Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Law Offices of Justin P. Alexander have signed with Scriptable Solutions for a new website

The Law Offices of Justin P. Alexander have signed with Scriptable Solutions for a new website and mobile design!  Located in Rochester, New York, this legal practice covers everything from real estate to criminal defense to business law and more.  We will be designing and developing a website that will highlight their legal services and provide their clients with important information...case closed!  A quick pic of our work in progress will follow soon!   



View our web design portfolio to see some of our work.

Author: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=84

Thursday, June 26, 2014

The Top 5 Mobile Marketing Mistakes

There's good news and bad news for all of you mobile advocates out there. The good news: Among consumers, mobile usage continues to surge, and more marketers are starting to get serious about it. The bad news: While more marketers are executing mobile campaigns, not all are being executed effectively, leaving many mobile marketing initiatives with dismal results. While we all make mistakes here and there, a major mobile faux pas can leave quite an unfavorable impression of your brand with customers.
Of course there's no question as to why marketers industry-wide are eager to jump into mobile -- it has redefined the marketing standard. This is most notable in the retail market, as research reveals 47 percent of retailers believe mobile currently influences customer purchases more than half of the time. There has also been a dramatic shift in the path of purchase, with the customer journey now beginning on a mobile phone long before they walk into a store. It's the marketer's job to ensure a seamless customer journey, and that can only be accomplished when mobile marketing is done right.
Here are common mistakes marketers have made with their mobile campaigns and how you can avoid them.

Mistake: Not delivering optimized content

In a mobile campaign, providing optimized content and value to customers is essential. While this may seem obvious to most, a number of marketers have missed the mark. When executing a Black Friday/Cyber Monday email campaign in 2013, Amazon sent emails to customers that weren't mobile friendly. It's surprising that a company as progressive as Amazon would send an email with links to a non-mobile site when 50 percent of consumers now view emails on their phones. Another example of missing the mark on optimized content is the execution of messaging campaigns using MMS, which Macy's, Vans, and even Starbucks have all tried. But what often happens with MMS is the degradation of content using a one-size-fits-all approach. The resolution of an iPhone is drastically different than a Samsung Galaxy 4 or a BlackBerry. The user often receives content that won't work on their device or is illegible. Alternatives to this method include technologies like rich media messaging, which sends messaging content that conforms to each device's resolution and capabilities to ensure an optimal customer experience.
If a mobile campaign has flaws from the beginning, then there's little hope that the desired campaign objectives will make it out alive in the end. The initial planning for a mobile campaign is crucial, and success can only be achieved if we focus on the customer experience as it relates to the brand objective.

Mistake: Creating a complicated opt-in process

Using QR codes is complicated, which is likely the reason that they have delivered marketers with poor results. First, marketers going down the QR code route (depending on the target audience) are missing a hefty chunk of the consumer market, as a significant amount of them still have feature phones. Second, how many people actually have a QR scanner on their phone? Scanner apps aren't native apps for most devices. In order to opt-in to your campaign, participants would have to take the extra step to download the app, learn how to work the app, scan the QR code, and then hope that these steps will directly opt them into the campaign.
In the past, RadioShack included a QR code on one of its direct mail pieces. This technology landed scanners to a mobile website, which then input the consumer information online. Most customers have the initial thought that once they scan a QR code to receive special offers, the process should be over and done. Adding the additional step within a mobile campaign can lead to disinterest and complete abandonment from customers. So, keep it simple. Luckily for RadioShack's direct mail recipients, there was also an SMS opt-in alternative. But in a number of cases, marketers are leaving that option out, and customers are left feeling frustrated.

Mistake: Forgetting to spread the word to customers

Promotion is one of the most important ingredients in the marketing mix. Time and time again, brands have plans for great mobile programs, yet they forget to answer one question: How are customers supposed to find out about how to participate in the program? Just because you've built it doesn't mean they will come. Whether the aim is to drive opt-ins or app downloads, make your mobile campaigns efforts big and loud to the target audience. It's always recommended that multiple touchpoints be leveraged to encourage participation in a mobile program, which includes website, social media, in-store signage, etc.
It's no secret that a well-promoted campaign can generate big results. Avenue, a retailer for real-sized women, was able to achieve a 6,600 percent ROI with its rich media messaging mobile campaign by spreading the word to customers through social media, in-store, email, and online promotion. Avenue sent compelling images and attractive offers to encourage customers to opt-in, as well as suggest to their friends to opt-in to the campaign through social media. Leveraging all of their available touchpoints, the retailer was able to see a dramatic increase in store traffic and overall sales.

Mistake: Missing the call to action

Along with promotion, there also needs to be a strong call-to-action. Target made a critical error while introducing its in-store app. Customers were told an app was available to help their shopping experience, but the in-store signage didn't inform or provide a value proposition for downloading the app. While Target had good intentions to enhance the shopper experience, perhaps it would have been a little more helpful if people were informed of what the app did and where it was available.

Mistake: Not integrating a mobile campaign with other touchpoints to create a powerful omni-channel experience

Marketers who view mobile as a separate entity instead of a piece to the overall marketing campaign are missing an incredible opportunity. With all the options a consumer has to engage with your brand, it is very likely that every customer will choose a unique path to purchase. With that reality upon us, it is important to know how to direct traffic between your campaign touchpoints. From a mobile perspective, this starts with knowing your customers and the devices that they have in their hands. Unique technologies like rich media messaging allow the marketer to get this information in real-time and drive the customer to the next interaction point. This all depends on the device capabilities, thus resulting in an optimal brand and customer experience.

The bottom line

While marketers can't be perfect with every campaign move, there are ways in which they can avoid making these common mistakes.
Here a few tips to consider for your next mobile campaign:
  • Integrate mobile in to the overall marketing campaign.
  • Spread the word to customers.
  • Deliver optimized content.
  • Create a user-friendly opt-in process.
  • Include an effective call-to-action.
Keeping these tips in mind will help keep you on the right track to delivering real results with your next mobile marketing campaign.
Cezar Kolodziej is president, CEO, and co-founder of Iris Mobile.
On Twitter? Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.

Publisher: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=97

Medicab of Rochester NY has signed with Scriptable Solutions for a New Website

Medicab of Rochester, NYMedicab of Rochester has signed with Scriptable Solutions for a new website! This important provider of non-emergent wheelchair and disability transportation will soon offer online reservations, employment opportunities, and online bill payments to visitors of their website. Using Medicab's services will be as easy as 1, 2, 3. Stay tuned for updates!   

View our web design portfolio to see some of our work.

Author: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=76

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Tree Crisp Orchards has asked Scriptable Solutions to Build their first company website

Tree Crisp Orchards, Savannah, NYTree Crisp Orchards in Savannah, NY has asked Scriptable Solutions to provide them with their first company website, catapulting them into the online world. This Central New York apple farm will be using their new website to highlight their available crops, picking times, and fantastic apple products. We are going to have a lot of fun creating a web design that will be as sweet as their apples! Check back for updates... 

View our web design portfolio to see some of our work.

Author: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=77

Thursday, June 19, 2014

How To Increase Your Social Media Clicks

Want more traffic to your website?

What if you could double the click-through rates of your social media updates?
Extra traffic from Facebook, LinkedIn andTwitter would be nice, right?
In this article you’ll discover four steps for crafting a great call to action that improves click-throughs.

Why Driving Traffic Matters

Your website is the hub of your online marketing efforts. It’s where your audience can find the answers to their questions and where you deepen relationships with readers, offer value to visitors, and yes, maybe even encourage email signupsand purchases.
In an ideal world, you’d be funneling all of your social fans and followers to your website so you could do just that.
a blog post shared on facebookWhen you share your latest blog post on Facebook, you want your fans to click through and read it on your website.
Unfortunately, it’s been a time-honored struggle for businesses to get potential customers to take action.
In most cases, you need to give them a little push. That’s what this article is about.
Read on to find out how to entice your social media fans and followers to click through to your website where you can create a deeper connection with them.

#1: Tell Fans What You Want Them to Do

Most businesses make the same mistake in their social media updates: They don’thave a call to action that routes people back to their website.
In the example below, Evan Carmichael (a friend of mine), shared an image and quote from Michael Jordan. EDITOR’s NOTE: Please see the discussion in the comments section below. You should be aware of ownership and copyright issues when putting your name and logo onto an image that doesn’t belong to you.
branded image of a michael jordan quote on google+Branding images you share is a great first step to expanding your reach.
I love that Evan put his logo on the image, because when the image is shared, people see the logo and it’s more exposure for him. Unfortunately, it won’t drive traffic to his site.
In the future, Evan can leverage his sharable images to drive traffic by including a link (within the update, on the image or both) to related content on his site.
Amy Porterfield is another friend that is uber-smart and uses Facebook wisely. You can see in the example below that the quote she shared was liked 72 times and shared 53 times (at the time of this writing).
robert louis stevenson quote imageThink about how you can use shareable content to get interaction on both your social update andyour website.
While Amy is sharing a great quote and status update that encourages interaction on Facebook, the lack of branding and no link back to her site hurts her click-through rate.
To encourage people to interact both on Facebook and her website, she could ask the same question, but include a link back to a post that helps people brainstorm ideas or start a new project. That could be a nice boost in website traffic.
If she put her logo on the image, as Evan did, she’d also get more exposure when it’s shared.

#2: Give Fans a Reason to Click Through

Every piece of content you create should be used to help you deepen the connection with the people you engage with on social media. You can do that by writing and sharing smart stuff on your website that solves a pain point and leads your audience to the next step.
If people like what they read, then they may sign up for your email list or even consider buying something from you.
Marc and Angel are brilliant at using Facebook to drive traffic to their personal development blog; it’s usually their #2 traffic source each month.
Below you can see how they promote their audio book and entice their fans to visit their site. This kind of promotion and call to action can lead to big sales!
facebook post with text imageA smart mix of interesting text, an attractive image, a call to action and a link can drive a lot of traffic to your site.
So far I’ve given Facebook examples, but LinkedIn is also a great place to drive traffic to your website.
In the update below, Andrea Vahl created a strong call to action that included urgency. Her message told people what to expect, asked them to act quickly and included a link to her sales page.
linkedin link post with a call to actionInclude a call to action that gives your readers a reason to click over to your website.
It’s great to talk about your own products and services, but if you can get someone else to talk about them, that’s when you’ll see the real power of social media.
Fans and followers are more likely to click through when someone they trust suggests they should take notice of something.
For example, Jon Morrow tweeted out to his 28,000+ followers that an article at Copyblogger was worth their time (link included of course).
tweet with a link and attributionLeverage your existing network to create new relationships.
When a social influencer gives his audience’s precious attention to you, then you’re one step closer to getting that audience to trust you.

#3: Create a Cohesive Message

As you write and share your social media messages that (you hope) funnel people to your site, think about how all of the parts of the message fit together. If there is even a slight inconsistency, the reader will likely pause, then stop their forward momentum.
Ask yourself: Does the headline fit the image? Does the image fit the text? Does your call to action fit your goal, image and text? Does the landing page fit everything that came before it?
To get the most out of your efforts, look at which social updates, blog posts and advertising campaigns your prospective customers have responded well to in the past.
When you find the underlying connection and craft a similar message that recreates the response, you’ll start to see consistent improvements in your click-through rate.
And remember, the way you frame your message has a big impact on your success.
In the weeks leading up to Social Media Marketing World, Social Media Examiner was promoting a sale on tickets to the event.
facebook post that shows value
Providing high value is attractive to your fans.
The update calls fans’ attention to the high perceived value of the deal: If you buy a discounted ticket, you could meet Jay Baer and other influencers and be one of 2000 marketers at the largest social media marketing trade show.
The text, the image, the caption—the whole package—worked together to tempt fans to visit the Social Media Examiner website and buy a ticket to Social Media Marketing World.

#4: Make Your Landing Page Exciting

Now that you have everyone’s attention, what are you going to do with it? Where will your new visitors land when they get to your website?
If you go to the trouble of coming up with a great headline, writing a strong call to action and including a link to your site, it’s worth having your readers land on a page that gets them excited about what you’re asking them to do.
Gary Vaynerchuk knows that a great landing page focuses on the action that you want your visitors to take when they arrive from a social media link.
a blog post shared on facebook
Gary Vaynerchuk’s landing page has several options to let users buy his books, and a call to action to subscribe to his email list.
For example, you may want to share a free article with your audience in exchange for their email address.
Use your landing page to provide more information and another clear, strong call to action and the means to complete that action.
Conclusion
Strong relationships are an important part of conversion. The more value you offer your fans, the more likely they are to click through.
With a few tweaks to your social updates, you can draw your fans and followers to your website.
Be consistent with your messaging, brand your images, provide a clear call to action and share a link that lets your fans complete that action. You’ll see results in no time.

The Garden Factory of Rochester, NY has signed with Scriptable Solutions for a mobile web design

The Garden Factory of Rochester, NY has signed with Scriptable Solutions for a mobile web design.  We completed the design and development of their current website, GardenFactoryNY.com in 2010 and we are excited to be working with them again on this fun new project. Soon customers will be able to stop and smell the roses anytime they wish! Stay tuned for awesomeness...



View our web design portfolio to see some of our work.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Finally Twitter Acquires Data From Gnip

Blue keyboard twitter bird key generic



Twitter is buying Gnip, the data startup that has full access to the Twitter firehose. Twitter now has what it needs to deliver meaningful data to companies that want to examine specific discussions and activities, rather than just the content Twitter chooses to publicize.
Twitter has acquired Gnip, the Boulder, Colo.-based startup that specializes in giving users access to data from the Twitter firehose. Gnip is one of a handful of companies with full access to the stream of activity from Twitter, which has garnered it a lot of knowledge about how to deal with such immense data volumes and deliver it as a product to businesses. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
For Twitter, buying Gnip (which also provides data on more than a dozen other social media platforms, including Tumblr and Foursquare) means it can provide users with the type of data they’ve always wanted, but that Twitter never seemed too keen on delivering. Rather than providing arbitrary stats about tweets per minute or trending topics around entertainment events, Gnip lets its users search for and receive every single tweet (and all the surrounding metadata) that meets their criteria. Its most-used service is the streaming service, but Gnip also offers historical searches from the entire body of tweets.
Based on Twitter’s blog post announcing the acquisition, it sounds as if Twitter intends to keep Gnip’s business intact and, in fact, expand it:
“We want to make our data even more accessible, and the best way to do that is to work directly with our customers to get a better understanding of their needs….
“We believe Gnip has only begun to scratch the surface. Together we plan to offer more sophisticated data sets and better data enrichments, so that even more developers and businesses big and small around the world can drive innovation using the unique content that is shared on Twitter. We will continue making our data available to Gnip’s growing customer base. And with the help of Gnip’s Boulder-based team, we will be extending our data platform — through Gnip and our existing public APIs — even further.”
A portion of the amount of data Gnip delivers about tweets.
A portion of the amount of data Gnip delivers about tweets.
Gnip isn’t the first data-based startup that Twitter has acquired. It bought analytics specialist Lucky Sort in May 2013, but has yet to roll out that technology — which could be similar to Google Analytics for Twitter — into a service for users (at least far as I have seen).
Gnip is one of a handful of companies with complete access to the Twitter firehose, with the two other prominent ones being DataSift and Topsy. DataSift is very similar to Gnip in terms of the type of service it offers, and it announced in December that it had raised $42 million in venture capital and $73 million since 2010. Topsy offers higher-level analytics, including some simple search and trend data that’s even free to the public, and Apple bought it for $200 million in December.

Publisher: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=94

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Scriptable Solutions has just completed a mobile web design for Tom Wahl's

Tom Wahl's, A Family TraditionScriptable Solutions has just completed a mobile web design for Tom Wahl's, home of the Wahlburger. This family tradition has been serving root beer floats, and the best burgers in Rochester, New York since 1955! And now you can take Tom Wahl's along with you everywhere. Find locations, menu's, coupons, and much more on a variety of mobile devices! Now how's that for service?

Get mobile with Tom Wahl's

Author: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=79

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Google is considering giving a Boost in its search-engine results to Websites...

A powerful voice at Google wants websites to be more secure.
In a move that experts say could make it harder to spy on Web users, Google is considering giving a boost in its search-engine results to websites that use encryption, the engineer in charge of fighting spam in search results hinted at a recent conference.
The executive, Matt Cutts, is well known in the search world as the liaison between Google's search team and website designers who track every tweak to the company's search algorithms.
Mr. Cutts has also spoken in private conversations about Google's interest in making the change, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person says Google's internal discussions about encryption are still at an early stage and any change wouldn't happen soon.
A Google spokesman said the company has nothing to announce at this time.
Encrypting data transmitted over the Internet adds a barrier between Web users and anyone that wants to snoop on their Internet activities or steal their information.
Google uses its search algorithm to encourage and discourage practices among Web developers. Sites known to have malicious software are penalized in the company's rankings, for instance, as are those that load very slowly. In total, the company has more than 200 "signals" that help it determine search rankings, most of which it doesn't discuss publicly.
If Google adds encryption to the list, websites would have a big incentive to adopt it more widely.
"This would be a wonderful thing," says Kevin Mahaffey, the chief technology officer at mobile-security company Lookout. He says encryption ensures that a user's data can't be seen by others as it moves across the Internet, that it can't be tampered with, and that it gets to the correct recipient.
Internet users were jolted this week by disclosures that a popular encryption scheme, known as OpenSSL, contained a bug that could allow hackers to steal personal information. Still, despite any vulnerabilities, experts say it is safer to encrypt data to keep it secure.
Danny Sullivan, founding editor of the Search Engine Land blog and host of the conference where Mr. Cutts voiced support for encryption, believes Google ultimately may not favor encrypted sites in its results.
"Rewarding sites for [encrypting pages] in the algorithm would be a huge step," says Mr. Sullivan. "It also possibly causes an immediate change by all the wrong sites," he says, referring to sites that focus more on gaming Google results than developing good content.
Google is among many Internet companies that have moved to encrypt more of their services in recent years, including Gmail and Google Search. It stepped up those efforts last year, moving to encrypt traffic between its data centers after revelations that the National Security Agency was exploiting vulnerabilities in Google's infrastructure.
More websites are encrypting their pages. Still, some encrypt only parts of their pages, which can leave users vulnerable to attacks, says Matthew Green, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University. He says hackers can take advantage of such vulnerabilities by capturing "cookies," for instance. This can allow hackers to track where users are going to log into a website as someone else.
To highlight security vulnerabilities on the Web, Eric Butler, a software developer at Uber, in 2010 designed an extension for the Firefox Web browser called Firesheep that snooped on users logging into insecure websites, allowing the Firesheep user to impersonate that person at the push of a button. "All websites should be using [encryption] everywhere with no exceptions," Mr. Butler says.

Publisher: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=93

Veterans Donation Depot has just Launched their Brand New Website

The Veterans Donation DepotThe Veterans Donation Depot has just launched their brand new website, courtesy of Scriptable Solutions! This charitable organization is dedicated to financially supporting those men and women who bravely served in the United States Armed Forces. Visitors are now easily able to make donations, aiding and improving the general welfare of all veterans as well as finding recent articles, photos, upcoming events, and more.  A Great Cause + A Great Website = A Great Success!

Check out the new website for The Veterans Donation Depot

Author: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=85

The Patriot Soil Project is Officially Live and Ready for Visitors

The Patriot Soil Project's new website is officially live and ready for visitors! Through the planting and growing of hundreds of "Patriot Trees" across the United States, this remarkable foundation honors America's fallen heroes.  Visitors to The Patriot Soil Project will now find detailed information about this national initiative, how to become a part of it, and ways to support it. In addition, current photo's, press releases, documentaries, and ways to donate can all be easily viewed and accessed.

We have had an amazing time creating a website design that represents the integrity of this incredible cause and we are honored to have played a small role in helping. Keep up the great work Patriot Soil!



Author: Scriptable Solutions
Source: http://www.scriptablesolutions.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=82

A Mobile Website For Devara Is Up Next

Devara, a leader in the promotional products industry, will soon be mobile courtesy of Scriptable Solutions.  With thousands of distributors across the country, it is essential for Devara to be accessible on a variety of mobile devices.  Soon clients will be able to view product details and pricing with a click of a button.  Businesses getting fancy...we love it!



View our web design portfolio to see some of our work.

SOCIAL MEDIA USER TO PAYING CUSTOMER


Ultimately, marketing is about making sales. Brand recognition and engagement are simply aspects of revenue generation, but in the end, you want to convert people from users who engage with your brand via social media to paying customers.

Why Social Media


Social media marketing takes the relationship marketing theory to a new level. One of the keys to marketing is to build a solid relationship with the customer, and relationship marketing proposes that the customer-business interactions cannot be focused on the final sale. If they address the consumer’s interests and needs, then the brand loyalty and sales will come naturally.
Social media gives your company a platform to create these human relationships. It’s an opportunity for your company to be transparent and relatable. Use your social networks to humanize your company; let people see the soul of the company. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are not the best place to offer advertorial messages or coupons. This is where you explain the passion and social goals of your business and encourage the consumer to engage.

The Marketing Newsletter


One marketing avenue you can offer via social media is the company newsletter. The newsletter serves a special place in the conversion process—it is for people who want to increase their knowledge on a subject. Newsletters need to be full of topic-specific (usually industry-specific) information. Do not use the newsletter to give general information about your company, and remember that these are not update or feel-good pieces (that’s what your social media is for).
Take a hard look at your goals for your newsletter, and tailor the format and content to reach these goals. Are you trying to increase the number of leads? Better qualify people to speak to your sales team? Keep the customers you have? Gather your answers and create a plan of action.

Best Practices


Don’t just throw together a generic newsletter and hope it sticks, however. Follow these best practices so you’re not wasting your time (and theirs):