Digital Marketing News in the Tampa Bay Area and Vestal New York.

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Let Sun Sign Handle your Mobile Website

If you’re not yet familiar with the changes taking place with Google, here’s the skinny. If you don’t have a mobile website, you could be dealing with a significant drop in search rankings. A mobile website means that its elements and functionality is compatible with any mobile device- therefore any visitors you get will be have a pleasant experience on your site instead of having scroll and zoom, scroll and zoom in order to read or navigate through. Often times, a mobile site serves as an abbreviated version of your desktop site, content is cut as well as certain elements that may not be especially important to a mobile user. With 64% of smartphone users accessing the internet via their phone, and Google’s latest changes to rankings it’s pretty much imperative that your business has a mobile website. It can be a bit overwhelming, not sure where to start? No problem, that’s what we’re here for!

Sun Sign Designs is currently offering a mobile design and development special at $500. Our team of knowledgeable experts will custom design and build your business a user-friendly mobile website with quick turnaround and we will also seamlessly integrate it into your current desktop version website. Don’t sweat it if you’ve not yet transitioned into a mobile-friendly site, you’ve still got time. Sun Sign is on your side and make sure that your business is up and running on the web in no time. Call us today to take advantage of our $500 mobile website design and development special! 570-594-4216

Keeping Social Media Current!

Well, you’ve got your Facebook page up, company information and a number to call- but now what? Most business owners realize the importance of having social media channels for their companies, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc but unfortunately, just having the page up with out-of-date content or no content at all actually does more harm than good. Staying current and having a plan for all of your social outlets is imperative, always remember… Content must be current!

Not only is it important to keep your content fresh and up-to-date on all of your social channels, but it’s also crucial that the content you are posting is relevant. Anyone visiting your social media channel not only wants to know what’s new, what types of specials or discounts you might be having and how you can help them but they also want to see that others are paying attention to what you’re doing and if there is any positive feedback. The only real way to grow your fan base and get your customers to leave positive reviews is to give them something to talk about! The first step in creating relevant content is to develop a strategic monthly plan. Whether you are developing a one-month approach, quarterly or 6-month, you must have goals established and specifically what you would like to accomplish per network for your business. Goals can be things like: gaining more followers, increasing engagement or driving foot traffic for a specific sale or special event. Once you’ve established your goals, you move on to piecing together a strategy. Strategy is key as your followers/fans will take notice on whether or not you are flying by the seat of your pants, finding things to post day by day or if you there is actually a method to your madness… You attract more eyes when you run customized campaigns/promotions and other giveaways, they want to know that you actually care about what  you are posting and want to see that in your content. There really is no “wrong” way of developing content strategy as long as everything stays in alignment with your pre-established goals, but of course, developing the goals themselves can be tough, also figuring out what exactly you should be trying to accomplish per network, time-frames, etc. Yes, it is a bit overwhelming… but no worries, because that is what we are here for! Our team of digital experts can and will show you the way to developing proper content strategies for your business no matter the network, the ways in which to manage your content and daily engagement and how to track whether or not it’s working! Content strategy? We can help! Social Media Management, Daily, Weekly, Monthly? We can do that, too! We are living in a digital society, it’s crucial to stay on top of your digital marketing efforts and as social media has now become such a huge part of our daily lives with networks growing exponentially, you must have a solid plan in place and way in which to carry that plan out. Call our team today for any questions you may have on social media strategy, management or tracking!

Google Will be Rewarding Mobile-Friendly Sites!

So… in a recent article you probably read about the importance of having a responsive website and how it affects the end user. Well, you should now know that Google is making major changes to its ranking system and it’s based around whether or not websites are mobile-friendly. Your site is mobile-friendly, you say? Great! Google will reward you in the rankings… Oh, yours it not? Well, the news is not  so great for you… With changes happening as early as April 21st, here’s what you need to know on the about the new algorithm.

If you’re thinking that you website is not mobile-friendly, you could be taking a fairly significant hit in Google rankings… No worries, there are ways in which you can test your site to make sure you are in the clear, you can also see exactly how viewers will see your site on their mobile device. Google will actually tell you that your landing pages and/or blog page is not mobile-friendly, why it appears to not be mobile-friendly, what types of resources are being blocked by Googlebots (robots) and how you can make it mobile friendly.

Not sure what Google thinks of your website? You can use this link to find out! https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ So, not only is it important to make sure that your website is responsive but it’s hugely important to ensure you have a mobile-friendly version. Your rankings may be decent now, but Google will penalize you if your website is not mobile-friendly. Don’t be left in the dark! If you’re unsure of how these changes in Google’s new algorithm may affect you, no problem… Call us! That’s what we are here for, one of our digital experts can help you in ensuring that your website is up to speed and if it’s not there yet, we will get it where it needs to be. Don’t let these changes set your business back, call Sun Sign Designs today 570-594-4216

The Importance of Having a Responsive Website

Do you keep hearing the term Responsive Web Design but you’re still not certain as to what it really is? RWD (Responsive Web Design) refers to the actual approach in which a website is laid out and the coding that goes into the framework of the site. Both of these components play an imperative role in providing an optimal experience for all viewers on a desktop, tablet or mobile device. Living in a digital society means taking the rights steps to ensure that your website is not only easy to navigate on all types of devices but also that the scrolling, panning and resizing is spot on.

When users go to visit your website on something aside from a desktop computer, they want it to be an enjoyable experience. Users are looking to find the exact information they would find on your site on a desktop right on their mobile device or even on a tablet. A responsive website should and will automatically adjust itself on various devices, these elements include: any text, pictures, video and navigation elements. The less zooming and searching around for the viewer means better end results across the board, it should  not have to take users several minutes just to zoom in close enough to read the text, try to search out the contact information and finally find a phone number 6 clicks in.

Internet traffic coming from mobile devices is growing exponentially, each day, more and more people are using their cell phones to do their banking, shop, communicate and pay their bills- hence why it’s so important to make sure that your website is responsive. It may seem a little daunting to have to pay a little bit more to ensure that your site is responsive or that your mobile site is setup in a fashion that makes it extremely simple for users to navigate but the cost is absolutely worth it and you will see that it can pay off in the long run. Imagine for a moment that your website was not responsive and that a potential client/customer went to visit your site on their mobile device… it was not easy to find what they were looking for, the search took forever and now the user is so frustrated that they simply close out your site, go to one of your competitors’ sites which is responsive and bam, just like that you lose a potential customer. Well, truth be told, it is that easy for that to happen if your site is not responsive! At Sun Sign, our team of experts are in the know when it come to building custom websites that are coded and laid our properly to ensure the best experience on not only desktops, but also tablets and other mobile devices. Whether you are looking to start from scratch with a new website or you have a website, currently but it does not seem to be responsive, we can HELP you! Call or email us today for any website inquiries or if you think your site is not providing the absolute best experience to its users. We look forward to hearing from you! 570-594-4216

Too Much Thought Into Social Media Posts

If you’re posting on behalf of a company on any social networking site, yes of course it is important to take a step back, re-read what you wrote and check for any errors before posting…But just how intense are you analyzing your content before publishing? A recent studied showed that individuals posting not only for personal networks but also for businesses are obsessing about the content in which they are posting whether it’s a photograph or plain copy- they are overdoing it. Why is it that people are becoming so obsessed you ask? It’s simple- Acceptance and Approval.

The fact that so much thought is being put into content posting for social networks is derived from the need to be accepted and feel as though others approve or even applaud what you are posting. Have you ever found yourself, well, missing the actual moment while trying to capture it whether it be a photo or combination of photo and text? I think we can all admit that we are guilty of this, but the fact of the matter is… If you’ve already established a content strategy for the business in which you are posting for, it should realistically make posting that much easier. Chances are you already know what type of content you want to post, right down to the actual topic. If you are posting content, think it through, type it, re-read for any errors and post it! Yes, walk away from the keyboard… it’s ok to press post. The more time you spend re-thinking what you are creating the less effective the content becomes—you’re actually over-thinking. If you are taking a photograph and posting it in real-time, snap the shot, edit whatever is necessary and post it! You don’t need to take fifteen different versions of the moment you are trying to capture because 1) You have most likely missed the moment if you’ve taken more than one photograph and 2) The first photo you took is probably just right for the occasion. You’ve got to stop doubting yourself and obsessing with how others are going to accept your content.

At times, I’ve been guilty of developing content for a post, sitting, reading and doing it again and again wondering if it’s just the perfect thing to post. What did this do? Wasted precious time that could be done doing something else! If you’ve got an effective strategy in place, move forward with it, execute it just as you have outlined and once you’ve done so- typing out text for a post or posting a photo, publish it, let it go and move on to the next thing. Remind yourself that while you sit or stand there obsessing, you are actually being counter-productive. The toughest part of social media marketing is developing the actual strategy… not the posting…So don’t let it be. If you are unsure of where to start as far as your social marketing strategy is concerned, that is what our experts at Sun Sign are here for. We analyze your business, do the research and help you piece together a creative yet effective content strategy for posting across various networks. We even get so specific that we can give examples of what types of photographs to use and we will write up your copy for you. If you’ve got questions on your social media marketing plan, call us today, we’re ready to help!

More Does Not Always Mean Better

Of course we have all had those moments where we think, Yes! More is always better… It has to be, right? In some cases, more can be better- but when analyzing certain marketing metrics sometimes more does not necessarily mean better… As a matter of fact there are metrics you really don’t need to tracking at all that you might think are important to measuring the success of your business, but in reality that is not the case. Here are a few!

  • Email Open Rates- These rates seem like a great metric to track, we can see the percentage of individuals that actually opened our emails compared to how many have been sent but be careful because this statistic can be misleading. Be you didn’t realize that an “Open” is considered an “Open” when images load in the received email…What does this mean for metrics? If the recipient’s email only reads in the text version or chooses to not have images open by default, these individuals will not even be included in your open rate. Also, just because someone actually opens your email, does not even mean that they read it. As an alternative, try taking a look at the click-through rates on your emails. These rates correlate your opens with who is actually going a step further and engaging enough to click through to your website and find more information on your business.
  • Facebook “LIKES”- We are all guilty of wanting our Facebook LIKES, whether they are page or post to increase dramatically with a snap of a finger. Obviously it looks better when your business page has 1,000’s of LIKES as opposed to 25 or even with a post but that does not always mean that you’re driving traffic to your website or that you are generating business for yourself. The whole point of posts on any social network is to create engagement for your visitors that make them want to go one step further and click through to your website to find more information on what you can offer them, just because you have a page LIKE or someone LIKES your post doesn’t necessarily mean it drove traffic or became a legitimate lead. Awareness is always important which created by LIKE-ing but we are talking real-time leads that turn into profit for you… When you are planning your content strategy, be sure when you are creating posts that you think about what will hook readers and drive traffic to click through to your website.
  • Blog Comments- Oh, blogs… Businesses blog for several reasons. They blog to gain credibility in a specific industry, for search engine optimization reasons/rankings and also helps to generate leads. It’s pretty standard to encourage engagement through commenting and continuing the conversation but these comments don’t always line up with your business goals of driving traffic one step further to maximize visits to your website. Just because someone comments on your blog post does not mean it is generating a lead or bringing traffic through to your website—leads are what matter, here. The actual number of leads and visits that are generated from an actual post are what you should be watching… Yes, engage with comments but also pay close attention to whether or not your traffic is coming from these posts (track links) and if they are turning into leads.

 

With so many social networks and online marketing tactics it is important to be able to measure only the most important metrics. After all, we only have so many hours in the day and they cannot be wasted paying attention to metrics that don’t really mean anything to us! There are so many ways to measure the success of various channels of marketing and although all metrics seem like they matter, you have to weed out the less-important ones. Unsure of how to do that? Our team of marketing experts can help you to understand which metrics are crucial to keep an eye on and which ones you might be watching that are actually a waste of time. Call us today for more information on how we can help grow your business and show you what’s working and what’s not.

Making Technology Age-Friendly: Designing for the Elderly

In this day and age when we think technology, typically we associate the younger demographic with knowing the most about it, and most often in the technology industry, most workers are in actuality…well, young.  Sit on this fact for moment- in the year 2030, approximately 19% of the US population will be over the age of 65, yes that’s a lot, in fact it is very close to the number of iphone users in the US currently. It’s important for those of you out there involved with design and development having anything to do with technology, that you consider all demographics, including the elderly- ageing can make the things we take for granted each day more difficult, especially when it comes to using technology.

There are some important things to take into consideration when developing to cater to an older demographic. With ageing comes both hearing and vision loss. After the age of forty, the lens of your eye actually begins to harden. This is normal as you get older but makes it increasingly difficult to read especially if text is small. Studies indicate that elderly individuals hands-down picked a tablet at 36 pt text to read over the standard 12pt font on the iphone. Whether you are developing applications or responsive site designs, give users the ability to adjust text size on their own. Ultimately, you could just avoid using any text smaller than 16pt but giving people the option of making text smaller or larger is more appealing. Did you know that color vision also decreases with age? Blue is perfect example. As you get older, deciphering between certain colors can be very difficult especially with the color blue; it tends to become blurred/faded and desaturated. When designing, take into consideration color usage and try to avoid blue for any major elements, especially if you are designing for an older demographic. It is true that the younger population tends to migrate towards technology more than the elderly but it is untrue that the elderly are afraid to use technology, as a matter of fact- they as long as they see a benefit to it they are very much open to it but it’s got to be user-friendly and accommodate them in the certain aspects that we mentioned above. They want to be able to control text size, audio, be able to see subtitles if audio/video is a major component of what they are seeing and lastly, make the content and functionality relevant. If you are creating something that requires a security question prompt—make sure it makes sense for everyone, for example try not to make a security prompt that asks the user What is the last name of the teacher who gave you your first failing grade?—Chances are, if the user is 70+ years old, they may not recall an answer like that…So make the content relevant.  Remember, when you are designing and developing to try and appeal to the masses, poor designs are excluding themselves from entire demographics.

At Sun Sign Designs, we all experienced in responsive design and development. Our team of experts can do anything from building you a custom website to designing your next mobile app. Have questions on design, development or the latest in technological advancements and how this might affect the end user? Call us today, we are happy to help! 570-594-4216

The Importance of Happiness in the Workplace

When you wake up in the morning to get ready for work, do you find that you could actually get up without an alarm, have your cup of coffee and just be fully ready to take on the day? Or… are you finding that you need the jaws of life to pull you out of bed because you are so slow-going to get yourself prepared for the work day?  A lot of how you feel in the morning relies heavily upon your happiness in the workplace. Whether you work for a small mom and pop business down the street, for a Fortune 500 company in a big city—Or you work for yourself, happiness in what you are doing is essential to success. Did you know that if you were to consider yourself “happy” in the workplace, studies have indicated that you six times more energized than someone who is unhappy and nearly twice as productive? In a similar study conducted amongst 180 million individuals, it was found that only 13% of those people considered themselves to be “happy at work.” We have outlined a few helpful tips to help ensure that you are able to flourish in your work environment.

One thing is always certain, you must remember that essentially, you are in charge of your happiness… You control that very aspect of your life! If you are in a position where you would not consider yourself to be happy, you’ve got a couple of choices, one you look for a new career opportunity or two, you make the best of it and try as hard as humanly possible to make it work because that is the only option. Either way, feeling down and unhappy every day will only make it worse. If you are in fact, stuck where you are for a long period of time, understand that it is out of your control, accept it and make the best of it- after all, that is really the only positive thing you can do and most importantly, realizing that some things are out of your control is the next.

A quick-fix would to clean up your workspace… research indicates that those who are surrounded by clutter whether it be at their desk or in general when coming home, are more likely to be stressed out. If you simply clear any clutter or messes you may have surrounding your work area or even your home- it can help immensely with stress.

Lastly, stay away from any negative people whether it is at work or outside of the workplace- these people can affect you much further beyond actually interacting with them. It’s important to surround yourself with the best people, whether that be your team at work or your friends and family… If you find yourself spending time with negative people you will notice that it eventually takes a toll on you as well and has the capability of changing your outlook on things. Remove any toxicity in your life that comes from these individuals, you’ll be happier for doing it! Ok, ok… really the last thing to remember is to laugh at yourself, well, really just laugh in general. It’s important to have a little fun and smile once in a while, if you are having a bad day at work, stop and smile—it’s proven to make you feel better. Whether it’s your favorite comedy, a friend you can count on for a good laugh or joking with your cubicle neighbor, do it! Loosen up and smile… it can’t hurt.

You don’t necessarily have to love what you to in order to be happy, remember that, but you have to take steps in the right direction to achieve happiness. Being happy in the workplace makes for higher productivity and raised energy not only to yourself but your work environment as a whole. If you are not happy, only you can change that. Always remember to surround yourself with positive people inside and outside of work—it’s important to achieving true happiness!

 

Major Cyber Espionage Group Discovered & Who this Poses a Threat To

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab in Russia have discovered a highly sophisticated cyber-espionage group that has pulled of some jaw-dropping cyber invasions unlike any in the past. Kaspersky researches have indicated that this group, known as “The Equation Group”  likely originated in the U.S. and has been using various malware and spyware tools to infect computers tied to not only the government but also telecoms, military, nuclear research firms and other major companies. So, who does this affect and what are the consequences?

Although, specific consequences cannot be pin-pointed, currently, researchers have found that this group has infected computers in over thirty different countries which could be hugely detrimental to many, worldwide. At a conference in Cancun, more findings revealed that the virus was similar to that of another developed by the group, Stuxnet, whose virus infected Iran’s nuclear plants and even ended up leaking into Russia’s plants as well. Although there were similarities shared between the viruses, researchers say that this current operation that was discovered makes Stuxnet’s virus look like child play.

The Equation Group may have been established as early as 1996 and boosted in development in 2008 with powerful cyber weapons that had the capability of affecting any Windows computer, USB sticks and even drive firmware—which is really quite incredible. Unfortunately this virus had a “self-destruct” mode which means that from the 500 computers that were recently found infected, thousands more could be out there but no one will ever know because the virus is virtually untraceable. Scary isn’t it? Unfortunately this is the risk we take living in the digital age… And although this a very extreme circumstance, the truth is any circumstance seems extreme when something of ours personal or business is compromised, it’s actually terrifying. This is just one case on top of many that relate back to internet security and the importance of protecting yourself and your business as much as you can online. Unfortunately this example is one of the highest level of security breaches and there would be no stopping this virus, but you as the end user can still take steps in the right direction to keep your information secure! If you would like to learn more about how you can do this, call Sun Sign today and see how we can keep you safe and compliant.

Twitter Launches Group Direct Messages…What Does this Mean for Users?

When I initially read about Twitter launching group direct messages all I could think about was the amount of SPAM people would now be exposed to and that this could be a little invasive for some. After investigating a little further I found that group DM could actually be a very useful tool!

Twitter group direct messages allows up to twenty people to participate in a group chat at one time. Any individuals within the group can freely add another to the group whether or not they are followed by the others. Essentially, this feature gives users like us more options for how we choose to communicate and who we are communicating with. These group chats give individuals a chance to communicate within small groups about a shared interest/topic.  Some are calling this feature a “social media network within a social media network.”

Group direct messages can actually act as a quick in and out meeting for some, including those who have accounts linked to a network of related Twitter accounts. Take for instance a chain beauty store that may have a Beauty Binghamton, Beauty Syracuse and Beauty Rochester account… When corporate gets a tweet about an incident at Beauty Binghamton, the social media managers for each can hop in a group chat and decide who is addressing the tweet and how. Rather than group emailing back and forth, cluttering inboxes or trying to explain the situation over the phone they can simply screen shot and start a group direct message and address from there.  It’s also being seen as a way to make informal introductions for not only work purposes or recruitment but for match-making, too!

Of course, there will always be a downfall and many, including myself are wondering about the trolling and SPAM aspect of it all- but for business owners and those trying to use Twitter as a viable media outlet for marketing, this could be hugely beneficial! Celebrities are the ones who have it worst right now—unfortunately for those celebs who have followed their fans back, fans have begun  the direct message group chats and started inviting their friends, frantically messaging in hopes that the stars will respond, it has actually become a bit over-the-top for some celebrities but unfortunately Twitter does not offer special protection for them. If you are a business owner or even a social media manager, look forward to take advantage of this new feature! If you aren’t quite sure how you fit in the mix or how it can benefit your business, give our team a call! We develop custom strategies for each and every one of our clients not just for social media but for other outlets as well. We are current with all of the changes going on in the social universe and how best to take advantage of these changes… We’re ready when you are!