Google Instant

There have been a number of significant changes recently to Google’s search function to make it more relevant for users – namely Google Instant, the use of Google Places in search, and Google Instant Preview. What do these changes mean for small businesses trying to sort their search rankings out?

Instant Preview

Instant Preview is a function that allows users to preview the appearance of a webpage as a thumbnail before clicking on it. While this has no bearing on search relevancy, it could potentially affect clickthroughs. If a user doesn’t like the design of the page they see in the thumbnail, they’re much less likely to click on it. So Google’s influence now extends beyond content and into the design of a website. Importantly, the preview function currently doesn’t support flash, instead replacing it with a blacked-out puzzle piece or black square in the preview pane. This presents a significant obstacle for flash-based websites, and another nail in the coffin for Flash… ( but that is another story )

Google Instant

You may have noticed that when you type a phrase into Google now, instead of having to hit ‘search’, the results change instantly with each new word you type, trying to anticipate your full intended search phrase.  With Google Instant, searchers can receive real-time feedback based on each word they type, meaning that they get more relevant results faster.

Google Places

Given the  popularity of mobile, and the GPS possibilities that location-specific search offers smartphone users, it was only a matter of time before Google integrated their Places function more closely with their search services. Google Places gives businesses the possibility of listing themselves according to their location on Google Maps. The recent development means that if Google detects you’re searching explicitly for a location-specific thing (ie shoelace store, bondi beach), it will immediately bring up a map with relevant locations for the kind of product you’re after.

The recent developments don’t drastically disadvantage anyone in terms of search. It remains to be seen whether or not Google Instant will change users’ habits for the better when searching on Google. It’s essential for all small businesses to invest some time in saturating their Google Places listing with relevant content. And if a business is currently in the process of creating a website, it would be wise to lean away from excessive use of flash on the homepage, as this may hinder clickthroughs regardless of your SEO efforts.

The web design process

There are numerous steps in the web site design and development process. From gathering initial information, to the creation of your web site, and finally to maintenance to keep your web site up to date and current.

1. Information Gathering
2. Planning
3. Design
4. Development
5. Production
6. Testing and Delivery
7. Maintenance

1. Information Gathering

This first step is actually the most important one, as it involves a solid understanding of the company it is created for. It involves a good understanding of you – what your business goals and dreams are, and how the web can be utilized to help you achieve those goals.

Certain things to consider are:

What is the purpose of the site? Do you want to provide information, promote a service, sell a product… ?  Target Audience ?  Content ?

2. Planning

Using the information gathered from phase one, it is time to put together a plan for your web site. This is the point where a site map is developed. The site map is a list of all main topic areas of the site, as well as sub-topics, if applicable. This serves as a guide as to what content will be on the site, and is essential to developing a consistent, easy to understand navigational system. The end-user of the web site – aka your customer – must be kept in mind when designing your site. These are, after all, the people who will be learning about your service or buying your product. A good user interface creates an easy to navigate web site, and is the basis for this. During the planning phase, your web designer will also help you decide what technologies should be implemented. Elements such as interactive forms, ecommerce, flash, etc. are discussed when planning your web site.

3. Design

Drawing from the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and feel of your site. Target audience is one of the key factors taken into consideration. A site aimed at teenagers, for example, will look much different than one meant for a financial institution. As part of the design phase, it is also important to incorporate elements such as the company logo or colors to help strengthen the identity of your company on the web site.

4. Development

The developmental stage is the point where the web site itself is created. At this time, your web designer will take all of the individual graphic elements from the prototype and use them to create the actual, functional site. On the technical front, a successful web site requires an understanding of front-end web development. This involves writing valid XHTML / CSS code that complies to current web standards, maximizing functionality, as well as accessibility for as large an audience as possible.

5. Production

The production of the site is vital for a site that is delivered on time within budget. The production is where all final content and final images are placed on each page. This step that is largely left to the last minute and can be the hardest part. Good planning and a great copy writer will help in this process.

6. Testing and Delivery

At this point, we will attend to the final details and test your web site. They will test things such as the complete functionality of forms or other scripts, as well last testing for last minute compatibility issues (viewing differences between different web browsers), ensuring that your web site is optimized to be viewed properly in the most recent browser versions.

This marks the official launch of your site, as it is now viewable to the public.

Twitter, believe the hype?

Does Justin Bieber and his fan base of teenage girls biding for 5 mins of social media broadcast fame skew the perception that Twitter is just hype?  This may be true but the reality for many Australian business  is that Twitter is becoming a valuable tool for business to communicate with their employees and gauge customer sentiment.

Twitter allows users to post short, 140 character updates, on what they are doing right now. Users distribute quick thoughts, news and ideas, and this broadcast element of Twitter has led this type of service to be called microblogging, as each individual message (called a “tweet”) can be considered a very small blog post. Users select other “Twitterers” to follow or receive their messages in close to real time.

A recent report by Gartner  has identified four different ways in which companies are making use of the Twitter application: direct, indirect, internal, and signaling.

Direct — Using Twitter as a marketing or public relations channel

Many companies have established Twitter identities as part of their corporate communications strategies, much like corporate blogs. They Tweet about corporate accomplishments, distributing links to press releases or promotional Web sites, and respond to other Twitterers’ comments about the brand. Gartner maintains that this approach should be used with caution because uninteresting or self-serving Tweets could hinder the brand image as much as it could help. Responding to comments can be particularly risky, as the anonymous nature of Twitter can easily descend into a negative spiral. Gartner recommends that at a minimum, companies should register Twitter IDs for their major brand names to prevent others claiming them and using them inappropriately.

Indirect — The company’s employees use Twitter to enhance and extend their personal reputations, thereby enhancing the company’s reputation

Good Twitterers enhance their personal reputation by saying clever, interesting things, attracting many followers who go on to read their blogs. As people enhance their personal brands, some of this inevitably rubs off on their employers. Twitter provides a way of raising the profile of both individuals and the organizations they work for, which elevates these companies that want to be seen to employ influential leaders.

Internal — Employees use the platform to communicate about what they are doing, projects they are working on and ideas that occur to them

In most cases, Gartner does not recommend using Twitter or any other consumer microblogging service in this way, because there is no guarantee of security. It is crucial that employees understand the limitations of the platform and never discuss confidential matters, because as a seemingly innocuous Tweet about going to see a particular client can tip off a competitor. Other providers, such as Yammer and Present.ly, provide Twitter-like functions targeted at enterprise microblogging with more security and corporate control.

Inbound Signaling

Twitter streams provide a rich source of information about what customers, competitors and others are saying about a company. Search tools like search.twitter.com or the twhirl application can scan for references to particular company or product names. Savvy companies use these signals to get early warnings of problems and collect feedback about product issues and new product ideas.