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Recent Blog Posts
The Importance of Analyzing Your Website Analysis Tools
In today’s increasingly connected world, a well-designed website is crucial to your company’s success. A strong word-of-mouth reputation is certainly helpful, but there is nothing that compares to the reach of a powerful online presence that extends beyond your friends and neighbors. There are many factors that contribute to the quality of your website, and there is certainly room for discussion about what makes a good website. Dozens, if not hundreds, of site analysis tools are available to help website owners review their site’s metrics and performance, allowing them to make the necessary adjustment to improve. But how reliable are these tools? And is it possible that many of them are just trying to sell you a product or service?
Consider the Source, Especially If It Is Free
While not completely unheard of, very few services—either online or in the brick-and-mortar business world—are offered completely for free with no strings attached. Such is the case with most website analysis tools. Depending on where the tool originates, it could be offered with the sole intention of getting you to buy something or hire a particular marketing company.
Increasing Use of Ad-Blocking Software Changing Online Marketing
Anytime you browse the internet, you are likely to be bombarded with dozens of advertisements and marketing efforts by various companies trying to promote their products. Even a simple mobile app is often accompanied an endless cycle of ads; the ad-free versions typically cost extra. In recent years, more and more internet users have begun installing ad-blocking software—typically as an app or a browser extension—which attempt to screen advertisements and provide a more enjoyable user experience. Business experts, however, are concerned about the ultimate impact of ad-blocking software, and some have even gone so far to predict that such programs will bring about the end of the internet as we currently know it.
Advertising on Television
For many decades, television was the primary source of home entertainment and information. While cable television was available as early as 1948, it didn’t become particularly popular until the 1970s. This meant that most television watchers relied on programs that were broadcast locally and underwritten by corporate sponsors. In some cases, the name of the sponsor was part of the program title, including the United States Steel Hour, General Electric Theater, and Schlitz Playhouse of Stars. The corresponding advertisements throughout such shows were essentially the cost of doing business. Viewers were receiving entertainment at no cost to them; the expenses were borne by the sponsors, who, in turn, had the opportunity to present their products.
Is Your Website’s Speed Slowing You Down?
If you have ever seen or heard an advertisement for UPS, you have probably heard the slogan “Moving at the speed of business.” While this maxim certainly makes sense for a package delivery company, it could just as easily be applied to website development and management. Today, more than ever, the speed of your website is crucial to providing a positive user experience that results in strong conversion rates from browser to prospect to satisfied client.
Understanding Site Speed
Your website—even a simple one—is comprised of many different plugins, modules, and scripts, each one designed to perform a specific task or display certain information. When a user accesses your site, all of these features take time to load so that the page functions correctly and looks the way it is supposed to look. Each individual element may only take a fraction of a second to load, but loading the entire site can take significantly longer, especially if some of the scripts are larger and contain redirects to other places on the internet.
Optimizing User Experience Is Key to Video Marketing
When you are developing a strategy for any type of online marketing, you will constantly be told that you need to provide the best possible user experience for your visitors and prospective clients. While the idea sounds simple enough, it does raise the question: what does “user experience” mean? User experience is conventionally defined as a “person’s perception and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system, or service.” Optimizing user experience, therefore, will depend on the objectives you hope to achieve with your marketing campaign and the combination of media you choose to deliver your message.
The immense popularity of YouTube, Vine, and similar outlets indicates that importance of strong video marketing cannot be overstated. In fact, according to at least one study, the chances of getting a first-page Google search ranking for your site increases by more than 50 times when you effectively use videos. Creating and using video should also be done with the user experience in mind, and there are a few things you and your marketing team can do to help meet your goals.
Staying at the Front of the Pack: Maintaining Your Website’s SEO and Search Rankings, Part 2
A few weeks ago, we talked about a number of ways to help ensure your website continues to remain strong and near the top of search results. Although it would be nice, your site will not just stay that way without additional effort. Maintaining online visibility takes organization, work, and perseverance, along with the knowledge of what makes a website successful.
Last time, we discussed how the speed of your site is a major factor in optimizing your site’s search rankings. We also talked about how regularly-updated, engaging content can drive organic traffic and increase your visibility as well. From a search engine optimization (SEO) perspective, there are still other things you can do to stand out against all of the background noise on the internet.
Could a Different TLD Drive More Traffic to Your Website?
You may have one of the best websites in the industry. It could be full of visually stunning elements, interactive menus, and useful information for prospective clients. Your site could even be built for viewing on any size screen, offering an unmatched user experience. The greatest website on the internet, however, is virtually worthless if nobody ever visits it. The reality is that very few potential clients are going to take the time to type out your site’s Uniform Resource Identifier, or URL—more commonly referred to as your web address. Instead, traffic to your site depends on your ability to be seen in search engine results, which, in turn, is driven by search engine optimization, or SEO. There are many factors that go into effective SEO, but a new study suggests that optimization help may be available from a somewhat surprising source.
Former Chicago Personal Injury Attorney Indicted for Theft
While many may believe that there is no such thing as bad publicity, a scandal can certainly be damaging to a professional reputation, as a tongue-in-cheek character has recently discovered. Once the playful alter-ego of a high-profile personal injury lawyer, “Excuseman” is now facing three dozen charges related to theft, forgery, and misappropriation of property.
Superhero in Distress
Excuseman is a superhero parody who has made his way into YouTube videos, comics, and even a self-published book, offering outlandish excuses for poor behavior and, essentially, mocking personal injury defendants. The costumed character was created by a Chicago attorney whose practice focused on pursuing financial recovery for injured accident victims. The 61-year-old lawyer even dressed as Excuseman, donning the blue and orange body suit and cape with the letters “XQ” emblazoned across his chest, riding a Segway and taking to task those who “mess up and don’t fess up.”
Staying at the Front of the Pack: Maintaining Your Website’s SEO and Search Rankings, Part 1
As the world’s most popular search engine, Google reports that it handles an average of nearly 3.5 billion search queries every single day. You read that correctly—billion, with a B. Extrapolating that number, it’s hard to say which direction produces a more staggering result: 1.2 trillion searches per year or 40,000 every second? Either way, the implication is very clear. If you want to attract traffic to your website, you need to be sure that it is optimized in regard to what search engines are looking for in a quality site. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the driveway that allows users on the high-speed search engine thoroughfare to access your beautiful, functional, custom-built website home.
When your website was developed, especially if it was built fairly recently and by a reputable web developer, it was probably designed with state-of-the-art features and functionality. Chances are, it was also created with the existing SEO standards in mind. While rising with search rankings does take time, there is a good possibility that your site took off quickly, increasing your visibility and sending more visitors to your site. Now that you have reached this point, however, how do you stay there? In the world of SEO and online marketing, doing nothing but relying on past success is just about the worst possible option. Search engine requirements continue to evolve all the time, and your site’s SEO must be addressed regularly in order to keep up with the changes.
New Fixed-Fee Legal Service Program Raises Ethical Questions
Earlier this year, the popular legal directory and lawyer rating website Avvo introduced a program that offers limited-scope legal services for an upfront, fixed price. Avvo Legal Services is intended to connect clients needing relatively simple legal guidance with a network of selected attorneys in 18 states, including Illinois, Texas, California, and Wisconsin. Avvo’s CEO, Mark Britton claims that the new program could make the site “the Match.com of legal.”
Reaching an Underserved Market
In theory, the concept seems sound. Many individuals, families, and businesses often find themselves in need of an attorney to help handle a straightforward, albeit important legal matter. However, they may not be able to afford the fees charged by a “typical” attorney, that could equate to hundreds of dollars per hour; and this does not just include lower-income brackets. An average, working middle-class family may struggle to pay for the legal help they need. “They can’t afford a $250-an-hour lawyer,” said Gregory W. Coleman, a partner in a Florida law firm and past president of the Florida Bar. “But they can afford a flat fee for a task they need accomplished.” Coleman also noted, “[Avvo is] reaching a market that we as a profession have been unable to serve.”
OVC, INC. Honored with Award of Distinction from 22nd Communicator Awards
The winners of the 22nd Annual Communicator Awards have been announced by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts. With over 6,000 entries received from across the U.S. and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals.
OVC, INC. has been honored with the Award of Distinction. OVC's attorney website and subdomain platform was recognized for innovation in the legal marketing and communications industries.
The Communicator Awards are judged and overseen by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), a 600+ member organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media. Current AIVA membership represents a "Who's Who" of acclaimed media, advertising, and marketing firms including: AirType Studio, Condè Nast, Disney, Keller Crescent, Lockheed Martin, Monster.com, MTV, rabble+rouser, Time Inc., Tribal DDB, Yahoo!, and many others.
