Sniff sniff…

There are a multitude of memorable lines that sappy parents usually break out when their kids reach the age when they’re ready to leave the nest. Many of the more common ones include:

“I remember when she was just a baby…”

“Do you think she’ll make it out there?”

“I’ve got the carpenter coming Tuesday to measure for the hot tub…”

Business owners can often share many of these same feelings because in many ways their businesses are also their children, and Point Click Media is no different. Our baby has come a long way since being impregnated with a few ideas that over time have seen ups and downs, taken in lessons learned, but ultimately we’ve seen Point Click grow into a healthy, thriving web development firm. Now it’s time for us as business owners to let our baby strut her stuff and “show the world what you’re made of, sweetheart.”

No, I didn’t actually rip this off from the front of a Hallmark card. It’s pretty much our reasoning for our face-lift at Point Click. We’re 4 years old now and it’s time to lose the training wheels. It’s time to give ourselves a look that accompanies what Point Click Media is all about – a clean, streamlined approach to effective online marketing.

Stay tuned to the website as well folks, as this very blog that you’re reading will be undergoing some major changes to feature the new branding.

We’re extremely excited at the road ahead for Point Click Media. There are always peaks, valleys and countless twists and turns, but you can be sure that Point Click Media is prepped to hit that sucker with the rear view mirror torn off and the pedal to the metal. What better way to hit the road than in a ‘69 Camaro Convertible with a fire-breathing T-Rex behind the wheel and Ozzy Osbourne strapped to the hood.

Your move, world.

Note: Point.Click Media was not involved with this project. This is merely a review for study purposes.

Remember MapQuest? Back in 2002 you felt like you had the technology at hand to build the atomic bomb because MapQuest allowed you to embed their web-based global mapping system right into your website. How cool was that?

First of all, does anyone still use MapQuest? It seems like in recent years MapQuest has fallen so far behind Google Maps that it wouldn’t shock anyone if they just fell off the face of the earth. Nevertheless, MapQuest is actually a subsidiary of AOL who have also recently rebranded. Perhaps the two coincide in some form in order to try and distance themselves from old, outdated, inept technology.

They’re trying to take leaps forward and branch off into some new avenues, so let’s give them credit. The MapQuest system and website has also undergone some significant changes and it’s all for the better. If Google was destroyed by an alien mothership full of robo-technodroids today, MapQuest could still certainly step in and provide our new robot overloads with a map to the nearest Orange Julius for a well deserved victory smoothie. We all just want a slice of that big internet pie in the sky, which is seemingly being devoured by Google in every nook and cranny available. AOL is still using MapQuest to serve its Patch information platform, which allows for a directory of information to be served along with maps in a similar fashion to Google Maps. Everyone is just trying to play keep up, I guess. MapQuest is also partnered with General Motors to offer GPS capabilities with OnStar.

They’ve certainly taken a step into the corporate world. Gone is the groovy cartoon style wordmark that had dated the MapQuest brand to the dotcom bust era. In comes a sleek lowercase wordmark with an iconic symbol featuring the brand initials. At first glance the Q resembles either an eye or magnifying glass representative of MapQuest’s searching capabilities. The ‘M’ allows the subject to interpret it any way they want – be it a road, building, or location in general. The logo can also be read as “M to the power of  Q”, or “Maps to the power of your Quest”. Together, the two letters also form a character or mascot of sorts that can guide you along your way. Once you’ve seen the character, you wonder how you missed it. It’s a very subjective symbol to whoever is looking at it.

The brand has also adopted a new color scheme, ditching the traditional red and bringing in both purple and a vibrant green, which ties into AOL’s overall colourful rebrand in chasing down a new generation. It seems kind of funny though that MapQuest is trying to update their look by apparently choosing a color scheme that is also synonymous with the dotcom bust era. On one hand they’ve updated the font, but on the other have dated the color scheme.

Overall there are some things that can be considered positive for the new MapQuest brand, and some things I’m not so sure of. One thing is for sure though: The change is certainly major. It doesn’t even look like the same company anymore, and in many ways it isn’t. The goal for MapQuest was to create a brand that is clean, corporate and fun, and I believe they’ve accomplished that. AOL is changing the direction of MapQuest for use in its own technologies and thus a fresh start for an old college buddy is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. Whether or not it’s effective remains to be seen.

Let us know what you think.

photo credit: myuibe - If Steve Jobs knows two things, it's the iPhone and how to get a crazy good deal on buying black turtlenecks in bulk.

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

It’s not a huge stretch of the imagination by any means to realize that mobile devices are quickly becoming the wave of the future for browsing the internet. With the ability to access the billions of web pages on the web from the luxury of your phone or hand-held device from anywhere on the planet, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the trend is becoming so popular.

Let me throw some quick statistics at you:

• 100 million. That’s the number of Blackberries sold to date.
• 85 million. That’s the total number of iPhones and iPod Touches that have been sold as of April 2010.
• 3 million. That’s the number of iPads that have been sold in the last 80 days.
• 1.7 million. That’s the number of iPhone 4 units alone that have been sold since launch on June 21^st.

Not even Gene Roddenberry himself could envision this kind of technological takeover. Then again, maybe he could. But while we’re all walking around with our phasers and faces set to stunned at those numbers, there’s a definite need to open our eyes at the evolution of websites.

photo credit: zaphodsotherhead - "THIS. IS. HOW. I. TEXT. LEONARD. NIMOY."

So why is it such a big deal to make my website mobile ready?

It’s important to note that much like your desktop computer or laptop, mobile devices can use a variety of different web browsers, all of which display web pages differently. For example, your laptop may be running Internet Explorer or Firefox, but any mobile Apple device (including the iPhone, iPod or iPad) uses Safari. When developing your website, make sure that it is fully tested in a variety of web browsers to make sure that your clients can see the same information from your site whether they are on their desktop machine at home or on their Blackberry in Bangladesh.

Check out this article for a more in-depth look at the browser wars and what to be aware of.

Another key fact to take into account is that mobile Apple devices can’t run Flash and they have no plans to develop such a technology any time soon. This means that if your website is running any Flash elements, be it an animated banner, menu, intro animation, or perhaps the entire site itself (God forbid), anyone that arrives on your website on an Apple product will be awfully disappointed.

What else can I do?

If you’ve taken the few precautions outlined above, then you’ve pretty much covered the basics, but that’s not to say you can’t go a little bit further. Many larger websites are beginning to develop mobile-only versions of their websites. For example, if you visit ESPN, CNN or Facebook on a phone, you’ll notice that you’re presented with a stripped down version of the information you want to see, without all the bells and whistles of the full website. This is done, of course, to save on real estate since the screen on your phone is restricted to just a few inches. If users want more information, they can either continue browsing the mobile-only website, or visit the main website.

Many website business models are also realizing the potential of iPhone applications. As of June 2010 there were 225,000 apps in the Apple App store. These apps range from everything from games to finance to books and more. Apps aren’t restricted to just Apple products either. Blackberries and Google’s Android phone are also developing their own apps. Many websites are now developing these mobile programs that allow their users to easily access their accounts and streamline the whole web browsing process on mobile devices. This includes shopping, updating their profiles, watching videos, etc. It all makes for better usability and an overall better experience in mobile web browsing.

Now that we’ve given you a small glimpse into the present and future, if all this mobile development stuff still seems over the top or out in left field – contact Point.Click Media. Captain Kirk will thank you.

Last week we began looking at how Amazon has solidified itself as a leader in e-commerce without having to undergo any major face lifts or radical changes in layout.

We’ve come across two active trends right away that can be attributed to Amazon – the tab menu system and the fluid layout. As we move toward the present we begin to see a few subtle changes to the website that don’t necessarily call for any alarms, but are still notable enough to change the way users navigate the website.

Well here it is… the big Amazon redesign. Are you wondering what has changed yet? Believe it or not this redesign was fairly significant to Amazon users. They’ve elected to ditch the horizontal tab system that had been almost synonymous with the Amazon brand and go with a left aligned vertical menu, something that is almost contradictory to the current trend where top horizontal navigation is becoming increasingly popular. One thing is for certain now:  When you go to Amazon, you’re there for shopping and they’ve made it known. The new menu begins with a very eye catching title reading: “Shop All Departments.”

It’s also interesting to see the expansion in products. Books are still the number one seller (located at the top of the menu), but you can see just how far the Amazon brand goes. Heck, they’ve even introduced their own book reader – the Kindle, which could completely change the way we read books altogether. This massive expansion could also be a main reason for the switch in navigation. If you take a look at the old tab menu system from the early 2000’s, you can see how quickly the tabs can begin piling up and causing a bit of a clutter. Having a vertical menu system allows much more room for expansion.

Check out the live working page by clicking here (Wayback Machine)

The redesign from 2008 has been streamlined into a thin blue bar for searching with all of your shopping needs on the left. Boy, they’re really pushing that Kindle aren’t they? Despite the redesign (if you even want to call it that), one thing has stayed the same throughout each phase of this study:  The product is the star of the show. Even today you won’t see a bunch of flashy rollover buttons or animated banners advertising a 5% off John Denver MP3s Labour Day Bonanza. Amazon only uses imagery when they need to, and it works. Their track record speaks for itself.

Pictured above is the current website at amazon.com

Sometimes slow and steady does win the race.

Let us know what you think. Contact Point.Click Media.

With web trends dipping and diving into new avenues every day, and with the increasingly rapid evolution of technology in online shopping, there’s one website out there that has seemed to weather every storm and, in many cases, set the trends themselves.

There’s no questioning Amazon’s place in e-commerce history. They’ve been among the pioneers since the very beginning. Their very first business model was simply to be an online bookstore in the mid-1990’s. The Amazon brand has since expanded into selling everything from A-to-Z, just as their latest logo incarnation says.

In addition from going A-to-Z, the latest version of the Amazon logo is also giving us a nice big smile – likely because he’s not having to sell used vacuum cleaners door-to-door like most CEOs from the dot-com bust era… although they probably have a section for that on the website, somewhere.

With the web seemingly shape-shifting and undergoing massive face lifts at every corner and around every turn, though, it’s strikingly odd just how little Amazon has changed over the years. They’ve stuck to their guns and, due to their growing popularity, have managed to entrench many web trends that we still see today.

For starters, Amazon is still one of the few websites out there that uses a fluid layout. They still use it today as they did in 2000 and beyond. What this means is that rather than having a fixed width website that is either left, center or right aligned in your browser that allows space for repetitive backgrounds, a fluid layout takes advantage of the entire browser window – maximizing real estate. Another trend that can be traced back to Amazon is the use of the tab menu system. Amazon popularized the easy to navigate series of folder tabs that allow you navigate the numerous color coded categories of the site without getting lost and having to constantly return to the homepage. You’ll also notice the lack of imagery and graphics, showing a sign of the times when dial-up modems took 7 years to load a JPEG the size of a postage stamp. They’ve kept images (for the most part) strictly for logos and product. You’ll notice as we go that this is a recurring theme.

Check out the live working page by clicking here (Wayback Machine)

Four years have gone by and not much has changed. The tab system still exists, with a bit of extra navigation remaining on the left and right hand sides. The product has remained the focal point as Amazon hasn’t resorted to a slew of graphic banners and blinking animations that turn the page into the Griswold family Christmas tree. It’s simple, the way it should be – and they’ve stuck to it.

Check out the live working page by clicking here (Wayback Machine)

Since its inception in the mid-90’s and onward into the mid-2000’s, Amazon has remained relatively the same. The focus has always been on content and not on making it look good. A good product will sell itself and it looks like they’ve taken that to heart. It’s fairly refreshing to see a website keep such simplicity and yet still be extremely effective. As we’ll see in the second half of this study, however, there are bound to be changes at some point, and we begin to see a few changes in the way Amazon presents its information.

photo credit: Jamiesrabbits - "Hello? Operator? I'm looking for someone who can point me towards the 21st century..."

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

Last week, in the first half of this 2 part series, we offered a few ways to help you get your website off the ground by providing free methods of driving traffic to your website to help your organic search engine rankings. This includes updating your website with regular content and link building with your closest business partners and associations, among other things.

All of our provided free methods work great, however they can take a significant amount of time to produce results. Now, we’re not all perfect – often, when we don’t see results right away we’re bound to fall off the wagon eventually. There’s no real reason to fret over it though, because unlike those 10 unsightly pounds you have circled in red permanent marker on the top of your New Years Resolution list every January, your immediate problems can be resolved with only a pocket full of change. We’re not talking thousands of dollars or even hundreds. You can essentially purchase extra traffic for the cost of a ham sandwich.

Ok, I’m slobbering like a pitbull in a post office. Tell me how.

Your first option is to purchase search engine keywords via Pay-Per-Click advertising. Google AdWords is currently the most popular keyword tool on the market that you may have heard of. The way AdWords and other keyword tools work is you purchase a keyword is that you’d like to be found with by bidding on it with other competitors. Let’s say for example you own a dry cleaning business in Edmonton. You have the ability to bid on a variety of keywords, but you really want to be found when someone types in the words “dry cleaning in Edmonton”. By purchasing this keyword phrase, when someone types this into Google, they’ll see your business ad located at the top of the organic search results. When someone clicks on your ad and visits your website, you’re charged for the click.

Depending how competitive your search term is, it can cost anywhere from pennies per click to hundreds of dollars per click.

SWEET GEORGIA BROWN! WHAT HAPPENED TO PENNIES A DAY?

Relax. Only the really competitive industries with extremely broad keywords generate that kind of cost. For example the companies bidding on the terms “pharmaceuticals” or “real estate” are the ones shelling out the big bucks. For a small business, targeting your keywords is key to not only being more cost effective, but acquiring legitimate targeted traffic. For a bit more in depth look at CPC advertising, see our previous blog post on this topic.

Google AdWords and other similar keyword bidding tools work great for search engines, but there are even further steps you can take to get the traffic coming to you. Many social media networks like Facebook also have similar CPC programs in place that allow you to purchase keywords on their own websites to target customers and drive people to your website.

Another method for pulling in some eyeballs is by purchasing listings on the websites of key business directories. For example, the Yellow Pages website is indexed by search engines everywhere and is a very popular website. When someone is searching Google for a location that can’t yet be found on the web, you’ll notice that a Yellow Pages listing is often the first to pop up. Although the phone book itself is earning its spot on the dusty museum wall next to homo erectus and the Model T, the Yellow Pages website is still a very handy method for finding a business, and they allow you to link your business listing to your website for a small fee.

These are just a few options that one can take to ensure that their website is being utilized to the fullest. It’s extremely important to remember though, that purchasing advertising of any kind is only a temporary solution, and your organic search results are not to be ignored. By ensuring your website is being populated with quality content that is useful to your visitors, you ensure that they have reason to return, and your traffic will begin to take care of itself.

This concludes our 2 part series. If you’re looking to expand further into search engine marketing and advertising, contact Point.Click Media.

photo credit: MorrowLess - Corn on the Ty Cobb anyone?

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

It’s the nature of the entrepreneur. You’ve invested some money into your website, giving it a fresh new look and all kinds of great new features that are going to have your customers drooling and itching to throw fistfuls of cash at you like Steve Jobs at an Apple Developers Conference. Now you want to start cashing in a return on your investment.

Alas, you’ve launched the website and not much is happening. You’ve built it, so why aren’t they coming? Well unfortunately, unlike the vast cornfields of Iowa that are inhabited by hoards of dead baseball players just waiting to flock to Kevin Costner’s house for a game of poltergeist stickball, search engines don’t give you that automatic drawing power just because you’re there. You need to earn their respect.

When you first launch a website, you’re seen virtually as a new business. Search engines have a lot to learn about you. Are you legit? Are you out to scam people? What other organizations are you linked to? All of these things are studied by search engines over time before they can figure out how to rank you. It takes time. It can take weeks or months before search engines can begin to identify you and properly index your website.

So how do I speed up this process?

The key to earning brownie points with search engines is to keep populating your website with content and keep building quality incoming links. If you’re putting up a weekly newsletter, for example, make sure that it’s  loaded with the keywords you want to be found with. Adding regular content also helps search engines realize that you aren’t some fly-by-night organization that has closed up shop with your grandmother’s pension and sailed a bathtub off to the Congo in the middle of the night. Also, by building incoming links with other reputable organizations you let search engines know that you associate yourself with the right people, and it helps drive extra traffic to your site at the same time… a 2-for-1 special.

What’s the best way to build incoming links?

First and foremost, your website address should be on every printed material that you’re handing out to people. Business cards, brochures, letterheads… even putting the address in all of your email signatures will help gain traffic. Every little bit helps, and every little bit is oh so crucial in the beginning.

Another way to build incoming links is to contact various associations that you may be a part of and get them to link to your new website. Perhaps you work or partner with other companies in the same industry. Getting them to refer your website is another great way to get the word out.

Let’s not forget social media as well. Have your staff use Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn or even web forums to talk about the website and refer people to it. You could take it a step further and even set up a company Facebook group.

All of these methods for generating interest and traffic for your website don’t cost anything other than your time. Genuine search engine rankings don’t just sprout up overnight like bamboo on steroids. It takes patience and dedication to constantly feed new content into your website and keep increasing exposure. As your traffic begins to snowball, so will your search engine rankings.

But sometimes, we just need results NOW. Luckily the economy has a place for you… sitting atop of the golden throne of the advertising food chart with pulsating arrows and neon lights reading “Sell to this guy!”. There are plenty of ways to artificially buy your way to the top until your organic search rankings can grow some wings. Next week we’ll look at how you can pay to reserve your spot at the top while you establish your website’s presence.