Internship Job Description

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The site itself can be seen below, shown in a desktop -and- mobile view. If you are interested in learning more about responsive web design, feel free to read our short blog post on the subject. In short, it’s a way to built a website that automatically adapts to the device (whether desktop, tablet, or mobile) your user chooses.

Most importantly, we are grateful for the kind words that the client shared with us about his team’s experience working with WebSolvers:

I do know that it has been overwhelmingly positive and the launch was the largest viral traffic to our Facebook page we’ve seen. Big thanks to your team for the timely manner with which they delivered the site. With most of our time spent on the farm, in the kitchen and on the go, we needed a design firm that could quickly synthesize the multifaceted nature of our business into a cohesive and thoughtful whole. In short order WebSolvers designed and launched a beautiful new virtual home for our market that digitally embodies the same attention to quality and artisan aesthetic that we champion in the Good Food movement.

Bravo and Bon Appétit!

John Rife
Founder / Owner
East End Market

Here are the views of the site itself:

View of the East End Market (Orlando) Desktop Site

View of the East End Market Mobile Website

To visit the site and support this important vision, visit http://www.eastendmkt.com.

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I was recently asked by the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL) to deliver a webinar to some start-up ventures associated with its incubator.  The subject matter of the webinar includes marketing, web design, and Internet strategy.  The audience of the webinar is to be comprised of small business owners, marketers and technology executives.

I don’t conduct webinars very frequently, so I had a couple of questions about the best practices of duration, platform, and otherwise.  But one of the most pressing questions on my mind was *when* to conduct the webinar.  I was curious about the best days of the week and time of day to conduct a webinar to maximize attendance.  Like most people, I went to Google for an answer.

I typed  ’what is the best time to schedule a webinar?’ into Google.  There, on the first page of search results, was a blog post from AccuConference, a company that helps people like me conduct Webinars:

The first page of results for the query ‘ what is the best time to schedule a webinar?’

When I clicked on the link, I was taken to a well-constructed page (see below) from the company which contained its expert opinion on what days and times tend to work best for business people to attend webinars.  The page is clean, simple, and contains the right keywords in some of the right places.  And, most importantly to the company, I was introduced to the company’s products–software and services to help people conduct online meetings and webinars.

A well-constructed blog post that ranks on the first page of Google search results for a highly relevant search query.

We can learn a great deal from this example, but here are a few of the more important take-aways about content marketing:

• Blogging is not a waste of time!  This company has likely invested a great deal of time in creating relevant content to reach their customers.
• Content marketing meets people where they’re at and when they’re there.  If this company would have sent me a spam e-mail message months ago (when I wasn’t particularly interested in webinars), the marketing message would have never reached me.  Instead, this approach caters to a captive audience.  People who look for things on Google want them now, not later.
• A great place to start with content marketing is anticipating the questions your audience might be asking when they need your product.  This is not an exact science, but you can certainly brainstorm, talk to customers, and look to your analytics results for clarity.

In a world where we’re increasingly bombarded by more marketing messages than we can handle, seek not to become a part of that fray but to use content marketing to reach your customers at the exact moment they need you.

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Pickify is an iPhone app that helps you get feedback from your friends on important (or unimportant) choices that you face.

Some of the best ideas come from simply observing the world around us and taking note.  Our client, Dr. Rick Ross, is a prime example.

Rick is a doctor of optometry (he happens to be optometrist to the Orlando Magic) and has  observed an interesting phenomenon with his patients.  ”I have been noticing that patients who were unsure about which eyeglasses looked good on them would ask their friends for feedback.  Interestingly enough, they would take pictures of themselves wearing different pairs of glasses and e-mail them to friends and family to get their opinion.”  It was in observing this very trend that Pickify was born.

Pickify is a free app for people who want to get outside feedback on a decision they are facing.  It could be what dress to wear, what food to eat, or where to go on vacation.  Pickify users poll friends, family, and strangers on everything from what drapes look better with a rug to whether Lebron James is a better basketball player than Kobe Bryant.

Pickify can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and is free to download and use. We are also proud to announce that our work on the app was recognized with an Orlando Addy Award.

For a preview, here are a few screen shots that demonstrate how the app works.

Users can login with Facebook, Twitter, or with a valid e-mail address.

Adding a new poll is easy. Just take a picture (or add one from your camera roll) for each option you want to poll and click ‘Share.’

The options you arrive at are presented to your friends side-by-side. They can select the option they favor by selecting the corresponding check mark.

The voting results are displayed for you to see in simple percentages.

Your friends can also comment on your poll if they want to give you additional feedback.

For more information on Pickify, please visit the Pickify website (seen below) or download directly from the Apple App Store.

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• What are the strengths and weaknesses of our current website?
• How do you currently use the Internet when doing product or service research?
• How does what we sell differ from that of an online retailer like Amazon.com?
• How do you use social media?  What social media platforms do you use?
• Do you interact with companies on brands using social media?  If so, how?
• What social media platforms should we use, if any?
• How can a new website help us make new relationships with new customers?
• How can a new website help us grow relationships with existing customers?
• What are the product/service areas that we need to build more marketplace awareness around?
• How are our competitors using the Web?  Is there anything about their approaches that we should emulate?
• Are there any efficiencies we can gain on the service side with a new website?  For example, are there commonly-requested documents and/or frequently asked questions that we could post online that would save us time?  Are there forms we should move online?

Are there other questions you think they might use or that you have used internally?  Feel free to respond with your ideas in the comments.

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To start your website redesign with the Mobile First approach, focus on the content of your website and not the layout or design. Ask yourself:

“What do I need to communicate and what is the most straightforward way to communicate it?”

With many web users accessing your site from small screens and dealing with slow connection speeds, you want to get your content noticed as quickly as possible without using unnecessary imagery, bells and whistles.

How do you come up with a concise content plan without leaving your mobile users in a content void? Prioritize.

Gather your content

Create a list of the content you would like to include on your website.

• List current pages and pages you would like to add.
• List out featured content areas (such as call-to-actions to include on your homepage or in the sidebars).
• Think about the goals of your target audience:
  • What information will they be looking for on-the-go?
  • What information might they need while at their desks?
  • Will they need to perform a task, such as purchase an item or sign up for an account?
  • What information are they currently looking for, based on website visits (use Google Analytics or another tracker)?

Goals are the determining factor for content to keep and feature

Once you have created this list, consider the goals of your target users and your company. You may want to prioritize your list of goals. Think about users on mobile devices – they have a small screen and a somewhat limited Internet connection speed –  you may have a matter of seconds to get their attention and funnel them to the information they want before they give up. What is the one goal you hope they will achieve before they leave the website?

For help with your goals, ask yourself these questions:

• What information will users be looking for or what tasks are they hoping to achieve on your website? (example: locations hours, contact info, make a reservation, etc.)
• Are there tasks or information that users aren’t completing or looking for that you would like to drive them to?

Prioritize your content

Assign each content item a priority based on the goals of your target users and your company. If you have content that doesn’t meet a goal, consider removing it from the website completely. The objective is not to trash all of your content but to focus on specific goals and how to meet them. Make sure your users can get to the information they need and quickly. If a piece of content does not satisfy a goal, it will most likely clutter your website and keep your users from accomplishing their goals.

Using the Mobile First approach, think about your mobile users as you’re prioritizing. If your users only have a small screen and a 3G connection to view your site on, what do you want them to see and what are they looking for?

Bring your prioritized list to your web designer who will work with you to optimize the website design to accommodate your list of priorities. Remember to be open about leaving lower priority content on sub pages and off of the home page. Trying to design your website to focus on everything will make it impossible for users to focus on anything.

Start with the most important content and make it as simple as possible. Your designer will start with the mobile website and then can begin discussing other features you’d like to add to desktop versions of the website that would be nice-to-have but don’t necessarily achieve user goals. This will ensure that even those users with slow connections or old browsers will be able to get the gist of what you’re about and achieve their goal for being on your website.

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Since not every visitor will buy (in fact, most visitors don’t buy anything at all), marketers typically study the ratio between buyers and visitors.  If you sell your product to 3 out of every 100 visitors, your conversion rate is 3%.  Naturally, the aim of efficient promotion is to increase that conversion rate so that you sell to as many visitors as possible.  There are several ways to influence this figure, but we will explore them more deeply in a separate post.

As a marketer that is striving to increase efficiency, you might measure the profitability of your promotional activity by analyzing the cost of attracting these 100 visitors and analyzing the overall viability of the investment.  If it costs $1,000 to attract these 100 visitors, the cost-per-conversion comes in at $333.33.  The marketer has to then evaluate this rate and decide whether the spend is worthwhile: that figure is a total failure if you are selling a $29 widget but a complete success if you are selling a $5,000 cruise to Alaska.

The scenario above is not particularly challenging to grasp and it’s certainly not new.  In fact, this concept of conversion is taught at seminar after seminar and relayed in blogs, tweets, and books on this subject.  And while most marketers would agree on the methodology, it’s inherently flawed.

Zombies Don’t Carry Credit Cards

The scenario above is based upon the notion that buyers of products are Zombies with credit cards.  In other words, it paints a picture of 100 passive, ignorant consumers going through a line in lock-step while only 3 of them whip out an American Express and buy the product.  It also assumes that the ratio calculation will hold for the next 100 Zombies to come through the line.  While I wish the scenario was this simple, it’s not.  Not by a long shot.  The truth is, Zombies don’t carry credit cards.

Today’s consumers (the people that actually do have credit cards) have more options, knowledge, control, discernment and discretion than ever before. They are bombarded with more messages in a day (some estimates say 3,000 – 20,000) than they can possibly hope to process.  They look to friends for recommendations, make purchase decisions on their own time, and are reflective and thoughtful about financial decisions.  Assuming that a cleverly-crafted social media or Google ad campaign is going to consistently coax consumers to plunk down their credit cards to fit within the confines of a marketer’s metrics spreadsheet is inherently flawed.  Things simply don’t work this way.

The idea of data gathering, measuring performance, and optimizing marketing results are all good, constructive activities to embrace.  But assuming that the underlying results will emanate from a “set it and forget it” approach to promotion and results is asking for disappointment.

So how does the marketer move from the idea of a “hands-off” marketing funnel to a more practical and realistic approach?  While I’m not sure that there is a simple answer, there are some truths that marketers would do well to ponder and embrace.  Here are some of those truths that, when applied to a specific marketing challenge, would lead toward a more satisfying digital marketing approach:

1. Conversions are rarely instantaneous – it usually takes multiple interactions with a brand before we ultimately pull the trigger.  The old marketing adage called ‘The Rule of 7′ tells us that it takes 7 interactions with a brand before most of us buy.  In today’s hyper-connected, always-on world, that number is probably closer to 77 than 7.
2. Facebook Likes are worth something – it’s hard to say for sure exactly how much, but a consumer’s choice to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, or otherwise is an opportunity for you to build a relationship.  So don’t minimize or waste it.
3. Your social media content must be worthy – People rarely subscribe to your social media content to be nice.  They do it to gain something:  an idea, a tip, to be entertained, a deal, or just to remember you.  Before they make that decision, they’ll look to see how valuable your messaging is.  So make it count.  Be informative, helpful, and/or funny–be of benefit.  And keep doing it so that they stay subscribed.
4. Your product must be remarkable – This is tough for most marketers when they see disappointing sales figures.  But it is important to remember that the first ‘P’ in the four P’s of marketing is Product.  Your product must be valuable, indispensable, and a must-have.  If it’s not, the rest of the four P’s (price, place, promotion) won’t do you a ton of good.  Hint:  Part of social media really succeeding for you is that people speak well of you on social media because of how highly they think of your product.  So make the product so remarkable that people can’t help but tell their friends.
5. Consumers are skeptical – People don’t often buy from people they don’t know or trust.  Brands must build that trust.  And that doesn’t occur in a Google Adword or a broadcast e-mail message.  It happens over time through their interactions with you, the recommendations of their friends, product reviews posted by strangers, and the content you create.
6. Marketers must have patience – People don’t all buy immediately.  They think about it first.  Consumers like to flip through pages, kick tires, ask their friends, and go for test drives.  So have patience.  If your initial clicks don’t turn into dollars within the first nanosecond, it doesn’t mean that your promotions have failed.  It means that they’ve just begun.  Expecting otherwise may set you up for disappointment.
7. Google rewards content – We all look for things on Google.  That’s how we behave.  Your product’s buyers are looking for you right now but don’t know it yet.  Google will introduce them to you if you provide thoughtful, relevant content on a consistent basis.  That’s the essence of how Google works–it rewards the authentic marketer who writes and produces content.  So write–well and often.
8. Some diseases don’t have cures – so while hoping for a miracle is encouraged, expecting one is probably not wise.  In marketing, there are very few miracles–defined as a bunch of buyers logging on and giving you a credit card at a hefty profit.  Plan, instead, on a slower, more gradual process where sales are earned over time–not in an instant.  If you’re looking for quick and easy, well that’s akin to a asking a physician for a cure that doesn’t exist.  You can beat up the doctor all you want, but it won’t change the facts.

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Kelly Rogers, Vice President Client Services, WebSolvers

Matt Certo, firm CEO & Principal, commented on her contributions over the course of nearly a decade of service to WebSolvers:  ”we continue to be thankful and proud to have Kelly as a key part of the WebSolvers team.  Her passion for client service and dedication to their interests is a critical part of our business; elevating her position at our firm only helps us to further institutionalize her many positive traits.”

A committed community member, Rogers currently serves the Seminole Regional Chamber of Commerce as a Board Member and member of the Board’s Executive Committee.  She has twice been a nominee for the Orlando Business Journal‘s “40 Under 40″ award.

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About WebSolvers

WebSolvers is a digital marketing agency based in Orlando, Fla. In true entrepreneurial spirit, Matt Certo founded the company in his Rollins College dorm room at the age of 19. With the support and partnership of Sam Certo, Steinmetz Professor of Management at the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, Matt Certo launched the original Website for Rollins College. Under the leadership of Certo and Principals Kelly Lafferman and Rich Wahl, WebSolvers helps organizations find and win customers through Web development, mobile app creation, branding, social media marketing, search marketing as well as traditional marketing services.

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