Is Tumblr Right for Your Business?

Posted on April 30, 2013 by JP

The White House just announced it has joined Tumblr — the popular Internet blog site.  Tumblr has over 60 million accounts worldwide and many highly engaged users.  For those who have no blog at all – now that the President has joined this social media darling — you might be wondering should you and your business join to?  And for those who are running an established blog already, should you too consider hopping on the Tumblr bandwagon?

Before you adopt any platform you should think about your goal.  What are you looking for ?  Engagement, sales, awareness and/or advocacy?   Once you have a clear goal in mind you should consider what the social media tool will offer you.

Tumblr contains a lot of social sharing and has the power to attract traffic to your website.  As mentioned its audience is highly engaged. They will not be shy about interacting with your brand, as long as you provide them with interesting content.

Tumbler is indexed and is thus great for SEO.  Tumblr’s tag system allows you to categorize into many popular topics.  It is easy for users to find you by category. Because posts are categorized it can be used as a research tool, where you can find great content in a matter of minutes. Just browse through the blogs on offer, in your select category. Depending on what your company does, there’s already a community that’s been filtered. This navigates brands to the right audience, saving time and energy when you want to build a following.

Tumblr allows you to microblog, which means that you can share your posts quickly and easily with your social communities. Tumblr also allows bloggers to post small snippets of content for the world to see. It’s a great platform to use if you only have time for 250 word blog posts. If you use Tumblr, you can post images, videos, links and more, directly to the platform – without having to add in any content.

You can connect your Tumblr account to Google Analytics and actually track your progress.

Now for the negatives: Although you can sync a third-party app like Google Analytics to your Tumblr, there are no features that will reveal Tumblr-specific statistics.  If Tumblr’s server goes down, it is out of your hands and there’s no way for you to fix the situation until the website comes back up. That can be risky, especially if you rely on the platform for ecommerce or to keep the business running. Lastly, Tumblr is one of the most social blogging platforms, but there is no native commenting system.

In short, if you’re looking for an aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly way to reach out and engage, then Tumblr is a fairly good platform for you to do so. On the other hand, if you need control of data and rely on a blog for your business to run as a whole, it might be safer to hire a professional or develop your own website. You could then use Tumblr as an additional platform and still interact with its highly engaged audience.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
Interesting Articles; Internet Marketing; News; SEO

YouTube to Leverage Your Business

Posted on April 25, 2013 by JP

YouTube has been growing at a substantial rate.  The online video giant says it is now averaging 1 billion monthly users.  These users are streaming an amazing 4 billion hours of content every month.  These users include everyone from children to great grandparents and of course businesses.

YouTube reports that: “Tens of thousands of partners have created channels that have found and built businesses for passionate, engaged audiences.”  It notes that advertisers have taken notice: all of the Ad Age Top 100 brands are now running campaigns on YouTube.  So with these huge numbers of eyeballs in mind – perhaps it is time you thought about using this popular social media outlet to attract more customers.

Take time to create a video or find video that showcases your product/service to your target audience. Once your video is live on YouTube, you can create a surge of traffic by posting links to your social media outposts, such as Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also embed the YouTube video on your Facebook profile or business page.  Take time to write a blog post with your video embedded in the post. And then there is also Google+, which, like YouTube, is part of Google’s expanding empire.

It is worth noting that many of the YouTube views are being done on smartphones and tablets.  So when you are creating your YouTube video keep in mind many will be viewing on a smaller, mobile device.

Anything you can do to increase your site traffic and promote your company can help increase your success. It would be foolish for your business not to capitalize on the success of YouTube.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
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Website Photography: Hiring a Photographer vs. Using Stock Photos

Posted on April 23, 2013 by JP

There are many reasons to have photos on your website.  Photos add value to your design, can help enhance search engine optimization and increase traffic.  There is no doubt that images are important for your website.  But does it matter where these images come from?

There are several places to get photos for your site.  You can take them yourself.  You can hire a professional photographer to take them.  You can buy a license from a stock photography website or find free images that are in the public domain. The question is what makes most sense for your business’ site. When does hiring a photographer make more sense than using images found on stock photo websites? 

Hiring a photographer means the photos on your website will be unique.  Because they are taken by someone you’ve hired especially for your business they will be shot specific to your business’ needs and requirements.  With your own photographs you will avoid generic and unoriginal images and can offer whatever design and feeling you create.  A photographer allows you to personalize your image design and offer memorable and imaginative images.  Professional photos allow you to brand your products and/or business.  The message you evoke with these unique images will become yours and identify your site.

For some businesses a photographer can really make a difference. If you are a restaurant or a florist – showing your signature dishes or creations – having unique images will showcase what you can offer and set you apart from the competition. If you use stock photos and generic images – you might look like any other burger joint or flower shop. On the other hand, if you offer daycare or medical services – you might prefer stock images as they can convey your message without being too personal and protecting the privacy of your patrons.

Grabbing the audience and making your site distinct can depend a lot on your photos.  If hiring a photographer is within your budget you might be wise to consider doing so.  

In a future blog, we take a look at how best to use stock photography.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
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Design Practices; Interesting Articles; News; Web Design

The Meaning of Website Colors

Posted on April 18, 2013 by JP

Your website’s colors are important in many ways.  Not only is it important to choose the right color scheme for your business objectives – it is important to consider what kind of feeling or mood you would like to evoke when people visit your site.

Colors and their hues affect emotions.  Different colors create different feelings.  Certain colors emote excitement, some offer serenity and others power.  Every color comes in a range of hues. Green, for example, can be pale baby green, forest green, garish lime green, or anything in between. All of these can work well in one context and not at all in another.

Red is frequently incorporated into many websites and marketing material and can add a sense of energy and enthusiasm to any business. Other shades of red can also be used to create a feeling of passion or power.

Yellow is a color that is rarely used alone in design but is a color that evokes joy and happiness, so it sometimes added to enhance visitors with a feeling of warmth and contentment. Brown is another color that seldom stands alone, but is can add credibility to your professional or personal website. Brown is a color used to emit feelings of comfort and stability. Green is commonly found in the color scheme of many business and money-making websites. Naturally, this make a lot of sense, since green is the color that speaks of money, wealth, and prosperity.

Of course, white is included in almost every website, but it is still a very important color to consider that can have a profound effect on customers. White speaks of faith, purity, youth, and peace. White can also sometimes offset the impact of bolder, brighter colors. Blue is another color that is frequently used in design, but not quite as frequently as the many shades of red. Blue symbolizes freedom, tranquility, and coolness. It also is a reminder to many of vacations, the beach, or water. Black also speaks of power, but is can symbolize elegance and mystery as well. Black is another color that is usually found in nearly every website as well, and can offset some of the calmer effects of a white background.

The meaning of colors can change depending on the culture. If your website is targeted at specific countries or cultures, learn about what colors mean in those cultures. For example, in Western cultures, white represents purity and simplicity, among other things, but in Eastern cultures, it’s the color of mourning and death.

Moods are created by the colors or groups of colors used in the overall design scheme. The idea of creating moods surrounding your particular product or service may seem a little bit of a stretch but it has been shown to be very effective in many cases.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
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How to Pick the Best Colors for Your Website

Posted on April 16, 2013 by JP

Picking colors for your website is an important part of web design.  The color combinations you use with your content on each page can have an effect on visitors to your site –helping attract them or turn them away.  There are several things to keep in mind when selecting colors for your site.

First consider your audience.  Younger people, especially children, might be attracted to brighter colors, while older people tend to prefer more moderate tones. Think pink is a women’s color.  Think again. Online studies tell us that blue is the common favorite color of both men and women.

What is the purpose of your site? Purple is a very powerful color, and it can usually be found in small amounts in many websites, logos, and other products of design.  An interactive site would have a bolder palette than a website offering financial advice. A web hosting site could go with bold or less bold colors, depending on the audience it’s intended to attract.

When it comes to business conveying the right image is important. Think about the kind of image that you want to portray to visitors and the right message for your company, organization, or product that you want them to get from your site. Do you want to convey to your potential customers that your product or information will provide them with financial security or wealth? Do you want your website to portray how professional your corporation is and that you are devoted to your customers? Gray for example can be a powerful element of a professional company website. Gray reminds people of reliability and maturity and helps to establish a sense of trust among customers.

Next consider the usability factor. Contrast between text and background can affect how easy it is to read text.  If the contrast isn’t high, such as with a light gray background and dark gray text, some people will have difficulty reading the text. A dark background can also make the text hard to read. If the text is difficult to read because of the colors used, a large percentage of the audience could be alienated. A color that looks good by itself might not work well with another color. Red and blue, for example, appear to vibrate when next to each other when viewed on a computer screen.

These are a few of the considerations when deciding on color for your website. In our next blog we look at how colors you use can appeal to visitors’ emotions.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
Design Practices; Interesting Articles; News; Web Design; Web Design Info

Who needs a SSL Certificate?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by JP

SSL means Secure Socket Layer.  The certificates are used to secure websites so that third parties cannot intercept information transferred between your computer and their website.

Here is how a SSL works: Every SSL Certificate is created for a particular server in a specific domain for a verified business entity.  An SSL Certificate is issued by the Certificate Authority (CA), a trusted authority.  When the SSL handshake occurs, the browser requires authentication from the server.  A customer sees the organization name when they click certain SSL trust marks (such as the VeriSign Secured™ Seal) or use a browser that supports Extended Validation. If the information does not match or the certificate has expired, the browser displays an error message or warning.

SSL certificates are usually used by e-commerce businesses, banks and other operations that involve credit and debit card transactions. SSL certification is a must in these cases, to keep financial details safe as it is being transmitted. Without an SSL certificate, hackers could easily access and misuse personal information.

An SSL certificate can and should actually be used by any website that uses a form or other method to transmit information. From a simple e-newsletter sign-up to an account login, any transmission should be protected by the basic security offered by an SSL cert.  If you use FTP to transfer files, use any shared work flow or project management software you should also consider getting an SSL certificate.

SSL certificates protect your control panel login, network traffic, any transfer of files, databases and much more. Basically, if your website collects or handles any information you want to protect from hackers or intruders, you should purchase
SSL Certification.

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Peter Crisafi (Peter Crisafi dzineit)
dzine it, inc. +1.212.989.0813
26 West 23 Street
New York, NY, 10010 U.S.A
Specialty:
Interesting Articles; News; Tech Help
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