Worth a Look

• This week we were reminded to choose our tweets with care. While many know employers and other entities can easily monitor Twitter, it may surprise some to see agencies acting on this information.  Surely, no one is more surprised than the man who was detained by Homeland Security for offensive tweets.
• Since Google+ started offering brand pages on their social network, small and medium businesses has been hesitant to join. This week the New York Times asks, Does Google+ Offer Businesses an Edge?Click the link for a great case study of a small company strategically using Circles and +1’s to leverage the unique strengths of Google+.
  

  Can Small and Medium Sized Business Get and Advantage with Google+?

• The “Mobile First” web design philosophy has been gaining momentum in recent years as more and more web traffic shifts to the mobile space. However this philosophy, which prioritizes the experience of mobile users, has led to the “web second” movement. Web second emphasizes the need to design non-mobile sites to take advantage of the capabilities of desktop browsing, instead of simply displaying a slightly modified mobile site to all users.

Trending Searches

Find out the search terms that have been trending on Google during the past week. Data was gathered using Google’s Insights for Search tool.

This week search traffic spiked with the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees and tax season went into full swing with high amounts of “irs” related searches.

1. 1. oscar nominations 2012 (+1,200%)
2. 2. demi moore (+1,050%)
3. 3. irs refund (+250%)
4. 4. australian open (+100%)
5. 5. heidi klum (+100%)
6. 6. republican debate (+80%)
7. 7. super bowl 2012 (+80% )
8. 8. h&r block (+60%)
9. 9. irs (+60%)
10. 10. seal (+60%)

TNI Partner Spotlight

• We’re excited for the national exposure and attention that our partner Nawgan is receiving! Check out Nawgan in the Wall Street Journal.
• Non-profit partner Karla Smith Foundation was recently featured on the local news to tell their story and promote their upcoming Stigma and Suicide event. See their story on combatting mental illness stigma here.

Stay up to date on industry news and commentary, TNI happenings, and events with web experts. Sign up for The Impact Update today!

Image from: (CC) Magnet 4 Marketing dot Net/Flickr

We’ll create a good basic graphic that allows designers to illustrate the functionality of the transform tool. Let’s get started and see if you can guess what we’re making.

Step One: The Base Image

Create a graphic like the image below. The image below is a distorted rectangle, a hexagon and some pen tool scribbles.

Step Two: Transform Tool for Scaling and Duplication

This is where the transform tool comes into play. Select the distorted hexagon with the direct select tool so that the hexagon is now in isolation mode. In isolation mode go to EFFECT > DISTORT & TRANSFORM and select TRANSFORM to open the Transform Effect box. With the Transform Effect box open, fill in the scale, move, copies and reference point settings. The settings you choose might differ from the settings used for this example so play around with the numbers and see which settings look best. Below is a screen shot of the settings used with this illustration.

Step Three: Grouping and Rotating on an Axis

The transform tool will duplicate a group of graphics. So go ahead and group the hexagon, stem (distorted rectangle) and pen tool scribbles by selecting all three objects and then selecting OBJECT > GROUP. With the objects grouped, select the grouping with the selection tool and once again go to EFFECT > DISTORT & TRANSFORM and select TRANSFORM to open the Transform Effect box. The Transform Effect box will display the default settings since the transform effect is applied to a new group of objects. The settings you choose for this step should match the settings displayed below. With the settings in place, select “OK” and you’ll notice the object reflects along the x-axis.

Step Four. Grouping and Rotation on a Center Point

This is where the object takes form…and it’s a SNOWFLAKE! Using the transform tool a second time on the same group of objects go to EFFECT > DISTORT & TRANSFORM and select TRANSFORM to open the Transform Effect box. Note: It may seem tedious to reapply a second transformation to the same grouping but it is to apply a separate transformation effect to the group because it will create the wrong rotation effect without individual transformation settings. If you get a warming message, click continue. The settings you choose for this step should match the settings displayed below. You’ll notice the object rotates 6 additional times around a center point.

Step Five: Direct Selection to Tweak Image

Using the direct selection tool, you can change the entire look and feel of any aspect of the snowflake. See how the final snowflake dramatically differs from the completed snowflake in step four. It is for this reason that using a single object grouping makes such a big difference in a design that uses rotation and duplication. If the objects were manually duplicated and rotated they would not link together and Illustrator would read those object groupings as separate objects. A change to one would not force a change in the others – something I like to call the Kaleidoscope Effect.

Interested in learning more about how web design and graphic design can improve your company’s communication and marketing efforts? Visit The Net Impact online!

On September 29th The Net Impact team gathered at the Starlight Roof at the Chase Park Plaza, turned circus -themed extravaganza, for their first appearance at the TAM Awards Showcase. The Targeted Advertising & Marketing (TAM) awards party showcased the best B2B advertising, marketing, corporate and professional communications in the St. Louis region and honored the agencies, companies and individuals who created them.  The Net Impact proudly took home six TAM awards this year and swept the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards in the Social Media Marketing Initiative Category.

“The TAM Awards are a great benchmark for defining excellence in advertising and marketing in the St. Louis area, and I am very proud of The Net Impact‘s accomplishments in this competitive market.  These awards are a great reinforcement of our clients and our teams truly integrated, best-in-class work,” said Steve Thomas, President of The Net Impact. 

The Net Impact team took home the following awards at the 2010 TAM Awards:

• Gold –Social Media Marketing Initiative
Entry Title:  Go HomeBuyer! Custom Designed Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/GoHomebuyer)
Category Name: Social Media Marketing Initiative
Target Audience:  First Time Homebuyers
Single Most Important Objective: To provide easy access to Go Hombuyer!’s tools and information offered, as well as drive targeted traffic to their website through a strong social media presence.
Results Achieved: The custom designed Facebook page increased brand awareness and website traffic. In addition, vendors became more aware of Go Homebuyer!’s wide variety of services and sponsorship interest increased.

• Silver –Social Media Marketing Initiative

Entry Title:  The City of Wentzville (www.facebook.com/Wentzville)
Category Name:  Social Media Marketing Initiative
Target Audience: Current Residents, Business Owners, Prospective Residents
Single Most Important Objective: To improve the communication among the City of Wentzville’s community.
Results Achieved: The visually appealing Facebook page serves as a platform for Wentzville’s community to share valuable information about their city. This information includes: resident services, business services, economic development, things to do in the city and garage sales.

• Bronze –Website Development E-Commerce

Entry Title:  Bausch & Lomb Storzeye (http://www.storzeye.com/)
Target Audience: Hospital Administrators/ Buyers, Medical Equipment Buyers and Doctors
Single Most Important Objective:  To showcase their high quality products in order to increase sales.
Results Achieved:  The new website design includes enhancements to the ways in which products are displayed and indexed on the sites. Website visitors can now search for instruments, set-up a wish list and add products to an online shopping cart. In addition, the website increases user engagement by including improved product detail with “click to enlarge” functionality on all product images and product videos.

• Bronze –Electronic Direct Email                                                                                                                          

Entry Title:  Sensient Email/Landing Page (http://www.sensientfusionatift.com/)
Category Name:  Electronic Direct Marketing / Product or Service, Business Meeting or Conference
Target Audience: ITF Conference Attendees, Entire Sensient Client Base and Sensient’s Food Colors division
Single Most Important Objective: Appeal to two different target audiences in order to announce Sensient’s presence at the IFT Annual Conference and to build awareness around Sensient’s new product, Fusion.
Results Achieved: Two different email marketing blasts were created in order to appeal to two different audiences. The email campaign drove targeted traffic to the landing page http://www.sensientfusionatift.com/, which showcased Sensient’s new product and included details regarding their upcoming presence at the tradeshow.
 

• Bronze –Website Developement – Landing Page

Entry Title:  Sensient (http://www.sensientfusionatift.com/)
Category Name: Website Development; Landing Page
Target Audience: ITF Conference Attendees, Entire Sensient Client Base and Sensient’s Food Colors division
Single Most Important Objective:  To place focus on introducing Sensient’s new product line and announcing their participation at the upcoming Expo.
Results Achieved: In addition to increasing awareness surrounding Sensient’s new product and their presence at the tradeshow, the landing page provided the opportunity for visitors to request further information on their company and included a link to Sensient’s home page.

• Bronze –Social Media Marketing Initiative

Entry Title:  Roho Custom Designed Facebook Page/Landing Page (http://www.facebook.com/therohogroup#!/therohogroup?v=app_6009294086)
Category Name: Social Media Marketing Initiative
Target Audience: Medical Professionals and Wheelchair Users
Single Most Important Objective: To encourage fans to sign up for their online newsletter in order to increase sales.
Results Achieved: Drove traffic to the ROHO Group’s landing page, intheknow.therohogroup.com, to entice people to sign up for their online newsletter which offers information on new products, promotions, events, ROHO updates, Indsutry news and more.

Congratulations to Kayle Mclean, Angela Trokey, Randy Verbeck, Dave Poninski, Sean Enzwiler, Derek Bemis and Mandy Christanell for all of your hard work this year at TNI!

Check out more great pictures from the 2010 TAM Awards!

Vickie’s many responsibilities as Director include developing business growth opportunities, building and maintaining relationships with existing clients and prospects, as well as marketing and selling the Auctori:law legal content management system and Auctori:law’s wide range of Internet marketing and web design services. Vickie brings with her an extensive background in the legal online marketing industry, and we are excited to have her on board!

Read the Press Release

Auctori:city has partnered with The Net Impact to offer custom web design and Internet marketing services to Auctori:city clients. In addition to city web design and Internet marketing services, through this partnership, Auctori:city offers social media marketing services such as city social media design and management. With the Auctori:city Facebook module, an article, news, event update or press release will automatically populate a city’s Facebook page through an RSS feed. This option saves time and effort for Auctori:city users by allowing them to keep their social media marketing current from one main interface. In addition, Auctori:city allows you to have multiple RSS feeds for different social media applications.

“Today’s citizens want a more active, participatory relationship with their government and to have 24/7 access to reliable and valuable information that affects their everyday lives, and there is no better vehicle to reach a community than a city’s website,” said Steve Thomas, President of The Net Impact. “We are proud to partner with Auctori:city to offer cities a functionality-based website that improves the direct interaction with their community.”

Read the Press Release!

Suggested music to listen to while reading – http://www.jango.com/music/Tag+Team?l=0

AIRHAWK, a comfort seating system for motorcycles manufactured by ROHO Group Inc., announces the March 18, 2010 launch of their website, www.airhawk.net. The Net Impact and XG-ad, a full service advertising agency specializing in print advertising, combined services to create the website design for the comfort seating system’s website, which is powered by the Auctori, web content management system (WCMS) built for search engine optimization.

AIRHAWK’s parent company, The ROHO Group Inc., approached our team to work with AIRHAWK’s print advertising agency, XG-ad, to create the web design for the premium product’s website. We took XG-AD’s Phohotshop design work, and made it web ready before placing it into the Auctori web content management system. The Auctori solution provides AIRHAWK with the opportunity to strengthen their Internet presence and their overall brand reputation by giving users a cutting edge yet professional site as well as the power to maintain their content in real time.

“This was one of the smoothest web launches I’ve managed.  We had the best of both worlds for design and internet marketing utilizing The Net Impact and XG-Ad.  The design is edgy and fresh while the back-end that I oversee is so user-friendly, easy to understand and of course, completely search engine optimized.  These two companies made a great team and in the end, produced a fantastic site that we are very proud of and excited to promote,” said Rebecca Heckert, eMarketing Coordinator, The ROHO GROUP.

Read the Full Press Release!

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all cross the ‘net,
Marketers were hoping, Click-throughs, their site to get.
The stockings were hung by the modem with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas would leave new software.

The retailers were twittering instead of in their beds,
While visions of last minute shoppers danced in their heads.
The online forums were busy with commotion,
as I had just settled down for the latest Facebook promotion.

When in my email inbox there arose such a buzz,
I logged off my Facebook page to see what this fuss was.
Then what to my tired eyes should appear,
But an inbox packed full of late holiday cheer!

O’ how my Google analytics had flew,
So many hits, I didn’t know what to do!�
With visitors and goals increasing so quick,
I knew in a second it had to be the pay per click.

“Now Google, Bing and Facebook searches are mounting!
My metrics are filled with clicks to be a counting!”

Now my search engine rankings on a daily basis fly,
I’ve never had so many potential clients interested to buy.
So many visitors’ my website did attract,
I knew all this online success was due to The Net Impact.

My web design looks great on every PC,
This has caused quite the jump in visit frequency.
TNI knows great customer experience is all in the details,
This is why I am bringing in the sales!

The Net Impact’s wish is this: may your site bring you gold,
And may all of your holiday wishes end up above the fold! 

The Net Impact’s Holiday Gift to You!

Interested in learning more about Google Analytics?

In light of the Holiday Season, The Net Impact would like to offer 2-hour Google Analytics training sessions for only $99. Our specialists will train your employees on the Google Analytics system and on how to use the reporting for success. Training sessions can be arranged as webinars or off-site meetings based upon your company’s needs. Contact The Net Impact to find out more about our training session special and how to take your analytics to the next level!

What’s been going on at The Net Impact? – Check out our December Newsletter to find out!

On November 9, 2009, Gohomebuyer.com, a comprehensive website dedicated to educating homebuyers to make an informed decision when buying a home, launched their newly redesigned website, which was designed and searched engine optimized by The Net Impact.  

“We hired The Net Impact to help launch our new product, Go Homebuyer!. The Net Impact redesigned our website, Facebook page, and assisted in developing a plan to help drive hits to our website. Their level of knowledge about design and optimization was tremendous. Thank you for putting us on the right course for web success!,” said Amanda Pozzo, Real Estate Educate, GoHomebuyer.com.

Go Homebuyer! Originally contacted The Net Impact to help implement a search engine optimization strategy. To create an effective approach, our team reviewed Go Homebuyer! ‘s current web analytics. After conducting a thorough internal site traffic analysis, we developed a plan of action to increase the site’s visibility in search engines and to improve visitor navigation. Go Homebuyer! also utilized our press release optimization service to boost the visibility of their press release, add additional links to their website and  to increase target traffic flow to their website.

When working on the SEO strategy for Go Homebuyer!,  Go Home Buyer! came to the realization that  their website would benefit from a site redesign in order to improve visitor navigation and conversion . In addition to search engine optimization services, Go Homebuyer! also looked to our web design services to boost their online prescence. Our design team created a new website and new landing page structure for the online company, which was then handed over Go Homebuyer!’s in-house developers who  applied the design. To reflect the look and feel of the newly designed website, we also designed a custom Facebook  and launched the Go Homebuyer!’s Facebook Advertising Campaign.

Gohomebuyer.com  offers a variety of online resources covering the most interesting and relevant information in real estate today. This includes a comprehensive suite of online courses which includes video, audio, graphics, activities and much more. Since Go Homebuyer!’s resources are all accessible online, the need for a user-friendly and attractive website is an important aspect to the success of their business.  Our search engine optimization team and web design team were a perfect match to meet Go Homebuyer!’s  online objectives to increase search engine visibility and to enhance the look and feel of their new website.

“We enjoy working with out-of-the-box thinkers like the Go Home Buyer! team.  Their innovate approach to bringing information and education to new home buyers and their  openness to new marketing ideas made this a great project for all parties.  We will follow up with a web analytics review in about 30 days to confirm and challenge aspects of our original strategy.   Any changes as well as additional testing is already in our thought process,” said Steve Thomas, President, The Net Impact.

In the last decade, tracking website analytics has rapidly evolved from simply data crunching to a very powerful decision making platform. Web analytics is an important tool for Internet marketers and web designers alike to make choices about how to improve traffic flow, design calls to action, update search engine optimization and enhance the overall strategy of a website.

Paying close attention to visitor behavior on a website through analytics, is very similar to paying attention to the consumer behavior for a store, brand or product.  Think of it this way… a store manager arranges their shop with the most marketable items in places that grab the shopper’s attention and are easily accessible and highly visible. Just as the store manager is looking to make the shopper’s experience more satisfying by arranging their store based on the habits of his consumers, so that it is easy and enjoyable to navigate through, a website creator should take into account what information is most sought after on their website and the habits and pathways visitors are taking to get there.

Without web analytics it is next to impossible to measure and analyze website visitor behavior. Analyzing visitor behavior allows you to determine activity as it affects profit, sales and areas (pages) of interest. Page views, navigation, entry and exit pages, time spent, languages, geographic locations, visits, and keywords used in searches are a few of the features that are able to be determined using web analytics. By simply tracking items that are most often viewed you can learn what items or products on your site, receive the most attention. In this way you can adapt your offerings to attract more traffic and while doing so monitor what sparks and keeps visitor’s attention.

The Net Impact team places special emphasis on the importance of clickstream tracking, or the following of a visitor’s clickstream as they move throughout a website, down to every microscopic detail. This analysis offered by Google under the name Event Tracking Tool,  allows you to track every movement your visitor makes as a unique event. Analyzing every small movement, or micro-conversion, your visitor makes provides you with useful feedback used to make changes to your website to improve your visitor’s experience, which will in turn enhance the overall value of your website. Every micro-conversion a visitor makes is important because, no matter how small the movement is, it is still conversion, you are still getting the visitor to do what you want them to dig deeper and deeper into your website.

An excellent example of this is The Net Impact’s findings with the website www.vangoghgallery.com. VanGoghGallery.com is an online collection of Van Gogh’s works. The website received thousands of visitors each day. The Net Impact helped Van Gogh gallery setup Event Tracking Methods to gain greater insight into the navigation patterns of its main landing pages.  Through event tracking, Van Gogh Gallery was able to determine that the large image links on the page received 98.5% of the click-throughs compared 1.5%  for the side navigation links, going to the same page. This was helpful for determining the elements necessary on each page to get visitors to take the next step.

In conclusion, if you ever wondered how to analyze website user behavior, determine which search terms they come from, which pages are most visited, which pages are of least interest  and how to maximize your ROI, look into implementing  a Web Analytics solution. Analytics will help you conduct a behavioral analysis of your website visitors, and with that information you can make the required changes to your website that will improve your overall conversation rate and make your visitor’s website experience one that is enjoyable.

To find out how The Net Impact can help you with your Google Analytics needs, contact us today for a free assessment and consultation!