What does end of support mean to customers?

It means you should take action. After April 8, 2014, there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates.

Running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 in your environment after their end of support date may expose your company to potential risks, such as:

Security & Compliance Risks: Unsupported and unpatched environments are vulnerable to security risks. This may result in an officially recognized control failure by an internal or external audit body, leading to suspension of certifications, and/or public notification of the organization’s inability to maintain its systems and customer information.

Lack of Independent Software Vendor (ISV) & Hardware Manufacturers support: A recent industry report from Gartner Research suggests "many independent software vendors (ISVs) are unlikely to support new versions of applications on Windows XP in 2011; in 2012, it will become common." And it may stifle access to hardware innovation: Gartner Research further notes that in 2012, most PC hardware manufacturers will stop supporting Windows XP on the majority of their new PC models.

If you still have Windows XP or Office 2003 in your business environment, you’ll need to start planning a transition to newer operating systems and office products. You’ll likely also need to consider hardware upgrades as most modern operating systems will not run on older systems designed for Windows XP.

There are many options for upgrades these days. For the operating system upgrades you can move to Windows 7 or Windows 8 or switch platforms completely to a MAC. For Office, you’ll want to upgrade to Office 365. Office 365 is a new paradigm for Microsoft: you can use the software on 5 different devices per user; you can use it installed on a local desktop or via a web browser; hardware requirements can be reduced with hosted Exchange and hosted SharePoint. The new office product offering is a good move and competes more directly with Google Apps. You can learn more about the new Office 365 by clicking here.

If you need assistance getting your systems upgraded or figuring out which version of Windows or Office is right for you, contact us today!

Did you know that not all search results are equal? Search engines have been using personalization techniques for some time now to delivery more relevant results to you based on what the search engine knows about you. If you want to geek out for a few minutes try this exercise to experience personalization first hand:

• Open your favorite browser, go to Google (make sure you’re not logged in to Google) and search for something local such as "Kansas City Auto Repair" or some other generic local search term. Note the listings.
• Now, using the same browser, log into Google (if you have a gmail or other Google account) and perform the same search. Note the listings.
• Now using a browser other than your standard browser (i.e. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari), perform the same search. Note the listings.

Most likely, you will have experienced vastly different search results all based on what the search engine knows about you from the use of logged in profiles, cookies, etc.

What is this site popularity all about? Site popularity (or site authority) is an algorithm that search engines use to determine how many other sites link back to your site or talk about your site. Google has created a system called Google Pagerank that ranks a site's authority from 1 to 10. A new site will have a site rank of 1. So a site that has a rank of 2 is more popular than a site with a rank of 1. The higher your pagerank, the more likely it is that your site will show toward the top of search rankings. You can think of pagerank as votes: the more votes that your site gets, the better it will perform in rankings. Each link from another website to your site is like a vote toward your site. However, not all votes are the same. If you have a bunch of pagerank-level-1 sites linking to your site, it won’t help as much as having a few links from sites with a pagerank of 7 or 8. You can think of this ranking system like a referral network in your business. In your business, if one of your sales representatives gives a referral to your business it carries little weight in the mind of a prospect, but if one of the prospects most trusted associates makes the referral, it carries much more weight. The same logic holds true in pagerank, the better known and trusted the referring site, the more weight the back link carries for your site, helping to raise your own authority.

So, now that we (hopefully) understand the important and logic behind pagerank, how do we use it to increase our own site authority?

Back Links
Because pagerank is based on site popularity, the best way to increase your pagerank is to get mentioned or listed by other websites. There are a ton of directories on the web that will list your company and your website, some of these directories are free while others charge a small fee. Go with the free ones first and then come back to the fee based ones as needed.

High Quality Content
Everything about good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes down to creating high quality content. People won’t just magically come to your website; you’ve got to provide a reason for them to want to come, and a reason for them to tell others about you. That starts with providing high quality, sharable, useful content. Create a content plan, and produce content that is meaningful to your prospects.

Guest Blogging
Volunteer your talents to write an occasional article for well known (i.e. high ranking) bloggers, and make sure they will allow you to link back to your website. Develop relationships with bloggers who are talking about the things related to your industry. You’ve got insights, experience, and expertise; bloggers have a need to produce content. And everyone needs a break once in awhile - even bloggers want to go on vacation or get writers block. Again, it’s a content thing, but it’s a great way to get credibility.

Keep Things Fresh
Google likes fresh content and fresh sites. If your site hasn’t been updated in months, let alone years, it’s a good chance that you’re not going to rank well. If you want to win in the ranking wars, be sure to keep things fresh and up-to-date on your site. Refresh your main site content at least annually. Create a blog and update at least monthly (weekly is best). Add new content to your site monthly by creating landing pages for products and services. There are many ways to stay fresh. Be creative.

Get Social
Engage in social networks and complete your profiles. Many social networks have the highest possible pageranks; getting your site listed on those networks and getting people talking about/sharing your site on the network can have a profound affect on your pagerank.

Don’t wear a black hat
While trying tricks and “black hat” tactics to fool the search engine algorithms is tempting, it can completely destroy your search visibility. Follow the rules, be consistent, provide value, and the search engines will eventually find you and rank you well. Good marketing isn’t a sprint or the lottery; it’s a marathon. Take the time to do it right and it will pay dividends for years to come. Do it wrong, and it can harm you for years to come.

There are many ways to increase your site popularity and if you desire to rank well, it’s a critical component of successful SEM (Search Engine Marketing). Many of these tactics can be accomplished by you or your staff; however, if you need assistance, we’d love to help out. Contact us today!

So you've got a Facebook company page (you do have one right?), you've got a Twitter account (and you're using it?), you've set up your company LinkedIn Profile (you got this, too, right?), you've set up your YouTube channel, reserved your company name on Pinterest and you're creating engaging and unique content on a regular basis...people are starting to “fan” you, “follow” you, “like” you, and all of the other social buzz words.

Now that you've got some folks following you, how do you go about increasing engagement with your fans? How do you connect and encourage social sharing? How do you go viral?

Here are 10 ways to increase social engagement with your fans...

1. Listen and Respond - have a conversation.
When your customers speak, respond and engage. Conversations are two way events, so be sure to respond to all of the comments, questions, or frustrations you receive.

2. Be Authentic.
It's critical to be real with your customers in the social arena. Customers can tell when they're getting spin, and they can tell when you really care. Be open, be honest, be authentic, and you'll increase social engagement dramatically.

3. Provide value, not just self-promotion announcements.
Nobody wants to hear someone talk about themselves all the time. Provide content that helps your fans grow, laugh, and experience epiphanies...content that they think is valuable.

4. Educate and Entertain, share images and videos.
People tend to share images and videos more than any type of content on the web. Take advantage of this by creating or sharing meaningful content with your users. You don't have to create all content; there is plenty of stuff on the web to share. You've just got to keep your eye out for the good stuff.

5. Provide Value.
The key to engaging with your customers online is providing value. Don't waste people's time. Provide content that helps them, encourages them, educates them. Provide a reason for people to follow you, read/watch your content, and share your ideas!

6. Make some irresistible offers.
Everyone loves a great deal. Reward your fans with specials that only they get to take advantage of. If the offer is interesting enough, they'll most likely share your offer with their friends...that's how viral marketing begins. I like it, my friends might like it, my friends' friends might like it. People often purchase what their friends recommend.

7. Take action.
When you receive constructive or destructive feedback via your social channels, take action. Own what you should own, defend what needs defending. Engage in the conversation - your customers are. This is a great opportunity to be authentic and provide value.

8. Provide Value.
The key to raising social engagement is providing unique and meaningful content that your customers can’t find elsewhere. If you want to increase social engagement provide value by becoming a thought leader!

9. Post often and regularly but don’t be annoying.
Your fans want to hear from you, learn from you, and engage with you, but it's important not to over saturate your message...otherwise it just becomes useless noise. Depending on your market, you probably only want to post a few times a day (people start tuning out if you post without value). For sure, post every day...or at least several times a week. But don’t be a spam poster...no one likes spam unless it's in the form of canned meat.

10. Provide Value.
And finally, provide value, provide value, provide value. This point can't be emphasized enough. People are busy, and they won't take the time to engage if it's not meaningful. Provide thought provoking content and you'll see social engagement rise.

Wrap-up
I know what you’re thinking...there aren’t 10 unique things in this list...what gives?...I must have 10 unique items! Well, the truth is...the best way you can engage with your followers is to provide incredible value and earn the right to be heard. By providing value through amazing content, your fans will be compelled to share your content.

Honor your audience with your best ideas, best thoughts, and best content. In doing so, you'll become the thought leader that your fans are looking for. A side benefit is you will better represent your organization or cause, you'll learn more personally, and you'll have clearer thoughts. It's a win win. In the new economy, it's no longer about telling people what to buy...it's a two-way conversation and the value providers win.

Watching “The Voice” this season, one of the guest coaches said of a contestant, “We know you're cute. What else you got?” This may be the very thing your customers are saying of you, “We know you can do ______________. What else do you have? When there are 100 options for the same thing, why should I buy from you?”

Provide value!

Continue the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments below...or contact us today to see how we can help you engage with your customers.

If you have a dedicated budget, the options available to you really open up based on your needs, wants, and budget size. Just like car shopping, if you spend a bit more money you can get a really nice looking site that meets all of your specific needs whether that’s a Toyota Prius or a Cadillac Escalade. Occasionally, organizations need a website that really blows the roof off creatively or programmatically; in that case, you can go with a Mercedes, Jaguar, Hummer, or even a Bentley.

When looking to develop a new website, it is important to separate your needs from your wants and determine your budget constraints before getting started. It’s hard for web companies to give a blanket price for your website because there are so many variables (be cautious of those that do have bucket pricing)... Do you need basic design, highly creative design, basic HTML functionality, Content Management Systems, custom logic code, e-commerce solutions, etc.? Having a set budget and working with your web company on what you really need (as well as a few priority wants) will allow them to craft a solution that meets your objectives while remaining within your budget.

• What process do they follow? Make sure they have good discovery and architecture processes.
• Does the company have experience doing the kind of work you need?
• Ask for referrals. Does the company have happy customers?
• Can the company help you after the design and programming to market your site so that people can find it on Google? What does this cost?
• What kind of long-term support does the company offer after the site is finished?
• Will training be provided on how to update the site?
• Can you get a demo of the content management system that is used?
• What is the typical timeframe for the site to be built?
• Can the company assist you with creating content, custom photography, video production, or other content related needs for the site?
• Will the company allow you to enter your own content to save money?
• Is the company willing to work with in-house or other contract designers?

Building a new website can be a daunting task, but with the right company it can be a rewarding and fruitful experience that accomplishes your goals on budget and on time.

Do you have any other useful questions that would be helpful while interviewing web companies? Enter them in the comments below.

We would love to chat with you about your next web project and answer any questions you might have; contact us today!

• People use searches to find stuff on the web. The key to being discovered on the web is to be found by search engines. 
• Achieving a top 5 rank for your primary keywords in the organic (non-paid) search results will drive significant traffic to your site. 
• In the event that you don’t have the time to achieve a top ranking on a search engine, you can buy your way to the top of the rankings through Pay Per Click advertising (PPC). 
• Through analytics systems you can gain a better understanding of what your customers want, what they visit on your site, and where they’re coming from. This information can be vital to producing a good experience for your site visitors and to find new customers. 
• Search Engine Marketing remains the most affordable form of marketing available. SEM gives you the ability to target a wide audience at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing with the benefit of reaching people who are actually looking for your services or products. 
• Marketing Campaigns can be established at no cost and can scale with your budget. If you’ve got time and are willing to do some research, SEM can be accomplished with little to no budget.

Social Media Marketing Benefits:

• People buy what their friends recommend. There are few better marketing methods than word-of-mouth. Social media allows people to sing the praises of your organization to their network of friends. (It also allows them to air their grievances, so be sure your product or service delivers what you promise.) 
• Social media gives you the unique opportunity to engage with your customers on a personal and yet massive way. You can connect with customers, build relationships, and address customer concerns. 
• Social media provides you the opportunity to develop rabid fans through providing value and being authentic. 
• Social media networks allow you to advertise to members of various social networks through granular demographic targeting. Social networks know their member’s ages, genders, likes, dislikes, and much more, so you can be very specific about who your advertising reaches. 
• Two major factors contribute to search engine ranking: content and site popularity. Social media marketing is a primary method of gaining link popularity and generating viral traffic.

Now What?

So, which of these two marketing strategies is right for your organization? The simple answer is a mix of both. Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing work hand-in-hand. The good news is that regardless of budget size or available time, you can get started today in a way that makes sense for your organization. The key is to get started; prospective customers can’t contact you if they can’t find you.

Contact us today to help you implement a strategy that raises your visibility!

Here are a few key features to be aware of when updating to the Timeline:

The Cover Image

You can now upload a new cover image to your timeline and provides an excellent branding opportunity for your organization. The cover image needs to be 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. If you try uploading a different size, Facebook will stretch or crop the image to fit. For best results make your image fit the exact dimensions.

Cover images may not include price or purchase information, contact information, references to user interface elements (i.e. Like, Share, etc.), or calls to action (i.e. Call now!).

Here are some examples of Facebook Pages with the new Timeline…

The Thumbnail Image

Your current thumbnail image will overlay the Cover Image, so make sure it fits with your cover theme.

Post as your Page

When fans or page visitors visit your site, you’ll be able to respond to them as your page, this happens automatically if you’re a page admin. This is a great way to have corporate conversations with your fans.

Featured Updates

You can now highlight specific posts which will cause the post to span both columns in the Timeline allowing you to call attention to featured content or events in your organization.

Easier Management Tools

The new interface allows you easier access to new “Likes”, recent notifications, direct messages, and “Insights” which give you analytics information on the traffic or engagement of your Facebook page with your fans.

Your Turn

With the new changes to Facebook Pages you have an opportunity to build and develop your brand in the social arena in a much easier way than previously available. Be sure to take advantage of the opportunity. Contact us today if you need help creating or updating your Facebook Page!

Box

What would cloud services be without massive data storage capabilities! There are a ton of service providers in this arena. I prefer Box as it has a very easy to use interface, makes it very easy for customers to access files, granular security, and best of all…everything is encrypted so privacy is assured. Cost of entry is free with up to 50GB of storage. Learn more at www.box.com or watch the video below.

Quickbooks Online

There are many cloud based accounting systems available. The industry leader is QuickBooks. Their QuickBooks Online offering starts with a zero cost of entry and provides industry leading accounting solutions. We use the plus version at $39/month and haven’t seen any drop off from the full desktop version. A few nice benefits: online banking integration, easy accountant access, access from anywhere via the web, a nice iPad application for basic functions, online payments, easy email invoices/statements, and great reporting. Over the last couple of years Intuit has made great quality improvements on this offering. You can find more at http://quickbooksonline.intuit.com/

WeDoIst

Need a project management solution? Need crazy simple and infinitely customizable? Check out WeDoIst at www.wedoist.com. I love this cloud service, and you can get started for free. WeDoIst provides an excellent tool to keep projects moving along smoothly...works especially well with distributed teams. Check out the following video to learn more.

HighRise

HighRise is a contact relationship management system (CRM) that is super easy to use. 37signals, the creators of HighRise, do an amazing job of making beautifully simple software. If you dig web 2.0 stuff like WeDoIst, then HighRise is a no brainer. These guys took the opposite approach from SalesForce and made CRM fun and extraordinarily easy to use. You can check it out at http://highrisehq.com.

Carbonite

Another favorite cloud service is Carbonite. Carbonite allows you to forget about backup systems. Starting at $55/year, Carbonite provides unlimited storage and instantaneous backup protection for your desktops, laptops, or servers. Not only do you get off-site backup protection, you can also access your files via secure login from anywhere in the world via the web. File or system restoration is also a breeze…I’ve actually had to restore a system off of Carbonite. While traveling, I’ve often found myself grabbing files that I needed from my office system. If you don’t have a backup solution…install Carbonite today! Check it out at www.carbonite.com.

Conclusion

There are many amazing cloud services available these days; these are 5 of my current favorites. Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite services are. If you need help getting set up with any of the services listed above or if you want to talk about migrating your office to the cloud let us know about your project here.

So, how do you tell the world that you’re open for business? One answer is Search Engine Optimization also known as SEO. About a decade ago you could program a few “meta” tags in the back end of your code and your site would be discovered by the search engines and - behold! - customers would come knocking. These days, things are a bit more involved. Search engines are smarter; they’ve had to evolve to stay ahead of keyword spammers and black-hat SEO practitioners. SEO has also evolved into more sophisticated Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies. Although the world of digital marketing has gotten more complex and there are many tactics available, there are still a few basic elements that should be addressed when beginning any SEO / SEM effort.

Search Engine Optimization: Meta Tags

The foundation of any SEO effort is to create quality meta tags using current best practice optimization rules. There are three primary tags to be concerned with: Title, Description, and Keyword tags.

Title Tag

The Title tag appears up in your browser's title bar when viewing a website and should contain no more than 66 characters. Google uses your page “Title” as the link in their search index. Place your most important keywords toward the front of the title tag.

Description Tag

Descriptions are no longer used to impact search ranking but they can be helpful to entice a user into clicking through to your site as it gives you an opportunity to tell them about your page before they visit. In some cases Google will not display the description and will substitute it with body content. Descriptions should be less than 150 characters. Both Titles and Descriptions should be unique for every page on your site so that the search engines know the content is different from page to page.

Keyword Tag

Keywords are not used by the major search engines any longer for ranking purposes due to the high amount of abuse over the last 15 years; however, it may still be useful to optimize this meta tag for some lesser known search engines.

Body Content Optimization

Content is the new king metric of internet search engines. (Check out this video from Coke on content marketing). As a result, if you want to rank well with Google, Bing, or Yahoo, you’ve got to have great content. Make sure that your body content is interesting, sharable, and has a high saturation of keywords for your targeted audience. Ideally, each page of your site should have a single focus and be engaging. Definitely do not try to create pages that are just stuffed with keywords in an attempt to trick the engines, they’re smart enough these days to understand good content from keyword spam content and before you know it, you’re page will be removed from their indexes.

Site Popularity

Site Popularity, like content is another major factor in page ranking these days. The search engines use very complex algorithms to see how popular your site is on the web. Essentially, the more websites that link to your site or the more your site is mentioned in the Social Web the more popular your site is. Thus, it is essential to engage in social media and to develop rapid followers who like to talk about what you’re doing. The best way to get people talking about you is to provide good content worth talking about as well as easy methods for people to share your content.

Google+ Pages

Beyond SEO, Content Marketing, and Social Media another excellent way for businesses to be found on the web is through setting up a Google+ Pages (formerly Google Places) profile on Google. This allows local customers to quickly and easily find your business. Google+ Pages often appear before organic search results. Be sure and claim your space today!

Clear Conversion Path

Once you’ve started driving new potential customers to your site, it’s critical to provide a clear and easy way for the site visitor to connect with you socially, contact you traditionally, or convert into a customer. Provide your phone number, email signup capability, blog RSS feeds, social icons, widgets, and forms - all of which allow the visitor to engage at an appropriate level with your organization.

Conclusion

Well, that’s a lot to absorb! Take it one step at a time or hire a great company like Strategy to assist you with getting started in Search Engine Optimization. Remember: there are no Silver Bullet SEO tactics (just hard, consistent, good work) and just because you built it, doesn’t mean that people will magically show up. You’ve got to tell them about the site, and you’ve got to provide value in your content that is worth talking about and worth following.

The quickest way to waste your marketing money is to not live up to the hype....if you're going to hype...you've got to not only meet the expectation, but exceed it. Trader Joes does it in an amazing retro small town kind of way. How about you?