Technology Decoded

Got a 404? Make it Rock!

2012-10-22T21:01:00.000+08:00

Everyone hates those 404 pages. You know, the ones telling you that you visited a page that does not exist. In an ideal world, no website should have a 404 but there are instances wherein a 404 is unavoidable. So, what can you do? Make it rock!

A 404 page is a valuable page that can turn your visitors into customers so if you can’t avoid having them, make sure to take advantage of them. Here are some ideas.

Search box
Add a search box in the page so that the users can try to find the page or content that they want. This involves a little technical know-how. If you have a dedicated programmer, ask him to work his magic.

Suggestions
Give suggestions on other topics or content in your website. Don’t forget to provide links. You can also recommend your site’s top post. Make sure that these links are working though!

Jazz it up with images
Jazz the page up with powerful images that convey who you are as a company. You can also put images that reinforce your brand. Include compelling text to make the page more appealing and convince your visitors to browse other pages of your site.

Google widget
Google has a tool for your 404 page. It’s called Google’s Webmaster Tools 404 widget. Google will give you a code which you can copy-paste to your 404 template. After that, Google will automatically give your users a search box and a list of recommended pages related to your user’s search. This solution is best for those website newbies or those who lack the technical know-how to make their own search boxes in their 404 pages.

Avoid 404’s as much as possible
No matter how good your 404 page is, it’s still an error that can cause frustration to your visitors. Make sure that you don’t have broken links in your site. Some website platforms have plugins to check broken links. These plugins will alert you when they detect a bad link. You can also use a 301 redirect plugin to automatically transfer all traffic from a broken link to a working page in your website.

The key here is to lessen the frustration of your visitors when they encounter the 404 page. Next is to make your users stay in your website and hopefully convert them into paying customers. Make sure that you have attractive call-to-action offers in your other links to convert visitors.

Facebook May Not be so Great After All

2012-10-21T23:26:00.002+08:00

When Facebook first came out, everyone was talking about it and everyone was in on it. Then businesses caught up and found that Facebook was a great way to reach out to their customers or tap markets that they did not have access to before. At present, almost all businesses have a Facebook fan page. But did you know that Facebook might not be so effective when it comes to customer engagement? About only 6% of your fans actually engage with your brand. This is done through likes and comments, sometimes by answering questions. This news is according to Napkin Labs, a Facebook app developer.

But don’t blame Facebook just yet. The problem might be on your side. The quality of followers that you have may be the problem. If you’re gaining a lot of likes through contests, chances are most of those fans are only there for the prize. Most of them don’t really care about your products and won’t probably purchase. Learn to segregate your fans by posting quality content. If they are interested in what you have to say, chances are they are really interested about your brand and your products. If you have a million fans, how many actually join your conversations? Napkin Labs says that brands that have a million fans are likely to have less than 60% engagement from fans.

Another thing to look into is your response time. There are some brands that have active fans but they tend to be unresponsive. If your customer queries are left unanswered, your fans will likely be frustrated and will no longer engage with your brand.

So what should you do to make your Facebook fan page work? Be devoted. First, you must open your wall to your fans. Let them share their experiences, opinions, questions, etc. about your brand. Just make sure that someone is monitoring your page to avoid trashy comments. Second, answer them on time. Don’t reply to a post after 2 days! Respect your customers and they will respect you.

Learn to use Facebook well and it will reward you with a lot of valuable customers and information.

Apple is Tracking You

2012-10-20T17:02:00.000+08:00

Image from Wikipedia

So the iPhone 5 hit the market last September. It came with a lot of great features that Apple aficionados are happy about. If you’re an iPhone 5 user, did you know that its new operating system, the iOS 6, is equipped with a tracking technology? This allows advertisers to target you and bombard you with ads.

With the past iPhone models, users were safe from these ads. But now with the iPhone 5, advertisers are rejoicing. But there is a glimmer of hope as you can turn the tracking off. Be warned though that this is turned on by default so you have to manually turn it off. It is found in the General>About>Advertising>Limit Ad Tracking section. The default is “OFF” so you must turn this “ON” so that your tracking will be limited. Don’t be confused.

Your phone uses an identifier for advertisers or IFA. It’s a random number that is assigned to you and your iPhone. When you browse an app or surf the Internet, your presence generates an advertisement call. The site you are in, say, a travel app will then pass your IFA to an ad server. The advertisers will then know that you are looking at a specific content or publication and then they will be able to deliver an ad that is customized according to your surfing habits. Since you are looking at a travel app, you might then receive advertisements from travel agencies or travel-related products. IFA is very useful to an advertiser because it allows them to track you until you buy or download a product or an app.

Don’t worry about your privacy. The IFA is an anonymous number. It will not give the advertiser your name and other pertinent information. It just tells advertisers what you are looking at. You can also look at it differently as the advertisements will introduce you to some new products, places and things that you might be interested in.

Make the Most Visited Page of Your Website Stand Out

2012-10-20T10:29:00.000+08:00

Image from wikipedia

What is the most visited page in your website? Aside from your front page, it’s probably your About Us page. Have you ever analyzed this page? How long has it been since you revamped this page? You might be missing out on a lot of opportunities to make your clients stay and browse your site.

What do you put in your About Us page? This page is where potential customers head first to make sure that your company is real and that you can provide what they are looking for. Your About Us page should contain the following information if you want your clients to stay.

What will customers gain from using your product or service?

It’s not about what you do. It’s what benefits your customers. What problems can your products or service solve?

Don’t just say that you give excellent customer service. Tell them that you have next-day delivery or you have never delivered yet or none of your deliveries had broken items. You can also cite instances when you went above and beyond the call of duty.

Be ready to backup your claims

Write facts. If you are the best in your industry, state why you are. State the awards that you’ve been given. For example, if you are the best hotel in your city, cite the awards that you have received. If you say that you are innovative, list down your innovations.

If you are a new business, don’t lie to your customers. Tell them what you hope to achieve and how you are planning to do that. As your business progresses, add or change your About Us page.

Don’t lie

Again, don’t lie about your size, what you can deliver and how long you’ve been in business. It doesn’t matter if you’re new in the industry. What matters is how you serve your customers and why they should choose you over the big boys.

Don’t steal

Don’t steal stuff from the Internet. Don’t steal photos or content. Use the resources that you have. If you’re not satisfied with a photo, then just leave it out. If you really need photos in your website, invest in a one-day shoot with a professional photographer. Make sure that your images can be re-used for other campaigns so that you can make the most out of your budget.

Always review your website

With developments and innovations coming up left and right, your website today may not be relevant in a month’s time. You should always review every page of your website to see if they are still relevant to the current market. If you have developments in-house, you should always update your customers.

Final tips

Be objective. Don’t put too many big words or technical words that are useless to your customers. Stick to the facts and how you can solve your customer’s problem. Make your customers feel that you are approachable and that you are ready to help. Tell them that there is someone behind the company willing to listen to them and answer their questions. Be more personal.

By making your About Us page a source of helpful information, you can be sure to gain paying customers in no time.

Populating an existing excel table from a datatable using ClosedXML

2012-10-19T00:15:00.000+08:00

There is a better way of creating excel 2007/2010 reports in .net. Rather than using OpenXML use ClosedXML. Coding is a lot faster with ClosedXML. Below is an example on how to populate an existing excel table from a datatable.

if (table.Rows.Count > 0)
                {
                    wstable.InsertRowsBelow(table.Rows.Count - 1);
                    var excelrow = wstable.DataRange.FirstRow();
                    int loop = 1;                    
                    
                    foreach (DataRow row in table.Rows)
                    {
                        foreach (DataColumn column in table.Columns)
                        {
                            excelrow.Field(column.ColumnName).Value = row[column.ColumnName];
                        }                        
                        loop = loop + 1;
                        excelrow = wstable.DataRange.Row(loop);
                    }                    
                }

The example above assumes that the datatable contains the same column names with the excel table.

You can download the library from http://closedxml.codeplex.com/http://closedxml.codeplex.com/