Are You Ready for Mobilegeddon?

In April, Google officially rolled out its “mobile-friendly” search ranking update. In short, this means that Google will now boost the rankings of what it considers to be “mobile-friendly” pages – and penalize pages that it does not – on its mobile search. The update is intended to reflect the rise of Internet access through mobile devices, which now constitute more than half of all Google searches. The update is expected to negatively affect many websites – popular industry blog TechCrunch found that 44 percent of Fortune 500 companies failed Google’s mobile-friendly test – and could impact revenues for those websites who do not meet the new mobile-friendly standards.

Let’s take a look at the basics of the new search update and what it means for your website.

What will change?

  • The mobile-friendly update will impact web page search rankings based on accessibility and usability on mobile devices.
  • The change affects only search ranking on mobile devices.
  • The update applies to individual pages, not entire websites.

What makes a website mobile-friendly?

According to Google’s blog, the following basic criteria will be used to determine “mobile friendliness” in search results:

  • Websites that avoid software that is not common on mobile devices – like Flash.
  • Websites that use text that is readable without zooming.
  • Websites that size content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom.
  • Websites that place links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped.

Is my website mobile-friendly?

If your website features responsive design or adaptive design, or has been configured specifically for use on mobile devices, it may not be affected by the new search algorithm. Older, more “static” websites, however, will likely suffer a loss of ranking under the new search rules.

To determine if your website is mobile-friendly, simply paste your URL into Google’s quick and easy mobile-friendly test.

How can I optimize my website for mobile?

Google recommends responsive web design as the best way to ensure sites remain relevant across all platforms. According to Google’s blog, responsive design:

  • Makes it easier for users to share and link to your content with a single URL.
  • Helps Google’s algorithms accurately assign indexing properties to the page rather than needing to signal the existence of corresponding desktop/mobile pages.
  • Requires less engineering time to maintain multiple pages for the same content.
  • Reduces the possibility of the common mistakes that affect mobile sites.
  • Requires no redirection for users to have a device-optimized view, which reduces load time.
  • Saves resources when Googlebot crawls your site.

In a nutshell –

The new mobile search ranking is an undeniable shakeup of the status quo, but should eventually optimize the search experience for both consumers and businesses. If your website lost rank status on April 21, it can regain that status once it is optimized and becomes mobile-friendly, as Google will reclassify the newly updated site.

If you would like to learn more about how to optimize your website for mobile, fill out the form to the right and let’s chat!

Jacob Tyler | San Diego’s Best Web Design Agency

Google to Penalize Non-Mobile Friendly Websites in Search

If you’ve been putting off upgrading your existing website to a responsive web design, it’s officially time to reconsider. Starting on April 21, 2015, Google will begin penalizing non-“mobile-friendly”(read, non-responsive websites) by downgrading those websites’ rank on Google searches. In short, this means that non-responsive sites will essentially lose hard-won SEO rankings with the flip of a switch. Imagine standing in line for a ride at Disneyland for two hours, and just as you reach the front, a trap door opens. It’s kind of like that.

Google stated:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

Like it or not, the Internet is Google’s domain, and we’re all just living in it. Google may be our overlord, but it’s not necessarily a vengeful one. The new search rankings are designed to reflect the undeniable trend of people accessing the Internet via mobile devices – smartphones, tablets, etc. Mobile access has reached a tipping point, quickly outpacing desktop access, and Google’s new search algorithm reflects this reality. The news isn’t a surprise. Web developers and SEO experts have been expecting this development for the last couple of years as mobile devices exploded. We knew it was coming, we just didn’t know exactly when. Now we do. And it’s not bad news – it’s an opportunity. Not just to upgrade your website, but to rethink it altogether.

The rise of mobile hasn’t just changed the devices we use to access the web, it’s changed the way we consume content. Our information consumption tastes have veered from buffet to à la carte. We expect singular information on demand – where’s the closest restaurant, what’s the current temp in Boise, how much do beach cruiser bicycles cost, etc. Of course, not every business deals in singular information. But the best websites are constructed as if they do. Upgrading to a responsive website will not only improve your search rankings, it will give you a chance to rearrange your information architecture. By applying an “inverted pyramid” information flow, you can ensure you most important information – your contact info, your basic services, etc. – turn up first in mobile searches, allowing you to then guide your audience through a linear, user-friendly information discovery.

The digital landscape is shifting once again. But it’s not a hindrance. It’s a chance to get ahead of the curve. Contact Les Kollegian at Jacob Tyler Brand Communications if you want more information about Responsive Design or how we can help convert your current Website.

SEO by Jacob Tyler in San Diego

Get the Grease

The old adage “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” is most often used to describe the value of complaining. It conjures images of a cranky old man demanding a new bowl of soup because the temperature is a tad off. But I’ve never thought of it that way. I think it’s the perfect idiom for standing out in a crowd – in a positive way. For brands looking to stand out in a crowded market, – and just about every market is crowded these days – the squeaky wheel is your marketing, and the grease is your profit. How do you make your marketing squeak?

Start with these six tips:

Be Bold: Know what you want to say and say it. The best campaigns aren’t afraid to take chances. Exude confidence in your brand, and you’ll win the confidence of your audience. Boldness is leadership. Be the leader in your market.

Be Relevant: If you want your marketing to resonate with its intended audience, provide that audience with content relevant to them, and to your brand. Know your audience demographically, geographically and emotionally. Know their needs and desires – and provide them with a solution. Without relevant content, your efforts will disappear faster than free donuts in the office.

Be in the Right Place at the Right Time: Go to your audience; don’t wait for them to come to you. Determine your audience’s pain points and provide them with a solution at the right time. If your product is a snow shovel, don’t advertise in July. Develop a timeline for your campaign and try to anticipate events that would trigger a need for your product or service.

Be Creative: Creativity is the soul of individualism. There will never be another Steve Jobs, another James Brown or another Andy Warhol. Great creative separates you from the masses. Be different. Stand out from the crowd. Create something beautiful and compelling.

Be Available: Marketing is a conversation. In the digital age, brands can interact in real time with their audiences. Utilize technology and be present and timely. Start a conversation; you might just win some new evangelists for your brand!

Go forth, and get the grease!

For more marketing tips, contact us. (Look right!)

Marketing by Jacob Tyler in San Diego

Attention Retailers: Facebook Product Ads Have Arrived

Remember the days of catalogue shopping? A slew of catalogues would arrive on your doorstep – JC Penny, Eddie Bauer, Sears, etc. – and you’d flip through hundreds of pages to find the items that you wanted or needed. While a 300-page catalogue full of products could be exciting at first – with seemingly endless possibilities to quench your retail thirst – it was often cumbersome. There’s not a person on earth that could possibly want or need every product in the JC Penny catalogue. Product catalogues worked much like Encyclopedias (remember those?) – you had to physically search for products that matched your desires.

The days of receiving 5-pound catalogues in the mail are largely gone (though the Yellow Pages continues to mysteriously appear on my doorstep). But catalogues aren’t. Have you ever been to Ikea’s website? It features thousands and thousands of products in hundreds of countries. A virtual catalogue. Ikea is a phenomenal business with an international reputation. But what about smaller retailers? Are consumers willing to wade through hundreds of web pages of products to find what they’re looking for? In today’s climate of endless choices, probably not.

I’ve written before about the importance of brands reaching out directly to engage consumers in the virtual spaces they inhabit. With more than 700 million daily users, Facebook is the world’s most populous virtual space. Facebook is an important channel for retailers to engage audiences. And with Facebook’s latest evolution to its advertising service – “Product Ads” – retailers can now promote individual products from their catalogues to consumers. The service, introduced in mid-February, could be a game changer for brands with extensive product lines.

Facebook’s announcement described the new service: “Product ads offer businesses a number of ways to highlight different products on Facebook. Marketers can upload their product catalog and create campaigns targeting certain products to specific audiences, or let Facebook automatically deliver the most relevant products to people. Products can be shown in single- or multi-product ad units.”

The new service should take a lot of the guesswork and tedium out of how to reach the right audience at the right time for brands. However, brands must continue to raise the bar on creative presentation and engaging content. Does your brand’s creative stand out from the crowd? Contact us using the form to the right – we’d love to help!

Internet Marketing in San Diego | Jacob Tyler

Copy That: 9 Essential Copywriting Rules for Brands

No development in history has moved the human race forward more than the written language. From cave drawings to the printing press to the Internet, words move our world and shape our beliefs. Words are our greatest form of communication, regardless of medium. Like art and music, words have the power to elicit emotion and influence opinion. Effective and emotive copywriting is essential for every brand. Great copy is more than just stylish wording – it moves people, drives action and connects with its intended audience. From great taglines like Nike’s “Just Do It” or Burger King’s “Have it Your Way” to crisply-written websites, email messages and blog posts, a brand’s copy will help direct its audience to take action ­– and help achieve its business goals. The following nine essentials for effective copy will help your brand reach, engage – and close its audience.

Know your audience: You wouldn’t talk to your grandmother about the new features in iOS 7 and you wouldn’t discuss James Joyce’s Ulysses with an eight year old. The same goes for copywriting. Determine whom the audience for your product or service is, and write in a voice that speaks to them accordingly.

Write with a purpose and a defined strategy: Why are you writing? What do you want to achieve? If your business’ goal is to sell more ceiling fans, write copy that will help achieve that goal. You’re writing copy to make something happen, not to impress your high school English teacher.

Get the tone and voice right: Your brand’s personality is driven by its tone and voice. Whether your brand is light-hearted and fun, or serious and professional, the tone and voice in which you write must be uniform across all brand communications.

Write short sentences: Nothing burns the eyes (and loses attention) like run-on sentences. Short sentences promote readability and comprehension – two things you need your copy to include if you wish to win more customers. If you’re trying to decide between a comma and a period, go with the period.

Employ vigorous English: One of Ernest Hemingway’s rules for writing, “vigorous English” refers to the active voice. Active voice opens the door to the party and announces its presence. Passive voice tip-toes around outside, waiting to be let in.

PRO TIP: Try to reduce the number of times you use the word “is.”

Never waste a word: Never say in two words what can be said it one. If your first word isn’t strong enough to enforce your point, find a better word.

Sell benefits, not features: No one really wants to know how the sausage is made. Tell your audience how your product or service will benefit them and improve their lives.

Be original – and creative: It’s a crowded marketplace out there. For most products, there are multiple options at similar price points. Creative, original and memorable copy can cut through the clutter, and “make the sale” for your product or service.

Spur action with words: Always include a call to action as you lead potential customers down the path to purchase. Identify the next steps, and show your audience how to get there.

Does your brand’s copy need a touch up? Contact us to discuss how we can help by using the form to the right!

San Diego Branding Agency | Jacob Tyler

5 Simple Rules to Create Impactful TV Ads

Every brand wants new customers and will do what it takes to engage them. Though there are now a bevy of mediums through which to advertise, TV remains the most prestigious – and most expensive option. As we saw during the recent Super Bowl, brands are willing to shell out some serious cash for TV ads. Despite rising prices, the big brands continue to utilize TV. But what about growing brands that want to reach a target audience through TV? Often, these brands have smaller budgets, and need to make all 30 seconds really count. The biggest mistake many new brands make is the desire to create a spot that simply tells the story of the brand. While a brand story is important, it’s not enough to win hearts and minds in 30 seconds. Follow these five simple guidelines, and you’re on your way to an engaging and effective TV that gets results for your brand.

  1. Reveal the “why” – Tell your client’s story but make sure you make clear why they love what they do. The end product or service is just that… a product or service! You need to create a connection with the personality of the brand, not just its offerings.
  2. Have a hook!  – How does the ad influence you and others?  Did you touch the consumer with an emotional response?  Most successful ad campaigns engage the consumer on an emotional level. Make your creative speaks to our common humanity. Think about when you see a great movie – no one moves or speaks when the credits role.  Did you touch the consumer like this?  If not, you just created another ho-hum ad.
  3. Create relatable characters – Why do we all love “Flo” from the Progressive commercials?  We can relate to her and the simplicity of her character.  People buy from brands they can identify with.  They need to believe your client’s product or service is the best on the market, but they first need to believe in what  – or who – represents your brand.
  4. Create stories that highlight the brand or product – How many times have you watched a commercial and thought, “What was that commercial about?”  Make sure to highlight the benefits of your product. Benefits don’t need to be the focus of the ad, but they must be perceived.
  5. Get creative!  –  Create something memorable, beautiful and enduring. The best part of creating TV spots for brands is the amazing time you have in the creative process from storyboards to post production.  Have fun, get your creative juices flowing, and enjoy the process!

Want to learn more about how to promote your company? Contact us via the form to the right!

5 Simple Rules to Create Impactful TV Ads

Designing Our Life Experiences

Have you ever really thought about how design influences your everyday actions? Most of the time, we’re unaware of the subtle visual queues that guide our daily lives. Whether it’s strategically placed road signs on the freeway, color-coded packaging or the product flow of a supermarket, design is all around us, influencing our thoughts and behaviors. In many cases, a simple design can make a huge logistical difference. Take, for instance, University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona – host of this year’s Super Bowl. The stadium has five main sections of seating around the perimeter. Instead of using three-digit numbers like most stadiums, University of Phoenix Stadium uses the numbers 1-5. Outside of each section, a 30-foot high corresponding number directs visitors to their section. Once inside, visitors are guided to their seats in a similarly linear fashion. It’s an easy design that that dramatically improves game day logistics.

Package design influences behavior too – like the nutrition labels on our food. As any aspiring dieter knows, the standard US nutrition label can be more than a bit confusing. As people become increasingly aware of their food choices, nutrition labels have become a point of contention for many nutritionists and doctors. But according to psychologists Peter Helfer and Thomas Shultz of McGill University in Montreal, there may be a better way to label our food.  In a recent issue of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, they argue that a simple one-number label called “NuVal” might be a better way to go. In their study, the pair compared the traditional nutrition label with two alternatives: a “traffic light” style design and the new, single-summary “NuVal” design. Both the traffic light and NuVal designs outperformed traditional labeling. The study, which you can read more about here, is an interesting look into the way design influences our choices.

As we move further into the digital age, the concentration on intuitive, behavior-altering design has moved to the forefront. Mobile devices are a prime example of design in action. Steve Jobs famously believed that simple, gorgeous design was the basis of success for Apple’s products. He insisted that the inside of the iPhone – which the consumer would never see – be as visually effective as the outside, believing that whole design would drive ingenuity. Today, the design of that first iPhone – a short seven years ago – has not only influenced our behavior (who knew what a “swipe” was a decade ago?) but has bled into all of our digital designs, including responsive website design. As we increasingly blend our digital experience with our organic experience, digital design will be at the vanguard of creating designs that influence, simplify and guide our actions and decisions. For brands, design will guide how consumers interact with – and make decisions about – their products and services. Whether it’s a website, packaging or a brand’s physical location, design has an enormous impact on the success of its operation. Think about how your brand utilizes design. Are you guiding customers along their journey from prospect to evangelist? Fill out the form to the right, let’s talk.

Web Design by Jacob Tyler in San Diego

Is Your Facebook Ad Relevant? With the Social Network’s New Scoring System, It’s Easy to Tell

More than one billion people use Facebook. Chances are, a large portion of your audience uses the ubiquitous social network too. Just about every brand has a Facebook page (or should), but with the rise of Facebook advertising, more brands are paying to get their product or service in front of the Facebook community. With built-in demographic and geographic options, as well as retargeting information gleaned from cookies, Facebook ads are a great way to reach a predetermined audience. However, in order to reach a large audience, brands must create relevant ads. Facebook is understandably concerned about flooding users’ feeds with promotional material. Users do not want to have to sift through multiple ads to find posts from friends and family. As a result, Facebook ad space can be relatively scarce. To handle the tidal wave of requests from marketers, Facebook ads operate on a bidding process. Advertisers can set bid prices on Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per Mille (CPM) – the cost you pay per 1000 impressions. It’s not quite as random as it sounds; Facebook provides a suggested bid you’ll need in order to “win” the auction.

Of course, the amount of clicks and impressions you receive depends largely on how relevant your ad is. Targeting the correct audience for your products or services and creating an eye-catching design is key.  And starting this week, you’ll no longer have to guess about your ad’s relevance – because Facebook will now quantify it for you. Based on shares, clicks, likes and “hide” options, Facebook will provide advertisers with a score of 1-10 for an ad’s relevance. This score will not only help advertisers gauge their efforts, but will factor into whether or not a bid is accepted – and could even compensate for lower bids, making Facebook advertising less costly for more effective ads. The following article from Ad Age is a good primer on the new feature. http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-starts-telling-brands-relevant-ads/297085/

Want to learn more about how Facebook advertising could fit into your brand strategy? Contact us using the form to the right!

The Five Main Components of a Strategic Brand Communications Plan

Does your brand have a plan? How will your brand communicate with its audience? Who is its audience? What message do you want to deliver? A strategic brand communications plan is an integral part of any branding effort. Integrating a strategic plan into your marketing efforts assures that you are reaching the right audience at the right time to drive results for your brand. It’s an analytical approach to creative efforts. Like any good strategy, a strategic brand communications plan should begin with research. While you might be able to guess the general audience for your products or services, you may be surprised to find additional market segments to tap into. Once you’ve completed research, it’s time to get down to the strategy. The following five components are the backbone of a brand communications strategy, and will inform the rest of your plan.

Identify the Audience: To WHOM do we need to communicate?

What is the audience for your products or services? Perhaps there are multiple audiences. Identifying your audience is the first step in your strategy.

Determine Goals and Objectives: WHY communicate? WHAT do we want to achieve?

Too often, brands communicate for the sake of communicating. Your communication efforts should always be in support of a larger organizational goal. If you own a burger stand, your goal might be to increase sales by 20 percent. Never lose sight of the goal when communicating.

Develop Key Messages: WHAT do we need to communicate?

Develop clear and concise messaging that communicates to your audience what you do and how you do it in simple, easily digestible copy.

Develop Tactical Plan: HOW will we communicate, to whom and when?

The tactical plan is the blueprint for your communications plan. A tactical plan should include a linear strategy for reaching your goals. Strategies and ground level tactics support goals. Creating an outline that shows how tactics support strategies, and strategies support goals, is a best practice for strategic brand communications planning.

Identify Measures of Evaluation: HOW will we know if we are successful?

Metrics are important. Whether or not you’ve reached your organizational goal should be fairly easy to determine (did sales increase by 20 percent?), but applying metrics to determine if your communications tactics and strategies were ultimately successful – and what role they played in reaching (or not reaching) your organizational goals can be more difficult. There are, however, various options for capturing these data, especially in digital communications. Whenever possible, apply outcome metrics instead of output metrics.

Think about these five basic components of a strategic brand communications plan and apply them to your organization. Are you communicating effectively? We can help! Fill out the form to the right to reach out.

San Diego Website Design by Jacob Tyler

Going Native

Digital advertising tactics continue to evolve, but there’s one that seems to be growing faster than any other – “native” advertising. Second only to display ads in usage, native advertising was estimated to be a more than $3 billion industry in 2014. In a nutshell, native advertising is sponsored content on a website or social media platform that mimics the host page’s layout, design and content. A more cynical type might call it “camouflage” advertising. At first glance, it can be difficult to determine what is an ad and what’s not. But the goal isn’t deception; it’s to increase brand awareness in a more subtle fashion than display ads – which are often immediately ignored. Some studies suggest that native ads have similar viewership rates to editorial content, and the format seems to enhance brand awareness by getting more “eyeballs” on a brand in a repetitive fashion.

The technique isn’t new – print “advertorials” are basically the same concept, and have been around almost as long as the printing press. And like advertorials, native ads offer more than just a brand mention or a strategically placed logo. Native ads often feature content a visitor might find helpful or interesting, generally related to the topic a visitor is already searching. The tactic seems to be working for brands, which continue to invest more of their budgets in native ads. But the real winners in the native advertising game have been media outlets. After years of revenue crisis as the traditional print model all but vanished, digital media platforms are cashing in on native ads. Online-only platforms like the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed are pioneers in native advertising space, but traditional outlets, like the New York Times and the Washington Post are getting in on the action too. Native ads have undoubtedly been a boon for media outlets, but are brands getting their money’s worth? With surging numbers of brands utilizing native ads, it sure looks that way.

Want to strategize about your advertising? Fill out the form to the right so we can chat!

Marketing Agency in San Diego | Jacob Tyler