Webmaster Resources
- Web 2.0 in the Office
- Marketing on Social Network Sites
- Internet Explorer 8
- New Section for WebmasterResources
- Open Source Software
- Content Management Products
- Webinar on Social Media
- Happy New Year 2008
- Social Media Users
- Living the Microsoft Dream
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
There is so much going on today with Web 2.0 in the general user internet community. But did you know that it's fast becoming a major requirement for organizations?
According to Forrester, Enterprise 2.0 is going to becoming a US$4.6 billion dollar industry by 2013. That's not that far away. Is your company looking at what social media and social networking solutions can do to improve productivity, customer relations and in effect - the bottom line?
If you're not, you probably should be. Put aside the fact that there are any number of social media/social networking products/services you can buy. Don't think about the technology. Rather start thinking about two things:
I don't encourage implementing these technologies without a good plan to measure if they actually help. But a carefully thought out strategy and implementation plan should help go a long way to drive ROI up and making happy customers and employees.
If you're not, you probably should be. Put aside the fact that there are any number of social media/social networking products/services you can buy. Don't think about the technology. Rather start thinking about two things:
- Is employee productivity hampered by not being able to fquickly ind the information they need to get their work done? Are there specialists within your organization that people could rely on for information - if only they could find them?
- Do you know what your customers are saying about you? Are they out there on the internet in public social networks saying good or not so good things about your products and services? Wouldn't you rather become a part of that communication, then sit outside watching through the window?
I don't encourage implementing these technologies without a good plan to measure if they actually help. But a carefully thought out strategy and implementation plan should help go a long way to drive ROI up and making happy customers and employees.
Marketing on Social Network Sites
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
One of the most popular Web 2.0 Marketing tools is social networks. But they aren't as easy to implement and measure from a marketing and monetary perspective.
Social Networks are often praised as great marketing tools for companies. But they are all they are cracked up to be especially if they aren’t used properly.
According to Jeremy Owyang, social media strategist for Forrester and blogger of Web Strategist there are many issues with marketing on social network sites, some of which include:
According to Jeremy Owyang, social media strategist for Forrester and blogger of Web Strategist there are many issues with marketing on social network sites, some of which include:
- Marketing is difficult to monetize: Probably one of the biggest issues for a marketer is that it’s hard to determine how social networks increase sales or profits for a company. Owyang says social networks are about sharing information and communication. Measuring how that contributes to sales is difficult in comparison to measuring how search advertising contributes.
- Large number of white label players: White label social networks are social networking sites that allow you to setup a social network for your company and brand it appropriately. With the high number of these types of vendors out there it’s difficult to know which one is the best to use and if it will draw the membership you need.
- Untrustworthy Member Data: How can an organization be sure that the data provided by members is real information? They can’t, but can only trust that people are signing up for a valid reason and thus providing valid data.
- Lack of access to Metrics to Measure Success: If an organization isn’t deploying on their own servers, it’s hard to get the metrics from the hosting server that will help understand how the site is performing.
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
Are you an Internet Explorer user? The latest version has just been released in Beta last week during MIX 08 in Vegas.
There's a new browser in town - or at least a new version of a browser. Microsoft has opened the Beta evaluation of IE8 to the general public.
This new version is a little different from the older versions. It contains three different display modes to support backwards compatibility with sites and applications developed in older versions.
For sites that were developed in IE5.5 or lower - IE8 has a "quirks" mode. This mode is also in existence in IE6 and IE7 but most people probably didn't realize it. It's for sites built using older technologies so they don't break in newer versions that support new web standards.
The other two modes are "standard" and "super-standard".
Standard supports sites and applications developed or compatible with IE7 standards mode. This mode is an attempt at following web standards - but not that well.
Super Standards mode is the latest mode and is more tightly committed to supporting the web standards that most organizations and developers have been calling for.
Now as a user, people won't know which version they are in. But as a designer of sites and applications, you need to be aware of these modes and how you will design your site. What mode will you use (IE7 standards mode or IE8 super standards mode). Look at both options carefully and then make your selection.
Hopefully we won't wait too long for IE8 to be RTM.
This new version is a little different from the older versions. It contains three different display modes to support backwards compatibility with sites and applications developed in older versions.
For sites that were developed in IE5.5 or lower - IE8 has a "quirks" mode. This mode is also in existence in IE6 and IE7 but most people probably didn't realize it. It's for sites built using older technologies so they don't break in newer versions that support new web standards.
The other two modes are "standard" and "super-standard".
Standard supports sites and applications developed or compatible with IE7 standards mode. This mode is an attempt at following web standards - but not that well.
Super Standards mode is the latest mode and is more tightly committed to supporting the web standards that most organizations and developers have been calling for.
Now as a user, people won't know which version they are in. But as a designer of sites and applications, you need to be aware of these modes and how you will design your site. What mode will you use (IE7 standards mode or IE8 super standards mode). Look at both options carefully and then make your selection.
Hopefully we won't wait too long for IE8 to be RTM.
New Section for WebmasterResources
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
There's a new section in Webmaster Resource called website design -- something everyone who owns or maintains a website should know all about.
We have a new section for Webmaster Resources called Website Design and I am fairly certain I don't need to stress the importance of a topic like this.
Now it's possible that website design means different things to different people, so let's take a minute to discuss what it means for Webmasters and Site Producers.
It's about the User Experience - designing the look and feel, navigation flow, content and content quality for a website. So let's break that down a bit:
Now it's possible that website design means different things to different people, so let's take a minute to discuss what it means for Webmasters and Site Producers.
It's about the User Experience - designing the look and feel, navigation flow, content and content quality for a website. So let's break that down a bit:
- It's about Information Architecture - how the navigation and page flow is set up to be intuitive for the target audience
- It's about look and feel - colours, logos, images, fonts
- It's about Accessibility - is your accessible by screen readers and other types of user agents?
- Is your content fresh and well- written? Have you written with SEO top of mind? Do you keep your content up to date? Is your content formatted well for the web?
- It's about usability? Have you taken the time to test your site design with prospective users/customers?
- It's about User Interaction - what happens when the user click the Next button?
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
For the small business who doesn't have a lot of money to spend on IT, open source is an option they shouldn't ignore.
I’ve spent most of my IT career dealing with proprietary software. Vendors like Microsoft, Sun and IBM provide a number of products and solutions for both the small business and the enterprise size company. And their products are really good. Recently however, I have had the opportunity to sit up and take notice of the other world – the world of open source. There’s some open source software out there that can rival and even surpass the proprietary products on the market today.
There use to be a stigma in organizations against open source. Some believed that because it was free it was impossible to get proper support that is required for software supporting line of business activities. Today, most open source solutions are offered by companies who sell support and/or development services for their products. So they make their money off support and development, not the product itself.
If you take a look at the market today, the number of well-known open source products is huge. Content Management software from Alfresco, blogging software from Moveable Type, these are just two examples of quality solutions – and they are free. Open Source development technologies are also widely used for both proprietary and open source products. Clickability, a SaaS WCM provider has built its solution on these technologies – and it’s the leading on demand web content management provider in the world.
For a small business, it is impossible not to look to open source solutions to solve their business needs. If all they have to pay for is support and development services (if they want them), then they likely have more funds to purchase more products. And it’s likely they have a number of closest open source developers in their office.
There use to be a stigma in organizations against open source. Some believed that because it was free it was impossible to get proper support that is required for software supporting line of business activities. Today, most open source solutions are offered by companies who sell support and/or development services for their products. So they make their money off support and development, not the product itself.
If you take a look at the market today, the number of well-known open source products is huge. Content Management software from Alfresco, blogging software from Moveable Type, these are just two examples of quality solutions – and they are free. Open Source development technologies are also widely used for both proprietary and open source products. Clickability, a SaaS WCM provider has built its solution on these technologies – and it’s the leading on demand web content management provider in the world.
For a small business, it is impossible not to look to open source solutions to solve their business needs. If all they have to pay for is support and development services (if they want them), then they likely have more funds to purchase more products. And it’s likely they have a number of closest open source developers in their office.
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
How many content management products do you think are on the market today? Too many to content! How do you go about selecting the one that's best for you?
Okay, try this - go to Google and search on "Content Management Products". How many results did you get? I got 32 million! Wow! Now I know they aren't all unique products, but I think this shows you just how many vendors are out there vying for your business. So how do you choose which one is right for you?
First things first...are you sure you really need one? That's a huge question that you need to answer. Have a read through the article on Content Management . If you still think you need one, move on.
What's your company's policy on development technologies? Are you a JAVA shop? Do you prefer to write .net applications (a Microsoft shop). Maybe you are really into open source, in which case you would be working with PHP, Linux and MySQL.
Know what your internal skills and experience is in each technology. Maybe you don't intend to implement the CMS on your own, but at some point you will need to support it.
What's your company's policy on Open Source? Many companies are slow to support open source internally because it's well - open source. This doesn't mean there aren' t a lot of good open source CMS products out there.
What's your company's policy on SaaS / hosted solutions? Are you open to considering products that are not implemented internally, but are hosted by the vendor? There are a number of Software as a Service (SaaS) CMS solutions out there that are very nice. No implementation, lower cost to use and support.
Once you answer these questions, you may be better able to narrow down the options for CMS products and solutions. If you don't narrow down the field this way start moving through the 32 million Google search results and see how you make out.
First things first...are you sure you really need one? That's a huge question that you need to answer. Have a read through the article on Content Management . If you still think you need one, move on.
What's your company's policy on development technologies? Are you a JAVA shop? Do you prefer to write .net applications (a Microsoft shop). Maybe you are really into open source, in which case you would be working with PHP, Linux and MySQL.
Know what your internal skills and experience is in each technology. Maybe you don't intend to implement the CMS on your own, but at some point you will need to support it.
What's your company's policy on Open Source? Many companies are slow to support open source internally because it's well - open source. This doesn't mean there aren' t a lot of good open source CMS products out there.
What's your company's policy on SaaS / hosted solutions? Are you open to considering products that are not implemented internally, but are hosted by the vendor? There are a number of Software as a Service (SaaS) CMS solutions out there that are very nice. No implementation, lower cost to use and support.
Once you answer these questions, you may be better able to narrow down the options for CMS products and solutions. If you don't narrow down the field this way start moving through the 32 million Google search results and see how you make out.
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
In 2008 it is expected that more and more organizations will implement social media technologies on their internet web sites. Learn how to do it with this webinar.
I ran into this Webinar that I thought I would pass along. It's called How To Think Strategically About Web 2.0 Communities.
Hosted by Awareness Inc, an on demand social media platform, it is an information session that examines how organizations can leverage Web 2.0 technologies to market their products and services.
Charlene Li, a Forrestor analyst covering Social Computing and Web 2.0 and Awareness executive Eric Schurr lead the discussion.
Web 2.0 technologies including things like:
Hosted by Awareness Inc, an on demand social media platform, it is an information session that examines how organizations can leverage Web 2.0 technologies to market their products and services.
Charlene Li, a Forrestor analyst covering Social Computing and Web 2.0 and Awareness executive Eric Schurr lead the discussion.
Web 2.0 technologies including things like:
- blogs
- rss
- wikis
- social networking
- widgets
- tagging
- They provide examples of companies who are creating innovative marketing strategies that use Web 2.0 communities
- They talk about the Forrester POST methodology (this is a new methodology to me)
- They discuss what you should think about when deciding to buy or build your own community, and
- they cover the 5 most common questions and concerns regarding Web 2.0 projects.
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
A chance to wish you all a Happy New Year 2008 and fill you on what's coming in the year ahead for Webmasters Resources to help you grow your online web presence.
Yes, it's a new year. We have seen a lot of changes to creating and maintaining an online presence in 2007. Now it's 2008 and the changes are still going to keep coming. The web is like a cameleon, always changing its' colors. But the reality is, if you want to be successful on the web, then always keep your customer in mind. They are the key to your success.
And so, with that vein of thought in mind, I find myself reminding myself to do the same. The Webmasters Resource section was a little light in December and for that I apologize. You come looking for guidance, advice, suggestions, and you will not be disappointed.
This section is all about creating and maintaining your online presence. We've talked a lot about strategy and planning and thinking about what you should do. We will continue to do that for you as there are bigger and better things to always consider with your plan. You need to be open to change it as necessary.
We will also start to focus more on the tools and technologies you need to actually put that strategy into action. That's right, we can strategize til the cows come home, but until we implement that strategy, we have nothing. So we'll dig into the tools that will help you monitor your site, we'll review technologies that can build your site and we'll dig deeper into tools to market your site.
If there's anything in particular you want to see, please let me know. This site is for you, so make sure we give you what you need to succeed.
And so, with that vein of thought in mind, I find myself reminding myself to do the same. The Webmasters Resource section was a little light in December and for that I apologize. You come looking for guidance, advice, suggestions, and you will not be disappointed.
This section is all about creating and maintaining your online presence. We've talked a lot about strategy and planning and thinking about what you should do. We will continue to do that for you as there are bigger and better things to always consider with your plan. You need to be open to change it as necessary.
We will also start to focus more on the tools and technologies you need to actually put that strategy into action. That's right, we can strategize til the cows come home, but until we implement that strategy, we have nothing. So we'll dig into the tools that will help you monitor your site, we'll review technologies that can build your site and we'll dig deeper into tools to market your site.
If there's anything in particular you want to see, please let me know. This site is for you, so make sure we give you what you need to succeed.
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
Social Media Marketing is becoming a huge marketing venue that you can't ignore if you want to reach a lot of people.
According to a research report from Strategy Analytics, Social Media Applications like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Flickr are expected to attract over one billion broadband users within five years. That's a heck of a lot of people and you know what it means. It means an unlimited market of people to sell your wares to. Don't ignore it.
A few months ago, I posted an article that talked about using Social Networks as a marketing tool. If you haven't looked at it, now's a good time. With the new year not that far off, it's time to start planning for next set of marketing and advertising plans to generate sales. Looking at the various social media/network sites out there and who's using them is an important first step in figuring out how to use them to your advantage.
Social Media Marketing or SMM (another acronym to add to the growing repository), has many aspects:
So think about that number a little more: 1 billion users. There's got to be a few people in there that want your product or service. Don't let this opportunity go to waste!
A few months ago, I posted an article that talked about using Social Networks as a marketing tool. If you haven't looked at it, now's a good time. With the new year not that far off, it's time to start planning for next set of marketing and advertising plans to generate sales. Looking at the various social media/network sites out there and who's using them is an important first step in figuring out how to use them to your advantage.
Social Media Marketing or SMM (another acronym to add to the growing repository), has many aspects:
- Creating Profiles - with very complete descriptions of your company or yourself if you are doing it from a personal approach
- Use of email within a social media site for blasting a group you've set up
- Creating groups with related interests
- Use of Comments and bulletins
So think about that number a little more: 1 billion users. There's got to be a few people in there that want your product or service. Don't let this opportunity go to waste!
Posted by
Barb Mosher
Barb Mosher
The honeymoon is over for this SharePoint architect. Time to settle in and see what this content management system can really do.
Okay, so SharePoint 2007 (MOSS) has been released for a little over a year now and developers, architects, designers and business people all over the world are still trying to wrap their heads around this baby. What is the story with this beastly technology?
You may remember I wrote a couple of overview articles on SharePoint Server 2007 and it's foundation product SharePoint Services 3.0. When I call it beastly, I simply mean there's a lot to it. It's collaboration, document management, content management, records management, business intelligence and much more. It has blog and wiki functionality. It can be a platform for communities. Boy, this SharePoint sure packs punch.
When you need to know how to do something, google it. There must be a million and one blogs and websites out there dedicated to telling you everything you need to know about how to use this product. But what I am finding is that no one has the ultimate right answer for your question. What it really seems to truly boil down to is plan, plan, plan...
If you want to implement some or part of this technology for your intranet or internet, then really plan what you want to do, what it will look like, and how you need to manage it. Then look at SharePoint to see how it fits with your plan. When you have the specific touchpoints, search to see who's done it before and learn from their mistakes (because guaranteed their first attempts were mistakes).
But I like this product. I just think I am no longer in love with it. It has become like all other technologies, a technical solution to a business problem. Now I just have to figure out how it really helps solve that problem. And the fun begins!
You may remember I wrote a couple of overview articles on SharePoint Server 2007 and it's foundation product SharePoint Services 3.0. When I call it beastly, I simply mean there's a lot to it. It's collaboration, document management, content management, records management, business intelligence and much more. It has blog and wiki functionality. It can be a platform for communities. Boy, this SharePoint sure packs punch.
When you need to know how to do something, google it. There must be a million and one blogs and websites out there dedicated to telling you everything you need to know about how to use this product. But what I am finding is that no one has the ultimate right answer for your question. What it really seems to truly boil down to is plan, plan, plan...
If you want to implement some or part of this technology for your intranet or internet, then really plan what you want to do, what it will look like, and how you need to manage it. Then look at SharePoint to see how it fits with your plan. When you have the specific touchpoints, search to see who's done it before and learn from their mistakes (because guaranteed their first attempts were mistakes).
But I like this product. I just think I am no longer in love with it. It has become like all other technologies, a technical solution to a business problem. Now I just have to figure out how it really helps solve that problem. And the fun begins!