The Mobile Revolution is Happening - Is Your Website Ready?

Google, YouTube, Shopify, and many other major platforms are reporting that at least 50 percent of their traffic comes from mobile devices. It only make sense, as we live in a day where our phones are always just a finger tip away at all times. But with that stated, is your website truly optimized to receive this traffic? Or are you simply missing out?

As of April 21, 2015, Google incorporated “mobile friendliness” to its mobile search rankings criteria. Also, since a first page ranking statistically receives over 90 percent of all organic traffic, you want to make sure you are not taking a hit in the mobile search rankings because you don’t meet their simple prerequisites. To ensure your website is ready to take advantage of every opportunity, here are a few key steps that must be implemented with the creation of mobile website.

Listen to Google

As the search engine leader for the better part of two decades, when Google gives advice on how to make your site more visible — you’d be wise to pay attention. When it comes to the list that Google has put together for developers to follow, having a responsive website design is listed number one. A responsive design allows a website to automatically resize to correctly fit the viewer’s device, whether it be desktop, tablet, or phone. Without a responsive web design, your sight may look great on your desktop, but when a customer views it on a tablet or smartphone, the dimensions could be so far off it forces users to leave your site and search for the information elsewhere. You must check both your desktop and mobile version to ensure all of your content is actually accessible.

Out of Order

Now more than ever, search engines are putting user experience at the forefront in their rankings criteria. If you have videos on your site, make sure they are playing on the mobile version of your site. They might be working perfectly on your desktop, but could show an error on your mobile version. This problem can be often found with YouTube videos that have unauthorized third party music. A removal of the song or, in some cases, having YouTube review the video under “fair use under copyright law” can have your video back up and running in no time.

Another problem that can penalize your site is faulty redirects. A common example of this is when users are redirected to your mobile home page … no matter what page they originally tried to visit. If you log on to your contact page, and it automatically sends you to your home page, and you know you have a contact page created, you probably have a redirect issue. So as silly as it may sound, make sure all of your mobile pages are directing to correct URLs.

Speed Kills

You are running through your checklist and your site is up, it looks good, and hosts a wealth of information …  you think everything is all set. Right? With that stated, have you checked how fast your site is running? If you have a slow page load time, your site is as good as dead. KissMetrics.com, a popular analytics blog, breaks it down quite clearly, “A [one] second delay in page response can result in a 7 percent reduction in conversions.” So every second really does count. Being able to pick up a smartphone and immediately have a search result appear is a big part in having a smartphone in the first place. If your mobile site can’t deliver quickly, it may be left in the past. Large images, a slow server, and bulky code are a few items that may need to be addressed.

Caveat Emptor

Lastly, beware. Don’t entrust your website to just anyone. Any person with Dreamweaver or a little WordPress knowledge can build you a website. Make sure before you contract someone to build or rebuild your site there is a clear path on how it will be optimized for mobile use. If they are using too many buzzwords, ask them to break it down so you can truly understand. This is a good way of seeing how knowledgeable and helpful they are versus those who simply are flying by what they’ve been able to pull from a YouTube How-To video. If they do not hit the first three points on this list, then they might not be the right designer for the job.

If you are looking to build a better web site, or need help with inbound marketing or advertising at any level, contact Think Agency today.

Think About Construction

Think Agency has extensive experience promoting many varied areas within the construction industry. We have gained the skills to grasp the ever-increasing list of complex acronyms, understand the difficult and tedious building industry tasks, and turn that information into solid marketing fuel.

This can be seen with tools we developed for two of our clients that greatly helped them to connect with the contractors who install their products and the designers that specify their products to the owners.

Atlas ProAPP™

Think Agency developed the ProAPP^™, a free digital tool for roofing contractors to manage multiple projects for Atlas Roofing. This app provides contractors both input and access project management data directly onto an Apple iPad^®. That information can then be sent directly to the app’s estimating feature to generate immediate and accurate estimates on-site.

For the contractor, ProAPP^™ saves time and increases revenue by using a personalized profile to access, store, update, and track all data from anywhere 24/7. Operating on cloud technology, this mobile app has everything a roofing contractor needs to run a professional business, complete with Atlas products, literature, promotions, and training tools. Click here to watch a tutorial video about how to get started with the ProAPP^™.

WikiSTIK^™

Think Agency realized that all members of a build team need accurate product information and technical data. In the past, manufacturers provided this information in massive technical binders, or more recently on CDs or DVDs. Such tools may have been state-of-the-art in their day, but all suffered from one very large drawback. Specifically, they were immediately outdated at the time of delivery.

Architects, specifiers, and contractors who need quick access to building product information from manufacturers, like Kingspan Insulated Panels, can now have that access at their fingertips. Think Agency developed the Kingspan WikiSTIK^™, a flash drive that requires no special installation. It eliminates the need for the tedious updating and distribution of manufacturer notebooks.

WikiSTIK and WikiSTIK Mobile gives design and construction professionals immediate access to comprehensive product literature that is always up-to-date. Convenient links to other manufacturer’s web-based technologies and tools are accessible as well as. This includes all product marketing and technical materials, manuals, images, brochures, videos, case studies, and web resources.

Because Think Agency developed Kingspan WikiSTIK, design professionals no longer have to navigate dozens of manufacturer's websites trying to figure out how those companies archive needed critical information. With WikiSTIK there are no drill downs, no searching, no frustration, and no need to store or waste paper.

Think About This

Think Agency has assisted construction sector companies in every part of the sales channel both nationally and internationally. We have guided them through up and down markets, helping them grow their brand reach, better connect with their customers and increase sales revenues.

Get the information that will get your information to your customers. Fill out the introductory contact form on www.thinkagency.com and let us demonstrate how to better think about construction.

Craft Your Website To Engage Customers

Millions of websites are viewed by thousands per day, but not too many stay on a website for over 30 seconds. When a customer visits a particular webpage and leaves the site after 30 seconds, that website’s bounce rate increases. This could be due to many factors. We have narrowed down a short checklist for you to cover when crafting the perfect website for your company.

Responsiveness counts.

If your site isn’t already responsive, you need a new design, as this is the main concern pertaining to websites in general, even over aesthetic appeal! Make sure your website is sized for viewing on multiple devices: mobile use, tablet use, computer use for both large and small monitors and even for viewing on a watch. Budget this into your marketing financials to monitor SEO performance and make changes along the way for maximum optimized viewing.

Keep it simple.

Make sure whoever is visiting your website, whether a savvy 16-year-old or your grandmother, anyone should be able to get to where he or she wants to go in only three clicks of the mouse.

Ghost buttons to envy.

Ghost buttons provide a minimal and classy look to keys or switches placed over images, content, or a blank section of your website. Ghost buttons are also an amazing call-to-action piece, drawing in both customers and outside designers. Not to mention the speed of your website will experience an increase in speed!

Typography matters.

Think nobody notices what font you use? Wrong. If you select an ugly font, customers will notice right away. Even if customers do not have an automatic reaction to your font choice, their subconscious will because fonts form an emphasis on what your company represents value and ethics wise. If you already know ‘content is king’ this will be no surprise to you.

Design defines.

Overall, your company will be based on its overall visual appearance. Flat designs started to trend in 2014 and continue to have momentum through mid-2015. This is due to how we consume content and our need for less is more. By taking on the minimalist approach, your customers will spend more time on your website and be more inclined to share your website with others.

Tip: Our website actually uses a flat design for example!

Make sure everything works well on your website, that there are no broken links or faulty images. Your website speaks volumes and taking the little time to update once, if not twice, a year, along with continually providing new content and call-to-action pieces will drop your bounce rate and attract new clients. Take care of your website so it can take care of your company.

Why Live Posting Is Essential To Your Content Strategy

After scouring the Internet for the best tactics to optimize live social posting, there was completely nothing to be found. Even social communities with an active member count of over 60,000 were left clueless when asked, “Why is live social media important to their business?” For those of you that don’t already know what live posting is or how it can benefit your business, this is a much-needed entity implemented into your marketing strategies and social campaigns.

What Is Live Posting?

Live posting primarily refers to live streaming or live feed. This is the ability to transmit or receive videos and audio coverage from an event (for example) through an Internet connection that is taking place during the current time. Live streaming of events can be found on your computer, mobile device, or even through radio with more options on the horizon with technology’s innovation creation experiencing rapid growth.

When using live posting in regards to social media, this refers to when a user posts in the present moment. Posting can be as simplistic as replying back to someone who commented on a photo you posted, possibly resulting in a (continued) conversation. Too often the conversational aspect of social interaction are forgotten, due to being so caught up in the act of posting itself, not keeping in mind who we are posting … who our viewers are.

How Does This Benefit Me?

Through the use of live posting, engagement is created and impressions increase, ultimately developing the formula for useful methods to be applied in lead generation campaigns to incur revenues.

Twitter and reddit are two of the main live social posting platforms used most often. Engagement typically spikes before, during, and after an event of some sort. For instance, Khloe Kardashian hosted a live Q&A session on Twitter to promote the new television season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Fans were blowing up Khloe’s Twitter with a multitude variety of questions. Not all questions pertained to the show, but that didn’t matter because anyone that remotely mentioned Khloe’s name online boosted not only her following, but validated keyword searches for the celebrity.

Other celebrities or technology masterminds will partake in this seemingly worthwhile practice for promotional sake or to raise awareness. For instance, Bill Gates contributed to reddit’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) forum where fellow redditors could literally ask him anything. Some people find reddit to be more valuable than Twitter concerning live streaming, but that will soon change as Meerkat (the new live video-streaming app for Twitter released earlier this year) grows.

Is There A Downside?

Not necessarily. Even though social platforms such as Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, and other social networking sites do not overly benefit from live posting, it’s not going to hurt to post live before everyone else catches on. The problem of posting live on these sites is viewers and followers are unaware of when you are actually posting live, meaning they can’t really tell the difference between a live post, a post that is 3 hours old, or a post that was scheduled days before actually going live.

The differentiation difficulty between posts that are live and those that are not make it seem as though a high frequency of posts are simply spam or a plead for another follower to boost personal social fame. Users must devise a way for their social posts to be seen as actual live posts that are relevant and interesting, not a massive, in the moment, blast of spam.

Event-wise, there is no going wrong with live streaming. When hosting events and incorporating live streaming feeds of videos, audio, and photos, you can create a community of people with shared interests, located in the same place (an online community or website), all at one time. This is a great opportunity for a business to leverage and influence consumers, in addition to the added frequently overlooked benefit for data information retention and virtual focus groups.

The Bottom Line

This untapped market will move neighborhoods online in the near future. Don’t underestimate the significance influence of talking to people in the moment. Acknowledge what live posting can generate and lend insight to. Live posting creates a culture of people that gathers together. Being unified is a vitally important and powerful movement.   

Three Habits of Successful and Happy Professionals

Getting tied down by the burdens in our daily lives, especially when we ignore the opportunities to file away stresses as they arise, will eventually push you past your breaking point and over the edge. The little things accumulate until we self-inflict ourselves to the point of panic attacks or hitting up Happy Hour regularly after work hours. This is not how life should be lead. Happiness is a choice, not to say an easy choice, but an attainable choice for anyone if he or she actually wants to smile.

Try doing the following on a weekly basis, aim to be consistent for a month to start your lifestyle change, and we can guarantee you will be not only a happier person, but a happier person with a lot more energy! 

Enjoy Your Weekends

Instead of spending your time cleaning, doing laundry, or other chores, try to complete these chores during the week for personal freedom on the weekends. Think of it this way, there are five weeknights to separate tasks … dust one night, vacuum the next, with one load of laundry each night, and voila! Freedom at last to do whatever you please for two entire days!

Be Active

An active life is a happy life … and that’s a fact! Dopamine (the chemical substance that plays a large role in happiness) depletes as we age and it becomes more pertinent that we exercise regularly. Exercise will increase the volume of Dopamine in your body, making you less stressed, more energized, boost your confidence and ease anxiety.

Often, people are discouraged by the thought of “working out” because, well, it is indeed work. If the gym isn’t your thing, partake in a less labor some activity like hiking, swimming, or play a sport. The point is to move around and get your blood pumping.

Create Your Schedule

People who routinely make it a point to get to bed at a decent time, wake up early, spend time with loved ones, and don’t work more than you have to are proven to live happier lives. People who get enough sleep are less affected by negative emotions, making them less sensitive while also improving focus and productivity. People that surround themselves with good company have more opportunities for laughter and people that close an excel file until tomorrow have more time for themselves.

Overall, being happy boils down to a healthy lifestyle. Eating well, getting enough sleep, staying active, focusing on what needs to be done to be productive by eliminating interruptions and creative killers is something we have been taught since elementary school or even prior. These are not hard to accomplish if you try; eventually, second nature will take hold and old habits will die easier than you think.