Didn’t go to Stanford for your MBA? Well, now you can. Top notch universities in the US and abroad, business schools, museums, public broadcasting stations and state education organizations are all part of YouTube EDU, Academic Earth, MIT Open Course Ware and iTunes U which offer free downloads of educational podcasts or videos. These presentations cover a range of topics from VoIP security forums to language courses. iTunes U is the most popular platform for these free downloads. iTunes U’s popularity is most likely attributed to its promotion of free and mobile learning. Although released in 2007, not many users are maximizing its true potential. iTunes U has the prospective of creating a more empowered business person.

How it works:

iTunes U is accessed through iTunes and is found at the top of the menu bar. The podcasts can be downloaded individually or you can subscribe for automatic downloads as they become available. This second feature is used primarily for an on-going series podcast which operates like an on-going course.

How to Use it:

iTunes U’s direct relationship with iTunes means podcasts can be watched or listened to through a computer or can be taken anywhere with an iPod or an iPhone. iTunes U can be accessed from mobile devices through their cellular networks and via Wi-Fi. When accessing iTunes U from a computer, you can even send the podcast to your employees to ensure they are also up-to-date with current technologies or business concepts.

Whether your company is trying to break into a new industry, revamp your company logo or stay current with trends, there is probably a lecture for it.

Here is an exaggerated hypothetical situation illustrating how to utilize iTunes U to improve your business:

A small business owner is deciding between a social media focused online marketing campaign or a direct mail campaign. From listening to some iTunes U lectures, he decides that an online marketing campaign would be best and could be part of a larger search engine optimization effort. This savvy businessman decides to learn more about online marketing strategies before hiring anyone. After several lectures, he hires an experienced graphic design firm familiar with techniques referenced in the podcasts. He managed to do all of this free research on his iPod while on his daily subway commute to work each day.

As with the hypothetical example above, listening to these lectures may not illicit the necessary skills to do the project yourself, but will create a more knowledgeable entrepreneur. This knowledge creates a more confident negotiator and may eliminate the need to outsource more basic projects. Whether trying to learn Spanish to attract new clients or learn about social networking sites, with over 200,000 free educational files available through iTunes U alone, not taking advantage of this educational opportunity is too expensive of a mistake to make.

As an online entrepreneur, you know that great ecommerce web design can make or break your sales numbers. But statistics like site visits, click throughs to item descriptions, and other numbers might not tell the whole story: according to BizReport and eWay Direct, the majority of shoppers- a whopping 70%- browse products, set aside items for purchase and then…vanish. It’s called shopping cart abandonment- the process of loading items into a cart and then either purposefully or inadvertently navigating away from the site before completing a purchase. (more…)

It’s not a huge secret that a good portion of today’s big businesses are making much of their profits online. Wal-Mart’s website generates more sales per month than any of its actual stores. Buying and selling goods online has become, for many consumers in the U.S. and around the world, as common as going to the local grocery store.

But what is e-commerce, exactly? The Census Bureau defines e-commerce as “any business transaction whose price or essential terms were negotiated over an online system such as an Internet, Extranet, Electronic Data Interchange network, or electronic mail system.”  Offline businesses use e-commerce sales to complement store profits. Online-only enterprises such as Amazon.com or e-Bay allows for people all over the world with the same interests to connect and do business. The user-powered model of e-Bay empowered entrepreneurs to create their own private businesses and sell online. More than just selling stuff online, a good online business employs email, customer service chat, video, social networking such as a blog, community forum or thread and more to do business better.

Today, successful websites understand how to employ e-communications technology to build a consumer base and provide efficient, customer-focused services online. The internet economy has evolved since its beginnings in the mid-1990s. New innovations have created a more interactive, social World Wide Web, as well as jobs and opportunities for profit that did not exist before.

The Changing Internet Economy

A SmartEcon.com study describes the current internet economy as being made up of four different layers: infrastructure, applications, intermediaries and commerce.

• Infrastructure involves creating and maintaining the online network itself.  This means the ISPs, network hardware and software programs manufacturers, PC and server makers and security vendors.
• The applications layer involves all the programs and processes that provide products and services that make e-commerce possible. Multimedia applications, web development software, consultants, search engines, and online databases are all part of this category.
• The intermediary’s layer involves facilitating online business transactions. Online brokers, travel agents, content aggregators, ad brokers and portals are all examples.
• Commerce is the actual selling and buying of goods and services. This is the layer that involves business and consumers connecting online to conduct business. Online entertainment as well as the purchasing of goods and services falls under this layer.

Online shopping as a social activity

When the web first made the internet accessible to consumers in the 1990s, online shopping was something that a minority of internet users engaged in. Websites were single-page one dimensional spaces that companies used to provide information. It was a one-sided conversation, with sites providing information (usually in the form of text or photographs) and visitors taking it in. But the ability of internet users to comment on articles or write product reviews was not yet available.

Today, according to a 2008 global online survey, over 85% of the world’s internet users have made a purchase online, with the most popular buys being books, clothing, videos, DVDs, games, plane tickets and electronics.

What brought about this change?

In the early days of e-commerce web development, online shopping played a secondary role to a company’s actual store sales. It was a way for people who knew what they wanted to buy but didn’t have the time to go the store to make purchases conveniently.

Today, online shopping is a social activity. The internet is user-powered. People go online to see what other buyers have to say about a certain product. Research and communications between online buyers is just as much a part of e-commerce as the actual purchase transactions. Amazon’s user reviews, as well as websites like Consumer Reports, Bizrate, Shopping.com, and PriceGrabber.com offer information that is essential in the decision-making process of consumers.

But the social aspect of e-commerce goes beyond price comparisons and the simple product review. There are elements of community involved as well. Specialized consumer blogs where people can go to discuss special offers, upcoming products and shopping strategies have revolutionized the way people think about online shopping. Websites like Kaboodle, iliketotallyloveit.com and gosnopping.com are places where people can share their shopping experiences and rant about their experiences with the new iPhone or GPS system.

The fact of the matter is that e-commerce is growing and showing no signs of slowing down. As people become more and more comfortable with doing business online and networking with others via social networking sites, online identities will become an even more essential part of people’s lives.

Online businesses that wish to succeed must learn to use the social aspect of online shopping to their advantage. Providing a good infrastructure is not enough. Allowing consumers to feel like active participants is the key to generating traffic and differentiating your site from others.

Web designers frequently torment themselves trying to decide what colors to use for their creations. Color choice for a website can either spoil the content and drive users away from your site, or reinforce your brand and increase page views. A good rule of thumb for website colors is to keep them simple and follow the trends.

If you are looking for a web designer to freshen up your site, visit Resource Nation’s web design quote center.

According to COLOURLovers.com, in 2008, blues and greens were the most popular colors. Blue Iris, a radiant shade of blue, was favorited by more than a half million people.

The most popular green of 2008 was said to be Bamboo Green, which makes sense given the green economic revolution. These two colors also blend well together and are frequently used on sites like Broadband Reports, TechCrunch, and TripAdvisor.

In 2009, blue has continued and will continue to be a popular trend. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Indeed all use different shades of blue, most likely because it is extremely versatile. Blue helps words, logos and other content pop while providing feelings of ease and usability.

The Popularity of Blue

The first few months of any new year are often times referred to as “Award Season.” This is because every January, the new year kicks off with award show after award show and business award after business award. Some of the popular award shows include the People’s Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Academy Awards where celebrities send the trend in style and color. We saw celebrities wearing various stunning shades of blues, setting the stage for blue to continue to be a popular color in 2009.

Web designers take note of this blue trend so you can ensure your websites are inviting, appealing, and successful. Below is a brief sample of the web design color trends for 2009. Review each trend and let the colors inspire you for your next website design project.

Blue Trends

Anne Hathaway at the Golden Globes in a gorgeous dark-navy blue. Hathaway’s choice of color is similar to Papillon Bleu, which is the perfect hue to make your web content jump off your page.

Maggie Gyllenhaal at the Golden Globes in a fun, bright, leopard-print blue. Bright colors are a great way to attract attention. Additionally, having the right mix of colors can do wonders for your website designs. Black and blue go extremely well together, as Gyllenhaal demonstrated at the Golden Globes and as Acceptance demonstrates on their website.

Mary Louise Parker at the Golden Globes in a vibrant royal blue. Royal blue has always been a popular shade of blue. It’s effervescent, stunning, eye-catching, and pairs well with a variety of other colors. For example, markmeup effectively utilizes Royal Blue with several other shades of blue as well as for various design uses. While C&M Properties & Construction, Inc. doesn’t use Royal Blue on their site, they do successfully pair blue with gray hues for a wonderful blend of colors to make their page look organized and well put together.

Overall, because there is an assortment of beautiful blues and all shades pair well with other colors, blue is an excellent color. Blue will prove to be a popular choice for web designers in 2009.

One important decision small businesses need to make today is who to hire to design and develop a corporate website. You can either outsource it to a web page design company or use in-house website designers. For small businesses, I’d recommend outsourcing and here’s why:

Outsourcing Saves Money

When outsourcing web page design, you only pay for the time spent on the project or a flat-fee for the entire web design. This can result is significant savings since opting to remain in-house for your web programming produces a necessary ongoing financial commitment to the web designer(s). This commitment can be in the form of salary, equipment, bonus, training, benefits, and more.

The Competitive Drive of External Agencies Benefits your Website

The web design industry is extremely competitive by nature. Due to the need to remain competitive in order to survive in the industry, there is more pressure on external agencies to stay up-to-date with the latest technology, web designs, innovations, and developments. As a result, external agencies are often better equipped and better staffed to take advantage of modern technology to produce effective website designs.

On the reverse, most companies make the mistake of using employees from the IT department to design and program the web. IT departments typically don’t focus on web design and are usually required to address several company issues unrelated to web design. Because the IT department is not worried with whether or not they must be up to date on the latest web design techniques in order to be competitive in the web page design industry, it could result in outdated technology, old-fashioned web designs and obsolete web programming techniques.

Bigger Means Better

External agencies are normally larger than in-house web designer teams. Thus, they likely have an advantage when it comes to complex and cutting-edge websites. In addition, since external agencies are usually larger, they have numerous specialists in specific web programming fields like accessibility or usability and are often better equipped to take advantage of modern technology and challenging website designs.

Outsourcing Means Fresh Eyes

Outsourcing web page design brings a fresh, unbiased and objective perspective into the mix and ultimately enhance your marketing message and functionality.

Experience Equals Quality

Professional web page design companies typically have entire teams of experts and specialists who offer vast experience and expertise in web design and web programming. On the contrary, in-house web designers are often-times not very experienced, struggle to create high-quality web designs, and can take a much longer period of time to do so.

In-House Invites Internal Issues

Selecting in-house web designers can result in delayed and unfinished projects because your chosen web programmers may be sidetracked or derailed by internal politics or conflicting IT priorities. This problem does not exist when outsourcing web page design because you use external agencies that are unconcerned with your company’s politics and various IT issues.

If you are a small businesses, visit Resource Nation’s comprehensive list of web page design companies.

One of the reasons that I started my business, MarketGarden, was to help Green Businesses, those that offer green/sustainable products or services, market themselves. Often times these start-ups or smaller companies can not afford a variety of agencies – a marketing firm, pr firm, web developer, and advertising agency – to do so. I wanted to offer all of those services in a more efficient, cost effective way. In order to be true to my mission, I needed to find better ways to market – greener ways, more cost effective ways. Over the last year, I have realized that this balance is not just for Green businesses, but all businesses.

There has been a shift toward global agreement that we must to take more responsibility for the health of our planet and reduce our Carbon Foot Print, but balancing that with building a business and in a difficult economic climate can be overwhelming. That said all of these challenges require a more creative strategy that can benefit from the newest marketing tools. Market smarter (have a good strategy) and have your tactics work harder (lower cost, targeted and more impactful.)

Market Your Business – Use Green Marketing Methods – Reduce Costs, this marketing Trifecta is possible and effective. Here are some tips for you to use to reach your goals.

Direct Mail

• Use a more targeted mailing list. This reduces your list size and increases response rates. You can use the postage savings on more effective creative, possibly variable printing.
• Make sure to purge and update your lists
• Reduce waste by mailing smaller pieces – driving recipients to your web site for more information. This will also reduce postage costs.

Printing - Use green printers such as Greenprinter.com and Printingforless.com that offer green printing solutions and operate their business with a reduced Carbon Foot Print.

Electronic Collateral – Limit your use of printed materials, but emailing brochures and presentations, rather than printing them. This is a huge cost savings. Many retailers offer online catalogs rather than mailing them out.

Invoicing and other communications – Try using email for invoices and statements, once again saving on postage and printing. You can always offer mailed and emailed versions, and let your customers choose.

Websites

• Have your website do more of your “heavy lifting” by posting communication items such as –brochures, annual reports and newsletters, on your site where they can be viewed or downloaded as needed. FTP large documents or information, rather than overnighting them. You can send emails out with links back to your site for more information.
• Spread the word through blogs and social networking sites
• Post videos on your site or YouTube to tell your story show a demonstration of your product or service or provide tutorials.

Need inspiration? There are some great publications and websites out there that showcase unique and effective green marketing campaigns. One my favorites is USPS’s publication Deliver Magazine, http://www.delivermagazine.com/. The site offers white papers, podcasts and case studies as well as a subscription to the publication.

To find vendors to help you with your marketing campaigns, visit Resource Nation’s online business center.

Everyone agrees that in order to properly market your business you need to have a web site. For many businesses the person in charge of this project has little or no experience with developing a web site. They know they need it, but have no idea what is involved and so often make their decisions based on price or style, rather than substance.

Over the last eight months, I have spent much of my time redeveloping web sites. Some of the sites had fulfilled their original purpose and needed to be updated because; a) the company had outgrown the site, b) new technology enabled new functionality, or c) they needed a fresh, more contemporary look. Unfortunately though, many of the sites I have worked on are brand new, some just weeks old. A few were inexpensive sites, maybe a Do-It-Yourself project or developed by a friend of a friend, but others were done by agencies and cost $30,000 – $40,000. The budget and creativity were there, but they were poorly planned and did not fulfill the company’s goals.

Currently I am working with a client that just launched their new site. I was brought in to oversee the development of a gift card section for this site. They were thrilled with the new look, but not the functionality. The designer did not design the site with the visitors and site goals in mind. The two main goals of the site were to provide information about their franchise opportunities and provide a revenue stream by selling gift cards online. The first thing I noticed when reviewing their site was the links to Franchise Info and Gift Card Purchase were out of the viewable space or “below the fold.” So in order for someone visiting the site to find this information, they would have to scroll down the page, greatly decreasing the numbers of visits to those areas of the site. This was just one of many areas of concern, but the most profound.

Designers are usually focused on how the site looks, programmers are focused on how the site works, but the most important part of development and the one that is most often overlooked, is the visitor’s experience sometimes referred to as usability. It is so important to ask throughout the design and development stages – Does the site fulfill the company’s goals and can a visitor find the information they want easily.

The best way to avoid this mistake it to take the time to set clear site goals before design and programming begin. Then make sure these goals are still being achieved throughout every stage of the process. There are several stages of development to be aware of.

1. Discovery Stage – Set goals, discuss functionality, begin to collect assets

2. Wire frame and navigation – Make sure that the most important areas of the site are easy to access.

3. Creative Comps – The designer should present one or more comps of the home page and an interior page, for your review and approval before moving into additional design or the programming stage.

4. Programming – This is the full production stage of the site and when all content is added. You should be given a link to a beta version of the site to review before the developer goes LIVE with the site.

5. Quality Assurance – The testing phase. Be sure the developer tests on multiple browsers. What looks good on Internet Explorer 6, does not necessarily work on IE7 or FireFox.

Never be afraid to ask questions. When you receive the beta link to your site, test it yourself, have a friend, or co-worker go through the site and try to access key information. Ask them, does the navigation make sense? Could you find key information? And so on.

Finally, make sure to consider current as well as future goals for your site. If you want to be able to make your own changes, capture data, open an online store or increase the site size, let your web team know at the beginning. This can save time and money down the road.

This Ain’t No Field of Dreams

Your website design is killer; you FINALLY have it up and running. You have all your content, maybe some cool bells and whistles, and you are ready for business. As the movie says, you “build it and they will come” – soon thousands of people will visit and learn all about your great products or services. Right? Well, not really. According to a Netcraft report from May of this year, there are over 168 million web sites and counting. The word is out and businesses large and small know that having a web site is no longer optional it is mandatory.

So, how do you get people to visit your site? Unless you are a large company with plenty of brand recognition it may take a little time to build up your traffic, but there a variety of ways to begin doing so that are free or relative inexpensive. Here are few simple ways to start.

1. Include your site address on everything you use as collateral. This seems obvious, but it is surprising how many people forget to include their web site in their advertising or their email communication.

2. Make sure to register your site with all the free search engines such as www.dmoz.org, www.scrubtheweb.com, and www.ineedhits.com. There are a lot of these search engines and it can be time consuming, but it is worth it. There are also companies that you can pay to submit your site to a variety of paid and free search engines. Note: It can take up to 60 days for your site to show up when searched.

3. Affiliations and linking are a great way to build traffic to your site. You can offer to include links of other businesses that compliment your own, in exchange for them to do the same. Another way to increase your links is by social networking through sites such as LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook. Link popularity has direct benefits, but can also increase your rankings with popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Check out www.linkpopularity.com to check your sites links.

4. Send regular email announcements that link back to your site, with specials and news just for your customers. Not only does this drive traffic back to your site, but also reminds them you are still around. There is an added bonus in that it makes them feel special, like they have the inside track. Always remember to capture email contact information when ever possible so you can build up your email database. I always recommend my clients get an account with Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com). It is easiest way to build a database, organize it and create communications for your customers. Plus they allow your visitors to opt-in and opt-out as they prefer.

5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – There are many ways to optimize your site, but the simplest way to start is by making sure you have good content on every page and that the content is reflected in your META tags and keywords. Make sure to use words that your target market will use to search for products and services your offer. Be warned – SEO is not something you do once, just when you launch your site. It is an ongoing process. Many companies now have an SEO as a line item in the marketing budgets.

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After they have gone through the process of putting up a Web site, many business owners seem to think that visitors will just magically find their site and start to buy stuff. Sadly, that notion couldn’t be further from the truth. A Web site is useless as a marketing tool if nobody ever sees it. However, you can do a number of things to increase the number of people who find your Web site.

1. Get incoming links. If you don’t have any links from other Web sites pointing to your site, search engines and people are unlikely to find it. Most businesses work with other vendors or members of industry associations or organizations. Ask those people to link to your Web site. The best incoming links are those that are related to your industry.

2. Optimize your site for search engines. The way your site is created and the text it contains are important when it comes to being found. If your site is about purple widgets, you need to make sure that the term “purple widget” is used in the text on your pages. Note that having the words in a graphic does not count. If you have a website design that uses a lot of graphics, make sure text that people may use to search for your Web site is actually in the Web site text and not embedded in a graphic or animation.

3. Send out press releases. An easy way to get incoming links is to get them from news organizations. Many newspapers and magazines put their articles on line. If you send out a press release and your story is written up, the article should include a link to your Web site. Be sure to include your URL in every press release you send out.

4. Write articles for your site. Another way to entice other sites to link to you is to write informative articles. If you know a lot about purple widgets, write articles about how they can be used. Other people who are interested in purple widgets then link to your article. You also can post articles on some of the many free article sites online. In this case, other people post your article on their site. You include a “resource box” that includes a link to your Web site.

5. Offer freebies to visitors. People love free stuff and they often tell their friends. Many sites offer free newsletters, downloads, coupons or software as a promotional tool.

6. Network online. Participate in discussion groups that are related to your industry. Include a “signature” line in your emails that has a link to your Web site. If you answer questions and help others, people are likely to click the link in your signature to find out more about you.

7. Don’t forget about “off-line” promotion. It should be obvious, but put your URL on every piece of print material you generate. Include it on your business cards, letterhead, advertisements, and freebies like pens and tote bags. Whenever you print your company name, print your Web site URL as well.

It takes time to effectively promote a Web site, so be patient. Search engines take a while to clue into a new site, but by incorporating these online marketing techniques, you will be rewarded with more visitors to your site.