Today it’s hard to find a company that doesn’t have a website, most likely because it’s easy to build a website or easier still to hire someone to do it for you. But building a website is like erecting a billboard in the forest. To get people to see it, you’ve got to build a road to get them to it. So it’s less about having a website and more about having a website that is an integrated part of your marketing strategy. And the integration part is much more difficult—it requires planning.
Here are some tips to get you started on the right path:
· Remember, it’s Marketing—Stick to tried and true marketing principles. Understand your value add, articulate a clear message and distribute that message. A website is simply a new tool to accomplish this.
· Determine the Purpose of the Website (before it’s built!)—A company’s website is usually a critical component of the overall sales and marketing strategy. Some companies may also want to utilize it to hold information for its employees, clients, partners, and prospects. It should have its own clearly defined mission statement. If it doesn’t, you might end up with a great informational site that no one will ever find on the all important search engines.
· Get Ranked on Search Engines—Everyone wants to be #1 on Google, but few know for what. It isn’t going to help if you’re a specialized grocery store and are displayed on the first page when someone searches for ‘computer bytes’ Understanding your website’s positioning in the marketing plan helps you to know whether search engine ranking is important, it isn’t valuable to all businesses. If it is important to your business, then Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical. Most people aren’t looking for you or your products or services, they are looking for a solution to a current problem. In search-engine land, the way to find a solution is by using keywords to search the vast stores of information. Behind the scenes, Search Engines electronically read a website’s content and index it. The website is then categorized based on its content, the categorization is largely based on the words the website uses and delivers to the search engine. For example, if your website mentions ‘woolen hats’ often, then it has a better chance of getting displayed when someone searches for ‘woolen hats’ in Google. For SEO, picking keywords early in the game is important, but it doesn’t stop there. Search engines also cross-reference your website with others. For example, if other websites (or even blogs) mention that your website has the best woolen hats, then search engines understand that this is a good thing and increase your site’s ranking for ‘woolen hats’. This can end up being a lot of work. Many companies are exploiting Web 2.0 (blogs, micro-blogs, and other social networking tools) to increase their search engine visibility.
· Paying for Visibility—A ranking based on content, keyword relevancy, and links from other sites is defined as an ‘organic search’. The other options to increase website visibility entail spending money—either by paying for the distribution of press releases from one of a number of web providers (search for ‘press release distribution’ and note that some of these have ‘free’ services), or by joining a Pay per click (PPC) program like Google AdWords where you pay for certain keywords and then get your ‘ad’ displayed in the ‘Sponsored Links’ area on the results page(s). PPC programs are not immediately intuitive. Do some research to understand the process before investing.
· Commit the Time & Energy—It takes commitment and it takes time for a successful outcome. After kicking off a website marketing program, it may take months to get your site moving up in the rankings. Significant, continued effort is also needed. By frequently updating content, images, keywords, meta tags and title tags and by re-indexing the site, the search engines will consider the information you are providing as more valuable and relevant, and will keep it visible. If you plan the website, integrate it with your marketing efforts, and buy into the time, effort, and cost of frequent, on-going updates, you will see the benefit.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT. Go to VISTECH.com for information on complete website solutions. VISTECH.com is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner offering software development, website development, computer/network support, Microsoft Unified Communications implementations, and IT consulting.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Save money with telecommuting.
As the recession deepens, many companies will be investigating cost saving measures. One opportunity that now can't be overlooked is a company-wide telecommuting program. According to Telecommute Connecticut!, a commuter service of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, more than 117,000 Connecticut residents telecommute. With telecommuting becoming more mainstream in today's corporate culture, every company needs a unified communicaitons strategy to deliver benefit to existing workers, open up a lower cost resource pool, and deliver on the promise of a seemless, distributed workflorce.
Unified Communications integrate voice, instant messaging, email, and more to provide instant access to workers regardless of their location. VoIP uses a broadband Internet connection to route phone calls, which incorporates the functionality of the Internet with that of the conventional telephone, producing one convenient communication system. Through a means of converting the analog signals of a voice conversation into a digital format, which is then transmitted over the Internet, VoIP allows individuals to make a call to another computer, or even to another phone. Microsoft's Office Communications Server and Office Communicator are two products that display this combination of software and telephony, which streamlines communications, resulting in a higher rate of efficiency at a lower cost.
By installing and implementing Microsoft's Office Communications Server and Office Communicator, we can enable employees to connect with clients and co-workers across different regions and time zones in real time. Whether from the office or from a remote area, employees will be able to collaborate from any location with Internet connectivity. And because Office Communicator is closely integrated with the Microsoft Office system, it links seamlessly with applications such as Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, and SharePoint, immediately and effortlessly converting any room in the house to an office work station. With Unified Communication services, you can save money while improving your productivity, all within the comfort of your own home.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT.Go to VISTECH.com for information on complete unified communications and VOIP solutions.
VISTECH.com exclusively uses Microsoft Unified Communications for its infrastructure and offers hosting, colocated, and on-site unified communications solutions.
Unified Communications integrate voice, instant messaging, email, and more to provide instant access to workers regardless of their location. VoIP uses a broadband Internet connection to route phone calls, which incorporates the functionality of the Internet with that of the conventional telephone, producing one convenient communication system. Through a means of converting the analog signals of a voice conversation into a digital format, which is then transmitted over the Internet, VoIP allows individuals to make a call to another computer, or even to another phone. Microsoft's Office Communications Server and Office Communicator are two products that display this combination of software and telephony, which streamlines communications, resulting in a higher rate of efficiency at a lower cost.
By installing and implementing Microsoft's Office Communications Server and Office Communicator, we can enable employees to connect with clients and co-workers across different regions and time zones in real time. Whether from the office or from a remote area, employees will be able to collaborate from any location with Internet connectivity. And because Office Communicator is closely integrated with the Microsoft Office system, it links seamlessly with applications such as Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, and SharePoint, immediately and effortlessly converting any room in the house to an office work station. With Unified Communication services, you can save money while improving your productivity, all within the comfort of your own home.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT.Go to VISTECH.com for information on complete unified communications and VOIP solutions.
VISTECH.com exclusively uses Microsoft Unified Communications for its infrastructure and offers hosting, colocated, and on-site unified communications solutions.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Do we need a U.S. Retirement Czar?
The short-sighted, tactical nature of America has always felt odd to me. Consider the stock market. Over the past few decades, ‘analysts’ have taken great pride in judging companies by quarterly numbers. Long term vision and corporate strategy really didn’t seem to be a critical component of the analysis, and now we find large U.S. corporations that made their numbers in very recent quarters and were winners on Wall Street need huge bail-out packages to avoid bankruptcy.
Maybe the bigger problem is that individuals don’t think long term either. Much of America is over-leveraged with various mortgage scams (that were always too good to be true) and large credit card debt. As unemployment goes up and the government tries to mandates lower wages for workers of the companies getting bail-outs, I wonder how most of America is going to support retirement. By the way it’s important to remember Social Security will need a bail-out soon.
It’s got to be a perfect storm—across the board declines in investments, precipitous decline of real estate values, increased unemployment, lower wages, possible collapse of pension programs, and a culture focused on immediate gratification with little regard for saving. How will retirees and near retirees deal with financial weakness and ever increasing longevity? Clearly they can’t.
People approaching retirement age will need to continue working, and people in retirement will likely go back to work. In the standard supply & demand model, this would suggest a larger labor force to further drive down wages further reducing ability to save further accelerating the economic decline. Current news reports already feature stories about retirees choosing between food and heat. It probably won’t get better in the short term. Even with the new administration’s focus on infrastructure jobs (rebirth of the WPA?), efforts are still directed as short term jumpstarts to the economy without correcting root cause issues.
Since it’s time the future is given a higher priority, it’s probably time for yet another ‘czar’. Maybe Retirement Czar isn’t broad enough, but someone needs to finally address Social Security. Someone should understand the magnitude of unfunded pension liabilities in the U.S., which will probably make the current bail-out numbers look small. More importantly, the government needs a cabinet level position to consolidate strategy and advocate saving. The Retirement Czar will need to lead a very visible marketing and education program as well as push for innovative legislation, adjustment of the tax code, and creation of new financial products to assist with a direction of long term savings growth and a more guaranteed income for retirement.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT.
Go to VISTECH.com for information on new and innovative technology solutions for the retirement income market.
Maybe the bigger problem is that individuals don’t think long term either. Much of America is over-leveraged with various mortgage scams (that were always too good to be true) and large credit card debt. As unemployment goes up and the government tries to mandates lower wages for workers of the companies getting bail-outs, I wonder how most of America is going to support retirement. By the way it’s important to remember Social Security will need a bail-out soon.
It’s got to be a perfect storm—across the board declines in investments, precipitous decline of real estate values, increased unemployment, lower wages, possible collapse of pension programs, and a culture focused on immediate gratification with little regard for saving. How will retirees and near retirees deal with financial weakness and ever increasing longevity? Clearly they can’t.
People approaching retirement age will need to continue working, and people in retirement will likely go back to work. In the standard supply & demand model, this would suggest a larger labor force to further drive down wages further reducing ability to save further accelerating the economic decline. Current news reports already feature stories about retirees choosing between food and heat. It probably won’t get better in the short term. Even with the new administration’s focus on infrastructure jobs (rebirth of the WPA?), efforts are still directed as short term jumpstarts to the economy without correcting root cause issues.
Since it’s time the future is given a higher priority, it’s probably time for yet another ‘czar’. Maybe Retirement Czar isn’t broad enough, but someone needs to finally address Social Security. Someone should understand the magnitude of unfunded pension liabilities in the U.S., which will probably make the current bail-out numbers look small. More importantly, the government needs a cabinet level position to consolidate strategy and advocate saving. The Retirement Czar will need to lead a very visible marketing and education program as well as push for innovative legislation, adjustment of the tax code, and creation of new financial products to assist with a direction of long term savings growth and a more guaranteed income for retirement.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT.
Go to VISTECH.com for information on new and innovative technology solutions for the retirement income market.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Connecticut's Budget Problems
There’s been a lot of buzz in Connecticut about the impending budget deficits. I’ve served on a few committees for the state and seen many presentations over the last few years and am really not that surprised. I believe data and demographic trends suggest this was inevitable…but probably accelerated by the various unfortunate situations created in the financial industry.
Obviously everything seems simple to the outsider, so I’d recommend the following 3 point plan to adjust the glide path of Connecticut:
1. Reduce CT Government Spending & Liabilities. More often than not, decisions to cut costs are focused on service reductions. Connecticut needs to understand the current economic environment is a new trend, not an anomaly. We need to reduce government and increase services. Tax revenue will continue to decrease as the demographics change. Connecticut needs to reduce administrative overhead in the legislative and executive branches, reduce perks, and certainly eliminate the defined benefit programs that will only continue to escalate unfunded liabilities on the balance sheet. Clearly it’s about permanent staff reductions and strategic outsourcing.
2. Define the State. I guess ‘The Land of Steady Habits’ is the de facto state slogan and does shed light on the ‘why’ of our current situation. The State hasn’t taken much initiative to differentiate itself among other states that invest heavily in attracting and retaining specific businesses and jobs. It does not encourage business investment and is in fact well known as ‘unfriendly’ to business. Given our size, it might be prudent to invest in that ‘one thing’ to make Connecticut stand out…maybe it’s hedge funds or fuel cells or nanotechnology, but it probably should be some effort that can be adequately funded and supported by our available resources.
3. Get on the BandWagon. 2009 brings great opportunity as the new administration promises a billion dollars for innovation programs and hundreds of billions for infrastructure build-out. Now is the time to correct our transportation deficiencies. Let’s spend the effort to plan a rail system that delivers a one hour commute from Hartford to both New York & Boston. Let’s leverage that to also deliver local service to ease traffic congestion and link the State’s various tourist attractions. Let’s plan a strategic fix to the route 95 nightmare. Let’s make sure to invest in building the case for using federal money to evolve Connecticut infrastructure now….and then, when the money comes, let’s be accountable for the projects, getting them done without the cost overruns and the bad press that surrounded recent transportation initiatives.
Rick Huebner is a proud resident of the State of Connecticut as well as President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT.
Go to VISTECH.com for information on our website design, network support, and unified communications offerings as well as our time reporting/issue tracking and retirement income software applications.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Bail Outs--Out-of-the-Box Approach?
One day last week on my drive into work, the talk radio guys were interviewing someone who had taken a full page ad in USA Today to advertise his solution to mortgage defaults. (see http://remortgageamerica.blogspot.com/) His post seems to make sense, if in fact Washington is really interested in directly helping "Main Street".
Along these same lines, it might be interesting to position all of the current and up-coming bail-out money toward individuals who will then deliver business or relief to the industries in crisis. For example, Ford, GM, and Chrysler are clearly on the verge of bankruptcy. Without debating pros and cons, let's assume it’s a good idea to provide assistance.
Instead of allocating $15B now and probably $100B over the next 2 years to the failing U.S. auto manufacturers…and having 38% ($18B) allocated off to overhead*, why not subsidize $10,000 of any vehicle purchase from the ‘Big 3’ for the first 5M U.S. taxpayers who sign up. The program could provide more incentive for hybrids and might also have different levels of subsidy based on income.
In any case, the price tag would be $50B. It would directly benefit individuals. For Ford, GM, and Chrysler it would generate new car sales and create 5M new customers, which should be much more valuable than a loan package.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT.
*I attended an interesting discussion on Afghanistan recently. The speaker had spent 5 years working with the Afghan people to assist with building educational programs. He noted that 38% of all U.S. money allocated to Afghanistan never leaves the U.S. So from here on out, I’m going to assume 38% of all U.S. aid is absorbed into bureaucracy and overhead…sounds reasonable.
Go to VISTECH.com for information on our website design, network support, and unified communications offerings as well as our time reporting/issue tracking and retirement income software applications.
Along these same lines, it might be interesting to position all of the current and up-coming bail-out money toward individuals who will then deliver business or relief to the industries in crisis. For example, Ford, GM, and Chrysler are clearly on the verge of bankruptcy. Without debating pros and cons, let's assume it’s a good idea to provide assistance.
Instead of allocating $15B now and probably $100B over the next 2 years to the failing U.S. auto manufacturers…and having 38% ($18B) allocated off to overhead*, why not subsidize $10,000 of any vehicle purchase from the ‘Big 3’ for the first 5M U.S. taxpayers who sign up. The program could provide more incentive for hybrids and might also have different levels of subsidy based on income.
In any case, the price tag would be $50B. It would directly benefit individuals. For Ford, GM, and Chrysler it would generate new car sales and create 5M new customers, which should be much more valuable than a loan package.
Rick Huebner is President & CEO of VISTECH.com, a technology company based in Hartford, CT.
*I attended an interesting discussion on Afghanistan recently. The speaker had spent 5 years working with the Afghan people to assist with building educational programs. He noted that 38% of all U.S. money allocated to Afghanistan never leaves the U.S. So from here on out, I’m going to assume 38% of all U.S. aid is absorbed into bureaucracy and overhead…sounds reasonable.
Go to VISTECH.com for information on our website design, network support, and unified communications offerings as well as our time reporting/issue tracking and retirement income software applications.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
