ATILUS - Web Design | Internet Marketing

Twitter - Right For My Business?

I found an article late last night entitled “Bye Bye Birdie: Why Twitter is on the Outs” that really sparked my interested in writing this article. The question of 

“Should your business use Twitter?” 

has come up more than once and it’s mostly been lumped in with social networking. In general I feel, and this is entirely my personal opinion, the answer is simple - it’s a NO. 

SHOULD YOUR BUSINESS USE TWITTER? 

NO!

But, such a huge conclusion requires some back story and justification. First what is Twitter?

What is Twitter?

Twitter’s mission, or explanation of their service has changed over the years. It started out as a “micro-blogging” service, that allowed you to answer the question, “what are you doing right now?” They have since updated this mantra to read “Discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” Although each is relevant, the term “micro blog” might be the best answer to what exactly is twitter. It allows you to setup a page and immediately begin broadcasting content (small messages). Those that follow you are immediately notified when you post something. And alternatively you can read what others are writing and be notified when someone you are following makes a post.

My history with Twitter: I was initially introduced to the service and started using it lightly in 2007 at a web application developers conference in Miami. Back then no one had heard of it (I feel like I should be wearing this T-Shirt). It was hot in the web development community, mostly because of its creator Evan Williams, who also created Blogger. It was hyped as the next big thing… and guess what, it’s become the next big thing. But, I personally feel it is a trend, a site that, while allowing a valuable conversation to be discussed, is being ousted by similar features on more relevant, and better aligned tools (ala Google Buzz or Facebook’s status tool).  I remember being introduced to the tool at the conference and literally thinking “what the f@#! is this? who is going to use it? and how will it make money?” To me it always seemed like a cool little tool, but one that the masses would never fully adopt. 

And they haven’t. 

Here’s the problem with Twitter: 

Twitter introduced the masses to the idea of a “status.” Allowing all of us to tell everyone we found necessary, or everyone that was curious, exactly what we were up to, what we were thinking, doing, etc. But, unfortunately I think others are taking the reigns and soon Twitter will be no more. Let me explain.

As outlined in the terrific article Bye Bye Birdie: Why Twitter is on the Outs… very few people actively use twitter. Here are the stats from the article, broken out from the linked video regarding social media from Edison Research.

Twitter Usage in America 2010 from Tom Webster on Vimeo.

The Good: 

• only 5% of people in the US knew what Twitter was in 2008
• Nearly 90% of people  in the US know what Twitter is in 2010! (That’s an 1800% increase!)

The Bad: 

• in 2008 less than 1% of people in the U.S. were using Twitter
• in 2010 approximately 7% of people use Twitter

The Ugly: 

• Only 1/3 of twitter users use it daily
• in 2010 roughly 41% of the population has a Facebook profile, making Twitter, relatively speaking, very well known, but not widely used.

Conclusion

Considering the ubiquity of twitter, the fact that it is here is undeniable. But, the numbers speak for themselves. As the video referenced above highlights towards the end, traditional media has been responsible for the explosion of the KNOWLEDGE of twitter.

I remember it was being referenced daily during the elections in Iran as a source by CNN and others on what was happening on the ground at that time.

But, awareness is NOT the same as use, and relatively speaking very few Americans actually use Twitter. And this makes sense. In comparison to similarly released tools from Facebook (which has a MUCH larger national and International audience) Twitter is confusing and requires one to duplicate their efforts (IE, why would I use twitter when I’m already connected to those that are important and can broadcast what I need on Facebook?).

The answer is simple - Twitter is more public - but your average user may not want that and even if they do, explaining the difference is difficult.

Finally, there’s the matter of simple business sustainability. How will Twitter stay afloat against juggernauts like Google? Google is already making money from AdSense/AdWords, monetizing their newly released Google Buzz through their network of small text ads. Twitter has yet to find a way to make money.

For all of these reasons I believe that although Twitter can and does provide value, it will not generally be the best use of your time as a person or company looking to market your business online. It should definitely fall to the wayside at this time in terms of priority. And I hesitate to say this trend (twitter) will continue to be around in the next 2 years. 

LinkedIN Advertising Review

Are you thinking about using LinkedIN’s advertising? Well I was too! And as I explained in a previous post… I like to test all advertising and new technology on Atilus BEFORE applying it or pushing it to clients. 

About two weeks ago I wrote a post about our decision to test out LinkedIN’s advertising system after being offered a substantial coupon via email.

After two weeks of using the system (and the entire $250 coupon) we have come to some conclusions.

LINKEDIN STILL HAS A WAYS TO GO BEFORE IT’S ADVERTISING SYSTEM WILL BE OF LARGE VALUE

Okay, let me clarify some points on this. First of all, if you’re considering using LinkedIN you must first consider WHO is on LinkedIN… consider the website’s audience. Personally I like that it’s NOT facebook. It is not a site for everyone and their grandmother (no offense to grandmother’s out there).

...I love grandmothers (that was for you Jessica)...

Attempts at getting inflated birthday gifts aside LinkedIN is a business networking site, geared towards the true networking of business professionals. Personally I am ONLY connected to people I have actually met and done business with. I don’t have “friends” on LinkedIN. However, I don’t really use LinkedIN. I keep my resume up to date. I keep my recommendations up to date (for Atilus’ references/testimonials). I will occasionally go on the site because an old associate messages me. But, other than that I don’t use the site. I only see it being used for the above purposes as well as two others:

• Searching for a Job
• Asking Questions (they have a nice, if redundant Q/A section)

With that said… do all of the above offer enough opportunity for YOU (a potential advertiser) to get your message in front of a targeted audience? To give you an example if you were promoting a full-proof method to get hired, perhaps a guide to resumes/job solicitations, LinkedIN would be perfect. Personally, after millions of impressions and hundreds of dollars spent, we received only a few clicks and no actual leads. LinkedIN turned out to be MUCH more expensive, and less targeted (at least for our business), than other pay per click methods (AdWords, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook).

Additionally even if the people on LinkedIN performing the activities I mentioned above appeals to you and your business, I think the system has just a little bit farther to go in the way of targeting. For example only a limited number of targeting options were allowed and geographically speaking, their are a very limited number of major metropolitan areas offered. This meant I had to make a trade off between how targeted my audience was AND I wasn’t able to present my message in front of a geographically relevant audience.

Have your own opinions on LinkedIN’s advertising platform? Leave a comment!

Fort Myers, Naples Court Reporting

We are proud to announce our new client Gregory Court Reporting Services. 

After being introduced to Laura Gregory, the owner of Gregory Court Reporting Services, and a few meeting regarding strategy and marketing, we have officially begun work together in order to further market and promote the GregoryCourtReporting.com website. Initially we will be marketing the website via search engine optimization as well as making a few small adjustments. In the near future we hope to totally redesign the website and further market the website using our other tools (including pay per click marketing and social media). I’d like to personally thank Laura for taking the time out of her busy schedule to meet with me and to trust that Atilus will deliver increased visitors, leads and sales through our strategic search engine optimization package. For more information on the firm please continue reading…

About Gregory Court Reporting Services

Are you looking for court reporting in Lee County? How about court reporting in Collier Countyf?

Whether your law firm is located in Southwest Florida or your case brings you here, Gregory Court Reporting Services has 5 locations throughout Southwest Florida to help meet your needs. You can rely on Gregory Court Reporting Services’ years of experience to deliver accurate legal records. No matter what you need, all of our records, transcriptions and other services are fully documented and archived. In addition to conventional fort myers court reporting Gregory Court Reporting Services also offers other transcription services including:

• Medical Examination Transcription
• Expert Witness Testimony
• Depositions
• Corporate Meetings (held in our gorgeous offices throughout Naples, Fort Myers, & Part Charlotte)
• Sworn Statements
• Private Conferencing (via state of the art video and audio conferencing equipment)

Gregory Court Reporting employs the latest technologies to produce prompt, precise transcripts, while ensuring the integrity of the testimony.

For over 20 years Gregory Court Reporting Services has been providing transcription and legal court reporters for thousands of clients throughout Southwest Florida.

Does My Website Hosting Matter?

You damn right it does! (and Google’s here to back me up)

When it comes to hosting we’ve done and seen it all. From both perspectives - your perspective as a client, you want your website to “just work” operate, come up, and your email to work. And as a development company, working with servers, with hosting reseller companies, etc.

A quick back story on Atilus’ hosting:

Initially we started out with the cheapest solution we could find. We could buy a large amount of space at discount host XYZ company and then resell to our clients for hundreds of percent profit! Unfortunately, it came back to blow up in our face - MORE THAN ONCE! Our first server went down - along with around 20 clients (only 20!) and was down for days. ALL of their emails were down - and what business doesn’t collapse now a days with out email? None, every business runs on email. We spent nearly 100 hours on the phone with support over those few days trying to correct the problem. We decided to switch hosts… but again, to a cheap host. And then it happened again! Despite all of these nightmare scenarios, this cloud had/has a silver lining. It was a slap in the face and a wake up call - don’t get greedy, offer a solid service at a competitive AND profitable price. Switching, and changing our prices has allowed our business to scale and our customers to remain blissfully ignorant of the nightmare of NO EMAIL.

Back to you and your question: “Does My Website Hosting Matter?” 

We are often asked about hosting. We talk about hosting at EVERY new meeting with a client and most have purchased, or are planning to purchase hosting, but have questions. Occasionally, we have a client that hasn’t heard about hosting. Hosting is simply where your website sits, the computer that serves it up when you type in your address. Your website has to live somewhere - your hosting is where IT (your website) is stored.

Hosting Matters

Hosting matters for 1 major reason:

1) Crappy Hosting Costs You Money - Subpar hosting will ALWAYS cost infinitely MORE than the price of a premium hosting service. 

Here’s a tiny example, we lost email using a bad host a number of years ago and is reflective of what we experienced:

If you lose email for 4 days

and your company only has 3 people…

and those 3 people (making $10/hr) can’t work because email is down

you will lose roughly $720!

This is a tiny company, with poorly paid employees. For a conventional website and email hosting a whole year will never cost $720. Even if you have hosted exchange (a much more conventionally expensive form of email) for 3 people it won’t cost anywhere near $720!

I’m probably boring you with technical details. But… that’s not all… 

Bonus Reason: Your Hosting Affects Your Marketing

“Say what? How can hosting effect my marketing”, you’re probably asking? Well it’s simple, Google, and other search engines want to provide a quality experience for searchers… so if your website is NOT consistently up, you’re not going to provide that kind of experience. You will be ranked lower. Google has said this before, and Matt Cutts just reiterated it, your hosting affects your search engine results!

Top 5 Tips for Managing Email

Are you swamped by your email? Do you have tons of messages coming in everyday, so much so that you’re beginning to become overwhelmed? Me too! Or maybe you’re slowly getting more and you’re looking for tips on managing your email better before things get out of control. Regardless of what situation you are in, here are a few tips from me - Zach - an email master, that should help you out!

Give me 2 minutes - read this article - and I promise you will save tens if not HUNDREDS OF HOURS over the next year(s). 

I get around 100 - 200 emails per day, and send around 50 (in addition to any number of meetings and about a dozen phone calls). But managing all of this communication, particularly email is easy if you follow these tips for managing your email more efficiently:

1) Stay Organized

What does your inbox look like… go ahead, take a look, I’ll wait... is it overflowing with thousands of messages? Or is it nice and neat?

If it’s neat, move on, but if your “inbox” is where you keep EVERY message, you ARE going to have a problem. If not now, then pretty soon, your email will overwhelm you.

Start creating folders, sub-folders, or tags for your messages immediately. Go through that large list, create appropriate folders, and start dragging and dropping. I particularly LOVE outlook because folders can be created in seconds, and email can be quickly organized.

2) Use Your Inbox as a To Do List

Again, I love Outlook. Why do I love outlook so much (even MORE than gmail, which has a similar feature)? Well, as you may have noticed you can click on a message to flag it… when something comes into my inbox and I need to take action on it, particularly something important, I flag it, and move on.

I will deal with it later.

Everything in my inbox is an actionable item, everything else (stuff I’ve completed, people I don’t need to get back to, or newsletters) get filed immediately or automatically. The stuff in your inbox should ONLY BE STUFF YOU NEED TO DO WORK ON! And if there is ANYTHING that needs to be done in regards to the email, even a tiny-baby step at the end… it stays in the inbox until it is complete.

3) Automatic Filing

That last tip brings me to my next tip… filing automatically. No matter what software you’re using for your email, it has a feature to AUTOMATICALLY FILE MESSAGES. Here at Atilus, I get about 1000 automatic notifications a month because of some of the software we have (analytics, scheduled invoices, etc.). I don’t need to read them all (although I do need to keep copies), but because of the way the software works I must get them. Instead of manually filing them each month (taking probably about 30 minutes/total), I’ve instead created rules in outlook to automatically file them away. 

For more information on auto-filing emails in outlook check out “creating a rule” in outlook.

4) Say NO to Email

“What, Zach… this article is ABOUT EMAIL… how can I say no to email!?”

Studies have shown that multitasking actually SLOWS YOUR ABILITY TO GET THINGS DONE. You can get much more done if you “chunk” (I know it’s a funny word - it makes me think of a large chipmunk). Joking aside you’re wasting tons of time keeping your outlook open and jumping back and forth between new emails and the actual work that gets interrupted. Sure, your response time might look amazing to your clients or customers, but that is MEANINGLESS if you don’t get stuff done!

So what do you do?! Only read email a few times a day. Outside of that… I turn it off and actually DO work. Spending a lot of time emailing (communicating) actually creates MORE WORK, which is great… but it actually NEEDS TO GET DONE! Writing emails however, although at times necessary, is not the core of what needs to be done. For example, I received a request this morning for a new possible job with information. I need to create a proposal. If I continued to spend all of my time emailing people, that proposal would not get generated. 

What Should Your Email Schedule Look Like?

This works for me: 1st thing in the morning, mid-afternoon (around 1pm - 2pm) and then again in the evenings. 

Other than that… I’m working on the things that need to get done at the company, or work for clients. 

5) Manage Expectations

One of the big things I’ve learned in business, and in life over the last half decade is to manage people’s expectations. Be they friends, lovers, or clients, people have expectations of you - sometimes they are implied and not even directly communicated.

So you need to take control.

I remember reading about email response time expectations a few years ago (not sure where, or if the numbers are even that accurate), but apparently people expect a response to email in less than 15 minutes. That’s right, no matter where you are, what you’re doing, people want to get a response from you in 15 minutes. And is it any wonder? With smart phones and ubiquitous wireless access, you can have access to your email pretty much anywhere, anytime.

Recently I was one of those people that wanted a quick response:  

I emailed one of our software providers a question. It took them 5 days to respond. I was shocked. Although I never expected customer service from this particular vendor (they provide hosted project management solutions) I didn’t expect such a delay. We’ve spent literally tens of thousands of dollars with them over the last 5 years! But, in truth, it WASN’T an important question, and just needed to be answered “whenever.”

Anyway, your customers are thinking the same way. And how do you deal with this? Be upfront about response times, and if you do receive an email, shoot a VERY quick one back letting them know when you’ll be able to answer or address their problem, question, or inquiry. It’s that simple. Hell - you can take a week or even months sometimes to address something, but just letting them know when will keep rapport. 

CAUTION - be sure that you keep the message in your inbox (see tip #2) and DON’T forget what you promised. 

If you follow these 5 tips for managing email, you should be able to save time and do business more efficiently over the coming years. As always, if you have any questions, or tips of your own, feel free to comment below. I’ll be happy to hear from you!