Atilus Internet Marketing & Web Development

After speaking to one of our clients last week I found out some interesting information. I have two Papillion puppies which have found the baseboards in my villa to be a tasty snack. When our lease is up I want to replace the baseboards (its the right thing to do) but I have not found a way to do that. This was until I got to know Northern Contracting, Inc. a little better. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they specialize in residential and community repainting, repairs, staining, drywall, and you guessed it, trim (including crown molding, baseboards and more).

The folks at Northern seem to be really nice and honest people. And the buildings they’ve worked on seem topnotch. I encourage anyone looking for repairs, repaints and more to give them a call.

Oh, Northern Contracting also specializes in stucco finishes which reminds me that my two little “best friends” also ate some stucco off the porch. Yeah, I will be giving Northern a call about a month before my lease is up.

This isn’t web related, what’s this about?
I thought posting this section as a way of giving back to our clients and as a way to show them how helpful a blog can be. I will be showcasing one client a week so if you like ‘good news’ stop on by; and if you get a chance leave a comment or two.

Disclaimer:
I’m pretty sure that Atilus supports all of our clients (or they wouldn’t be clients) but I can’t say that Atilus endorses all of the actions of our clients, you know for legal reasons. So if something here doesn’t jive with you, realize I’m posting my opinion and not necessarily that of Atilus’. Thanks for understanding.

12 May | Post by Jermaine Primus. Filed under Business, Client Spotlight.

With the arrival of the next great internet boom – the internet marketing boom - the possibilities are limitless. The internet is exploding with new features and technologies such as interactive shopping, podcasting as well as newly emerging E-marketing tools and ideas. Among these new features are WiFi advertising (advertising to users of your WIFI network), and Internet capabilities on wireless phones such as 3G (AT&T’s network).

For those of you not in the industry, internet marketing is the buzz in the advertising and marketing world. With ever changing technology and improved techniques, and a now solid foundation of return, internet marketing is slowly coming to the forefront of marketing discussions.
And this internet revolution is even outpacing newer, less conventional forms of marketing and sales. Take for example traveling on any major airline. E-ticketing is available 24 hours a day and is convenient (whereas if you call the 800 or 888 number, you will be billed a transaction fee); you can print your ticket(s) 48 hours before the flight or 1 hour before the flight, at no additional cost attached.
I think that it is important that the advantages and disadvantages are carefully studied in contrast to traditional marketing. But that doesn’t mean the industry is without its evils. Issues that are still prevalent in and around internet marketing include: spam (which needs to be more heavily regulated), consumer loyalty (which needs to be studied more), and the different advertising strategies and performance that internet marketing has over traditional marketing.

However, one of the largest concerns of the general public is security and privacy on the internet. For example, if you read my previous post “Flirting with Diaster”, the attached You Tube video has a prime example of this: When Sarah Lacy asked the audience to begin asking their questions, an audience member stood up and said “What is the biggest obstacle that Facebook faces?” Zuckerberg replied “Building systems that allow users control of their applications/information.” The audience member replied, “Is it a security issue allowing users to control of their applications/information?” See how security is reiterated each time the audience member asks a different question? I have to say, it is a major concern of the general public, and must be addressed.

On the other hand, Internet marketing has truly revolutionized the marketing industry as a whole; traditional advertising and marketing firms better sit up and take notice and quickly adapt to the to the ever changing internet/technology as the general public consumes more media, does more searches, and spends more time online. Additionally one major advantage that internet marketing has that stands out ahead of traditional advertising is that with internet marketing you are able to customize and personalize your site from start to finish, making the process interactive between the internet marketing agency/firm and the client. And these custom solutions are growing the internet eco-system. For example, custom interactive shopping has revolutionized the way the general public shops, while improving the online shopping experience.

With that said, do you think internet marketing will revolutionize traditional marketing? You be the judge.

09 May | Post by Zachary Bouchard. Filed under Web Design, Business, Pay Per Click, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Clients, Tech Trends.

The SXSW (South by Southwest Interactive Conference) interview, March 9th, Austin Texas. This was no ordinary interview, chosen Business Week Journalist Sarah Lacy was to interview keynote speaker Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook.
I would like to be nice and feel sorry for Sarah, but the utter truth is this interview was a “trainwreck”. Because of Mark’s shy, nature it was uncomfortable for Sarah from the beginning because of her way of “personally” interviewing him. Throughout the interview she dropped self-references, and had a “flirty” style of discussion (body language says it all), further she enjoyed talking about her relationship with Mark as an interviewer, more than asking him questions about Facebook or the like.

It didn’t stop there however; Sarah did not connect with the audience on any level. Sarah in my opinion created an adversarial relationship with audience. At one point the crown became so upset and vicious with her she responded to the crowd by saying “You don’t know how hard my job is up here” and she said “I am trying to ask interesting questions….you think you guys can do any better?” After asking the audience to come ask their questions, she said to the audience: “If you think I suck so bad why don’t you send me an e-mail?” The next audience member then responded by saying: “what’s your e-mail address?” At this point the roar from the crowd was out of control. She begins speaking of his journal that he writes about his ideas for Facebook and that she heard that he burns them, and Zuckerberg says “I don’t burn them” He proceeds by saying “You have to ask questions”, if you watch the video you’ll hear the crowd roar and clap in Zuckerbergs favor. At one point in this utter disaster (supposedly an interview), she says “You’ve seen me throw a full glass of water at Michael Errington, I just want to warn you” Zuckerberg reaches for the bottle of water, and places it on the floor. What else could possibly go wrong?

There are two sides to every story right? or shall we call it “crisis management”?

Throughout the interview both Sarah and Mark took two completely different routes if you will. A few days after the interview both Zuckerberg and Lacy responded on her Twitter message by responding “Seriously screw all you guys. I did my best to ask a range of things.” This is clearly not the way to manage crisis, despite all of the criticism she received from the audience and bloggers days after the interview.

Zuckerberg, took a much more humble approach, he held a Q & A session , with a little humor Zuckerberg began the Q & A by saying “Yesterday’s Q & A wasn’t enough fun”. The audience asked him about privacy issues and where Facebook as a social network sees its self in the near future.

This keynote interview, had two sides to the story. Look at how Lacy responded on her Twitter message with a cold shoulder, and look at how Zuckerberg held a Q & A and humbled himself.

Was Lacy handed “the pink slip” after this interview?Unfortunately not.
Do you think Sarah Lacy learned her lesson? To be brutally honest with you, NO!

06 May | Post by Zachary Bouchard. Filed under Business, Community, social media.

First of all, let’s get this out of the way… you need a website. Period.

And not just any ol’ website, but a great website with clear, crisp professional, easy to navigate design with superb user ability and functionality. Furthermore, you need a website that is just as easy for you to use administratively, as it is for your site visitors to use.

It doesn’t matter if you are a national corporate brand, a smaller brick and mortar with ‘plenty of business’, a brick and mortar with only local business, or an ice cream shop that only sells to people between 5′10 and 5′11 wearing baseball hats before 3 pm only… you still need a website! Your business can be broad or niche, it can be large or small, and despite what you may believe… you need a website!

Now, what does a website cost?

Read the rest of this entry …

10 Apr | Post by Scott L. Clark. Filed under Web Design, Business, Design, Blogs, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, social media.

You will not be able to treat your customers badly.

You will not have time to hide.

You will not have time to cover up the mess.

This is a word of warning to business owners… watch out! Your customers could attack at any moment. Their razor sharp fangs, amazing strength and thick bones tear through concrete like floss through goat cheese…

Okay, they’re not that bad. They may not physically attack or devour the flesh of the innocent, but you still need to be vigilant about your treatment of your customers.

Why? Well (every other great reason aside), the Internet has given a voice to consumers. One website in particular, The Consumerist, is constantly championing consumers’ rights. The site’s stories routinely make it to the top of various social networks including one of my favorites DIGG, allowing the biggest (and smallest) of mistakes to instantly have a world-wide audience of millions.

Truthfully, I am just reiterating something I recently heard at the Future of Web Apps conference in Miami. The crazy Gary Vaynerchuk got up and discussed how he was able to - almost overnight - create a hit web show and star on Ellen Degeneres and Conan O’Brien, by being a larger-than-life Internet personality discussing wine. But, he said the key to doing business in this changed landscape this new Internet world of instant purchase, instant pleasure, instant piss-off is BEING ON, BEING AVAILBLE, AND CONCEDING EVERY POINT 24 HOURS A DAY 7 DAYS A WEEK.

If for example you have a social community or a web app you are building or facilitating you must be in there, in the trenches, loving, adding, and moderating the conversation all the time. Additionally, if you have a conventional business be prepared in the same way, answer emails at all times of the night, make sure to return phone calls, be honest, be up front, because there is no more hiding. Although I agree in part, the truth is that Social networks, user-generated (and voted on) content, business ratings websites, forums, all allow both the good and bad to spread like wild-fire.

And there is no better example of this than the recent Creative debacle. The story goes: Creative - a soundcard manufacturer - has yet to release drivers for Vista (preventing those with Vista & Creative soundcards from utilizing their cards). A programmer created his own driver, started distributing it, but was confronted by key Creative personnel on their forum and threatened with legal action. So madness has ensued. Users of the forum threw the story at DIGG (democratized-user-voted news) and overnight it’s had millions of visitors. As if the scolding comments on the story and in the forum weren’t enough, the story has prompted disgruntled customers to create a website:

http://boycottcreative.com/BoycottCreative.html

So the point is as a consumer – know you have a voice – and understand how powerful it is. And, if you are a business be careful and treat your customers right!

(by the way Gary – I sent you a message in Facebook and you never responded…)

03 Apr | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under Web Design, Business.