You had to contend with several pain in the butt factors such as:

In fact – according to data analytics company Chitika – just recently, iOS (mobile) devices browsed the internet more than Mac desktop + laptops combined.

This create [...]]]> These days there is definitely a trend toward mobile phone or tablet users searching the internet and browsing using those devices.

In fact – according to data analytics company Chitika – just recently, iOS (mobile) devices browsed the internet more than Mac desktop + laptops combined.

This create a bit of a problem for businesses, because their fancy website they’ve spent huge amounts of dough on doesn’t “Fit” the screen size of (for example) an iPhone.

You’ve probably seen it before – someone share a link on Facebook, you click that link (on your phone), and you then have to resize the browser to attempt to read the content (unless you’ve got awesome vision like I do… lol)

So – why make your website mobile friendly?

Take a look at your analytics. Do you see (under operating systems) a presence of android or iOS based operating systems?

If the answer is yes, depending on your demographics, and type of site, it may or may not be “Worth” changing/altering your site to be mobile friendly. I mean, if only 1% of visitors are on a mobile device, why bother?

The thing is, that number today is highly likely to increase over time, not decrease.

And – implementing a mobile friendly site depends on whether or not you’re just starting out, or have an existing site.

The following ways are not ALL of the ways to accomplish “modification” of your website, but it’ll point you in the right direction…

If You’re Starting A New Site:

Consider the design aspects of the site. There is a big “push” towards a frameless grid (or “responsive”) type of website set up, that basically allows blocks of content to be “resized” automatically – depending on what size the browser is.

If you’re using a CMS: 

Using a CMS (content management system) like WordPress, the stock standard out of the box theme (called “twenty-eleven”) is automatically mobile friendly. There are becoming more and more responsive professional themes in the marketplace nowadays… One of the best I’ve ever seen is made by Pagelines and is extremely customisable. Another system which I’ve used extensively in the past is Genesis by Studiopress – who have a couple of “child themes” that are instantly mobile friendly as well.

If you’re NOT using a CMS:

The 1140 grid is an awesome place to begin, as is the frameless grid system. From there, you can code up the site you want, and minimise everything, making the site load insanely fast, but perhaps limiting it’s potential for Search Engine Optimisation… (Although, I’m sure it’s possible to rank in some markets!). These are really only if you’re planning on starting a static type website (i.e. non CMS) from scratch.

If You’ve Got An Existing Site:

Using a Static Site or Entreprise CMS:

If you have an established website, even if it’s built on a CMS like Magento or Sitecore, one of the best ways to virtually instantly get your website mobile friendly is use a service called “mobify” – which simply requires insertion of a piece of javascript in the header – and blammo, you’re mobile…

Using WordPress: 

There is one tried and proven way (other than use a mobile friendly theme) – and that’s using WP Touch - a free plugin that has a paid version, but does a relatively good job. The only thing is, as with several wordpress plugins, from time to time there are plugin conflicts, and all I can say is – if you’re a fan of WP-Caching type programs, take extra care when installing this puppy.

Using Joomla:

The open source CMS Joomla also has a plugin that is apparently quite good (I’ve never tried).  It’s called Mobile Joomla (surprise surprise!) – and has got rave reviews from the legions of fans that love it.

So there you go… There are quite a few options out there to make your website “mobile friendly” – it really depends on you, your demographics, and website goals!

Cheers

Dave

If you’re a business that has any retail presence, you’ll understand that position is (almost) everything.

You’re going to pay a whole lot more for downtown CBD of any [...]]]> It’s no secret that there’s been a MASSIVE increase in people looking online for products and services in recent years.

If you’re a business that has any retail presence, you’ll understand that position is (almost) everything.

You’re going to pay a whole lot more for downtown CBD of any city than you are in a rural town. A lot more.

You see, busy shopping areas are just like search engines in that they can deliver “traffic” to, or past your “shop”.

But there’s a fundamental difference.

If you’re in (for example) a Westfield mall, you’re paying the higher rent costs associated with the traffic that people around you are pulling into the store.

For example, if you go specifically to an Apple store that’s located within a Westfield mall, you’re (probably) going to be walking right past 25 other stores on your way there.

If you’re one of those 25 stores, and Apple wasn’t a tenant, the people that are specifically going to apple – probably wouldn’t be walking past your store, and (potentially) walking INTO your store.

The main difference is this:

The people landing on a website from a search phrase, are there for a specific reason (and it may not be to “Buy” stuff from you)…

Sure – if they’ve typed in “Buy [Insert Your Product Here] Now” there’s a good chance that they are keen to buy from you.

Compared to “[Your Product] Review” where they are not necessarily looking to buy from you, just gather information.

How can you remedy this?

Think about the intent of the searcher. The “searcher” is a potential, or current customer.

Don’t think about the intent of YOU. You’re not the one who’s looking for your products or services.

There are very specific ways to go about this, and tell exactly what people are searching for – before they even get to your website.

And the good news is that some of this information is free!!!

Best Regards, Dave

What is WordPress?

For most small business owners, they’ve got absolutely no idea how to create a website, and – one of the fastest and easiest ways is to use “wordpress”.

WordPress is actually a blog “CMS” (content management system) that essentially takes a fair amount of pain away [...]]]>

Wordpress Is Ideal For Small Business

WordPress?

What is WordPress?

For most small business owners, they’ve got absolutely no idea how to create a website, and – one of the fastest and easiest ways is to use “wordpress”.

WordPress is actually a blog “CMS” (content management system) that essentially takes a fair amount of pain away from building a website.

There are 2 types of wordpress:

• The first is one that is hosted for you, at wordpress.com. When you sign up there, you get a website address that will look like this:  http://yourbusiness.wordpress.com. Which is free, and awesome if you just want any website – without anything fancy. Or there is:
• The second is a version that you host yourself. That is, you can “install” wordpress on a server yourself – it’s a free download available at wordpress.org. This option is a lot better, as you’ve got far more control over the design elements of the site.

There are many reasons why wordpress is a very good option for a small business, and here’s 7 of them:

1. It’s free.

For small business, nothing is more enticing than free!! All’s you have to do is have a hosting provider that allows wordpress to be installed on it – and away you go. It takes about 30 seconds to get it “online” once you have your domain name (website name) “pointing” to your hosting server…

2. It’s simple to set up.

Like I said, it literally takes just a few “point and clicks” to get things on a roll. You need a domain name, and a hosting account, both of which can be acquired at very little expense.

3. It’s easy to customise your sites “look”.

There are two ways to customise a wordpress site… The first is to know a little HTML code, and perform some tweaks on the base framework. This can be done, but is generally quite time consuming!! (Unless you’re a developer).  The second is to use what’s known as a wordpress “Framework” which alters wordpress slightly to allow the simultaneous use of what’s called a “Child Theme”.  We use several of the best known wordpress frameworks, professional themes, and customise them from there…

4. It’s easy to customise your sites “function”.

Website function is one of the first things you’ve got to think about… It’s probably a little more than “I want to sell some stuff” (Well, that’s important obviously). What matters most is the end result you want your visitors to achieve or get out of your content. Yes – it’s easy to do this with other site formats, but with the thousands of free & paid plugins available, you can make this process easy.

5. It’s Search Engine (SEO) friendly.

SEO has one core fundamental, and that is content. WordPress makes it seriously easy to create content on your website, and have that content seen by search engines. It makes it easy for other people to link to you, you to link to them. All of this functionality exists “right out of the box” (even though there is no actual box…:-)

6. You can create content using an easy microsoft word type of editor.

Regardless of what computer system you use, you’re probably familiar with MS word. The same type of set up applies when writing content using wordpress.  There’s an easy way to bold. An easy way to italicise. An easy way to underline. The only thing it doesn’t have is a spell checker! But then, you can just copy & paste from MS word anyway…

7. You can post content from your phone.

Just take a look around you at any train station or shopping centre, and tell me how many people have their heads buried in a smartphone. Using wordpress, you can just easily update your website directly from your mobile phone using an app on either android or iPhone… This is particularly important if you are out and about and just catch something on your phone (such as an image), and want to tell your audience about it immediately…

8. You can automatically link it to social networks.

That’s one more than I promised. (I could keep going!!) Got a Facebook fan page? Twitter account? You can set your blog to automatically post your new content directly to these sites. Post once – distribute lots.

 Hopefully that’s enough food for thought if you’re contemplating building a website form scratch but want it easy to maintain, and easy to update (like many small businesses do!). If you’ve got any questions, just fire away in the comments below!

Cheers,

Dave

The title of this post is a tad “loaded”, I’ll admit that.

And it’s not an “us versus them” thing either.

Today I saw a business that is doomed even before it even really begins… (hey I would LOVE to be wrong!!!)

The problem is, as many of [...]]]> OK.

The title of this post is a tad “loaded”, I’ll admit that.

And it’s not an “us versus them” thing either.

Today I saw a business that is doomed even before it even really begins… (hey I would LOVE to be wrong!!!)

The problem is, as many of you reading this will know – “Bricks and Mortar” businesses that rely on a shopfront have really started to suffer at the hands of a) larger shopping malls, and b) internet retailing.

This particular business sells a very narrow product range, one that can literally be shipped anywhere. You don’t need you to try things on, take things for a test drive, or do anything other than buy the product and consume it.

However, these guys have set this large shop floor up in a very expensive, low foot traffic (higher car traffic) location selling this product that I know that in 15 seconds I can check whether or not I can get a better deal online.

Without even going into their shop.

No longer is having a good retail location one of the most important  parts of your business success (look at what happened to borders books).

Yes, retailers can still do very well with the right product.

But, as a small business owner you have to think outside the square a bit.

If you have *ANY* products that can be sold online, you should be selling them online… (as well as in your store).

If you’re not doing this, and there is an easy way to do it – you’re potentially leaving a large chunk of your profits on the table…

And that’s why bricks and mortar businesses fail. They are literally competing with online stores in other parts of the country (or the world for that matter).

The upside is that you can JOIN them and BEAT them at their own game…

You’ve just got to know how to do it.

Best Regards,

Dave

Info Express Pty Ltd

Web marketing is becoming an essential part of the “arsenal” of any small to medium business owner… never more so than in 2012 (when this was written…)

Just what you need – ANOTHER thing to think about!!!

But hey – (we think) it’s more interesting than doing accounts [...]]]> It’s official.

Web marketing is becoming an essential part of the “arsenal” of any small to medium business owner… never more so than in 2012 (when this was written…)

Just what you need – ANOTHER thing to think about!!!

But hey – (we think) it’s more interesting than doing accounts & paper work!

Here at Info Express we generate sites & video stuff for some rather large and well known corporate businesses, but our PASSION is helping out the “little guy”.

So that’s our goal. 

To provide you with the “basics” of web marketing so you can either do it YOURSELF, or like what we create so much that you just HAVE TO use us for your next project

…Seriously, there are a few ridiculously simple things that every business owner/manager needs to know in order to get your improve your existing web presence, or start from scratch and get some results quickly.

Here’s to your business success!

Cheers, Dave