Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: July 2, 2009
There are multiple online marketing channels and each one offers specific benefits. It is important to realize that one needs an online marketing strategy that is a subset of an overall marketing strategy in order to maximize exposure – both online and offline.
Paid Search Engine Advertising
Where you bid for specific placement of your ads on major, or niche search engines to drive traffic to your website, or landing pages whenever specific queries are executed using specific keywords that form the basis of your bids
Organic(or Natural) Search Engine Optimization
Where you optimize your website to earn high ranking in the search engine result pages with major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing
Email Marketing
Where you collect email addresses from potential leads and existing customers and market to them via email messages such as newsletters, special offers and brand building emails
Online PR
Where you focus on the generation of media attention from web based PR firms to drive traffic to your website and to enhance branding
Banner (Display) Marketing
Where you place visual ads on third party or partnering websites to drive traffic to your website and increase your brand awareness
Affiliate Marketing
Where you form incentive-based partnerships with other supplementary or complementary websites to sell your service or product in return for a share of the revenue driven by them
Social Media Marketing
Where you leverage social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, MerchantCircle, Digg and others to increase visibility and drive more traffic to your website
Landing Page & Micro-site Marketing
Where you generate additional awareness and exposure by creating service or product specific landing pages, or micro-websites to drive traffic and increase brand exposure
Realize that some of these channels will overlap – for example, you may organically optimize your website for higher traffic for a particular set of keywords while simultaneously running pay-per-click advertising campaigns for the exact same set of keywords.
Which channels should you use? The answer depends on your business strategy and advertising goals coupled with your online marketing budget and is also depends on in-hours resource availability, or on takent-for-hire via a partnering marketing firm. The ultimate determination will be based on what has maximum return on investment and mimimal effort.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: June 18, 2009
Do you have a website that was recently completed and you are wondering what to do with it now that it is ready? Do you feel that the completion of the website is not the “end” of your web presence strategy? Do you feel that you need to take further action and do “something” with your website? If yes, then please read on.
It is critical to understand that your website is not the end, rather it is a means to achieve an end, and that is to attract more visitors, create more business, increase sales and boost profit. Your website needs to be taken care of, “nurtured” and promoted in order for it to be of value to you. Whether your website is an online store, a corporate website, a portal or a personal website, it needs ongoing attention after it is completed.
So, what do you do with your website once it is ready?
Here are a few tips to consider:
1. Keep your website content updated – this is crucial. Keep the content – this includes relevant copy, news, product & service information, contact settings, media (video, images), blog posts, articles and more – updated at all times. Search engines love regular changes – for them, it is a clear indication of an active website and that bodes well for regular indexing by search engine spiders and crawlers. Be sure to target relevant keywords in all your content for proper search engine visibility. Also, know that a robust content management system will greatly ease the pain associated with keeping your website content updated and as an added bonus you will no longer need to depend on your website designer.
2. Promote your website well offline – make sure you include your website address on your stationery, business cards, flyers, brochures, email signatures and any other marketing collateral and offline material. If you use promotional items, make sure that your website address is on such items: be it cups, pens, mouse pads or t-shirts. And remember to place your website address on your signage. And everywhere else that can help you drive more traffic.
3. Promote your website well online – Search Engines are commonly used to search for a company or service or product on the Internet. Your website needs to be promoted on the Internet via organic (natural) search engine optimization so your potential customers can find you. The bottom line is that is your site should list in the top 10 SERs (Search Engine Results) for all top search engines for best ROI. You can also use other Internet marketing techniques such as email marketing, affiliate marketing, newsletter marketing, article syndication, RSS feeds, press releases and social media marketing. And, oh, don’t forget to create and maintain a useful and relevant blog (preferably attached to your website) to keep your visitors engaged and informed about your company.
4. Add features to attract and retain visitors and make your website a happening “place” – add features to your website that provide value for your visitors to keep them coming back. This could be something as simple as relevant articles or studies, or a free e-book, or a special offer, or pertinent information about what they are looking for. It could also be in the form of valuable tips, or even free tools that they can use. Make your website a “happening” destination!
5. Make one individual an owner of your website – make someone responsible for the website and its content – this could even be you! The owner’s responsibilities would be to keep the site updated, keep it running smoothly and to monitor it. Review your website regularly. And follow the above 4 steps regularly.
6. Add visitor tracking and website analytics – add a visitor tracking and website analytics systems to your website and review the reports with your owner (if that is someone other than you) regularly. Visitor tracking and analytics systems will provide you with intelligence and insights as to the number of visitors that come to your website, where they are coming from, what they are looking for, how the search engines are driving traffic to your site and what keywords are driving them to your website. This information enables you to properly update your content and also allows you to continually tweak your online promotion endeavors.
Your website is an extension of your business. It needs to be treated in a similar way. Consider it to be an investment, not an expense.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: June 4, 2009
According to a report by the BBC, there is a 25% increase in the number of people accessing the internet from mobile devices. This huge increase has been made possible largely because wireless access technologies have advanced.
The iPhone is the first mobile phone to give users an enjoyable internet experience that is also easy to use. iPhone allows you to access the internet anytime, anywhere and without limitations from your mobile carrier or content restrictions like text scaled down to fit the screen.
RIM’s Blackberry is also gaining popularity in the smartphone arena. You can accomplish a large number of tasks required by modern day business: accessing the internet and checking your e-mail account in real-time anywhere and anytime using powerful GPRS and EDGE technologies that use embedded Web browsers.
Nokia phones are also storming into the market and some Nokia phones have a Blacbkerry Client built into the operating system that allows them to leverage RIM’s (Research In Motion) extremely reliable infrastructure.
There are three main operating systems used on mobile phones. Symbian OS has been designed for Nokia Smart Phones, the Palm OS for PDAs and Windows Mobile. The Apple iPhone uses a version of Apple OS X, but this is the only phone that does so and it does not have complete smart phone functions…yet.
Windows Mobile is a more intuitive system to use on your mobile phone. The system connects easily with your PC and includes many useful tools, as well as first-class entertainment functions through Windows Media Player
If you are planning to do business over the internet, it is a great time now, especially if you are willing to cater to mobile device users. The best way to start with this is to have a version of your website specially developed for mobile device users and have it format properly when a mobile device accesses your website.
So, which Mobile platform do you use?
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: April 10, 2009
Scope creep (also called focus creep, requirement creep, feature creep, and sometimes kitchen sink syndrome) in project management refers to uncontrolled changes in a project’s scope. This phenomenon can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled. It is generally considered a negative occurrence that is to be avoided.
Typically, the scope increase consists of either new products or new features of already approved product designs, without corresponding increases in resources, schedule, or budget. As the scope of a project grows, more tasks must be completed within the budget and schedule originally designed for a smaller set of tasks. Thus, scope creep can result in a project team overrunning its original budget and schedule.
If the budget and schedule are increased along with the scope, the change is usually considered an acceptable addition to the project, and the term “scope creep” is not used.
Scope creep can be a result of:
* Disingenuous customer with a determined value for free policy
* Poor change control
* Lack of proper initial identification of what is required to bring about the project objectives
* Weak project manager or executive sponsor
* Poor communication between parties
* Agile software development based on subjective quantifications.
Scope creep is a risk in a lot of projects. Scope creep often results in cost overrun. A value for free strategy is difficult to counteract and remains a difficult challenge for even the most experienced project managers.
However, scope creep can be avoided by. Here are a few examples:
*Proper change control
*Detailed specification and requirements
*Effective communication between the parties involved
*Tight project management
(Some of the information that appears in this post was obtained from Wikipedia)
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: March 2, 2009
A “cloud” is made up of a large number of processors (read computers/servers) and supporting hardware networked together and has requisite applications installed along with massive storage capacity (read thousands of terabytes). Cloud computing has obvious benefits compared to discrete networks in the sense that clouds can scale up and instantaneously expand to accommodate higher traffic or processing loads.
Consider an example: your website is hosted on a dedicated server and all of a sudden you have a massive surge in traffic volume leading to an exponentially increased load on your hardware. In a lot of cases, your server will not be able to accommodate the increased load and will either crash or will start displaying an overloaded or busy message. Now, if your website were to be hosted on a “cloud”, it would pretty much immediately and automatically scale up seamlessly and be able to absorb the increased load without going offline or putting up the “server busy” message.
Extending this farther, instead of relying on an internal network, or infrastructure, a business or organization can just “plug” their machines into a “cloud”. The cloud will be configured to run all your applications and store all your data. This fits well into the realm of SaaS (Software as a Service) – such as Google Docs that allows you to work with your office documents from anywhere and allows you to securely store them on Google’s “cloud”.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: February 11, 2009
A landing page is the entry page your visitors arrive at after they have clicked on a link. These are an essential element in the sales process and should provide a customized sales pitch for your visitors. The best way to do this is to determine where your visitors have come from and who they are. By matching the results with a topnotch sales copy, your chances of engaging your visitors go up, as should your conversion rate. Landing pages are a huge step is the selling process, so the call to action must be as powerful and easy to follow as possible. You must create them to reinforce the reason your visitors landed on your website. When you get visitors through your pay-per-click or email campaign, these people have a higher degree of interest, because they were already looking for your product or service. So you’d better make sure that your landing page is relevant to the initial offer they clicked on, and not redirecting them to your home page. You should create targeted landing pages anytime you can control where people will be coming from, and your goal is a specific transaction such as sales, registrations, sign-ups, etc. This is particularly true if you are paying for the traffic, with banner ads, sponsor links, or pay-per-click.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: January 31, 2009
1. Visually appealing Design
Create an attractive designed website tailored to your niche market. This way the information is easily absorbed and can encourage your visitors for further reading or some sort of commitment, like subscribing to your newsletter.
2. The 30-second rule
Surfers will usually give you an average of 30 seconds to make them stay longer. So, the area above the fold (what is visible before scrolling) must contain the most important message.
3. Clear Navigation
Give you prospects clear navigational options so they don’t get lost in your website. You can actually offer clear guidance to where you want them to go, by using various buttons, signs or images.
4. Useful Content
Relevant content is not only loved by your niche market, but also by search engines that will rank your website based on the information you provide. It’s best to present yourself and your company in a personal and direct way, as most people want to do business with other people, and not some strange company names.
5. Lead Capture Mechanism
It’s a fact that prospects usually see an offer up to seven times before deciding to act on it. In order to build your opt-in list, start by offering your visitors a monthly newsletter, a sample product or a free report, as a trigger to leave their details on your website.
6. Optimization
Article marketing, link building, blogging, viral marketing and joint ventures are just some of the best strategies to promote your business and become available to your prospective clientele.
7. Usability
Usability is about ensuring that your visitors can find the information or product they want and that they can find it fast, efficiently and without turning them into some very angry bulls.
8. Browser Compatibility
It’s important that your website acts well in all major web browsers, including popular PDA and smartphone browsers like Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and others.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: January 2, 2009
I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year.
In this post, you will learn what to expect once your web presence project starts. We will cover the first 5 items in part 1 and follow that up with additional items.
1. Subject Matter Expertise (SME)
Nobody knows your subject better than you and nobody knows how to structure your operation better than you. After all, the main reason that you are hiring a web design firm is because they have a lot more expertise in designing and developing websites compared to you. Similarly, it is unfair to expect a company to know the nitty-gritty of your business. It is your responsibility to communicate your expertise to your selected web presence firm so that the final outcome is what you require.
2. Initial Requirements
Provide detailed initial requirements. The more detail, the better. This can be likened to a custom home project. A custom home requires an extensive amount of planning, designing and strategy. You would not just hire a custom home builder and tell them to build you a home…you would work with an architect, a designer and other professionals to just design the house before it ever got build… Therefore, it is just as critical to spend time on the requirements of a website project. More so because it gives you, the website owner, clarity on what the final outcome would be.
3. Vision
Communicate your vision to your design firm. Because it is your vision, you absolutely need to communicate it to the web presence firm you hire, in fact, it is imperative to have these discussions BEFORE a project ever starts so there is a clear sense of understanding. This will also allow you to determine whether the prospective firms are capable of executing your project.
4. Website Content – text, graphics, images, and multimedia
Lack of, or improper content is what kills most web projects…if you are overloaded or if generating website content is not your forte, it is worth hiring a website copy and content writer to make sure this essential step does not delay and adversely impact your project. Your web presence firm may also be able to offer this service as part of the project. Be sure to take this into consideration at the beginning of the project.
5. Ongoing Involvement
Regular and Ongoing Involvement – your ongoing involvement is critical to the success of your project. Remember, you are the Subject Matter Expert (SME) so it critical that you remain involved in all aspects of your project. Sure, your web presence company will drive the project forward but they will require ongoing input and feedback from you. Delays in feedback on your part will only delay your entire project. Consider your web presence company to be your partner, rather than just a vendor. Your success is largely their success as well.
6. Detailed Feedback
The level of detail you report when you are asked to provide makes a difference. It is far better to be detailed the first time around as it saves design & change iterations, and more importantly, it saves time and therefore money.
7. User Testing
Refer to #1: you are the SME (Subject Matter Expert), don’t expect your web design company to know the ins and the outs of your business, just like you don’t know theirs.
8. Handling Problems
If you find a problem, report is as quickly as possible. This saves time and effort and ensures that problems are not inadvertently buried and missed.
9. Milestone Approval
Milestone approval keeps your project moving along briskly and esures that your project does not get delayed.
10. Prompt Payments
Web designers and web presence firms are in it to make money, therefore, if you delay payment, it will only delay your project.
11. Keeping in Touch with your web design company
If you are not able to stay in touch, or if you have to stop communicating for a certain amount of time, make sure you let your team know this as soon as possoible.
12. Scope Changes
Do note that if you request or ask for work that is above and beyond the scope of your project, your website design firm reserves the right to first alert you to the fact that the requested work is beyond scope and then reserves the right to bill you. If you were building a home, and you decided to change the color of the paint in several rooms after your approved a color previously, your builder would most assuredly charge you for the repainting.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: December 30, 2008
I woke up this morning to a conundrum. One of our clients is currently sitting on a shared hosting platform (host name withheld) and they are suffering from very strange and severe performance issues. Performance degrades, daily, starting at about 4pm EST. Performance during the day morning is great. We have contacted the host and they are not able to help. They claim that it is the web application that is at fault. Bizarre. Is it possible that the “code” gets tired in the afternoon and slows down? Hmmm.
We have attempted to load test the server (we were unable to complete our tests due to restrictions imposed by the host) but in the process we discovered that the server responsiveness decreases significantly after 4 pm. So there is something going on with the server and the hosting company wont fess up. Typical. We posted support tickets. We called them numerous times. We screamed at them…end result, n o t h i n g!!
Our initial recommendation was for the client to use a dedicated server, or at the very least, a virtual private server (VPS) however, the cost appeared to be prohibitive. So they elected for a shared solution. Unfortunately, they selected one of the cheaper hosts on the Internet, and quite frankly, it appears that you get what you pay for.
The client is now finally convinced to make the switch to a dedicated server. Bye-bye shared hosting!
Anyone out there care to share your comments about website hosting?
It would be especially helpful to hear about website hosts that go above and and beyond the call of duty, whether shared, or dedicated.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: December 23, 2008
In part 2, we cover the remaining 6 questions.
6. Do you have a formal design & development process?
A well-outlined and formal web design & development process will indicate that a company has invested the time and effort into processes which means that they are serious about what they do. It will also allow you to determine their level of expertise. In fact, beware of a company that does not have a formal process in place. Well established companies will also educate you as to your roles and responsibilities and what feedback and input would be required from you during the project.
7. How do you handle changes?
A proper change management process is essential. Let’s face it; at some point in time, your website will need changes or updates. A properly implemented change management mechanism is important because it will ensure that (1) the changes are properly reported (2) the changes are actually implemented (3) the changes are reported back to you and (4) the changes are tested to make sure all works well. You will also need to find out what types of maintenance options are provided and what the associated charges are.
8. What types of technologies do you work with?
The answer to this question is critical. Given the ever-evolving nature of technology, companies must make the effort to keep up with the times. A good web design & development company will be able to work in ASP.NET, ASP, PHP, AJAX and various scripting languages such as javascript and vbsrcipt. They should also have significant expertise in database technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server, mySQL, Oracle, Microsoft Access. In terms of design tools, look for names such as Adobe, Microsoft and other recognizable companies that put out serious design & development tools
9. Do you provide hosting?
Get a clear answer. If a company provides in-house hosting, at the very least, make sure that they are not hosting y our mission critical website on a server in the basement, or in their office. If they outsource, make sure that you know what SLAs (Service Level Agreements) are in place and where the hosting company is located.
10. Who owns the website code after work is completed?
If you are spending several thousands of dollars on your website, there is only one acceptable answer. You as the client will own the website, the code, media and all content. If your website uses components such as a content management system, or a shopping cart system, be sure to find out about the licensing and ownership.
11. How do you charge?
There are 2 ways for a web design & development company. They can charge you for time, ie by the hour, day, week or month. Or they can charge you a fixed amount for your project. Bear in mind that in order to establish a fixed cost, the requirements and specifications have to be very clearly laid out. In fact, most web projects can be estimated fairly accurately if a given company has the experience in the industry. If a company is unwilling to give you a fixed cost for a project, it is advisable to be careful…time-based billing can get ridiculously expensive.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: December 19, 2008
In part 1, we will cover the first 5 questions. This will be followed by the second part where we will cover the remaining 6 questions.
1. Why should I hire your company and not a freelance web designer?
It depends. Whilst independent web designers, some of whom are extremely good, have a lot to offer, be sure to consider that a web design & development company will have in place (1) robust design, development and test processes, (2) access to team knowledge and expertise, (3) a proper quality assurance mechanism, (4) access to tools and components and (5) the ability to collectively solve problems and brainstorm as a team.
2. How long has your company been in business?
There is no hard and fast rule here. It ultimately depends on your comfort level; and, equally importantly on the cost factors. You may be comfortable working with a startup, or with a company without much experience, however, be sure to give this due consideration. Bear in mind if a company has been around for a long time, chances are they know what they are doing and thus they may be worth considering.
3. Can you show us samples of your work?
A good web design & development company should have a varied portfolio and this portfolio should illustrate their capabilities. A few important things to watch for: creativity, uniqueness of design, streamlined navigation and how well the design represents a brand.
4. Can you provide client testimonials?
Well established web presence companies will be happy to provide you with a list of satisfied clients. In fact, most of them would also make this list of testimonials available on their websites. If a company is unable to supply you with testimonials, or is unwilling to supply them, it should raise a red flag.
5. How experienced is your team?
A proper team structure will ensure that your project is handled in a professional fashion. A proper team structure indicates that a company has spent time and effort into cultivating a team culture. Any company that is serious about what they do will be happy to have you go to their offices and meet with their staff. If a company balks at a face-to-face meeting, well, you get the hint.
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: December 10, 2008
At Arnima, we define web presence as the completeness or totality of a company’s or organization’s existence on the Internet, by how easily that presence is maintained and how easily that presence is found or located.
Wikipedia says that “Web presence refers to the appearance of a person or organization on the World Wide Web. The phrase can be definite (as in “Example Company’s web presence”) or indefinite (as in “develop a web presence”). A company has web presence if it is available on the web. The amount of web presence can be measured in the amount of sites a organization or individual has, which can include their own website, social network profiles, and their site’s search engine ranking, traffic, popularity, and backlinks.”
Just having a website does not mean that an organization has good web presence! As mentioned above, it is the completeness of this presence that matters.
Over the course of the next few weeks, we will explore the breadth and depth of web presence and more importantly, how it can help you to grow your business.
R
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: December 10, 2008
I have wanted to start a blog about web presence for a very long time but for various reasons, never did get around to it. It is now high time, so without further ado, here we go.
A bit about myself.
My name is Rajeev Ratra, I am the CEO of Arnima Design, based in Tampa, Florida and New Delhi, India. I founded Arnima in 1999 as a technology services company. Arnima Design is a web presence company with multiple areas of specialty: website design, web application development, search engine optimization and Internet marketing – basically, most, if not all activities associated with establishing and maintaining web presence.
You can learn more about Arnima by visiting our website at www.arnima.com.
Over the course of the last few years, we have developed serious expertise in many industry domains and we excel at building integrated solutions for content management, e-learning, e-commerce and several other areas.
This blog is ALL about web presence. Your web presence!
So, please, stay tuned and come back often. Your comments, feedback, thoughts are always welcome!
R
Posted by: Rajeev Ratra on: December 9, 2008
Rajeev Ratra, a successful entrepreneur, is founder and CEO of Arnima Design, Inc. Arnima Design is an international Information Technology Services and Outsourcing firm based in Tampa, Florida, with operations in New Delhi, India. Arnima Design, a company that provides personalized software, and web and internet-related solutions and services to small- and medium-sized businesses, has a clientele-base that spans North America, Europe and Asia.
Prior to founding Arnima Design, Ratra had an impressive career on Wall Street, New York, for 12 years. He worked for top-tier financial firms, such as JPMorgan Chase, Inc., Bankers Trust, Inc., Deutsche Bank, Inc. TIAA-CREFF and the U.S. Trust Company.
Ratra attended Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York, in pursuit of a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.
Born in Beijing, China, and as the son of a diplomat, Ratra has lived in several countries, including India, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Lebanon, Mauritius, and Canada. He is fluent in English, Italian, Hindi and Punjabi, and speaks conversational French.
