St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany had a need: create a unique and interactive iPad-specific ad for the launch of the Times Union‘s app. Enter the IntelliSites web design team. Using Adobe® Edge, which is currently in development, our team designed an ad using JavaScript and CSS to replicate an interactive Flash ad, but without Flash.

We also hand-coded, using CSS, the images so they display properly whether you’re holding the iPad horizontally or vertically. Vertical View (click to view larger image): Horizontal View (click to view larger image):

Filed under: Application Development, Marketing Your Site
Tags: ad, adobe edge, ipad, st. peter's hospital, times union
post a comment

The clock is counting down on the holiday season. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are this week and that means companies around the country are ready with big sales.

The average American will spend more than $800 this holiday season — that’s up about 17 percent from 2010, according to American Express Spending & Saving Tracker.

Significantly more people said they will be shopping on Black Friday. About 35 percent of those polled said they would be surfing the web on Cyber Monday — up from 20 percent in 2010.

Almost half of consumers said they plan to shop online this holiday season, according to another report, Deloitte’s Annual Holiday Survey.

The Internet is now tied for 1^st place as the top shopping destination. Discount stores share the top spot.

And it’s not just young people. Consumers of all ages said they planned to do about a third of their shopping online.

“Social media will play a big role in how shoppers follow company sales announcements this holiday season,” said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch, as part of a report by the National Retail Federation. “From Facebook to Twitter and even group buying sites, ‘social’ retailers may be rewarded this season in terms of additional holiday sales.”

More than 17 percent of those polled said they will keep an eye on companies’ Facebook pages with just over 11 percent eying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial, according to the NRF.

Filed under: eCommerce, Marketing Your Site, Social Media
Tags: black friday, cyber monday, holiday shopping, online shopping
post a comment

It’s a tall order — get thousands of small businesses online and help them all succeed.

Today, hundreds of small business owners and representatives from across New York are getting together for the first of two trainings in the state aimed at helping them break into the online world.

Almost all Americans search for local products and services online, but more than half of small businesses in New York don’t have a website, according to Google.

The company is teaming up with Intuit Websites and a couple dozen business development groups from around the state to offer companies a three-page website, domain name and website hosting free for a year (along with free email support for 30 days).

Companies will also get a walk-through for claiming their Google Places listing as part of New York Get Your Business Online.

If it’s free, how do you calculate ROI?

Here at IntelliSites, we think this a great idea. But if you attended this event (or even if you missed it) there are some things you might want to think about down the road, if not much sooner, for improving your “free” Google website.

Unlike a brochure that’s printed and can’t change, the best part about a website is that it can. Most of the people who set up their site through this Google program will never touch it again once it’s live. Just like having a store, no one will come back if things don’t change from time to time. Additional products and improvements incentivize people to return to your site.

You need a plan for your site and beyond.

Here at IntelliSites, a division of Burst Marketing, we have created a unique Blueprint process that allows us to know the client and brainstorm the best ways to cultivate leads and bring in business.

Your site needs to have a clear strategy so someone coming to your site knows exactly what to do when they get there.

Speaking of getting there, how will anyone know you exist on the web? Google is not promising to highly rank your site just for using their service. Just ask our search engine marketing clients about our proven results.

Taking the free route

If you do decide to take the free route, even for now, here is some advice: Think about your audience.

The typical business does not spend enough time thinking from the perspective of their customers. You start this process by asking who your customers are. How does your website (and other marketing materials while you’re at it) help turn members of those specific groups into leads and sales?

If you’re not sure, perhaps you’d like to have a conversation?

Sure, template sites allow you to claim real estate on the web, but when it comes to return on your investment, remember you usually get what you pay for.

The program’s advice that “getting online is now easy, free, and fast” is great for now, but when you’re ready to step up your online presence with proven results, let the experts at IntelliSites and Burst Marketing help.

Filed under: Lead Capture, Marketing Your Site, Web Design
Tags: Google, marketing your website, new york businesses, promoting your website, troy, websites
post a comment

Business networking lends itself to a certain level of self-promotion.

So when you’re in a discussion group with other professionals, you expect people to mention their businesses in hopes of getting new customers.

But just like at a networking event where you don’t have someone jump up on a table and start singing their theme song, there are certain rules that apply to LinkedIn discussion groups.

Here’s a perfect example:

First off, this is not a discussion — it’s a clear sales pitch. It just makes people mad — especially since they already invested time (albeit a split second) to read the first part of the headline. That leaves a bad taste in their mouth.

Is this spam or just an immature person posting like this?

There’s something to be said for guerrilla marketing campaigns, but this is hardly anything more than annoying.

To the credit of the person who made the above post, it did spark a chain of office discussion e-mails and this blog post. Perhaps it accomplished exactly what they were going for…

Have questions about how best to utilize social media like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter? Let the experts at IntelliSites Web Design help!

Filed under: Marketing Your Site, Social Media
Tags: LinkedIn, sales pitch, Social Media, what not to do
post a comment

What your business needs to know about privacy

By the time you’ve even started reading this, a computer somewhere has tracked your computer network’s Internet Protocol address. An even smarter piece of software has likely tracked your particular computer. And, depending on how conspiratorial you’d like to get, another computer somewhere has added the IntelliSites website to ones you’ve recently visited so it can make an accurate profile of your online habits to eventually sell to an advertiser.

With so many people sharing unflattering photos, personal details of their life, their locations and more all the time, expectations of privacy — especially online — have shifted.

The McCann Worldgroup recently released a study called The Truth About Privacy: What every marketer who handles consumer data should know.

The survey, which included thousands of people from around the world, called privacy a major opportunity for marketers.

A majority of those polled said companies will earn their trust if those companies don’t give third parties consumers’ personal information like e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

If data is being given out, why? Consumers say they are likely to trust a brand, even if it uses data, but only if that brand tells consumers exactly how it’s being used.

Consumers rated shopping data as the type of data they were most willing to share, according to the study.

Consumers say they trust banks and credit card companies most to keep their personal data secret. Security is the reason, according to McCann, that a large percentage of Americans trust a particular bank.

Have a question about the security of your website? Ask the experts at IntelliSites Web Design today.

Filed under: Marketing Your Site
Tags: marketing, privacy, security, web marketing
post a comment