Web Development

• There is a new breed of online video consumers: those who consume via mobile devices. Is your business utilizing HTML5 video to tap this growing marketing?
• We share more of our Internet marketing predictions on the Galvin blog. 2012 is the year to really think about how you are engaging, converting, and retaining your website visitors.
• Did you know you that by employing certain web technologies, you can create a game? Check out the reality of HTML5 Game Development and where it’s headed in 2012.
• Web developers will love this! “HTML5 Please” allows you to keep track of what parts of HTML5 and CSS3 that are supported in today’s web browsers.
• Firefox 10 was released January 30, 2012.Mozilla’s Firebug interface got a makeover, focusing on making the user experience a bit more polished. What do you think?

Project Management

• Our senior project manager, Crissy Koger, shares her experience at a restaurant. It’s not a surprise to find out that even waiters have trouble getting requirements from clients.
• Thomas Paine once said we should lead, follow, or get out of the way.Project managers are no stranger to this philosophy. Do you think followship is what makes a project manager effective?
• Project managers can ask questions all day long, but are you asking these 20 questions that should always be asked, regardless of project or organization?
• Generational awareness is another skill that project managers must learn how to master. Are able to recognize generational differences within your team?
• We admire the Veterans who have defended our country and protected our freedom, so we thought it was right on par to hear why veterans make good project managers.

Interactive Design

• Great mobile designs consider the clumsiness of our fingers and limitations of our hands. Are you designing for touch in an ergonomic way?
• Our senior interactive designer, Kiley LoCascio, shares her predictions for the responsive web in 2012by laying out the changes to the development process. Are you ready for a more agile approach to responsive design?
• Typekit released a new feature, which allows you to browse by list. List features include font organization by theme, intended use, and defining characteristics.
• A responsive website demands flexible images. Responsive images can work, but there is a better solution waiting to be discovered by designers and developers alike.

Software Engineering

• Many software developers do not fundamentally understand the nature of the SharePoint beast and what exactly it can do. Are you able to wrap your head around this application?
• Sometimes those 30-day trials aren’t worth the download. As more and more software is spit out on a daily basis, we hope that businesses keep in mind that features and functionality should be communicated to the user before they hit the ‘Download’ button.
• Salesforce released a new help-desk application this week called Desk.com, which helps you reach end users through social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
• Performing inspections and walkthroughs reaps benefits to your software development team, such as sharing a knowledge of the code. Is it time to rethink software development, testing, and inspection?

Quality Content Still Matters

Google has seriously been shaking up the world of search engine marketing, but 2012 is bound to get even crazier. Since the introduction of Google Panda that aimed to reward sites with rich and high-quality content rather than those stuffed with keywords, the updates to the Caffeine ranking algorithm that was said to impact 35% of searches to produce more up-to-date and relevant results, and the new SSL rules in Google Analytics that doesn’t allow the entrance keyword to be captured if the user is logged in to his or her account, web marketers have had to find better ways to capture data, measure results, and refine their strategies. However, if Google keeps smacking us upside the head with changes that blow our tried and tested methodologies out of the water, at least we can count on one thing to increase our chances of success: good quality content.

According to Kuno Creative, it is hard to maximize organic search visibility without good quality content. No more are the days in which websites can be stuffed with keywords or links to bump up their Google rank and claim the prize of being the top result on the search results page. Since the introduction of Panda, bloated websites like this don’t stand a chance. Website owners must consistently update their websites with fresh content to “keep the Panda happy” and to maintain their prime real estate. For many web marketers, this opened doors to yet another opportunity to optimize: content marketing.

Content marketing, in a nutshell, is one of the most important strategies to have in place right now. Along with social media, it is what keeps your content relevant in Google’s ranking index and increases organic traffic. To maximize results, establish a plan to update certain content areas of your website on a weekly or monthly basis. Whether that means dusting off your blog and utilizing your best writers to create top-notch content or keeping your portfolio up-to-date with case studies, videos of client testimonials, or digital e-books, your target audience is waiting for you to create meaningful and insightful content.

One of the most important things I have learned while creating content is that if you want to blog, you should blog because you want to. You should write genuinely and honestly to your target audience. Remember that every word is a direct reflection of not only your brand, but yourself. By producing content that is real, it will speak to users. It will get them to act. It will inspire you to create more, and in return, it will attract more listeners. It sounds easy, doesn’t it?

To web marketers, it will always be a challenge to set the right content marketing strategy in motion. There is not a “one size fits all” approach to content marketing that guarantees a safe spot in Google’s search engine indexing system. It will be a continuous cycle of measuring and refining to find the strategy that not only works well with your overall marketing plan, but also increases your brand’s online visibility and influence.

Other Game-Changers?

2012 will surely be a year in which everyone can agree that content – whether it is Tweets, videos, or blog articles – truly matters. I look forward to seeing what trends and technologies will emerge in fast-paced world of web and search engine marketing this year. What do you think will be a game-changer in 2012?

In case you missed it, here are my game-changers for 2012:

• Part I: Social Integrates with Search
• Part II: Video Content Explodes
• Part III: Quality Content Still Matters

Expansion & Change

With the expansion of different web devices the context in which people view web design has changed dramatically. The number of people using internet-based applications and websites on their TVs, smartphones, netbooks and tablets has grown exponentially in 2010 and 2011. It was “The Year of the iPad For the Second Year in a Row“, according to Horace Dediu of Asymco Research Blog.

These changes have paved the way for how web designers think about web design as a whole. Web designers knew the way they created user experiences needed to evolve, as well as the strategy for how the content was going to be delivered. The acceptance of thinking beyond one explicit screen size is now more than just a trend, it’s the foundation for how designers think about user experience design. Responsive Web Design shows how designers are committed to giving the best experience possible no matter what the context. A plethora of information exists out there on this topic in many different forms: events, books, blogs, galleries, slide presentations, tools and grid systems.

With this adaptive design strategy, web developers and designers now have to not only educate themselves on a technical level, but devise new processes and strategies for their teams to be able to utilize. For any size company this can be a bit of a struggle. There are budgets, timelines and client expectations to consider. Any significant leap in evolution in any area of study constitutes a significant change to the methodologies and processes that create it.

“Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change – this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.”
- Bruce Barton, BDO Advertising

Design Process

For Galvin, our design process consists of wireframes and design compositions for those wireframes. Most project’s wireframes account for the “highest common denominator” screen size. This information comes from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and basically means that we account for the highest probable number of users. A few years ago, before the dramatic change in the popularity and number of different screen sizes, developing for this common denominator was standard. The percentage of users at one given size was usually above 50. But now in 2012 with more users viewing sites on large desktop displays and small mobile devices, the common denominator has dropped to under 20%. Responsive Design allows us to account for these different screens sizes, so we can target a much wider user base and give them the best experience possible.

This new design strategy will change our process as follows:

1. Understand targeted audiences and their contexts.
2. Devise strategies and goals for each specified screen size being targeted.
3. Create wires for specified screen sizes.
4. Create comps for specified screen sizes.

Development Process

The changes to this phase will have the biggest impact on the success of a responsive site. Designers are asking front-end developers to essentially be designers and vice-versa. The way the site moves and handles elements from screen size to screen size is very organic, so the process that created those elements needs to be organic.

An example of a less responsive approach to this phase would be:

1. The Designer creates compositions.
2. The Coder then takes compositions from the visual designer and develops them.
3. The Designer reviews and tests code.
4. Lastly, the changes are made and site is complete.

This process is limited because the designer and developer have only one chance to be successful. With responsive sites there are so many different scenarios and opportunities for inaccuracies that a more agile approach is needed. Something similar to this:

The Designer creates compositions, the coder then develops them and they both test the site on different devices. That entire process continues until the project’s goals are accomplished.

Management Process

A more iterative creative process means more work and more time. The essential strategies and concepts would get flushed out in the design and development phases, so it would certainly make budgets go up and timelines widen. The biggest opportunity to overcome the hardships for these two items is to plan for them in the beginning of the project. Sales and management teams can do this by following a few key tips:

Create a Specific Question Checklist for New Clients

A. Does the client’s audience support many devices?
B. Does this application only need to support one screen size?

Get a Feel for Timeline

A. Can you deliver specific experiences to multiple devices in the allotted amount of time?
B. Are there devices that are a higher priority for a phased out approach?

Weigh the Pros & Cons

Although it would be wonderful for the client’s new site to be completely responsive with four different screen sizes, sometimes their budget and timeline just won’t allow for it. So in this case start backward for the strategy; from one screen size, to two, to three until there is a middle ground met. The great thing about Responsive Design is that it’s so easy to change in the future if you plan for it at the start.

Looking to the Future

Responsive Web Design is not only changing design for the web, it’s changing its processes. Any company that wants to create sites that are responsive has a good deal of work ahead of them. Companies, especially small ones, can’t just change overnight. It takes education, planning, commitment and even better internal and external communication. Timelines, budgets and client expectations are affected and should be accounted for from the very beginning of project conception. Even with these hardships, companies that adapt to and adopt this new optimized design strategy have a great opportunity to distinguish themselves from the rest. I encourage all development companies to overcome the fear in changing and help others advance design for the web.

Web Development

• How do you cope with HTML5’s dueling standards bodies while supporting web browsers that are becoming more fluid?
• The line between writing books and programs has gotten more blurry these days. Will you take advantage of the tools Amazon has released to allow you program e-books with HTML and CSS?
• Great news for mobile web developers! They can now utilize jQ.Mobi, a lightweight and faster mobile-optimized HTML5 rewrite of the JQuery Framework.
• Firefox has slipped in the web browser market, falling behind Google Chrome. Many users have their reasons for switching, but what will Firefox need to do to get back on top and regain dominance in the market?

Project Management

• How do you kill the switch on a project that is doomed? First of all, don’t declare “done!” Check out these five key strategies that will help your organization to fail fast on projects.
• Project managers should carry out a Lessons Learned meeting with the project team at the conclusion of a project to reinforce both the positive and negative experiences. What kind of questions would you ask your team?
• Project expectations and deliverables are equally important, and should be your focus of every project. Our VP of Professional Services, Tom Schaetzle, shares what it means to go above and beyond client expectations.
• Are you showing your appreciation for your project team? Positive feedback is crucial to any project team’s success. Here’s what it matters so much.
• Ten Commandments of Project Management is a great set of rules that any project manager should follow to help lead them to success.

Interactive Design

• Mobile design is about your audience’s culture, the tasks they want to complete, and the context in which they complete these tasks. Are you raising the bar for mobile standards?
• The Internet is not an interactive Postcard according to the Big Spaceship! There are stark difference between digital and print typography. What would you add to the discussion?
• Responsive design is a process that first requires you to define your break points. Here are some tips that will help to create a better workflow when designing for Smartphones, tablets, and wide-screen monitors.
• When you design a landing page, it is important to make it as visually appealing as possible. Likewise, it should be easy to navigate and error-free. Here are some other unbreakable rules to consider when designing landing pages.

Software Development

• Application developers are expected to favor the Android platform over the iOS platform within the next year. However, good news for mobile users: nearly all developers will choose to support both platforms.
• Have you ever wondered how open-source software is made? If you use the web browser Firefox, it might be easier than you think to contribute.
• Windows 8 Beta is coming out in February with the release of the Windows 8 store. Some of the store app developers speak out against the lack of proper documentation during development.
• Search engine optimization can easily be integrated in your web development process. Developer can use these 7 tips to enhance websites without the magic work of an SEO expert.
• Does America have a developer shortage? Employers are saying that they can’t find enough programmers, but could they be going about it all wrong?

If you are like me, I took this to mean that the customer wanted potatoes. When the order came up, the customer replied, “Oh, I asked for the fruit cup.” Since overhearing the original order take place, I began to think about what exactly the customer asked for because I’m in the business of gathering requirements from clients so this was all too familiar to me.

Original Requirement: “I’d like to substitute the fruit cup for the potatoes.”

Now this requirement could have been interpreted two ways:

1. Customer wants fruit instead of the potatoes.
2. Customer wants potatoes instead of fruit.

The waiter had a 50/50 chance, in this case, to get the client’s expectations correct. However, the waiter (and I) assumed incorrectly. This could have been easily corrected by just repeating back to the customer, in the waiter’s own words, what the customer wanted: “You would like to have a side of potatoes?” The customer could have corrected the waiter during this point versus having to wait until the order was delivered to only find out it was wrong.

This can happen all too often in any industry, but we experience it a lot in the software development field. You may have seen the infamous comic strip of the “tree swing”, as shown below:

There’s always a small chance for error when acquiring and understanding requirements from clients. Hey, we’re all human, right? But you can help ensure you get them 99% right just by using the following three tips:

• Repeat the request using your own words. Try not to use technical terms. Clients can have a different definition than you or may not admit they don’t know what you mean.
• Draw a picture. A picture speaks a thousand words.
• Ask the question a different way and see if you get a different answer.

Remember, you never know when the client might want fruit and you give them potatoes.

The first month of the year is drawing to a close, but we are still curious to hear what others are saying about the state of the web in 2012. While technology may seem like it moves at the speed of light, we can count on Internet sales and marketing to adapt as needed. As search engine marketing experts are supercharging visitor engagement though social media and content marketing, website owners are taking note and making big changes. This is the year in which quality content is necessary for not only search engine optimization, but visitor engagement, conversion, and retention as well.

Keyword-Stuffing No Longer Works

A few years ago, it was quite easy for your website to secure a top ranking in search engines and drive a lot of traffic just by writing content loaded with keywords. Website content authors took advantage of this and would seize every opportunity to insert a keyword here and there to ensure prime real estate in Google’s search results. However, instead of finding the answer or solution to your search query, oftentimes what was returned to you was empty, meaningless content.

Take, for example, the following sentence: “We are an Indianapolis company located in Indianapolis, which is in the central part of Indiana, which is where many other Indianapolis companies reside.”

Although this is a bit of an exaggeration, it is obvious that this sentence was written to merely drive traffic and rank high in search results. Many websites might have performed well with this optimization trickery, but it has proven to be an ineffective and insincere method. Now that our search engines have gotten smarter and have upgraded their algorithms to sniff out lousy websites, website content authors can no longer rely on keywords.

Don’t get me wrong, though: keywords still are an important factor in the SEO equation. You still need to focus on strong keywords and terms to acquire new visitors to your website. However, now you really need to strategize about how your website content is going to engage, convert, and retain these visitors.

Engage Your Visitors

Your content should speak to the needs of your target audience and present solutions to their problems. Likewise, it should also entice your visitor to want to learn more about your company, products, and services. To take your engagement to the next level, set up a social media and email marketing strategy that will allow you to interact with your visitors on a more authentic level.

Convert Your Prospects

If you write content without regard to what it is your visitors are looking for, then what’s the point? It’s like throwing bait into a lake without putting it on a hook. By focusing on quality content, you create more opportunities to engage and earn the respect, trust, and (hopefully) the desire of those who visit your website. And when you have the respect, trust, and desire of your visitors, you are more likely to turn that opportunity into a golden one and, more importantly, that prospect into a loyal customer.

Retain Your Customers

It is important to plan to update your website content accordingly to keep it fresh and relevant not only in the search engines’ indexes, but in your visitors’ minds as well. By getting your visitor to come back to your website on a consistent basis, you know that your company will come to mind whenever they have a need for your products or services, regardless of search engine rank. Likewise, make sure the social media and email marketing strategies you have in place engage all of your visitors.

How will you engage, convert, and retain your website visitors this year? Please share your thoughts with us – we welcome the discussion!

Video Content Explodes

Did you know that videos account for 50% of all online traffic as of January 2012? Did you also know that 85% of Americans watch 1.3 billion videos a day? These statistics may seem surprising at first, but in reality, they make perfect sense. With websites like YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, and Netflix, it has become increasingly easy for users to access high-quality video content either for free or at the cost of a fast food lunch at Arby’s.

How many times have you researched a product online to only find that there are no video demonstrations or tutorials to aid you in your final decision? According to GoMo News, users who are exposed to videos are 437% more likely to engage with your brand. This number is significant and speaks to the importance of video content. I know that as a consumer, I am more likely to make an online purchase if I see a video that shares more detail and offers me a solution to my problem.

As a user of these aforementioned online video services, it does not surprise me that video usage is skyrocketing. After all, people are visual creatures. We are more influenced by brands that engage us with color, texture, sound, and stunning theatrics that speak to our needs. Likewise, we are often charmed by companies that can offer us a solution by showing us a story with real characters and real problems.

This does not mean, however, that a video must be produced to fit Hollywood’s standards or be on par with an Oscar-worthy plot line. A simple 1- to 2-minute video usually tells a better story than three paragraphs of incredibly descriptive sentences that would make even Virginia Woolf cringe.

Not sure where to start or what your first online video should be about? Here’s a couple of questions to get you started:

• Who are you?
• What do you believe in?
• What is your culture like?

If you remember from a previous article, it was once said that your culture is your brand. If this still doesn’t click or ignite a quick response from you or a co-worker, then now is the perfect opportunity to rethink your marketing strategy for the new year. You should really think long and hard about this before jumping onto the video bandwagon.

If you’ve exhausted your brainstorming sessions and are still scrambling to create a video that aligns with your company’s marketing goals and overall message, then click here to check out some basic video ideas that will work well with any brand or industry.

Stay tuned for part III of III!

Web Development

• Want to establish an online authority? Here are 11 ways to use content to do so.
• The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) publishes a draft of media accessibility requirements.
• Web developers have a lot to look forward to in 2012, like saying goodbye to IE6 support. Here are 4 other predictions.
• Foursquare’s mobile recommendation engine, Explore, hits the Internet this week.
• Did you know people spend an average of 94 minutes per day using mobile apps? Web consumption wanes as mobile app usage skyrockets.

Project Management

• Here’s a great project management tip for the week: remember to send a follow-up and offer help after a project status meeting.
• We’re half-way through the new year, but here’s 10 project management trends to watch out for in 2012.
• An effective status report should accommodate the needs of executives, the project manager, and the project team.
• Do athletes make good project managers? Here’s a look as to why this may be true.

Interactive Design

• Now is an important time for design; we can’t deny its role in the evolution of the Internet.
• Do you want to tell your client’s story? Then make web content and design impactful.
• The web community is still predicting the top web design and web development trends for 2012.
• To communicate effectively in web design, use the proximity principle.

Software Development

• Need to align people, technology, and process? Then check out this SharePoint implementation checklist.
• There are several ways to capture mobile users, including through the development of mobile-friendly sites, custom mobile sites, and native apps.
• The future of software development is ever-changing, but it might include “probabilistic” applications.
• Building secure .NET websites and web applications isn’t easy, but here are some tips and techniques to consider.
• We thought this was a great read. Ever wonder how to to get software developers to document their code? Here are few tips that might help.

Other Noteworthy Highlights

• This week, Congress felt the backlash against SOPA and PIPA, two bills that threaten the Internet economy as we know it.
• Many websites, including Wikipedia and Google, planned an blackout on Wednesday, January 18 to spread awareness to users.
• The results were stunning. More than 2.4 million Tweets were sent and Google collected 4.5 million signatures to stop SOPA and PIPA.
• As a web company, we understand the significance of these bills and plan to share our thoughts on the issue soon.

The Internet landscape is constantly sprouting successful ideas, innovations, and technologies and growing despite a less than stellar economy. This gives us reason to look ahead to what the new year will bring. If you’re anything like me, you look forward to the surge of predictions for how the next 365 days will pan out. Not only does it give us an idea of where the web is heading, but it also gives us room to prepare.

The year 2012 will be an exciting and interesting year for web marketers, SEO experts, content creators, analytics gurus, and the like. While we cannot predict how the year will turn out exactly, we can anticipate and start to plan for the impact of Google’s social search, the explosion of video content, and the emphasis on meaningful content.

Social Integrates With Search

Last week, Google introduced a little something to the web that got most web marketers in an uproar. The update, also known as Google Search, Plus Your World, was introduced as a way for Google to continue its transformation of the search engine into something more. According to Google, the transformation will not only allow the world’s most popular search engine to not only understand content, but also people and relationships as well.

The reason why most web marketers have spoken up about this is because it affects the way that Google search results are displayed. Instead of the standard list of top-relevant websites, it will now filter in content from you, a friend, or someone you may know. Likewise, you will now see relevant Google+ pages and profiles while searching for a topic or area of interest. While this may not seem like a big deal to the average web user, it is a note-worthy move on Google’s end that will indefinitely change the way we search for information.

Google Search, Plus Your World may not have been welcomed with open arms by the web marketing community, but it is the start of something significant. We still have work to do to build a social web that is easy, intuitive, and smart, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the year 2012 will give us the tools we need to refine the way we socialize and communicate on the Internet. Likewise, it will encourage businesses to invest in a sound social strategy to help them connect to not only current customers, but potential ones as well.

If you are not utilizing social media or have not setup your Google+ page, now it a great opportunity to do so to increase your visibility to Google users. If you are still unsure of what Google+ has to offer or how to set one up, here’s a great article to help you through the process.

What do you think of this new search feature? Will you use it?

Stay tuned for part II of III!

One evening in early October, we decided to capture some of these fleeting moments of the season outside our office, which is located in the heart of the New Augusta Historic District. The result was plenty of photographs filled with warmth and color; the rich reds, antiqued browns, and golden hues filled our lenses and left us with an appreciation for where it is we work, create, and grow daily.

Since many who visit our office are usually surprised to find us tucked away in a residential neighborhood, we thought it would make sense to share these photographs of warmer days and to give a brief history of the New Augusta area.

Photos by Sarah Musselman (click here to see more)

Where and what exactly is the New Augusta area? According to the National Park Service, the New Augusta Historic District is “an excellent and intact example of the type of railroad village that dotted the once-rural townships surrounding Indianapolis”. Likewise, it happens to be “one of only two intact 19th century railroad towns in Marion County” (www.indy.gov). The New Augusta area developed into a small village at the corner of present-day 71st Street and Michigan Road, where travelers spurred the creation of general stores, a post office, and other businesses and services.

Photos by Sarah Musselman (click here to see more)

After the Indianapolis and Lafayette Railroad opened its route in 1852, a Pike Township resident named William Hornaday recognized the opportunity for economic growth and platted Hosbrook. It was renamed New Augusta by the U.S. Post Office in 1878 due to the existence of another town in Indiana named Hosbrook. (Fun fact: our office building used to be the site of the early Post Office!) New Augusta quickly became a bustling location due to the proximity to Michigan Road and the railroad in the 1870s. However, the township never grew beyond its additions in 1889, which is why New Augusta still retains its original village characteristics.

Photos by Sarah Musselman (click here to see more)

Although the neighborhoods in the New Augusta district have since settled into a quaint residential area, the architecture has been well-preserved to keep its historical roots intact. The architecture of the district dates back to the mid- to late-19th century and is beautifully representative of its time. An “L” plan Queen Anne cottage, which is of the vernacular and high style type of housing, resides on Dobson Street. The Salem Lutheran Church, which was completed in 1880, is of the mid-19th century Romanesque Revival architecture. According to the National Park Service, there is also an early 20th century Masonic Hall with a stepped gable roofline that can be found on Pollard Street. Likewise, there are some great examples of 19th century Italiante architecture along New Augusta Road.

Photos by Sarah Musselman (click here to see more)

We hope you enjoyed the glimpse into the New Augusta Historic District. We are extremely appreciative and grateful for where we work; the quietness makes the days more productive, the beauty gives us reason to take a break from our computers, and the history reminds us every day how lucky we are to have come so far.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit the area, we recommend parking your car and taking a walk to explore and admire the artifacts of Indianapolis’s once-popular railroad village.

What do you think of the New Augusta Historic District? Do you have anything to share about the area?