Before Apple’s invention of the iPhone, mobile phone applications were non-existent. The arrival of smart phones heralded a phone apps boom that has given us the ability to count calories, translate a language, and find an obscure restaurant, at our fingertips. The mobile phone’s role has changed from being just a convenient phone, to a satellite-supported distributor of information gleaned from every Internet resource available on the planet, and all because of phone applications.

The mobile phone applications industry has skyrocketed to a multi-billion dollar industry. Corporations use them for mass marketing, boutiques use them to announce sales, and children use them to create games. But the sales of these phone applications have led to some unscrupulous behavior.  People are selling “rights” to platforms that aren’t theirs. Marketers are charging thousands of dollars for phone applications that the consumer can find for free. The popularity of these applications has persuaded people to set aside their caution for convenience. In return, the phone applications they are buying may not even work and perform the designed function, or the applications have been sold for a higher price than they are worth.

Marketing a product through mobile phone applications can make millions of dollars for a company if done correctly. There is no gauge on what should be paid for these applications, but through careful research, you should be able to educate yourself on the kinds of products there are and how much they should cost. This should protect you from anyone trying to cut themselves a slice of your profits.

The most assured way to guarantee that you do not fall prey to any scam, besides doing the research, is to find a reputable marketing firm you can trust. Anyone can say they are marketers and sell you a single service, but it is the professionals who offer comprehensive services and products that can help you analyze your market and design a phone application based on your needs and projected outcomes. Their professional input can help prevent any costly mistakes that can save time and prevent the loss of momentum in your marketing campaign. Mobile phone applications are available for sale from a variety of platforms, but a professional marketing firm can differentiate between what is real, and what can make a difference in your business.

The widespread use of mobile phone applications as a marketing tool has gained popularity from businesses and corporations, and they will continue to grow with innovation, and the advancement of technology. If you are looking for the right phone application for your business, and are overwhelmed by the many choices and high prices, do the research, consult professionals who know the business and can help you decide which applications and services are the right ones for you.

I’m sure this time of year you are being inundated with fans who are screaming at the farce that is the BCS. Sorry to do this, but add me to the list. The BCS isn’t a system to guarantee the top teams play each other, rather it’s a popularity contest. How else can you explain Virginia Tech and Michigan receiving at large bids while higher ranked BCS teams play in one of college football’s “waste of time” bowls. The fact that Virginia Tech just got trounced by Clemson on Saturday only adds salt to the BCS’s wound.

So how can we fix this mess? Well, first off you tell the Pac 12 and Big 10 presidents you’re having a playoff whether they like it or not. Each participating university and conference will receive more money from my proposed system and EVERY game will be watched by millions which means more TV revenue for all.

I would suggest dropping all conference championships, but if you really want them, fine. The first official order of business is killing the automatic BCS bid to select conference champions. West Virginia and the Big East do not belong, plain and simple. The Big East has never really belonged, but they always earned a spot. That is a slap in the face to every other college football team, especially when Boise State, TCU, Baylor, Kansas State, Arkansas, South Carolina and more would likely beat any Big East team like a drum.

The top 16 teams in the final BCS rankings will make my proposed playoff system, where the top seed, this year would be LSU, would play the 16th ranked team. Number 2 would play number 15, etc. If the SEC has four teams in the top 16, as they do now, then all four play. There shouldn’t be a penalty for being better than the competition. The top 8 seeds get home games in the first round. They have earned it. It gives them additional revenue and a much deserved home field advantage.

The second and third round games would be held at your top BCS bowl sites plus a few more mega-stadiums like Cowboys Stadium, the Georgia Dome, etc. The Championship game would be held at a site that goes to the highest bidder, much like the Super Bowl or the Final Four. This would bring in millions more in revenue and every game would be must see TV, which would drive television contracts into the stratosphere. Each conference would get a minimum piece of the pie with higher payouts to the schools and conferences who are involved in the playoffs.

Like any proposal you will have your opponents, such as schools who aren’t allowed in. Well, tough. This isn’t elementary athletics where every kid gets a trophy. What about all the meaningless bowl games? Well, if the “Meineke Car Care Bowl” really thinks it is necessary to have 6-6 Texas A&M face 6-6 Northwestern, let them. No one watches the NIT either and you still have it.

Whatever you do, don’t give us the argument that exams and missing class is to blame for not having a playoff. No one is buying it. It doesn’t affect the other NCAA playoffs which require time away from school.

So implement this plan and everyone wins. Every school and conference makes more money, the networks get higher ratings and the fans will finally know who really is the NCAA Football Champion.

Thank you,

John M. King

I guess you can think of a website as a car.  You have your high-end sports cars that are customized and are truly one of a kind, and you have those that you’d be scared to get behind the wheel of…but technically they’re still a car.  We do not have any lemons on our lot or sell cars that would be considered death traps.  Our vehicles are top of the line and always have room to upgrade.

Things that change the price of a website (no matter where you get it):

1.) How much money are you going to invest into your site?   Translation:  What’s your bottom line / budget?  We will always advise a potential customer on what their options are to get the most out of their budget.  We’ve even sent them to free website resources, but like anything in life…you really do get what you pay for.

2.) Options.  “Do you want a leather interior or cloth?”  The more features your site will need the more time it’s going to take to get it online.  Time is money so the price does go up.  We’ve always prided ourselves in trying to save a customer money, and I think we are one of the few design agencies that leave money on the table for another day.

3.) Speed Speed Speed.  “How fast was I going officer?”   If you’re going to need your website sooner, the price will reflect it as most designers have other projects in the pipeline.  If you’re not in a rush, most of our sites are off and running in thirty days but we need your help on this one.   We’ll need all your photos, text, email boxes, forms, etc all together so that we can get cracking on your new project.  Finally we’ll need to make sure that you’re around to look at the project.    We’ve developed a method to allow you to look at your site going up (similar to a house being built) but you’ll need to be involved in the process.  If you show up on the closing date without ever looking at the project, it’s going to set you back on your launch date.   Make sure you have a reasonable time frame for your web project and enough time to stop on by and let us know what you think of the progress.

Abel’s Final Thought

If you’ve ever heard me speak or lecture somewhere you’ll usually hear me close with this.   YOUR WEBSITE IS THE ONLY TEAM MEMBER THAT DOESN’T CALL IN SICK (or drunk) AND WORKS 24 HOURS  A DAY AND 7 DAYS A WEEK (at least it should if it’s built right).  So make sure it’s an accurate reflection of your company and it’s goals.  If you’re a lawn care company, you’re not going to want to go with a techno theme just because it’s a free template you found on someone’s page.  Treat your website as a satellite office that will be seen more often than your real office.  With the price of gas still high (at least in my opinion it is) the decision-makers will look at a website before they drive down the road looking for your office.

Sometimes a custom-designed site is out of your budget, but ask if they can work with you.  (We always do).

It’s not rocket surgery (to quote John)…you need to get the word out.  Tell your customers that you DO have a Facebook page (or what ever the social media flavor of the month is).  Look at where people can interact with you.  Tag the bottom of your emails, post the links on your website, and have your team mention it when they interact with customers.  If you own a restaurant it only takes two seconds to have a cashier say something along the lines of “Hey! Follow us on Facebook (and or) Twitter.” You’d be surprised who’ll follow you.  You may want to even do something special online to shake things up.

Schedule Your Social Media

If you’re producing videos /blog posts you can use a scheduling program (such as PING.FM) to get the job done.  Just use your head when it comes to this.  If you’re going to check out for a few days (hit the beach or feed the Las Vegas economy) make sure you are open and honest.  If your auto post program posts a question and people answer it….you’re not going to be around to carry on that conversation.  You’d think it’s a pretty straight forward process, but as you follow social media….you’ll see that this happens all the time.

“Talk To Me Goose”.  Engage with your customers

Answer your Email!  Business should engage with their customers as quickly as they can.  Set up a goal if you have to.   We’re all bombarded by requests for information and it usually comes in waves so many people won’t expect you to get back to them.  To Borrow a phrase from Tony Hsieh, “Deliver WOW Through Service.”  Get back to them as quickly as you can.  You’d be surprised.

Somethings to think about before you decide NOT to do a mobile website.   There are a lot of nay sayers out there that will do nothing…

1.  Of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones 1.08 billion are smart phones.

2.  By 2014 more it’s estimated that more people  will access the internet through their phones instead of traditional desk to prompters.

3.   In the US the Average mobile internet user spends 2.7 hours a day on their mobile device.

Sources:  http://www.bivingsreport.com/2011/some-facts-about-mobile/

Isn’t time you market yourself where your customers are?

Just this morning we had our most recent success as one of our customers, Michael Pruneda, who is #1 on Google for McAllen Business Lawyer and #1 for McAllen Employment Lawyer, just moved to the first page in the Google organic rankings for Austin Business Lawyer.

Our clients are reaping the rewards of our SEO program as their websites are no longer just a static brochure site but instead are becoming a money maker that is bringing them a solid return on their investment. If you want to be found on Google, whether you are doing business locally or you are selling your product worldwide, Imagine It Studios can help your website be found. Give us a call today at 956-687-1521 and tell us you want your website to be found on Google!

Over the last ten years or so we’ve helped businesses set up their hosting and we have to ask that all to common question.  “Where is your domain?”  Often I get that look of “HUH?”  and the standard response “Well…I *PAID* someone to register the name for me.“  I don’t know what happened after that.  It’s not till someone’s email, website, or both are held hostage by a previous designer or worse bought out by an outside source in hopes to resell the name back at a substancial rate.

Wait, this can’t happen to me…can it?

It doesn’t always happen maliciously, sometimes it’s an honest mistake but if your web developer doesn’t attach your name or business to the dot com name it belongs to them.  Remember if the domains are not registered to you at the time of the original purchase they’re not yours.

How can you check? 

Simple, stop by any domain name register and look for a tab that read “WHOIS”.  Enter your name of choose and follow the hoops they set out for you.  Sometimes they’ll put out extra steps to prevent automated services (that usually don’t buy in) from abusing their free service.

Once all the info has cleared the service your registration info will show up.   You’ll need to focus on two things: (1) make sure your name is on the registrant box and (2) know when the domain name expires.  In plain english if your lose your domain or it expires you loose your site and your email will go down till you fix the problem.

What if the results aren’t what you expected?

Well don’t panic.  This might have been an honest mistake.  Contact your web designer or the person that registered the name for you and have them update the info.  If you can’t get a hold of them you’ll have to contact the register and follow their policies.  Some (such as register.com) have in the past released the name to us when we’ve shown them the invoices to prove ownership.

Before, people would search on their desktop while at work or at home while they surf the web. Now people are searching while they are on the go or in the vicinity of your business. The biggest spikes can bee seen during lunchtime or evenings and weekends when most people are off work. It will still take a while for mobile search to surpass desktop search but mobile is still taking a large piece of the pie when it comes to search queries.

Mobile advertising will become increasingly important in upcoming years. Consumer readiness to do something after a search far exceeds that of consumer search at home. Google says 70% task completion happens within one hour on a mobile site. This means consumers are more likely to visit a restaurant one hour after searching online compared to visiting the same restaurant over the weekend when searched from home.

Because of the popularity of mobile search, it is crucial your site is optimized for mobile devices. Being able to promote your business through mobile devices and having a mobile friendly site is an important aspect of any Internet campaign. By allowing mobile users to easily find your business on the go, can be the concluding factor in generating new business.

Enjoy!

Download Here

Wow. Seven. Seven times we have redesigned the website for Imagine It Studios since 2004. Do the math. That’s one per year. Why one per year? Well for one, it’s because we can. But the real reason is web design is constantly changing and we want to change with it. We use our website to be like a model home, so we can show our potential customers the type of website they will have when they hire us. Plus when we are testing new technology that’s available to our customers, there’s no one better to test it on than ourselves. Trust me, you never want to be the crash test dummy. Fortunately for us we can test these technologies on our site and make sure they work before it we use them on your site.

Another important reason for Imagine It 7.0 is because our design team is a bunch of show-offs. While our competition touts template web designs with little to no functionality, all of our sites are custom built with one goal in mind… to make you money. And the great thing is, our custom site and their cookie cutter cost about the same.

So please browse our new online home and let us know what you think of version 7.0.  And thanks for being a part of the newest site built by the best web designers in McAllen, Imagine It Studios.