Blog

Redesigning a website is a major decision for your company. But, all company websites need a revamp at least once every two to three years to stay fresh and current with technology. When you are ready, there are a few things you can do to make this effort worth the time and money. 

Here is a list of six things to remember when preparing for a website redesign:

1. Know What You Like
   Take some time to explore your favorite sites. What do you like about them? What do you not like about them? Be sure to explore your competition's websites. Look at websites of different industries. Create a list of ten websites you like. Make note of what you like about them. At the same time, if you come across websites you do not like, make note of those as well. Knowing what you are looking for in a website redesign will make the design process easier. 
    
2. Know Your Color Scheme
   You may already have a color scheme going on your current website. Do you want to keep it? Do you want to freshen it up? Do you want to go with a completely new one? You need to decide this before you commit to the redesign process. If you decide to go with the current color scheme, great. If you decide to freshen it up, what do you want to change? If you decide to go completely new, what do you want in your new scheme? Be clear in your choice of colors. Know your theme and commit to it. Changing colors in midstream is not a good idea.
   
   
3. Inventory What You Have
   Take a look at your website and inventory what you have. What content do you want to keep? What content do you need to get rid of? Do you need to generate new content? Take a look at your website statistics. Which pages get a great deal of traffic and which do not? All of this information will give you an idea of where the bulk of the work needs to happen. 
    
4. Have a Site Map Ready
   Your current website has a definite layout. Is it working? Your website needs to flow logically and cleanly. A simple website layout works best. The more complex a site map gets the harder it is for visitors to find the information they want to find. Look at your current map and see if you can simplify it. If you plan on adding new content, you will need to add that to your website map as well.
   
   
5. Determine Your Landing Pages
   Landing pages are the place where people first enter your website. In the past, the main landing page was your home page. But, that is no longer the case. You need to have a landing pad for the major keywords in your niche. You may also have landing pages for different products and services you offer. Your landing pages will lead the visitors to look at other parts of your website. 
   
   
6. Hire Professionals
   If you do nothing else to prepare for your website redesign, you need to hire a professional web design agency. You might think your second cousin can do it. However, if your second cousin is not a professional, your redesign will not give you the results you expect and deserve. A professional agency has the expertise, knowledge, and tools to make your new design exactly what you want and need.

Use these recommendations to make your website redesign a fresh restart for your business. You will find the time, money, and effort well worth it when you have professionals at your side during the entire process.

In 2000, I made the following prediction at the CIC Forum in Washington DC:

“Mobile phones will morph into ‘widgets’ (wireless internet devices for geo-positioning, ecommerce and telecommunication).”

I went on to forecast that our phones will become web browsers, “Walkmen” (iPods were not invented yet), still/video cameras, GPS systems, email managers, calendar/contact managers, micropayment systems and more.

Here is the actual slide shown at the conference:

What fueled my interest was the potential that mobile applications held for meetings. Meetings are mobile and inherently in need of mobile technology to manage event data!

What a difference a decade makes! All these predictions have come true and mobile apps are now the hottest line of software development. There are hundreds of direct applications for events, tradeshows, associations and venues.  Here are several of the significant ones.

Multipurpose conference applications:

These “Swiss army knife” applications provide multiple tools bundled in one application:

QuickMoble www.quickmobile.com
Quick mobile was the mobile application for the MPI MeetingDifferent and will be for the MPI WEC. It also used at major film festivals including Sundance and Tribeca. Features include: full conference schedule, personal agenda building, area guide (with Frommer’s integration), search capabilities for attendees/speakers/exhibitors, integration with social media including Twitter/Facebook/Pathable and messaging. They build apps for the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android and mobile web providing greater ease of use than companies that provide only mobile web versions.

Follow Me www.core-apps.com
Follow Me was the mobile app for the 2010 Consumer Electronic Show, one of the largest shows in the tradeshow industry. Features include a full conference schedule, personal agenda builder, maps, exhibit hall way-finding (you are a dot on the map), course notes/literature pick-up, session alerts, Twitter integration, and sponsorship revenue sharing. They also build native apps for the major smart phones ( iPhone, Android, Blackberry) and mobile web for the rest.

EventKaddy www.eventkaddy.com
Similar to QuickMobile and Follow Me, EventKaddy provide native apps for most  smart phones. Shows include the large 2010 Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas, Features include full conference listings, customized attendee agenda building, attendee networking tools, interactive floor plans/maps, multimedia listings for exhibitors, digital coupons/brochures/course notes (in .pdf), conference alerts from show organizer to attendees, with extensive metrics.

EMA www.epromeetingapps.com
EMA provides multiple-platform mobile web applications (iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and mobile web) including conference agenda, exhibit directory, conference alerts, hotel information, local area resources, attendee messaging and social media integration.

Zerista www.zerista.com
Zerista is as an online networking/ business matchmaking tool, but as now put much of their emphasis on mobile networking apps. Their mobile community application Zerista Pro was used at the Mobile World Congress with more than 20,000 users. Features include mobile web meeting scheduler, attendee directory, personal profiles, attendee matching, social media integration (Twitter/Facebook), personal scheduler, full agenda, exhibitor directory, booth locator, virtual booths, floor plans, and local guides.  

Event Media Concept’s Mobile Conciergewww.eventmediaconcepts.com
Mobile web applications providing conference agenda, exhibit directory, conference alerts, hotel information with GPS mapping/star ratings, local area resources with GPS mapping, attendee messaging and social media integration.  Mobile web applications tend to be slower and not as user-friendly as native applications built for specific phones. On the plus side, nothing needs to be downloaded to have it work.

VisionTree www.visiontree.com
VisionTree is a service company focusing primarily on the pharmaceutical industry.  They provide mobile handsets similar to an audience polling service which can be supplemented by attendees mobile phones.  Features include audience polling, text Q&A, feedback forms, conference agenda, speaker bios.

A2ZInc’s ChirpE www.a2zinc.net
A2ZInc has been a pioneer in web-based exhibit floor plan sales, mapping and management providing services for more than 600 shows per year. They are also developing a mobile application called ChirpE. This mobile web application includes a full conference agenda, event alerts, exhibit guide, exhibit floor plan, social media integration with LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter, and personalized agenda building.

A2Z has gone to great lengths to build a mobile platform that will work well with other mobile and web apps including strong matchmaking tools. They have also built some of the best social media integration and aggregation tools for mobile apps for the events industry.

Meetings2Go http://meetings2go.mobi/
This is another mobile web-based product with agenda, exhibitor information, basic surveys, searchable attendee list, basic city guide, and SMS alert sign-up.

Mission Software http://event-master.com/mobile_phone_service_key_features.html
Mission Software, based in the UK, has Mobile Phone Service providing a range of mobile web and on-demand text services for events including agendas, exhibit information, travel info, SMS messaging, and SMS voting.

Text messaging event information services:

Text messaging has some advantages. It is cheap, is accessible on virtually all mobile phones. Here are two similar products incorporating this technology:

SNIPP www.snipp.com and XIPP www.xnip.comn
These two nearly identical products work like this: Identify everything of interest at an event (people, exhibit products, exhibit booths, course notes, articles, weblinks, etc.) with a unique ID code (e.g. A345B). Then text message this ID code to 76477 (S-N-I-P-P) for Snipp or 29292 (for Xnip). Then attendees can access the information collected anytime via a personal web page at the Snipp.com or Xnip.com websites. This provides inexpensive, paperless, and digital ways of accessing event information.

Audience polling and surveys:

Audience polling devices are a great way of stimulating attendee interaction and finding out what they are thinking. However, traditional keypads can be beyond the budget for many events (from $3-12/person/dar). Phone based polling/survey systems, although not as fast or capable as keypads, can be right for some events.

Traditional surveys methods are problematic. Paper surveys are inefficient in tallying and end in landfills. Web surveys often are captured days after the event when impressions are cold often resulting a low response rate. Alternatively, mobile survey tools are low-cost, low in environmental impact, efficient in data collection and capture the data while the impressions are fresh.

Here are several mobile survey products:

NearPod (www.nearpod.com)
iPod and iPad applications for surveys, data collection, prize give aways, presentation tools, and metric tools with applications for meetings and trade shows.

Validar (www.validar.com)
Validar is primarily an exhibitor lead management/intelligence company. Their SMS Survey product provides text messaging surveys at events. Ask attendees questions about the keynote speaker or solicit advice on which sessions met expectations and which fell short. Attendees can respond to surveys using any SMS-enabled device, such as a PDA, cell phone, or smart phone. This system has the capability to ask answer several questions with one text message, making it more convenient survey tool than those using a separate text message for every question.

Zuku (www.zukuweb.com)
Similar to Validar, Zuku provides low-cost text messaging (SMS) polling and Q&A. Responses can be projected live.

Plug and Poll (www.plugandpoll.com)
Plug and Poll is a Dutch firm providing similar SMS polling services.

PollEverywhere (www.polleverywhere.com)
PollEverywhere provides SMS polling and Q&A sessions. They also integrate with Twitter and mobile web responses, and, as with standard audience polling systems, results can be projected live. These polling questions can be integrated directly into a PowerPoint program making it easy for a speaker to use it. Try it for free for up to 30 responses.

Lead retrieval:

Traditional lead retrieval is one-way (from attendee to exhibitor), location bound (at the exhibit booth), and expensive for the exhibitor. Mobile lead exchange provides two-way, less expensive, digital ways to exchange contact information anywhere at the event.

DUB – Mobile Business Card Networking www.dubmenow.com
This app was used at the South-By-Southwest 2010 (SXSW), the same Music and Media conference where Twitter debuted two years ago. This app works with iPhone and Blackberry (with Android, and Window Mobile Media coming) to exchange electronic business cards. It allows you to locate people near you at a conference or send your card via SMS or email. This automatically syncs with your phone address book and updates to contacts are updatee automatically. It also integrates with LinkedIn and Twitter.

Bartizan’s iLeads www.bartizan.com/index.php?id=62
Bartizan has been a traditional lead retrieval service for more than 30 years. Their new iPhone app is a tacit admission that the traditional lead retrieval model is on the way out. iLeads is an iPhone/iPad app giving each attendee at a tradeshow a unique 4-6 digit code printed in 16pt.font on their name badge. Those with access to the iLeads database (usually exhibitors) log into a specific event on their iPhone, type in attendee’s 4-6 digit code, and then can see (and record) the full contact information. There are built in qualifier questions, seven standard action codes and an area for notes. All leads are date/time stamped and, using the phone cam, a contact’s photo also can be attached.

Digital show guides:

A primary focus for these apps are on the exhibitor information and floor plan:

Taptopia (www.taptopia.com)
Interactive maps, schedules, and exhibitor info for the iPhone and iTouch sold through the iTunes store.

Member management for associations:

Associations are moving to use mobile tools to provide member services. The major association management companies are expanding their product lines to include these options. Here is a stand-alone one:

VoracitySolutions:(www.voracitysolutions.com/products/mobilemembership)
A range of membership and association mobile web management tools including member directory with full contact info, member photos, personal contacts, special interest groups, staff roster/contacts, and member alerts.

Attendee management:

This will likely be a hot development area where meeting planners will be able to access all online event registration and housing data through their mobile phones.

Ooto (www.ootoweb.com)
Otto is one such example. Veteran designers from the pioneer meetings technology company SeeUThere have built a revolutionary attendee management/online registration product. It has full mobile integration so planners can access all attendee/housing data from an iPhone. The registration product is free for the first month and then only $49/month thereafter with no transaction fees.

Venue and Location Concierges

These applications are designed for the venues to provide to attendees or hotel guests:

SwiftMoble (www.imswift.com)
This nicely designed iPhone application helps conference attendees at convention centers. The “myBCEC” app designed for the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center is a good example of what other venues could do.  The app contains a full, interactive venue map, local area restaurant/services information, the event calendar for the facility (with Twitter event hashtag links), transit information (including airport departures, traffic alerts, directions, parking information, subway alerts), a wide range of information about the venue (venue twitter feed, lost & found), and exhibitor information (utilities, AV, F&B, cleaning, etc.).

RunTriz (www.runtriz.com/hotel)
RunTriz is a pocket concierge for hotels. Hotel guests can order room service, view the drink menu, contact housekeeping, receive messages from the hotel front desk, schedule a wake-up call, arrange transportation, and view local shopping, restaurants and nightlife. If you don’t have an iPhone, participating hotels will loan you an iTouch.

Geovative GeoTours (www.geovative.com)
Geovative provides destination marketing using multimedia GPS tours with mobile apps.

Micropayment Systems/Near Field Communication:

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range (about 4 in.) wireless communication standard used in Europe. Primarily designed for making quick payments, residents of Estonia, for example, can tap their phones on a parking meter or at a rapid-transit turnstile, making a immediate and easy transaction form the ‘e-wallet’ stored on their phone. Nokia and Samsung are among the phone manufacturers that currently offer NFC and there are rumors that the next generation of iPhone will have it as well. NFC provides great potential for meetings including lead exchange, electronic ticketing, and micropayments. If the new iPhone adopts this standard, NFC will become huge in the tradeshow arena.

ITN International (www.itn-international.com)
ITN, a high-end registration company, is a pioneer in using NFC for events and tradeshows. They provide innovated capabilities for attendee tracking, lead data collection, event micropayment systems and more.

Consumer mobile apps with event applications:

Although this article focuses on event-specific mobile applications, there are few consumer app that bear a brief mention:

Foursquare www.fourquare.com and Gowalla www.gowalla.com
These location-aware mobile applications allow people to check-in at a location to network with others and to share with friends. Although originally used in restaurants, bars, etc. these are starting to be used for events.  Both were used at the 2010 South By Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin.

Bump http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bump/id305479724?mt=8
iPhone app to share contact information and photos.

WebEx Meeting Center http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cisco-webex-meeting-center/id298844386?mt=8
iPhone app to tap into schedule, attend and start WebEx online meetings

Things http://itunes.apple.com/app/things/id284971781?mt=8
iPhone task management

Google Goggles www.google.com/mobile/goggles
Built for Android phones, this product holds great promise for augmented reality applications. Simply point your phone cam at a restaurant or other object, and get a link to the website. Take a picture of a business card and it converts it to data in your mobile contacts… And much more!

These are just a few! There are likely hundreds more meeting-specific applications on the way and tens of thousands of consumer mobile apps that can help attendees, meeting planners, exhibitor and meeting suppliers at events and tradeshow.  Finally, these ‘widgets” have become a reality and much more will come.

Corbin Ball, CMP, CSP is a professional speaker and consultant focusing on meetings technology. With 20 years of experience running international citywide technology meetings, he now helps clients worldwide use technology to save time and improve productivity He can be contacted at his extensive web site: www.corbinball.com.

Have you looked at your website lately? If not, then it is likely no one else has either. A major issue many businesses do not realize they have, until it's too late, is a website that needs a major overhaul.

Here are five ways to know if your website needs a redesign make-over:

Your website is not mobile responsive. 
Studies show that by the beginning of 2015 mobile devices will outstrip laptops and desktops for browsing. The number of mobile devices offering the ability for easy Internet browsing is growing at accelerating rates. You need a website that offers easy browsing and good design on laptops, desktops, smart phones, tablets, and any other device capable of Internet browsing. Adaptive or responsive web design are two options to consider.

Your website is over three years old.
When did you launch your website? When did you make the last update to it? Unless you actively manage your website, it might have been awhile since you last updated it. Every two or three years you need to freshen up your website. You can do a complete website redesign or just a face-lift to give it a fresh look and feel. But, you should have it redesigned with the best practices in mind to make the most impact to your business.

Free Download: Website Redesign Self Assessment Checklist >>

Your website is not getting many inquiries any more.
Do you have a "Contact Us" or "Request More Info" form on your website? How many inquiries do you get through that form each week? If you say none or very few, you are due for a major website redesign. The inquiry form is a basic tool for potential clients to receive more information on your company. With no inquiries, you are losing a major pipeline for new customers. A stale website will often show in the decreasing number of inquiries you get. A fresh website will give a positive impression on visitors that will entice them to ask for more information.

Your website is something someone else must manage for you.
Can you or a designated employee easily update your website's content without help? Do you rely on someone else, outside your company, to do this for you? If so, you need a website that has easy content management built-in. With today's technology, there is no reason to depend on an outside vendor to do content updates to your website. You need a redesign that will make this an easy thing to do so you can keep your website up to date and the content fresh.

Your website does not rank at all for your critical keywords.
What are your critical keywords? Those are the phrases that people commonly use to find your website. For example, if you sell handcrafted dolls from Russia, a keyword might be "handcrafted Russian dolls" or "Russian dolls." When you type that keyword in a search engine like Google or Yahoo, where does your website come up? If you are not on the first or second page, you are not ranking high enough to get attention from clients. You need an optimized website that will get you to those top spots.

If any of these sound familiar to you, your website needs a major website redesign. Consumer use of mobile devices is growing very quickly and you need a fresh new website to keep up with this change. You want your website to pull up in the highest ranks possible on the search engines and you want inquiries to flow in all the time. Add easy to manage content, and you will have a winning website redesign.

A website redesign is the perfect time to optimize your site to increase traffic. Why go through the effort of a complete redesign if you do not take steps to increase your potential business? It is the right time to make changes that bring potential customers to your door.

Here are six traffic optimization strategies to integrate into your website redesign efforts:

1. Page Titles
   The titles of all your web pages should do a minimum of two things. The first is the title must tell the visitor exactly what they can expect to find when they view the page. The second is the title should contain at least one target keyword that will make the search engine bots easily find the page for maximum search engine results. Clear understanding by visitors and the bots will drive your traffic numbers up. So for example, a roofing company should change their "Services" page to "Roofing Services". That simple trick will help in generating qualified traffic to your website.
   
   
2. Web Page Content
   The fact is that people do not want to read long paragraphs of text on a web page. So, the entire page's content should be short and to the point. Adding bullets is also a good tactic to provide essential information in easily digestible chunks. The page should contain your target keyword focused on the content of the page. That keyword should appear in the first paragraph in a free-flowing organic manner. Don't overdo it. Having a 1% keyword density is preffered, which mean that if your page has 200 words, no more than 2 keyword on that page.
   
   
3. Have a Blog
   Many people think blogging is becoming old. But the truth is that people are still reading blogs. They are just becoming more selective about what they read. A blog provides an opportunity to build a relationship of trust with potential and existing customers. By using keywords in the content, you can get the attention of the search engine bots and get more traffic on its way to your website.
   
   
4. Use Landing Pages
   Okay, the phrase landing may throw you off. You need to have multiple landing spots on your web site based on various keywords. If you have 10 keyword phrases you want people to use to search for your site, you need 10 landing pages for those phrases. Each of those landing pages is called a laning page because it provides another lane of traffic into your site. Each should optimize the keyword and have a call to action for the potential client.
   
   
5. Link Your Blogs with Social Media
   Along with a blog, your company needs to have an active social media presence. When you create a blog post, you need to post it to your company's Facebook page, LinkedIn account and to your Twitter feed. Use other social media outlets if they integrate well with your web site and its contents like Google +.
   
   
6. Keep Your Website Load Time Fast
   Studies done on Internet browsing habits show that users get frustrated with slow loading websites and will go elsewhere if it takes too long to load. Test how long it takes for each of your landing pages to load. Even one bad load time on a single page will cut into your traffic numbers. You can minimize load time by only using pertinent graphics and keep other media files to a minimum.

Keep these strategies in mind when you are in the design stages for your redesign. They are simple to implement and will give you marked increases in your website traffic numbers. Give your website redesign to the professionals for maximum traffic optimization.