounts of heavy text to a minimum and use strong grab statements, like ‘ see why we are Sydney’s number 1 hotel’ or ‘ buy now and receive a 2 for 1 offer’. It is these kind of strong statements that will attract potential clients and funnel them right through to the end buying process.

Do you know your online audience?

The most successful web sites will do more than look great, they will also satisfy users expectations and requirements. Great briefing documents should clearly outline who your target audience is, their demographics plus as much information as possible about your market and what you believe they want to see online. Be very careful at this stage. There will be the temptation to over design for a wider audience, but this may just have the impact of turning people off. If you are a builder for example, you should know that your target audience is going to want to see a strong portfolio of past building projects as well as a list ( including names) of testimonials. If you are a bit unclear about what your target audience is going to want to see online then a good idea is to look at your competition and see what they have done online. Don’t ever copy them but just keep an idea of their websites style as well as look and feel. This should point you in the right direction.

Your budget guidelines as well as timeline/deadlines should be noted

It’s always a good idea to make note of your budget expectations or limitations in the brief. If you a scared to put in your budget for fear of insulting the agency or that you may miss out on an important part of the website if you go in too low, then this is a mistake. Be honest an open about your funds and have open lines of communication here. You never know what is now available online, that wasn’t for the last project. You may just be surprised with what you are able to get for your money. Technology is moving at such a rapid rate, and the unit costs are coming down so much that budgets can now often be met. So, basically be very clear about what you want and what you are willing to spend. Being cagey or tight lipped may end up costing you more money.
Website timings, if critical, need to be told to your web designer. If you have a PR campaign or need the site for a new product launch, let them know well in advance so the necessary steps and preparations can be put in order. There is no advantage to you as the client to hold off on this information as this may lead to issues later on when the pressure mounts up as the site gets closer to completion. Transparency is the key to web success here and you should treat your designers like partners not as just a basic service provider. Never be scared of what they will think or say and articulate all your thoughts, timings, expectations in the website briefing document.

Try to include some examples of websites you like.

Web designers are visual people and if you are able to provide some examples of sites that you like and give the reasoning behind this, then that is a great part of the briefing process. Look at as many sites as you can and cherry pick the components or parts of the sites you like. Look at colours, navigation, add-ons such as newsletter sign up area, blogs, horizontal versus vertical scrolling etc.

Last word on the subject

Most people when you mention the words, briefing documents, start to become glazed over. If they have never done something like this before then they may fear the unexpected. This does not have to be the case. Most decent web agencies will have a web briefing document that they use time and time again. All you need to do is follow the questions and if unclear about any part, the best thing to do is pick up the phone and make a call. Remember, its your business, your money and your website, so don’t try to cut corners or leave things out just because they may seem like a hassle. The more you can provide upfront the better will be the end result. Designers will work to a brief and if they have to improvise because you are not clear in your brief, then chances are that the initial designs presented may be some what off brief.
 

The graph is developed with the ability to answer to very detailed questions regarding:
 – your friends
 – you personal data

as well as a whole range of other available free data and information floating around on the Facebook site; which I might add is enormous. Just think about all those exciting bits of information that is currently online throughout the Facebook platform.
For example you can search for: ‘ football teams my friends like’ and it will give you a list of all the teams your friends or family have been following throughout the year or a list of clubs or football associations that are are affiliated with or belong to, which are aligned with Facebook.

This might completely turn the whole search industry on its head.

Look at the progression over lets say the past 15 years. To begin with, people used the old yellow pages to search for businesses or services. This was great and helped many businesses grow and this was largely in part to the size of their ad as well as their advertising budget; the more you spent, the more ads you could have etc etc. The next phase was Google. People invested in large sums of money in what is termed search engine optimisation or SEO to get their website to the first page of Google for a variety of keywords and or phrases. And finally, we are at the next stage of Facebooks graph where users can search for lets say an ‘accountant in Sydney’ that their friends are using and get a whole list of accountants based on their experience and rating. No longer will you be given results based on what Google deems to be the best but now it will be based on what your Facebook friends have liked.

Businesses, companies and organisations worldwide could possible even search within their followers and target these followers based on their certain interest and likes.

This really is going to put a cat amongst the pigeons in the search world. People love Facebook and if businesses are able to capitalise on this Facebook graph search by incorporating tit into their marketing mix then this could have huge ramifications for the other major search engines.

Businesses are looking for an alternative to what Google can offer and perhaps another avenue by which to get their name out there and be found. If Facebook Graph can refine their process just a bit more to make it resonate with the business community then there may be some hope for it. But remember, Google is the mammoth search engine giant and changing users search patterns may not be as easy as it looks or seems. The public are just so used to relying on Google, that dislodging their prior search habits for the past 10 years may be too hard a task. If you look at Facebook trying to get into the pay per click market similar to Google, you will see the absolute failure of this. Businesses have not warmed to this and in turn Google has continued to dominate the paid search market hands down.

I guess only time will tell and we shall see the fate to the Facebook Graph unfold over the next couple of months. So watch this space carefully.
 

With this apparent movement away from the desktop environment it is vital for the success of any business relying on ecommerce online sales to be aware of this and design a site with mobile technology in mind.

If you look at the home page on a mobile phone, you will see that it is very different from the desktop homepage. In fact they are really worlds apart. On the mobile phone it is more about users being able to find what they are looking for in a quick, easy to find manner, where as on a desktop it is more about content and users using the navigation to get around the site. It is more of an experience, rather than a quick 1 step journey.

Following are a few easy to understand tips for mobile ecommerce sales.

Having a keyword search easily visible helps those who know exactly what they’re looking. Having large full screen buttons helps those users who want to browse a bit before making a purchase.

Since the screen is much smaller and fiddley on a mobile device, users would love all the pre-empted help they can get so a suggestive keyword search is so important. When a user starts typing within a search box a drop down should appear showing them suggested search terms. This decreases the time a shopper needs to type out a product name and increases convenience and usability of the mobile website.

Once a user has found the product they are looking for, it should be obvious how to purchase it. Designing a large bright button above the fold will make it easier for users to add the item to their cart. Information about the product can be displayed in an accordion style to better utilise the space available as well as minimise page load time as not all information needs to be visible at once.

Also, there obviously should be an image of the product visible. If there was a gallery of images to be shown, using the smart phones intuitive way of swiping through them should be used (i.e. if you are on an iPhone users should be able to swipe across to see more images).

The checkout process on a mobile site needs to be as streamline and simple as possible. The pages need to load fast and the form needs to be easy to use. Giving users the option whether to checkout using an existing customer account or just a guest account is a good way to speed up the process.

Users who are already members will have all their details already pre filled. The size of the form boxes are very important, users will need to touch each box and type within them.

If they are too small, a user might miss and click the wrong box causing frustration. Remember that this is the make or break point, a user is about to purchase your product, making this process harder than it should be might result in losing them.
Also only the bare minimum form fields needed to complete the purchase should be displayed on a mobile device, it is difficult enough to fill them out without having to do it many times over.

Mobile e-commerce sites are an increasing source of revenue for companies. Keeping the above tips in mind while designing your mobile e-commerce website will surely result in increased sales and happy customers.
 

Truthful

One very important factor that you must note is the ability to be able to communicate truthfully with a client or designer. If you are open and honest from the very beginning of the web project then the final outcome will always be a lot better, with very few road bumps along the way. Over promising and under delivering from the web designers perspective is a very common mistake. More often than not, in the rush to get the job on board and to keep a client happy a designer will commit to more design time than was quoted and this can lead to unrealistic expectations from the client. Being honest from the beginning about design, navigation and site size will save everyone time, money and ensure that the project remains on target. At Hopping Mad, to avoid any such situations we do mitigate any web derailment by fully scoping out the project by providing a comprehensive set of wire frames before any design work is carried out. This is based on the initial brief given by the client. Of course in some cases, the client will try to push for a bit more but we are able to ensure that expectations are maintained by setting everything out in writing from the outset. This does include site architecture and graphic/web design ideas.

Being truthful through out the whole design process means that all parties will be happy upon project completion. There is absolutely nothing worse than hearing that the client is unhappy with the end result even thought there have been rounds and rounds of design amends. Being clear with your thoughts and honest in your opinions all the time during this process will mean that the final web solution is what was expected.

This collaborative process also works in the other direction as well too. For example, at Hopping Mad Designs we are simple not order takers or ‘ yes people’. We are not afraid to speak out and tell it is, like the way it should be and what our thoughts and opinions are. This is what we are paid for and as web designers our clients do expect our honest and forthright opinion on all web matters. If we are truthful and open about our design ideas, site navigation and content then the final result will be better all round. The client has to remember that we are the experts and sometimes its vital that we express our opinions.
Saying this, honesty and communication is a two way process and at HMD we always conduct ourselves in a very professional manner. Honesty can sometimes be brutal, but we look upon this as communicating it in a friendly and very constructive manner. This way we can ensure that the web project will be finished on time, on budget and with every one smiling at the end of the project.

Professional Attitude

This pearl of wisdom might appear to be plain as day but still does need to be looked at. At all stages of the web project or any graphic design project the communication between client/designer needs to be handled in a highly professional and very courteous manner. Leave the egos and attitude at the door as all parties are here to work together. If the designer is very opinionated and stubborn this may lead to complications, conversely if the client is over bearing and dominant this may affect the communication process. The best way forward with any web design project is to start off on the right footing so that each party is on the same page. Friendliness and service with a smile is what its all about and this is something that we do value highly at Hopping Mad Designs. All our web team are easy going, professional experts that are able to contribute their design advice and input without the attitude. This means that the project will be off to a good start from the get go. If we are relaxed, then you will also be. Tempers are never raised here and the whole office vibe is one of web collaboration and forward momentum.
Some clients need to understand that most designers are university trained experts when it comes to building and developing web sites. They will have had years of design experience based on previous assignments and therefore any arguments that they put forward should be listened to carefully and their advice should be taken with a certain amount of respect, which they deserve.

Transparent Fee Structure

Being upfront about your fees and on going costs associated with a web site build and development in my opinion is critical to the success of the relationship. There are far too many web companies who will quote low to get the business and then slug you, the client, with additional fees. What can happen, and this is a huge issue in the web industry, is that designers will quote a low, basic, one off fee for a website. What they never tell you is:
 – The cost to make any design amends. The surest way to get someone off side is to keep hitting them up with a cost each time they need to make a design change. At Hopping mad Designs we detail the amount of design iterations allowed in our quote and will let you know when your limit has been reached. Obviously, we do not have the meter running like a taxi and are flexible in the amount of design amends allowed. Our design approach ensures that the relationship that starts out smoothly and friendly, ends in the same way.
 – The yearly cost for hosting. This is an ongoing fee as all websites need to to be hosted somewhere. But, what they don’t tell you is that it has to be hosted with them and that the CMS platform that the site is built around needs a certain type of hosting which only they can provide. It is these snippets of information that need to be clearly stated at the commencement of the project to avoid any fallouts.
 – Note that some companies will offer varied payment structures. Its good to know what these are in advance prior to any work being done. A good idea to keep the relationship on an even keel is to get an initial deposit and then get paid in stages. Say one further payment after initial designs are presented and then one final payment prior to site deployment. Having a fee structure like this ensures that all design and development milestones are met and that payment has been made based on these achievements. If the designer is not delivering then you should not have to pay, and conversely if the website has been completed to your satisfaction then it is your duty and obligation to pay for this service.

Ideas, Ideas and even More Ideas

Communication is the most important component in any relationship. Whether it be personal or profession the key to the success of a working partnership is the ability to relate ideas to each other. This also applies to the design world where ideas presented at the beginning of the project are vital to the success of the site. Working within a design environment we see graphic and visual ideas each and every day. No matter how simple, complex or silly they may seem its is a great idea to get all these out in the open. As a client, you may like to show us sites that you like/don’t like or bring a collage or mood board to the table at our first meeting to give us an idea of the design direction you would like to move in. As designers, it is our job to take all this on board in a very open minded approach. This open working relationship, and the discussion of ideas means that the project will have gotten off on the best possible footing. Holding things back, being afraid to articulate thoughts is what can lead to relationship breakdowns. At Hoping Mad, our professional, friendly approach to customer service means that we are able to get all the information from you needed to start the design process. No matter how insignificant or small you think an idea may be, we just might be able to take it and use it at a later stage. The more ideas you can come up with the better it is for our web team.

Set Realistic Expectations.

Be honest and realistic about the web process and what the website can achieve. This can often lead to big issues and client/designer relationship breakdowns if mishandled. Never say one thing in order to please the client as you may feel pressured to do so and then do another. The best way to keep things happy is to document all amends or changes and email them to the client for confirmation. There are so many areas involved in web design and internet marketing that you have to be realistic c about what the website will be able to do for their business. Saying comments like this will bring in heaps more business is simple not true and can lead to problems later on when this does not happen. One important and vital point is to never discuss or promise SEO rankings unless you have the backing of a expert. Over promising web rankings once site is completed is a sure way to mess a fine relationship up.

Speak in a Common Language.

OK, so you are a web experts. You know all the lingo, slang and cool new buzz words that are sure to impress. But, the layman business owner has never heard of these before and speaking to him as though he understands what you are saying will only aggravate things. For these business people the web process can often be intimidating and uncomfortable. its the job of the web designer to ‘dumb it down’ and speak in a language that is easy to understand and makes the whole process a lot simpler. Its always a good buzz, dazzling the client with your knowledge and jargon, but what may seem like fun at the outset will just annoy them when an issue needs to be resolved. This is why at HMD all designers are in-house and have a knack of getting on the same wave length as our clients. Just imaging if your work was all out sourced and you had to work with a designer who did not understand the Australian work ethic/culture and was also speaking to you in ‘geek speak’. This would only lead to a relationship breakdown and fast. This is why its best to have local people working on your site who can understand what you want and can clearly explain things if needed.
 

They generally read like:

‘Awesome web work ‘ Sharon B
or even better

‘ You guys rock!!’ Michael G

Here in lies the issue with these types of testimonials. They look staged and they look unbelievable.

I cannot tell you the amount of times people have come into the office here looking for a web site design and have had to call our clients for verbal testimonials rather than believing what they read on the website.
I have never in my life put anything fake on our website when it comes to testimonials but the issue is that they are just so common place that they have become unbelievable. In fact, if you any testimonials that look even the slightest bit dubious, then they are going to work against you.

Look at some weight loss sites for example, where testimonials are used to underpin the value of the produce. For example: ‘ Jenny lost 8 kgs in 1 week’ and swear by the product.
It is the overuse of these kind of testimonials that have systematically lowered the value of testimonials and what people believe.

So how will all this affect the web industry moving forward.

Websites that offer the user the ability to write reviews are more believable to sales testimonials and are now the future.
If you go onto websites like trip advisor you will be able to see a whole lot of reviews for hotels. It’s an honest, open review system that encourages people to post reviews and rate hotels based on their experience. In fact on a recent trip overseas I did see a Trip Advisor certificate in full public view in reception sating that this particular hotel was awarded a great review status on Trip Advisor. The impact that this has is huge. People no longer want to read testimonials placed on websites by hotels themselves as they are perceived as staged, biased, cherry picked and most importantly unbelievable. Internet users will now only believe what people post as reviews online on review sites like trip advisor.

I did note that the hotel I was staying at was very customer service focused, perhaps they were scared any stuff ups would be noted and posted on trip advisor.

Moving forward, this means that people will now place a huge emphasis on review sites over what is written on their own site. Whether you like it or not, this is the future and this is how people are going to determine where they will stay on their next holiday, which insurance company they are going to use, which real estate agent they will go with to sell their home, which doctor they will go to or even which airline they will fly.

People love to write about their experiences, whether good or bad and this market will only get bigger in the future.
This is why ecommerce websites or for that matter most websites should introduce a review and rating system. This will lend so much more credibility to the website. Sure, you are going to get some negative reviews but these are easy to counter act if you feel that these are have just been placed for malicious reasons. If you know you have a great product or service and are confident in its execution or delivery, then you should be getting many favourable reviews and ratings, which are far stronger than boring old testimonials. Internet users and the public in general are have become de sensitised to what is written online so having these kinds of reviews as testimonials will have a greater impact on your website and in turn on your business. Handpicked testimonials are a thing of the past and it is wise for business owners or marketing managers to wake up to this fact. The sooner you embrace this new marketing medium, the sooner you will be able to use it to your advantage.

If you want to use handpicked testimonials then here are a few tips:

Keep them current – if they are more than 1 year old, think about an update – also make sure that there are a lot of testimonials. Two or three randomised testimonials are not going to cut it anymore. In fact they might just do you some damage.
Perhaps introduce a rating system for these testimonials to show that they are not contrived or made up. This will lend a bit more credibility to them.

So where to from here?

The internet is changing so fast that these review style sites have kind of snuck up on us. In a way it’s a good thing as it keeps businesses on their toes, fearing that they may receive a bad review posted by a disgruntled customer online. For all professionals this may spell the end of bad customer service as more and more of these types of review sites pop up. To counter act this fear, the best form of defence is in fact attack. Be on the front foot, embrace what is surely the future and allow customers to be able to write and rank your product or service on your website. If they don’t do it there on your website then it will certainly go on another review type site.

If all this sounds far too hard then ensure that the testimonials that you have on your site are real and credible sounding.
Make sure that full names are written and the company they cam from is fully documented. If the review is from a social media site like Facebook, make sure that this is included in the title. Adding Facebook/Twitter/Google+ icons adds impact and therefore credibility to the testimonial as users are less likely to post fake reviews on their own social media page.
 

Many businesses regardless of their size, are unaware of the huge potential available to them in this new digital space. They might be using some social medial platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, but they might not fully understand the enormous potential available to them by really working on their corporate or business digital strategy.

How to find the best digital strategy agency in Sydney

Finding the best digital strategy agency in Sydney can be a difficult task. You will need to really look around, do your homework and find the best solution for your company. This search generally starts with a quick Google search which will reveal a multitude of companies all offering relatively the same thing and in some cases, they may be saying the same thing. It can all get very confusing for the general business community, so finding the right digital strategy agency could prove the difference between digital success or failure.

Following are a few points to keep front of mind when doing your research on finding the best digital strategy agencies in Sydney.

Your website is your main advertising arm. It is what people refer to as the first port of call after they see you or visit you in person. The way your website looks and the way in which users interact with your web page will speak volumes about who you are and what your business is all about. Internet users will expect to be dazzled by visually strong graphics that captivate them and drive them through your site with a minimum of effort. Your website is the foundation of your digital strategy and should only be designed by a company that can show you a long list of past clients as well as referrals.

The digital strategy agency Sydney should be able to offer a web copywriting service as well. Well articulated copy will keep visitors on your site and keep them engaged. Time poor people want to get to your site and be able to make a buying decision quickly based on what they see. If your content is inviting as well as sales driven, it will help facilitate this process. On top of this you will need a copywriter to handle your online content for all social media platforms . If you intend to publish content as part of your digital strategy and are looking to become an authority in your field, then you need a company that has the copy team that can integrate content into all your social media. For example, if you are a professional outfit you may like to target Linked In as an avenue to showcase your industry knowledge and attract followers. This is a great way to get your name out there to a new wider audience, and the better content the better your reception will be. People love new content and if yours is a good read then they will also forward this onto their friends or followers which is another awesome way to help you get your name out there.

With the absolute explosion of mobile phone usage your digital strategy company should be able to help you convert your current website into a mobile friendly website that is viewable across all mobile phone technologies; including iphone, ipad and android. Business now need to really embrace this new technology and this now must be an essential component of your digital strategy. Internet search on tablets and phones will surpass the standard office computer, so if your business has not embraced this new phenomena then it will be left behind. Try to find a company that is able to offer this service in conjunction with your web design. If you have an existing site then see if they can carry the design style through to the mobile web site. Again, look for a digital design studio that has a strong graphic design background similar to what we can offer at Hopping Mad Designs.

Once you have your website, you need it to be found on Google and this is known as SEO and should be part of your digital marketing campaign. Speak with a few agencies but be very aware of going with the cheapest option. This industry is full of outsourcing to third world countries where labour is cheap. But, along with htis cheap price tag comes shoddy SEO practices which will land your website in hot water once your SEO digital campaign commences.

Digital strategy is all about maximising what is available in the digital world. This can also encompass the very new trend of app design and app development. This is a relatively new field and businesses are just starting to embrace this, take it on board and use it as part of their digital marketing. Cool looking apps that actually do something are a great way to get more people to learn about your brand or interact with your product. Your digital design agency should be able to provide you with a couple of app ideas or at least be able to point you in the right direction of app developers that they have worked with in the past.

You will find that working with a digital company like Hopping Mad Designs means that you are covering all your basis across the digital divide, including apps. This is a rarity in todays online world where you will find that businesses tend to specialise in certain areas. Being able to offer an array of digital design and development solutions means that you, the business owner, can only benefit by having all your digital marketing handled by one company, all in house under one roof.

Advantages of working with one Digital Strategy Agency

Working with one company, whether it be your web design, social media,, app development, search engine optimisation or even video production has its advantages. Working with one agency means that:

– they become extremely familiar with your brand, thereby avoiding any chance of misunderstanding your business or target market. Knowing your business intimately will ensure that your design team know the evolution of your product or service. This saves you time and money without having to educate separate agencies.
This saves you lots of money as you will be in a better bargaining position if you will be giving the agency lots of new work on a continual basis.

– you reduce the chances of crossed wires when it comes to delivering a brief. If all stakeholders involved in the project are present from the beginning, things falling through the cracks as well as mistakes are able to be reduced.

– working with a digital agency in Sydney means that if you need to have a quick face to face meeting, this is possible and easily done. All players involved in the campaign are present and things can be sorted out quickly. Too many fingers in the pie will just lead to issues down the track and getting all separate parties together in one area can be quite difficult to organise. This is why you should choose one digital agency and make this decision very carefully.

Think Hopping Mad Designs when you want a digital strategy agency.

Ideally, you want to be partnering with a agency that has a few runs under their belt. They have been around for a while and have a thorough business grounding. They should be able to rise to any challenge put in front of them and be able to offer constructive solutions based on previous projects. You want to work with a mature firm that speaks your language and is not a ‘yes’ type of company. You want them to be able to offer alternative options and challenge your digital marketing philosophy with alternative strategies and alternative actions.

Hopping Mad Designs fits this mould specifically. If you are wanting to work with a digital agency that is able to maximise your return on investment then please call 02 9360 8514 or email info@hoppingmad.com.au