Archive for June, 2009

Stop hiding the info

By Ben Kelly

If you're selling something online, especially a service, is it a good idea to put your prices on your website? Surely it makes sense to skip over the information - after all, that way people have to get in touch to find out don't they? And once they've made that first call, it's all the more easy to entice them in. Isn't it?

No.

Hiding information drives people away. Even if you're still getting a decent number of leads and sales from your site, not showing basic information about the cost of your service or product will put people off. People are strapped for time. If you make it harder for them to get to the information they want, they'll go somewhere else.

Ben

Need some Optimism?

By Ben Kelly

These are gloomy days, allegedly. What with a global recession, and now more impending doom from swine flu, is there anything to look forward to? Will our capitalistic democracy crumble in the wind? Will recession carry on for years, decades?

Some days, it's easy to get swept up in the hysteria (a lot of those days start by getting on an underground train and picking up a copy of Metro). The press makes out that we are all doomed. Are we? Is this it? Is the end nigh?

Of course not. Actually, things are better than ever. All you need is the right perspective. Here's some things that will cheer you up:

1. We've probably now reached the bottom. It's unlikely to get any worse, even if it takes some time to recover. If you've survived thus far, then great! All you need to do is hang on a little further.
2. Companies like Woolworths did not go out of business because of the recession. It was an inviable business that lost its way a decade ago. Blaming a slowing economy is much easier than admitting that you lost the plot. Surprise surprise, hundreds of other inviable businesses followed suit.
3. Stop reading the news. There is nothing important that happens in the world that you won't find out about from your family and friends. Try to completely stop consuming any news at all for a week, and see how you feel.
4. Visit your industry's trade show. I've been to three since the start of the recession, and was overwhelmed with how upbeat and positive everyone was. People were buoyant, excited and doing business as usual. Actually, it was better than usual, people were thriving. Every day, you'll leave on a high, filled with optimism.
5. Re-invent yourself. Business models change over time, and you cannot do the same thing forever. If you've been scraping by for years, then you will be struggling like crazy now. How?
6. Use the internet to your advantage.

If you are a shop keeper, now must be a scary time. It's been hard to compete with the likes of Amazon, eBay and the hyper-markets (a french expression for their massive WalMart style shops - just like our larger Tesco's and Asda's). You can try and resist them, and hold fast - or you can embrace the change and join the digital evolution. If you've got the experience of running a shop, you've got an abundance of skills that are necessary to making an e-shop work (cash flow balancing, stock management, customer relationship management), and if you have specialist knowledge as well, you can build a niche brand that will reach a nationwide group of consumers.

Ben

Sound On Websites

By Ben Kelly

Websites are dynamic things. Now that most internet users are on broadband (I'm even on broadband when I'm sitting in a café on on a train), we're able to experience the internet in a fantastic content rich way that we could never have done 5 years ago. YouTube, the iPlayer, .com - all these sites offer sound and video and people love them. They are very popular sites, and we're going to see more like them pop up this year, next year, and forever more.

So, if all this audiovisual content works, shouldn't we have some on our websites? Isn't that the way to excite users? Why not have some sort of audio announcement on every page? It's dynamic. It gets noticed. It's very Web 2.0 isn't it? Surely it's a good thing, right?

Wrong.

Never. Ever. Use. Sound. On. Your. Website. (without permission).

In fact, don't do it with video either. The popular websites listed above understand this. Unfortunately, other companies don't. Playing sounds without invitation is offensive. It invades the privacy of the user's space. They do not want sounds to suddenly start blaring out to them without warning. Some may tolerate it, but most do not want it. No matter how clever or smart it may seem.

I visited a website selling music B2B to tv production companies recently. The first thing I noticed? The gunshot noise, followed by the James Bond theme tune. Clever? No. Really not. It pissed me off.

Then I visited another website that had something really clever. It had some bloke appear on the screen, and start explaining how to get the best out of the site. Someone had spent thousands developing it. I actually thought it was quite smart. Until I clicked on one of the language buttons at the top. The page reloaded, with the same bloke, who started explaining the site again, in English! This "multi-national" website was playing the same intrusive video in the wrong language to every non-English speaking visitor. They hadn't even thought to put subtitles in. I then went back to the UK version, and this bloke appeared again. And then it clicked - he is always there. Every time you go to the site, he's there. Once, it's amusing, and quite smart. Second, it's annoying. Third. Well, there is no third. Spending thousands building this very clever widget, has driven away repeat visits for this company. Shame.

Ben