http://stephenpratley.com/index.php en stephen.pratley@gmail.com Copyright 2011 2011-08-11T09:45:39+00:00 http://stephenpratley.com/beyond-the-blog-types-of-content-that-engage-your-readers http://stephenpratley.com/beyond-the-blog-types-of-content-that-engage-your-readers#When:09:45:39Z Push your blog further with more enticing content types. Blogs may be 'easy' to write in that they need little in the way of resource or training to get words onto the page, but during 2011 in particular quantity has given way to quality and the best sites are flourishing while the fortunes of the majority of sites stagnate. But what is quality? Quality content is often more than just text, it uses images, video, data and sometimes sound to engage all the senses and give more impact to its story. The following are a handful of formats that go beyond the typical blog format to engage the target consumer more fully. Whilst they may take a bigger investment in time and skill, the returns can be far greater. Presentations I've no doubt that in any large business, there are any number of PowerPoint documents filling the desktops of your sales managers and executives. If these are presentations that are typically given to your customers, shoudln't you be trying to get them out to a wider audience? Sites like Slideshare are an excellent way to post your presentations online, get them promoted to a wider audience, and then embed them back in your blog. SEO Expert Rand Fishkin uses this example to show you how to brush up your presentations and also how he uses content from speaker events to get even more viewers. Podcasts Podcasts evolved from the early days of blogging, and add a lot more to your blog posts. The human voice adds the nuance to your posts that text can never achieve. A podcast can bring more personality to your word, and people, after all, buy from people. If you're not hugely confident with the sound of your own voice, try interviewing someone who is for your first attempts. It's worth investing in a reasonable microphone that will cut out background noise, but other than that the expense is minimal. Most computers will come with some adequate editing software. Once recorded, you shoudl investigate getting your podcast published to iTunes, which can give your audienece a chance to listen to your words whilst away from their computers. Video The obvious next step on from podcasting is video. Particularly if you have a physical product to show off, video can show off far more than static images ever could. With a little humour and creativity smaller brands can make a huge impression. One of the best examples of this is the Blendtec "will it blend" series where they ruin all manner of objects to show how toough their blenders are: Distributing your video via YouTube and other video sharing networks such as Vimeo can gain further viewers. Even if you don't have a physical product, or don't feel like putting your face on-screen how about recording a voiceover for the same presentations as above? Which brings us on to... Screencasts Screencasts are most popular for demonstrating software products, but anything that can be demonstrated on a computer screen such as a presentation or a website can be used. Tools like Camtasia make the task an absolute doddle and allow you to edit your video after the recording. This demo of the ShineEmail email marketing software was done in under an hour and is a key part of demonstrating just how fast and simple the tool is. Infographics Also known as "data visualisations", infographics prove that a picture can speak a thousand words. Going beyond death-by-powerpoint charts, infographics distil data into images, then add a dash of creativity to their presentation. Whole sites, such as visual.ly  have sprung up dedicated to the best of this format. Worth a look for some inspiration, if you have some interesting research to share, you can almost certainly gain more impact with a single, well executed graphic than a whole deck of charts. This image is possibly the most effective way I've seen to date of demonstrating the sheer scale of the finincial crisis and bailouts in the US: 2011-08-11T09:45:39+00:00 http://stephenpratley.com/show-dont-tell-a-better-way-to-run-web-projects http://stephenpratley.com/show-dont-tell-a-better-way-to-run-web-projects#When:18:23:37Z Tips and tools for running “real” web projects. Sometime last year I started avoiding writing proposals, and lengthy project specifications. I always had a sneaking suspicion that these documents did nothing but kill my own will to live as effectively as they kill trees, but when three clients in a row asked for copies of their signed project specs after the project was finished, I was convinced they were doing nobody any good, even the arses they were supposed to cover. In fact I’ve always avoided spending much time on these documents, but I started to find some genuinely more useful alternatives.  I now open Microsoft word about twice a week and have a better life for it. The following are a handful of teh tools I've found helpful in this "show, don't tell" way of working. Axure RP Since we started using Axure to spell out websites to clients, a few things have happened. We close more sales. Clients feel so much more comfortable with what they’re going to get that we get to the start of the project far more quickly. Small projects actually take less time to wireframe with this tool than they do to describe in writing, even our sales team have started to use it for initial discussions instead of inflicting death by PowerPoint on prospective clients. Gotomeeting.com Ever had to describe a website by phone? That even sounds like a ridiculous thing to have to do, but even with two people looking at the same site coming to an understanding can be tricky. Take control of the description, point, highlight, click and be sure the other viewer is following you exactly where you want. You can even hand over control to the other person to help them demonstrate what they’re talking about. Get Satisfaction Web projects aren’t just about the build stage, they’re about what happens after launch. In this context, adopting a more open platform for providing customer service can demonstrate exactly what your customers can expect after launch. Open service isn’t right for every business, we don’t use it for the majority of our products as they are too bespoke and a helpful answer for one client might be detrimental to another, or expose aspects of their business that they themselves don’t want made public. For more commodity products or for hosted services where everyone has the same experience, this is a great way to operate. The total absence of support requests on our email marketing tool, ShineEmail, speaks volumes. Camtasia This is absolutely great for recording demonstrations of software. When we wanted to show how easy ShineEmail is to use, we went straight to this tool to create a live demo of creating, sending and getting reoprts from a new email campiagn in under 8 minutes. Jing Camtasia's free little brother. Record short screen clips and post to their screencast.com website or YouTube. Best for quick and effective "this is what I'm talking about" moments, I showed this to my dad, who managed outsourced bug-testing teams on multi-million pound developments in the 90's and he reckoned just one clip could have saved them days in misunderstandings and wasted effort. I hope the above tips and tools can make your work more effective and enjoyable too. I'd love to hear if you have any of your own to share? 2011-07-18T18:23:37+00:00 http://stephenpratley.com/implementing-an-affiliate-programme http://stephenpratley.com/implementing-an-affiliate-programme#When:23:18:52Z How to add a performance-related new buinsess channel to your website Thanks to Michael Boyink for prompting this post, asking about adding an affiliate programme to a site driven by the ExpressionEngine CMS. Whilst the entire scope of a successful affiliate programme is well outside the scope of a single post, the following are a few pointers to anyone thinking of adding this to their ecommerce platform. Affiliate Marketing in the online world works on a variant of the following process: You persuade another site to mention your product/service, including a link to where this is sold on your site The customer clicks a link which contains some sort of reference identifying where they have come from When the sale is made, that reference is tagged to the sale, and you pay a commission to the referring site Simple? Not so much. Creating a successful affiliate marketing programme involves two skills, technology and relationship-building. Of these only the first should be set-it and forget it. Affiliate Tracking Technology Your affiliate tracking technology should allow for a few basic functions as a minimum: Allow affiliates to sign up without fuss or need to talk to you (affiliates live in every time zone!) Track which affiliate has referred each sale. This typically works by dropping a cookie as someone enters your site, then recording the referrer when the order page is reached. Give the affiliate some visibility over their clicks, sales and earnings Allow you to make, and record payments to each affiliate with a minimum of administration More advanced systems will give you a place to add links, banner creative, and product data feed files, but for a small independent programme you maybe able to do without these. There are four choices of technology for implementing an affiliate programme on your website: In-house tracking, or tracking as part of an existing ecommerce platform Affiliate tracking scripts - commercial software, usually hosted on your own server Hosted, self-managed software. This resides on someone else's server but is a technology-only solution Affiliate networks. Managed tracking and payment software from firms who also recruit affiliates to the network and can promote your offers to them. Lets examine each one in turn. In-house tracking, or tracking as part of an existing ecommerce platform The most basic option, but good to cut your teeth on. This my be as simple as a place for each affiliate to pick up a URL with their reference and start using it straight away. e.g. "use http://www.mysite.com?ref=12345 and gain 10% on every sale" Affiliate tracking scripts - commercial software, usually hosted on your own server This is probably the best bang for your buck for a small programme if you have the skills to install and run the program on your own servers. I've trialled iDevAffiliate in the past and this would be a good place to start Hosted, self-managed software. This resides on someone else's server but is a technology-only solution This is where most of the recent growth has been in recent years. Someone else manages the platform, you place the tracking tags on your order confirmation page and you're running. HasOffers.com looks like a credible platform in this space, other older systems include DirectTrack and MyAffiliateProgram.com. Some of the networks below also offer white-label solutions for Enterprise clients. Affiliate networks. Managed tracking and payment software from firms who also recruit affiliates to the network and can promote your offers to them. This is where most merchants decide to put their programs for the simple reason that a network comes with a ready-made community of affiliates ready to promote you. For a mass market proposition this is definitely the way forward as an in-house solution will mean a huge uphill battle in recruiting people to promote you. Remember these people only get paid when they make a sale, and a cheap solution sends out all the wrong messages about the support they will expect to get from you. In the US, Commission Junction practically owns this market, although there are many smaller networks that may give smaller merchants better attention. In the UK, your best bet is to get acquainted with the A4U forum, and pay attention to networks which have similar merchants too you being promoted. Recruiting affiliates to your programme As mentioned above this should not be underestimated, but if you have a programme in an easily accessible niche, such as add-ons for a particular  product which already has a strong community website, then a few well placed advertising dollars and a bar tab at the right event might be all you need to get some good attention.   2011-04-16T23:18:52+00:00