Continuing the theme of mobile browsing, here are three trends that will have an impact on websites in 2012.

Websites Like Apps

Apps are functional. They do a job, and we expect them to be easy and intuitive to use. As more people access websites on mobile devices, in turn websites are starting to be designed to function more like apps.

Responsive Designs

Only recently, websites had to adapt to a few different popular screen sizes. Now websites must be designed to adapt to a viewing environment which can vary from a large TV screen to a tiny mobile device.

Geo and Socially Aware

By connecting with a social network like Facebook, websites can provide real time contextual information depending on your location and if any of your friends are nearby.

The pace of evolution on the web has never been faster. If your website still looks like it did in 2007, it’s time to take a fresh look.

Google is busy integrating all their services into a seamless experience. Search, email, calendar, maps, photos, mobile etc.

Google does most of these things better than anyone else at the moment. One area where they are behind is Social, which just happens to be one of the biggest things to happen to the internet in recent years.

Facebook is clearly the market leader in providing the worlds preferred social networking platform. They have achieved a user base of 800m+ users, and amassed a wealth of data about these users habits and preferences. This in turn allows Facebook to sell highly targeted advertising to businesses who want to reach certain market niches.

Google+ is Google’s answer to Facebook. Like Facebook, Google+ allows you to share stories and photos with your friends and acquaintances, who can be organised into “Circles”, or categories, which easily segment your contact lists into manageable pieces.

Google+ has most of the same features as Facebook, including photo galleries and news feeds. Instead of “Likes”, Google+ has “+1’s”.

One feature that is unique to Google+ is hangouts – video conference calls with up to 9 of your contacts at once.

And Google+ now has business pages, which means you need to consider expanding your business branding and communication strategy to this platform as well.

Because Google owns the world’s most popular search engine, it’s probably a good idea to at least create a Google+ page for your business, as these pages have started showing up in the search results.

You can add the Google+ logo with a link to your page in the same place on your website where you’ve added your other social media links. And make sure you add a +1 button to each of your articles, near the Like button.

Search for other Google+ business pages by prefixing the search with the + symbol. For example search Google for “+Fig Creative”.

Smart phone is a collective term for the latest internet enabled phones, such as Apple’s iPhone. They are more like a pocket sized personal computer that also makes calls.

There are more than 22 million mobile phones in Australia – the same amount as there are people. Half of those are smart phones.  In 2011, Mobile Phone Internet Usage in Australia doubled what is was in 2010.

This migration from standard phones to smart phones will continue this year, as more features get added and the capability continues to increase.

Useful things like online banking, GPS and mapping, as well as social networking apps like Facebook and entertainment sites like YouTube will continue to lure new users.

There are major opportunities for businesses to tap into this new way of reaching markets.

Fig Creative now specialise in creating mobile targeted websites, that are easy to use on a small screen, and provide information tailored to people with specific tasks in mind.

What sort of devices?

The variety of devices is also increasing. Iphone and ipad are currently the top 2 in all instances we reviewed. However, the number of different devices is also increasing, so much so that Google have added a little camera icon next to each device which displays what they look like to help us all learn about these emerging technologies.

A sample of results includes:

• Apple iPhone
• Apple iPad
• Apple iPod Touch
• Samsung GT-I9000 Galaxy S
• Samsung GT-I9100 Galaxy S II
• Samsung GT I9000T Galaxy S
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• HTC Desire HD
• SonyEricsson X10i Xperia X10
• HTC S710e Incredible S
• HTC Desire
• Nokia 6220c Classic
• Nokia 6760s
• Motorola DroidX

You can see how many people are visiting your website using mobile and also see what mobile devices they are using by looking at your Google Analytics statistics.

How do I access this information?

Log into your Google Analytics account and using the left hand navigation select:

1.Visitors,

2.Mobile,

3.Devices

This will show you by device the number of visitors you have had this month who have viewed your site.

If you do not have analytics on your website you are missing out on a wealth of information that can be gathered about your website performance, about your visitors actions and about conversions.

Google analytics is a free service and a must have for all businesses wanting to understand the way their visitors interact with their website.

Responsive designs are here to save the day.

iPhone, Android, iPad, Windows, Mac, Blackberry, Slate… There are suddenly hundreds of different web capable device formats. Over the past year at Fig Creative we’ve noticed an increasing trend for clients to be interested in how their site is viewed on mobile, in particular the iPhone – Apples ubiquitous handset that accounts for over 60% of mobile internet traffic (StatCounter Statistics Nov 2011).

The iPhone may be the single most important mobile device in the current marketplace, but it’s the mobile sector as a whole that is slowly making it’s move to usurp the reign of the desktop on the net. A recent study commissioned by Global finance firm Morgan Stanley suggests that mobile will account for the majority of all internet traffic by 2015. Granted this is in part fuelled by relentless refreshes of the iPhone Facebook app, but even with social services aside, the web is clearly no longer the exclusive domain of the desktop computer. The modern mobile web is here folks, and it’s time to adapt.

A little history

The first rumblings of the need for a more adaptable web were in 2003. Back then it was fluid layouts that widened to fit the screen on larger or smaller screens. A common downside to these layouts was the readability of the paragraphs diminished as the columns became wider.

Today the webscape is a vastly different place to the one in 2003 which was dominated by the towering monolith of Internet Explorer 6, At that stage IE6 held a marketshare of over 90% and designing for the web meant designing for IE and maybe checking other browsers to make sure they looked ‘okay’. A glance at current browser stats shows all versions of Internet Explorer holding a combined marketshare of barely over 40% with the remainder now representing the lions share of web usage. Older versions of Internet Explorer have lost their relevance with a diminished marketshare, and the time is ripe for a fresh  approach to adaptable web design using the tools available with CSS3 and HTML5.

Enter stage right, Responsive web design.

With our clients, 2 devices have emerged as clear priorities – the desktop and iPhone, but even with the desktop there are so many screen resolutions available, how do you choose a standard format for your site? With a recent site www.bikeon.com.au we decided to support almost all resolutions with a single website. Adapting it on the fly as the device resolution changes.

First we took care of the widescreen desktop format which currently accounts for the greatest share of web usage (some stats have it at over 80%). On a widescreen device the site defaults to a 1280px wide layout, allowing maximum use of screen real estate to be used – Precious few sites on the web today utilise windscreen monitors, which is a little akin to designing an ad billboard with a thin strip in the middle. We’ve got the real estate folks, lets use it!

On smaller devices, lets say an old laptop or CRT monitor for instance, the site reverts to a 960px layout – the most common layout for websites on the net today. All of the features of the widescreen layout are present, just smaller. A standard looking grid based website.

From here the next significant form factor is the iPad, which has a maximum width of 768px in it’s portrait mode. The layout snaps into a 640px layout, shifting our 3 column layout down to 2 columns.

Down from here we’re in mobile land. At the moment we’ve optimised the site for iPhones in both portrait view (320px) and landscape view (480px), but i would be expecting pretty good results from most Android, Blackberry or other devices using the ubiquitous mobile webkit browser. The layout snaps from 2 column down to a single column layout and we hide any superfluous elements getting straight to the content where possible.

So there you have it. A website designed for the modern web, allowing your site visitors to get a tailored experience on whatever device they browse from.

So you’ve got a Facebook page for your business,  that’s a great start. When you’re ready to take it to the next level, here are some options that generally require some technical assistance.

Landing page

Rather than having a visitor land on your wall or info page, why not create a custom designed and branded landing page. Not only can you incorporate your branding, you can include any details you like, such as your current marketing campaign or seasonal theme.

At Fig Creative, we build our own landing page apps, so we have complete control over content  and presentation of your Facebook landing pages and custom tabs.

Full Mini Website on your Facebook Page

Anything you have on your website can also be included in your Facebook page using custom tabs. A product list, articles, photo galleries etc. can all be presented right in your Facebook business page.

Just think what you can achieve through your Facebook Page now that you fans don’t even have to leave to get things done!

Custom Page Tab Logos

Make your branding flow throughout your Facebook page. At Fig Creative, we customise logos for your tab links to ensure your branding is optimised throughout.

Fan Gate

Fan Gates encourage people to Like your page by offering a bonus in return for a Like. Unlike most fan gates, ours are custom apps that we build, so there’s never any third party ads, links or banners, all the branding is 100% yours.

Full Graphic Design Service

The team at Fig Creative pull out all stops when it comes to delivering a top design for your Facebook business pages. We provide for every budget, with good quality designs for the thrifty small business, to superb top shelf premium designs for those larger businesses wanting to make a real impact in the marketplace.

Having said that, there’s never been more competition either, so it would be wise to do some research before quitting your day job. You will have a better chance of success if you get some professional advice and create a business plan.

Most businesses these days will require some form of online marketing at the very least, and many businesses these days are 100% online entities.

Here are some cheap and free options to get started.

Facebook

A Facebook business page is almost like a free website, with the added bonus that there are more people already using Facebook than any other website. You just need to get as many people as possible to ‘Like’ your page. Create your personal account first, then go to www.facebook.com/page to create a business page.

YouTube

Video is a very effective method of communicating a message. It can create an emotional connection to the audience, and the nature of video makes it easy to show your products and services in an engaging way. YouTube is one of the most popular websites in the world, and you can upload your videos for free, and even create your own channel. Each video you upload can be promoted on your Facebook page. The videos don’t have to be slick and professionally done either, it’s more important to offer valuable and/or entertaining information.

Wordpress

Wordpress is a blog style website, which means it is designed to create a series of ongoing articles. But you can use it as a basic brochure style business website by creating pages. There are many different themes available to differentiate your site and provide consistency with your business branding. It is a free service, and for only $10 per year you can use your own domain name. The non-technical person may require some assistance to set it up, but after that with a couple of pointers you can be up and running. For more complex requirements, Wordpress also offers a version that can be installed on a web server and customised to your requirements. Most people will require the services of a website developer for this.

These tools can be used as the basis of your online marketing strategy, and are very low cost. Make sure you back them up with a good business plan and professional advice.

I’ve discussed Facebook privacy settings in this column previously. For most people I recommend setting your privacy level to maximum, only letting those who you choose to be Facebook friends to see your data. That way you can share personal photos and life updates with your family and real friends, and know that no one else can access them.

Business pages can’t be ‘Friends’, so they can’t see your private data, you ‘Like’ them instead. When you Like a business page, you are simply subscribing to their updates. You can engage with the business by commenting on their wall, but your privacy settings are still respected as you need only disclose your name and photo.

When you have a business page, you can switch your identity to that of the business. I think of it as switching hats. You can see which hat you’re wearing by looking in the account tab at the top right. You can have multiple business pages, but only one personal account that you use to log in with.

Last week I received a Facebook friend request from a local organisation who were promoting an event. This is an organisation that I am happy to receive updates from. However, because they were set up as a personal account, I couldn’t ‘Like’ them and then get their updates, the only option was to ‘Friend’ them, which would open up all my personal data. And because the account is in the name of the organisation and not the name of a real person that I can identify, I have no idea who or how many people would have access to my personal information. I had no choice but to decline, therefore missing out on future updates.

In another example last week  I had my business hat on, using Facebook as my business page, to promote an upcoming event of my own to other businesses and organisations that would be interested. Some organisations that I came across were set up as personal accounts, and because a business can’t access a personal account, I couldn’t post details of the event to their Facebook wall. I would have had to switch back to my personal account and request to be their Friend, which introduces the privacy access issue again. And I want to promote the event as the business, not as an individual.

Try this: Go to Account > Edit Friends > Select All Friends, and look at your friend list. If there are any businesses or organisations there, send them a message to set up a business page, and you should consider removing them from your Friend list.

Here’s the steps to set up a business page:

1. Log in to Facebook with your personal account
2. Go to www.facebook.com/page and follow the instructions

Too easy!

Info page

In the left column under your profile picture are links to different sections, these are called tabs. The tabs ‘Wall’ and ‘Info’ are always at the top.

Click on Info and have a look at your information page. Can you improve it? Click ‘Edit Page’ at the top right to make changes.

Make sure you complete the information section as completely as you can. Think of it as your own mini website within Facebook.

• Fully complete your address, email, phone and website information.
• The first 75 characters of ‘About’ will display under your tabs, so make sure is concise. You can enter 254 characters in total to this section.
• The Description, Mission, Awards and Products sections have no character limit, so go ahead and write lots about what your business has to offer.

Logo and branding

Your profile picture is the main place where you have any control over the branding and design of your page. Unless you are handy with graphics software, it might be worth getting a professional to make up a graphic for this section.

If you decide to just use a logo, make sure it is square, with some padding between the main content and the edges.

The maximum dimensions you can use are 180 x 540 pixels. If you use the full size, incorporate a square region that will be used next to your posts. (see example).

Username

Once you’ve got your page set up, it’s a priority to get 25 ‘Likes’. When you hit that magic number, you can create your username, which gives your page a friendly address that you can put on your business cards etc, like www.facebook.com/yourname.

Photos

At the top of the Wall is a display of 5 photos. Make sure you upload at least 5 photos or this area will appear empty. Be creative, you can upload photos of products, your premises, the local area, your staff etc.

Wall

Post to your Wall regularly. You should be able to find something to share with your fans every day! Specials, News, Tips etc, it doesn’t have to be much. Always respond to comments left by others on your wall.

Promote

Put your Facebook address on everything. Website, business cards, email signature etc. The more people who visit and Like your page, the more people you can keep informed with your great updates!

Fan Gate

This is an optional extra for the more advanced Facebook page. A fan gate is a specially designed landing page that encourages a person to click “Like” by offering an incentive, which is presented instantly afterwards. It’s a great method of growing fans, but a bit technical to implement, as it involves third party applications.

By following the above tips, you should be well on your way to using Facebook pages as an effective (and cost effective) marketing tool for your business.

Come along to the next Maleny Commerce breakfast function to find out what it is, how to get started, and how you can use it to generate new business.

Nathan will explain how to use LinkedIn to:

• Build and maintain business relationships
• Increase your exposure
• Improve your Google search results
• Facilitate job search and recruitment
• Generate sales leads
• Stay on top of industry trends

Venue:      Maleny Hotel, 6 Bunya Street Maleny (Google Map)
Date:        Tuesday 9th August 2011
Time:        7.00 am for 7.15am start
Cost:        $15.00 Members – per person
$20.00 Non-Members – per person