Want a better Facebook page? How about a mobile app for your business? Heyo is a social marketing tool that lets businesses do all that and more–all with easy drag-and-drop steps that don’t take a lot of time. If you’ve ever run across a Facebook fan page you admire and wish you could create one, too, Heyo can help with attractive templates or custom design tools. You can choose from over 30 widgets ranging from coupons and “Buy” buttons to contest and email opt-ins. Then Heyo takes your fan page and creates a mobile app based on your social data complete with photos and fan page tabs so your customers can see your page on their smartphones or mobile devices.
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Posts Tagged ‘mobile apps’
6 Surefire Ways to Improve Online Marketing via Your Website
December 6th, 2011 :: Monika Jansen
Websites, white papers and blogs – there are plenty of sources out there for improving your online marketing strategy. They range from simple (set up a website) to complex (put together a fully integrated social media marketing program that uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare to promote your business).
Let’s keep it basic, though, and focus on 6 things you can do to improve your website:
1. Create clear and concise website content.
This is something I write about a lot. Be clear about the value you offer customers with straightforward, clean Web copy that focuses on benefits, not features, and avoids fluffy descriptions. Simply list what you do and how you successfully solve your customers’ problems.
To ensure it really is clear, ask friends and family who are not in your industry to read it. If everyone quickly grasps what your company does, great job! If not, try again or ask them for suggestions on improving the copy.
2. Add video.
One of the best ways to engage your prospective customers is by including a video that introduces your product or service in a quick and easy-to-understand format. You can make one yourself (just do a quick search for Web video templates) or outsource it to a graphic designer. Just make sure your video does not auto-play when a visitor first lands on your website.
3. Stay focused.
Keep your website content tightly focused on the benefits of your products or services. Do not expound at length on your background or why you started your company, or continually repeat yourself, a common mistake. Save all thought leadership for your blog, social media sites or your website’s resource center.
4. Go mobile.
If you have an app that can be used on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, let customers know on your home page – and link to the app on the App Store, Android Marketplace, Blackberry App World or the Windows Marketplace to make it easy for them to find and download it. Mobility is a major selling point for everyone who is busy, so this is a great way to grab their attention.
5. Tout free trials or demos.
If you offer free trials or demos of your product or service, don’t bury it in your website. Make that a visible, primary call to action on your home and contact us pages. I love it when companies turn those calls to action into big buttons so you can’t miss them.
6. Make signing up easy.
Help your buyers get started with your products or services right away by allowing them to sign up easily on your “home” and “contact us” pages, or by walking them through the steps they need to take to get going.
Do some – or all – of these things, and more of your website visitors will call or email you – and turn into potential customers.
Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae
Google+Slowdown or No, Businesses Aren’t Cutting IT Budgets
October 20th, 2011 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichBy Maria Valdez Haubrich
Despite qualms about a possible double-dip recession and lots of uncertain economic indicators, companies by and large aren’t planning to cut their IT budgets, InformationWeek reports.
InformationWeek took a look at several different IT-related surveys, including the Society for Information Management’s poll of CIOs and other IT leaders. In that survey, more than half (56 percent) of respondents said their companies’ 2011 IT budgets will be higher than last year’s. In contrast, only 17 percent expect to cut IT budgets cut. This is a dramatic change from 2010, when only 34 percent expected IT budgets to rise and 35 percent expected them to fall.
What about next year? The picture is just as bright for 2012, with 51 percent projecting that their IT budget will rise and only 15% predicting them to decline. InformationWeek notes that its own survey, done a few months prior to the SIM survey, was even more optimistic, with 69 percent of companies surveyed predicting 2011 IT budgets to increase.
So despite the gloomy economic news, why are IT departments still planning to spend? One expert cited in the article notes that in prior recessions, the value of IT wasn’t as evident and so it was one of the first areas to be cut. That view is outdated today.
A senior technology equity analyst with Wells Fargo, who also agrees that IT budgets are likely to stay on course, told InformationWeek there are several reasons IT budgets won’t get cut: First, they’re already lean from the prior recession. Second, since companies’ growth projections have been cautious to begin with, an economic slowdown won’t make a huge difference. Third, IT is now seen as essential to remaining competitive.
That said, what areas are businesses focusing their IT budgets on? Business intelligence is still number-one on the list, but cloud computing moved from number 5 on the list last year to number 2. Mobile apps and customer relationship management (CRM) also entered the top five.
What’s your IT priority this year, and why?
Image by Flickr user Blake Patterson (Creative Commons)
Google+Does Your Small Business Really Need a Mobile App?
April 13th, 2011 :: Rieva LesonskyBy Rieva Lesonsky
There’s a lot of buzz going on about mobile apps these days. While the conventional wisdom might be that the mobile app is the wave of the future, soon to make websites obsolete, opposing views are starting to arise.
Yes, apps offer the users convenience, but they’re limited in functionality. Is the tradeoff worth it? According to the Enterprise Council on Small Business (ECSB), for small business users, it’s not—so if your company is marketing to small business owners, think twice before creating that app.
According to ECSB research, there’s a divide between intention and reality when it comes to small business owners who use their mobile devices for B2B purposes. Some 50 percent of small business owners reported they would be willing to download an app from a business supplier, but so far, just 10 percent say they have actually done so.
By comparison, one-third (33 percent) of small business owners say they have used a mobile device to visit a supplier’s website.
What does this mean to your business? Apps might be the trend du jour (perhaps causing more business owners to claim they’re interested in them than really are), but when it comes to taking action, small business owners are going the more familiar route of the Web. This makes a lot of sense—business owners are practical people, and Web-based interfaces have greater functionality and flexibility. In addition, they can be used from any browser, not just a single device. In other words, while your customers might need an iPhone to use your cool, hip iPhone app, they can access your website from any old smartphone.
Or can they? If you’re targeting small business owners but your website isn’t up to par when it comes to mobile access, you need to make some changes—and fast. Like the rest of us, business owners are rapidly moving to smartphone adoption. Additional research by ECSB showed that 62 percent of small business owners use smartphones for business.
BlackBerry is the leader at 28 percent, followed by the iPhone with 18 percent, but Android, at 10 percent, is rapidly gaining ground. In addition, 7 percent of small business owners use iPads or other tablets, a number that’s sure to grow. That means your website needs to be optimized for use on all three platforms to meet the demands of small business owners on the go.
For a more in-depth look at the app vs. mobile optimized website decision, read this VentureBeat article, “The iPhone app is the Flash homepage of 2010.”
Image by Flickr user xstress (Creative Commons)
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