iOS App Development: Beginning with the User in Mind

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Scott Offord

When gadget owners use their iPad or iPhone application, what they really want is convenience. The last thing that these people need is to be overwhelmed or confused with the functionalities of app offers. The iOS app development and all the people behind this process are the ones that are responsible for the creation of a successful app.

Functionality Is Key

Before your jaws drop in wonder about how a single parameter can define the failure of success of an app, it is vital to take note of app usability. This covers all the other aspects of iOS app development from the biggest features down to the minutest details. So when it comes to the popularity of a certain app, it is safe to say that the key is functionality.

User-centric Development

When it comes to application usability, iOS developers must need to concentrate on the needs of the end user. These people’s preferences must be surveyed because not doing so will inevitably result into failure.

Developers must focus on usability because this means that you are essentially making the application more engaging or interesting. Once the user’s attention has been captured, it can be said that your app is bound to succeed.

Usability must also come with easy-to-use app controls. These should be configured with newbies in mind. If the developers are able to achieve this, then they can truly say that all kinds of users will have a grand experience (or zero difficulty) in using the app.

To be able to accomplish all of what’s been discussed, the developers must note their target market. They don’t just keep shooting. Of course, they need to determine who to market the apps to.

And if you’re aiming to develop your own app and be as successful as the makers of Angry Birds and other such apps, you need to remember these simple requirements. The iOS is a brand new platform so this is the perfect time to develop the applications that users would be downloading.

Keep in mind that the winning apps in the market are those that are user-centric – this is at the very core of iOS app development. Just read through the raving reviews of the most famous apps in the market today and you will realize that it’s all a game of user-friendliness.

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My Sister, ChrissyW… Specializing in Digital Scrapbooking Templates

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Scott Offord

In the world of scrapbooking, one name is evident… “ChrissyW”. Perhaps I’m a little biased though. After all, she is my sister!

ChrissyW, most notable for her work in digital scrapbooking, creates digital scrapbooking templates for the use of other scrapbookers, available on the website twopeasinabucket.com. ChrissyW’s templates are creative and strikingly unique. With a nod toward the whimsical, ChrissyW’s templates are designed down to the tiniest of details. Her emphasis on the details makes her a popular pick among digital scrapbookers. ChrissyW’s templates are made to be customized by the purchaser, making every page created with a ChrissyW design truly one-of-a-kind.

ChrissyW’s templates illustrate themes popular with her many followers. Her themes range from the staple seasonal and holiday themes, to hard-to-find themes such as her “SEW cute” kit which is sewing themed, or her “Lucky Bum,” a dog themed kit. Scrapbookers familiar with ChrissyW’s works of art find them easy to spot in a crowd, due to the always saturated colors, and fine-tuned elements that make her famous. Those lacking idea or direction are easily inspired after looking through ChrissyW’s templates, alphabets, papers, and elements. Against the characteristic vibrant colors and zealous designs, scrapbookers find that their photos and other memories simply bounce of the page.

Purchasing a template is really only half the fun. Adding to ChrissyW’s design with their own memories, photos, and style is a process scrapbookers relish. Scrapbookers, upon choosing and purchasing their design, have creative license to go wild with ChrissyW’s template. The raw materials provided give a thoughtful and fitting home for photos and other memories to live. While the creative leg work is already done, the templates inspire scrapbookers to bring their own touches to the design and customize the template, making the end result a cherished piece of personal art.

ChrissyW’s designs can be purchased in pieces or in larger kits to make things cost-effective for scrapbookers. Those looking for a truly individual design, made by a famous scrapbooker are quick to purchase from ChrissyW. The name associated with these works of art, and the trademark heavily designed themes make purchasing and using her designs a gratifying experience. ChrissyW’s digital scrapbooking templates can be found at http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/shop/_chrissyw_/digital-kits/

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Setting Up Google Alerts to Monitor Your Brand and Competitors

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Scott Offord

For any emerging or established business, staying on top of your competitors is a must. Any PR moves, announcements, offers, improved or altered services of a competitor could have a direct impact on your business operations, or even customer and client expectations. For this reason, it’s important that you are the first to know about any move your competitors make, or any changes in your overall industry. Similarly, any mentions of your brand, beyond official Web content and press releases, can clue you into the public’s dynamic perception, as well as any potential PR issues.

Google’s free “Google Alerts” service is an essential tool in staying up to speed. Essentially, Google will monitor the Web for any new content of specific interest to you, then email you an update of all the relevant sites, news and blog posts for your perusal. With regular Google Alerts updates, you can stay on top of all essential information.

Simply go to http://google.com/alerts to get started. In the box titled, “Search query,” type a word representative of the content you wish to be alerted about. This could be anything from your brand name or that of a competitor, or keywords specific to your industry. If you want to keep tabs on more than one query, don’t worry – you can create and manage up to 1000 alerts per email address.

Under “Result type,” choose the specific type of web content you’d like to monitor. This can include news, blogs, video, online discussions, books, or simply “everything.” Next, decide how often you’d like to be updated, ranging from “as-it-happens” to once every week. If your alerts query is something general enough to generate lots of results, you can change the number of items on every alert email by selecting “Only the best results” instead of “all.” Finally, enter your email address, click “Create Alert,” and you’ll be all set.

The toughest part of setting up a useful Google Alert is choosing your query.

For best results, you want to be as specific as possible. The more precise and fleshed-out your search terms, the more relevant results you’ll receive. Likewise, if your brand or keyword contains a unique spelling or turn of phrase, make sure to put quotes around the world or phrase so the alert content matches it exactly.

Hint: If you want to monitor a specific website, there’s an easy way to do that as well: type your keyword, then “site:” followed by the web address.

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Hiring a Professional Google Adwords Consultant

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Scott Offord

Setting up and starting a Google AdWords account is deceivingly simple. To beginners, the process is quick and straightforward. However, Google’s paid search marketing program has a surprising number of nuances under its plain veneer.

Mastering these nuances takes time and effort.

Google has recognized that not everyone is proficient in AdWords who claims to be, so they have developed a certification standard. A Google AdWords certified consultant can help any business increase the effectiveness of its Internet marketing campaign.

Google AdWords Certified Consultant Services

Google makes it very simple for anyone to start an AdWords account and begin racking up charges, but using those charges to build a profit takes specialized knowledge and skills. Hiring a Google AdWords certified consultant has several advantages and frees up the time of business personnel. The most important benefits are as follows:

  • Keywords – Like SEO webpage content, Google AdWords is dependent on keywords. If a business is not using the right keywords, then AdWords is not going to provide any benefits. A certified AdWords consultant knows how to research optimum keywords for a business. The right keywords provide a high and relevant search volume while cutting out the competition.
  • Click Costs – Click cost management is vitally important to any AdWords account. Through several optimization methods, an AdWords consultant can get ads higher rankings while minimizing non-conversion clicks. Every click by a disinterested party is an immediate expense that has no potential to bring in revenue.
  • Conversions – Like any type of business advertising, conversions are the ultimate goal of AdWords. Getting visitors is not enough. Each visitor to a website should be interested in what a business has to offer because conversions lead directly to profit.
  • Focus – A Google AdWords campaign must properly target demographics that are viable prospects for a business. Several techniques are available to professional AdWords consultants to ensure that ads are getting to those who want to read and click on them.
  • Organization – An organized campaign is an effective campaign. Collecting and analyzing data relevant to Google AdWords and a specific business takes organizational skills beyond the skills of using AdWords.
  • Change – As any business owner knows, markets are subject to change. However, many business owners do not understand that these changes mean that the effectiveness of specific AdWords ads also changes. A Google AdWords certified consultant can periodically monitor an account and judge its current effectiveness, suggesting changes to the account as necessary.
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Milwaukee Google Analytics Qualified Consultant

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Scott Offord

What exactly does it mean to work with a Milwaukee Google Analytics qualified professional? Aren’t all search engine optimization professionals and online marketing firms the same? Isn’t success simply measured by the firm’s ability to increase traffic by improving a site’s authority and visibility in the search engines? In order to answer these questions, think of the invaluable insight that’s gained from working with an SEO professional who has passed Google’s stringent certification standards. Think of the benefit of working with individuals who have the in-depth knowledge, expertise and essential experience that comes from working with Google Analytics and website optimization software. Think of how this training helps your company better navigate the constantly changing world of online search.

What does this professional qualification mean in terms of what I can offer your business?

As a Google Analytics consultant, I can provide invaluable insight into the latest and greatest approaches to increasing traffic. Want to run an aggressive remarketing program where your qualified marketing leads are never lost? Want to use dynamic call tracking to define how and when customers come to your site and what they do when they get there? Want to run a keyword-focused online PPC advertising campaign, one where your company remains front and center in your market? I can do all of this and more. Regardless of what you need, I can provide your company with the roadmap to grow your site’s traffic, while retaining more visitors and giving them a reason to return.

Website Analytics

My Internet marketing company in the Milwaukee area has employees who have already passed the testing requirements to be recognized as Google Analytics Qualified. For example, as a qualified individual, I’ve gone through the rigorous training required to be confident I won’t miss a thing when it comes to finding and fixing inefficiencies. Also, I continue to stay up-to-date with the most recent changes in search engine optimization techniques. Besides web analytics, I’m also involved in website design, conversion optimization and Adwords campaign management.

The world of online search changed dramatically in 2011. Gone are the days when websites could rely solely on well written content. No longer can sites simply rest on their laurels and most importantly, on static content that fails to engage its audience. Today’s successful webmasters must use multiple approaches to increasing the authority of their website. As a Google Analytics qualified individual, I can provide invaluable insight to help increase your site’s traffic and conversion rates.

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Conversion Rate Optimization

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Scott Offord

In a video on SEOmoz, Carlos del Rio talks about user-driven change and using conversion rate optimization to make great content.

conversion rate optimization milwaukee

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Wordcamp Chicago 2011

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Scott Offord

This Saturday and Sunday, the Milwaukee WordPress Meetup is showing our support at the Chicago WordCamp 2011.

To see the full schedule of events, click this link:
http://2011.chicago.wordcamp.org/2011-schedule/

Lunch on Saturday is at 12:00pm and I hope all of us Milwaukeeans can all find each other and grab a bite to eat.

Saturday at 2:30pm I will be helping to moderate the “Unconference” track if you’d like to participate in an open discussion about SEO. At that same time, in the “User” track, Mary DuQuaine will be presenting on “The Digital EcoSystem”. And in the “Dev” track, Jason McCreary will be presenting on “Configuring WordPress for Multiple Environments”. However, the choice is yours.

On Saturday, between 4:30pm-7:30pm there will be an After Party @ McGee’s  $15. Perhaps this would be a good place for all the Milwaukee folks to have an informal gathering?

I hope to see you there! ~ Scott

By the way… here are some ways to connect with me online this weekend:

Skype: offordscott
Google Talk: [email protected]
AIM/AOL: offordscottchina
MSN: [email protected]
Yahoo: offord_scott
Twitter: @offordscott

Find me on Google+

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Ode to Google Website Optimizer

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Scott Offord

Ok, so this isn’t a true “Ode” in the most strict definition, but I wanted a catchy title, and I figure this would allow me to more easily personify my favorite conversion optimization tool,  Website Optimizer – the oft-neglected bastard child of Google.

Google Website Optimizer,

I’ve experienced you… and oh, how thoroughly I enjoy your simplicity and power. You once inspired me to conduct “the mother of all experiments” one time, with disastrous results. The problem being you had made it so easy for me do!

What was I thinking… 164 variation multivariate test when I should have just stuck with a 2 version A/B test.

The allure was strong and I couldn’t resist. You promised to increase my website’s conversion rates, increase visitor satisfaction, and to eliminate the guesswork.

What’s worse is that then Filippo Toso had to go and make a WordPress plugin called Google Website Optimizer For WordPress

This plugin made it so much harder for me to resist the urge. I tried and I tried, but NO! I couldn’t stop myself. This is where the story begins. But where it ends … that is harder to tell.

Oh, Google Website Optimizer, I long to try you again. You’ve tested my website and you’ve tested my heart.

This conversion’s for you!
~ Scott

Posted in Conversion Optimization, Landing Page Optimization, Ode | Tagged | 2 Comments

Conversion Optimization or Conversion-Crazy?

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Scott Offord

I have been thinking a lot lately about website landing page optimization. In my research over the last couple of years, I’ve stumbled across many great example of “good” landing pages that are pimped-out, converting machines. Now, in the back of my mind, I have this nagging voice telling me, “…there’s more that can be done… just one more tweak… maybe this will work better, maybe doing that will get bring that sale.”

I’ve tried out various online tools that measure how website visitors interact with a landing pages and have tested the various elements of a conversion funnel, like: a strong call to action, the number of required fields on a form, the ease at which users can add a product to their cart, the proper placement of “credibility logos”, the use of customer testimonials, how many steps it takes to complete the process, and how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop (sorry, got carried away there)!

Anyways, you get the idea.

In my quest to quench that nagging voice, I’ve tried a lot of things.  Sometimes in vain. For example, this one time I conducted a 164 variation split test of a headline/call-to-action/button on an email sign up form using Google Website Optimizer. It was amazing (at first). The data started rolling in, but… too slowly. It would have taken me a year and a half to collect enough data to reach statistical significance! So, the next time I just ended up sticking with what I thought would be a winning combo. Call me crazy or call me mad. Just don’t call me late for dinner.

Ok, enough with the stupid clichés. I’m just ranting now. I’m not sure exactly what the point of this post is, but I figured I should get something online and write down my thoughts in a stream of consciousness style in a place that I can be free to be myself. As a human being who lives in Milwaukee, SEO consulting, web sales optimization, PPC management and the likes are what I love and do best.

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