Blog
28
Jul
2008
Using web tools - How to make them work for you
The web has become a workhorse for small business. It abounds with tools and information that provide value and productivity that would be unthinkable only a few years ago. The cost of accessing and using these tools and services is dropping all the time.
Sounds great doesn't it? However it's not without its difficulties. You don't need to go far before you hear stories about the cost and frustration of failed IT implementations. So what does it take to get it right?
07
Jul
2008
Google regional search - act now
Here's an important opportunity for all businesses that offer a regional service. Google is rolling out its local business search – an additional service that Google is adding to their google maps application. They are looking to map businesses and services to their geographical location.
Why is this important? Because Google will display the first 10 local businesses listed on any regional search. Not only is this independent of organic google searches, but it is displayed high up on the page with a large visual weight. Its a very important way to gain traffic from Google.
I recommend that you get in early and don't be disappointed.
Just visit http://www.google.com/local/add/ and complete the application.
04
Jul
2008
Looking towards the phone revolution
With the launch of the iPhone in Australia later this month we will have moved a step closer to the point where phones are the preferred device for accessing the internet. This is already the case in Japan where internet content is almost universally accessed through phones.
The only question is how quickly Australian consumers will follow down the same path.
30
Jun
2008
you need a friendly (inter)face
We've all heard that term "web 2.0" recently, meaning the new wave of development, design and progress that has been made on the web in the last few years. It's a term that has ended up encompassing a number of trends, from the technological to the commercial.
One of those trends has been the acknowledgement of the importance of interfaces - if it is a web 2.0 application you can bet its got a clean, simple control panel. If its a 1.0 application, odds on you need an IT degree to work out how it all works.
This week has been a week for demonstrating how important this sort of thing is.
28
Jun
2008
Business Week's 10 commandments of web design
Business week just published its 10 commandments of web design.
22
Jun
2008
Do you want hyperbole with that?
One of the things that has always annoyed me about IT businesses, and some web companies, is their compulsion to give themselves such exaggerated futuristic names. It seems to me to be some nerdy boy compulsion, or an attempt to promote their business through technologically driven hyperbole.
Why can't people just stick to the basics??
20
Jun
2008
More IT madness
A friend of mine received a letter from their telecom company the other day. It said:
"Dear Jane Anne Smith,
We would like to advise that Jane Smith gained online access to Jane Anne Smith account details on xx Jun 2008.
This provides access to our online services using these account details.
If you have any questions regarding this letter, please visit xxxx online assistance or call us on xxx xxx xxx."
Jane accessed the online account because the company was promising to provide more environmentally sensitive invoices and reduced the amount of information on the printed account. Jane logged onto the web to access the information that was previously published on the older version of the invoice.
Then the telco sends her a printed letter specially to warn her that someone accessed her account. This seems pretty bizarre because:
- It kind of ruins the whole line about environmental concerns.
- It shows their system can't recognise that "Jane Smith" and "Jane Anne Smith" are probably the same person
- They haven't really explained how this "other" person gained access to the account if she wasn't recognised as its owner.
- In fact the whole letter is a bit ambiguous - does my friend need to contact the company, and if she did what would she ask them??
The common sense test
Like out of control bureaucracies IT policies and processes can become total madness. They separate action from simple common sense and they divorce anyone from taking responsibility for something which is clearly nuts.
At Acorn we recognise that its not always easy to avoid the nuts (if you will excuse the confusing pun). But we also know that a process isn't completed until it is nut free.
Creating good relationships
Business is all about relationships. We want to do business with people and businesses that we have relationships with - but it is expensive for a business to create a real relationship with all its customers. That is why mass media and mass marketing has become so important.
The telecom company would not have sent the letter out if that letter had to be handwritten and hand addressed. However it still needs to work to build a good relationship with the customer.
In this case a confusing and impersonal letter leaves the customer feeling unloved and doubting the efficiency and professionalism of the business that sent it. Its a lose-lose situation.
Everyone out there who is using technology like the web to send out communications should be looking twice at the affect their communications have on their customers. Are they helping their relationship or hindering?
06
Jun
2008
Writing a great call to action
What's a call to action? Do I even need one?
A call to action (CTA) is a proposition that demands action from a site visitor, so it's normally also associated with a hyperlink. A call to action is a demanding statement that provokes passing traffic to either become a customer or a marketable prospect. And damn right you need one.
03
Jun
2008
Practical eye candy
This blog has been quiet for a couple of weeks now, and there has been a reason for that. We've been busy deliverying on half a dozen new sites - all of them quite large
We've built some really beautiful sites. What really excites us is how they are all being run by the CMS.
Normally content managed websites tend to a certain sameness and we feel we have stepped right away from that.
Great graphic design and a compelling message on the front page is one way to get passing traffic to stop and consider becoming your customer. To have this and a website that you can easily manage yourself is a winning combination.
Check them out.
03
Jun
2008
Desktop publishing in the CMS
When we hand over a website to our clients we say that “its easy to publish content”. But we also say “All you need to know is headings, subheadings and paragraphs. Just add the odd image”.
Because with good typography that's all that is needed for creating good looking content, and you should be concentrating in the value of the words, not the eye candy.
But some of our clients are always looking to do more. They want to use the authoring tool as if it is a desktop publishing tool. I guess that's fair enough, and we do use the tool for that very purpose, albeit with a lot more knowledge.
The problem for our clients has been that the editor looks superficially like MS Word, but using it with those expectations often results in unexpected results – and frustration! Remember that the editor is creating HTML, not Word doc. Its not so simple, and we were starting to hear some cries for help!
03
Jun
2008
DIY SEO
Search engine optimisation (or SEO for short) has always been a hot topic. You can still spend a lot of money on SEO – and some in the industry are definitely worth the money. My trouble was always knowing who to trust. SEO has always been a bit dodgy (or had its dodgy elements) and I know there are still “professionals” out there overselling their services, or even offering techniques which no longer work.
So this post is here to offer an alternative. DIY SEO in the CMSMS (CMS Made Simple) system
04
May
2008
How not to run an IT business
I became a Telstra customer late last year, purchasing one of their wireless broadband products.
Now, I've never been a Telstra fan (so there is my bias right up front), but I chose their product because it seemed to be the only one I could find at that time that worked on the Mac. And once it was installed properly it worked well. The data download was blindingly fast, and it was pretty useful having web access everywhere.
I won't go into the tech support they provided during the setup phase. Suffice to say I ended up passing their tech support people some useful info rather than the other way around. I got it working by myself, and so as long as you weren't relying on Telstra for any sort of support or service it was a pretty good product.
Unfortunately about a month ago I lost the modem, so I had to contact Telstra again to order a new one as well as change my subscription level. It was a journey into the belly of the beast...
15
Apr
2008
Copywriting for the web
The keys to a typical website's can be reduced to
- creating valuable content
- converting of visiting readers to customers,
- creating high traffic to increase customers.
A vital part of this is making sure that the text content within the site is as good as possible. Getting support in this area from a copywriter guarantees
- clear communication
- compelling calls to action (converting visitors to customers)
- key word optimisation producing higher organic search engine results
We've started working with a very promising new copywriter who is specialising in writing for the web. We can't tell you how exciting this is. We have worked with a number of writers previously, and while they were good none of them really understood the medium of the web. It sounds like a subtle thing, but that lack of understanding often meant that the excellent copy just wasn't quite right for the websites that we were working on.
So we say welcome to Angus Gordon, of Usable Words and we hope to do a lot more work with him in the future.
15
Apr
2008
Help is on hand (and offsite)
This week we are looking forward to becoming customers of Second Site, a new business that promises to make our business administration a lot easier.
We are still too small to hire a full time secretary, which means that currently, all those administrative tasks are still my responsibility. However from this week we will be welcoming Belinda onto our team. she will be taking up key tasks in front of house, customer support and communications, as well as office management. I think it will end up making a huge difference in our business.
14
Apr
2008
Babywraps
Our first goal is always to build websites that we love. Our second is to build websites that our clients love.
For a start I think it is difficult to achieve the latter if you don't first succeed at the former. Another important feature we concentrate is making sure that usability, training and support are sufficient to allow the new owner to take charge of their own site and feel empowered by it. The power to publish and promote yourself is a very exciting one.
Delivering on our promises with Babywraps
Early this year we met with Ivana and her daughter Linda and set to work building a website for their baby wrap products, www.babywraps.com.au. Ivana and Linda had a product that they were passionate about, and an entrepreneurial dream. Our goal was to build them a website that gave them the power to promote and grow that dream.
I think the results speak for themselves. The lovely design was provided by Linda – we just refined and implemented it. Our clever use of stylesheets and code means that all the images that Ivana posts into the catalog automatically scale themselves and apply the clever framing affects, which normally would require specialist skills in photoshop to produce.
Ivana has taken all her own product photographs after some training with Mheagan Sims, and published her own extensive shop catalog. We're very happy with the final result and so are Linda and Ivana.
I found collaborating with the Acornweb team to be an overall pleasurable experience, the feedback and advice was fast constructive and very helpful . The CMS system specifically designed by Acornweb was a great communication tool that enabled us at Bambini Amore to stay on track and committed to the cause and meet those all important milestones! Thank you to the Acornweb Team...for all your great effort the website looks great! - Linda Honl
13
Apr
2008
Updates to the editor
The editor we routinely include in our CMS administration screens is called FCKeditor. There has been a recent update to its functionality that we are currently testing. It seems to contain a number of key improvements that improve its usability, particularly for new users.
The most important changes are:
- Consistent application of paragraphs to text content - you don't need to remember to manually format them.
- Replacement of popup dialogues with in page dialogues. This means new users are not going to be confounded by popup windows blockers.
- The ability to highlight all paragraph and heading elements in the page. This makes it a lot easier for users to see what is happening in their page where once it would have been mysterious white space.
We will be rolling it out for all new customers. If you are an existing customer and interested in getting your CMS updated then give us a call.
13
Apr
2008
Breaking the square
Web pages are basically made up of a bunches of squares and rectangles. Some of the rectangles are images, and some of them contain text, but basically everything is pretty boxy.
Because of that the average web page ends up looks pretty rigid and linear, and thus rather boring. Its partly because so many websites end up looking the same, but also because the rigid lines and fixed grid lacks visual tension and rarely lead the human eye from one point of interest to another.
When you are trying to get passing traffic to stop and look at you this is not a good thing.
Instead we have got increasingly interested in bending and breaking these conventions. We call it breaking the square.
02
Apr
2008
Do not click here!
Way back in the day, when the web was new, hyperlinks were pretty new fangled items. Many people had never seen them before, and thus didn't really know what to do with them. The web designers of the time came up with a solution to get around this. It was called Click here.
However times have moved on now. The web is literally an everyday tool for everyday people. The 'click here' is now implicit. So why do so many people continue to use it in their hyperlinks and their calls to action.
There are better ways to do things.
01
Apr
2008
How to count cards in blackjack and other things
What makes the web so great is that it allows information to flow so freely. What makes it such a power of transformation is getting the right information to the right place in the right time.
Of course it doesn't always get it right, but when it does it changes your life (and it does it more and more often - try turning off the web and see how far you get without google or internet banking).
Here are a couple of resources that will change your life.
28
Mar
2008
The Pullquote Tag
We did, so we thought this would be a good idea.
18
Mar
2008
more news from the bleeding edge
This is another little video of some cutting edge technology - this time of a four legged robot called "Big Dog".
12
Mar
2008
Google's nine principles of innovation
Google is now a world leader in both IT and business. Its consistent ability to innovate and re-invent whole industries has allowed it to reach its current pre-eminent position.
When you think about it what Google has achieved is pretty awe-inspiring. To name but a few:
- Being there right at the start of the search engine game
- Surviving the IT boom when so many other companies lost their head
- Completely re-inventing web based advertising as a bottom-up exercise for many small businesses, rather than a top down for just a few mega-rich businesses
- Innovating with their search engine technology to the point where they almost have no real competition at all
I'm sure the real list is much bigger.
Anyway there was a great article in the Age, detailing the recipe for this success. Here's a summary, and commentary
06
Mar
2008
Free hugs
Last Friday I was lucky enough to meet Juan Mann, the guy behind the free hugs campaign that started in Sydney, but which has now spread around the world.
His is an amazing story, about a simple act which grew and grew until it has literally changed the world.
I challenge anyone to view his video (posted on youtube) without feeling refreshed and invigorated, and without walking away seeing the world in a better light. And that is priceless.
The Free Hugs campaign is an interesting story about what can happen when you directly and honestly address peoples' real needs, and communicate that solution clearly. “Free hugs” is a compelling proposition. It sells itself. More correctly, it gives itself away.
01
Mar
2008
We leak in your chimney
27
Feb
2008
Enemy at the gates
I had an interesting conversation the other day with a business owner who was afraid of the intellectual property (IP) invested in his website being stolen by competitors. It was eerily similar to another conversation we had had previously with a client when negotiating what content to put in their website.
On face value their concerns about protecting their intellectual property were a valid one, but it raises an interesting dilemma. How do you promote the value of your business to your customers without revealing the value of your business to your competitors.
I thought it was worth a deeper examination.
25
Feb
2008
Recipes
So we set about making a list of such processes in order to create a small portion of code to do said task and store it in every single new website's CMS. Just incase that site needs it. How I wish we thought of it earlier! With this in our pocket we can call on it anytime of day and know it will do the job for us.
Such a gem warrants it's own blog category and so I will create it and tell you more soon...
24
Feb
2008
first customer survey results are in
Our first survey results are in.
You can see the results here.
Overall we are pretty happy with them, particularly the customer service category.
So far the feedback on training is only so-so, but all these clients predate our new online training video. We are hoping the next customers to complete the survey report a better experience.
24
Feb
2008
Who's on first?
We've just had an interesting week, with a lot of deadline pressures. Dealing with these gave me some interesting insights.
We were having some frustrating conversations with one client in particular. By that I mean it was frustrating for both parties. On our end we couldn't work out why the customer was fixating on seemingly trivial details, while the customer was probably wondering why we seemed so incapable of following simple instructions.
Communication was hopelessly compromised. We were speaking the same language but totally failing to understand each other. We were arguing over technology and design points that just weren't critical, mostly because each side had no idea what the other was saying. Positions threatened to become entrenched.
It took me asking a really simple question to break the deadlock.
14
Feb
2008
the web has a funny sense of memory
I was just writing the last blog post about youtube videos, and part of it involved a quick trip to my hockey club's web page. I was stunned to see that the picture in the top left hand corner was from my old team from over 10 years ago. What was even more amazing was that we appeared to be pictured near the opponents' goal, rather than our own - as was traditional.
Now that I revisit the site I see that it is a randomly generated image that changes every time you view the site. But what were the odds that I saw it that time :).
I had to click refresh about 20 times but I found the image again. Here it is. Don't look for me, I was at the other end of the field.
14
Feb
2008
youtube - new media, new opportunities
I've been watching So you Think You Can Dance. What I particularly love about it is the way that it is about the passion and commitment of the participants, the unguardedness of their experience, and the fact that the show and its comperes are supportive, rather than being divisive or cruel. It is an antidote to much of what is on TV, particularly of the reality TV variety.
Another reason that I was watching was because several swing dancers I know from here in Melbourne made it through to the second round and I wanted to see them on TV. Unfortunately I was playing hockey*** the night they appeared on TV, so I missed them.
Luckily for me I was subscribed to the newsletter for Swing Patrol, the business the dancers belonged to. They sent me a newsletter that included a link to a Youtube movie that allowed me to see all the relevant bits from the show. Great! TV on demand.
13
Feb
2008
Web browsers - same language but different accents
Ok, I may be a bit weird – as a client side programmer by trade a disturbingly large amount of my life is taken up with web browsers, - but I was surprised to discover that some people don't realise that there are several different kinds of web browsers out there, and how each one affects the web browsing experience.
Lets take a quick review of the field.
11
Feb
2008
Acorn user support is now on at the movies!!
I've just been on a bit of a blogging bender. I almost forgot the important news.
We have our online support videos up and running!
These are a series of videos demonstrating the use of the CMS that we build all our websites with. We have around 16 up already and we will be adding more soon.
Please check them out and let us know what you think. If you think they are missing anything then please let us know and we will update and amend them.
Over time we will be adding more, dealing with topics of website strategy, email campaign management and more.
11
Feb
2008
Google vs Yahoo - an unequal contest
I was reviewing our search engine results the other day when I discovered first hand why Google dominates the search engine market so comprehensively (Google currently holds %62 of the market. The second place holder, Yahoo, holds 13% of the global market). I was testing the search results for the phrase “web designer brunswick”, which we rated highly on in Google. However when I tested the same phrase in Yahoo I found that the results were heavily dominated by websites from New Brunswick in America.
Google is obviously taking notice of the region where I am searching from, and tailoring the results accordingly. Its only natural that an Australian is going to be more interested in Brunswick, Melbourne rather than New Brunswick.
Yahoo isn't applying any regional bias, or perhaps it has a US bias built in. No wonder it is struggling to compete with Google. I think I will going back to using Google exclusively as my search engine of choice. Its a rare day when it doesn't deliver what I want in double quick time.
11
Feb
2008
Search engine optimisation on a Sunday
I just read a great article on search engine optimisation in the Sunday Age. It provided a good summary of the topic and a basic overview of typical costs, and the typical rewards.
One thing I didn't know was that the top search listing in a Google or Yahoo search receives 3 ½ more clicks than the second entry. By the time you get to the listings on the second page (11th place or more) the value of appearing in the search must be starting to dwindle alarmingly.
There is also a good description of the bidding process for Google Ad Words that takes place on any given day, particularly over highly sought after key words, as well as a quick discussion of website optimisation. It is this latter area that we are particularly interested in at the moment.
03
Feb
2008
Good builders and bad builders
“But my nephew can build my website for $600.”
Yes he can, but the question you have to ask is “Should he?”.
We regularly hear statements like the one above, particularly from businesses that are just starting out, and are trying to keep costs to a minimum. Because the business owner has no background knowledge in the technical requirements of building a website, or the practical needs of a website that actually makes a business grow they are usually totally unaware of the cost of such a decision.
We also see a fair few websites that have been built by a professional website design or development company, but which have been built in a substandard way. This is a new and unregulated industry; the best techniques for building websites are constantly changing, as are the strategies that make a website successful. Many so-called professional businesses, particularly at the bottom end of the market, are sadly lacking in best practices.
Educating consumers becomes a challenge in itself.
30
Jan
2008
The Ikalator 3000
Learning Javascript is so far the hardest thing I have taken on since starting here at Acorn. Somehow the HTML and CSS all kind of made sense to my designer brain. Even though I didn't know any of it when I came here it didn't take much to start learning what limits I could push with them. But to step into programming land is to stop thinking as an artist would, think like computer.
28
Jan
2008
Our SEO adventure - or climbing the google rankings
We've been progressively working on our website for a while now. Like all businesses its harder to have a website that is better than the underlying business's vision and processes. Luckily we have been making some good progress in those areas - and as a result our website is starting to show some key improvements.
However where we showed up on google searches was still a bit of an embarrassment. From what I could tell, most "normal" google searches would put us on about page 12 of the search results. Most searchers rarely go past page 1. When google did pass us visitors it was usually for explicit searches like "acorn web studio" or for searches for terms that weren't all that useful to us, like "website gurus".
Its time to get serious!
Here's my plan...
28
Jan
2008
Sometimes the future hits you right between the eyes
There are days when you turn around and see something so amazing that it really rocks your world. There are days when you realise that the future is already present.
This is definitely one of these moments. Check out the attached video and hyperlinks to see some really amazing technology currently being developed in Microsoft's labs.
22
Jan
2008
Referral rewards at the Harvest Home
We rely heavily on referrals here at Acorn. Not only is it a powerful and cost-effective way for us to find customers, but because trust and credibility are usually important criteria for our prospective clients, it seems to be one of the main ways people source services like ours anyway.
In recognition of this, to reward those who do pass business our way, and to encourage them to keep thinking of us, we have instigated a referral program.
21
Jan
2008
Two new plugins for CMS Made Simple
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