Customizing social networks for consistent branding

Social networking has quickly become one of the best ways to market your company and it's important that your brand remain consistent throughout your entire social network, including your blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and any other social networking site that allows for branding.

At Dunya Web & Graphic Design we understand brand identity and social media and can help you put your best social foot forward, whether you have an established brand already or are just getting started and don't even have a logo yet.

What is a Mobile site and why do you need one?

Mobile sites are designed for the small screen, with the needs of mobile users in mind. A mobile-friendly site can help your business connect with customers and increase sales, but a bad mobile experience can drive your customers to your competition.

Are you interested? Contact Dunya for a free quote: 203.788.0481 or info@dunyawebdesign.com

Why a mobile website? Perhaps a better question is why NOT? Here are our top 10 reasons why you don’t just want a mobile website, you need a mobile website…

1. Your regular website is not going to cut it.
There is a fundamental design difference between a regular website and a mobile website. On a mobile phone, there is a very limited amount of screen space. If you have ever had to side scroll to view something on a website, you realize how much of an inconvenience it is. This is magnified on a mobile device. Even with the ability to turn the device lengthwise, the resolution is still extremely small.

2. 1/5 of Americans access the mobile web each day.
This percentage is increasing every year. If you’re not representing yourself on the mobile web, your competition surely will take up the opportunity.

3. Mobile web will overtake the desktop within 5 years.
Not only will the mobile web inevitably overtake the desktop, but also usage and adoption is growing at a much faster rate than the desktop did. In the future, the vast majority of visitors to your website will be on a mobile device.

4. $1.6 billion purchased from mobile devices in 2009.
This is likely the most exciting and sought-after information about the mobile web. If millions of people are using the mobile web, but they are not buying anything, most commercial websites would not bother establishing a mobile presence. But as you can see, purchasing from mobile devices is already in the billions.
Studies show that buyers do not have as much confidence in purchasing from a mobile device as they do from their PCs, but both comfort levels and the amount being spent is increasing. Users went through the same hesitation when the Internet was just becoming popular, and now most people do not hesitate when buying something online from their PC. You can be rest assured that the same thing will happen with the mobile web.

5. 93% of adults in the U.S. own a cell phone.
Not all cell phones have Internet access capabilities, but that is currently the trend. It is safe to say that in the near future, all phones will have some form of online access.

6. 5% of the top 500 online retailers have a mobile website/iPhone app.
We were rather surprised by how low this number is. But then again, this means great things for the rest of us who are not in the top 500 online retailers. If you’re a business, we are willing to bet that one of the biggest reasons you are not ranking as high as you would like is because your competitors are beating you.

7. Mobile advertising spending will surpass $6.5 billion in 2012.
Ad spend is a great indicator for the current status of an industry. If someone is willing to spend their hard earned money putting their products in front of users on the mobile web, you can assume there is a pretty good reason for it. Furthermore, if they continue to spend more year after year, that indicates that the previous year’s investment paid off. And that is exactly how mobile advertising is trending across the board.

8. Users average 13 hours online per week, up from 7 in 2002.
As online usage increases regardless of the device used, accessibility is going to be the next lever to increase online usage. A desktop or laptop used to be the only way to access the Internet, but now with Internet enabled mobile phones the Internet has truly become mobile. It is now simply a matter of service availability from your mobile phone network provider such as AT&T and Verizon.

9. There are an estimated 2 billion cell phones worldwide.
Not only that, but mobile phones seem to outlast their owners and are passed down to another owner. There are great recycling and refurbishing programs that use old cell phones as emergency dialers or resell them at discounted rates.As you can see, the mobile web is clearly trending up and has a lot of room to grow. If the mobile web were a stock, now would be the time to buy. It is the closest thing to a sure bet as you can get.

10. Google has a separate index for mobile content.
Not only do they have a separate index for mobile content, but also it is fairly empty.

Credits: Qfuse

Are you interested? Contact Dunya for a free quote:
203.788.0481 or info@dunyawebdesign.com

QR codes

QR or QUICK RESPONSE CODES

have been around since 1994 and were originally used to track parts during car manufacture. It is likely you have seen one, even if you didn’t know what it was, usually displayed as black and white squares in a grid pattern reminiscent of a crossword. Essentially QR Codes are a bar code capable of holding significantly more information (thousands of characters as opposed to tens).

Around October 2010 they became a popular tool to quickly link smartphone users through to web pages, provided the phone had a relevant reader installed. Creating your own code is fairly simple with a myriad of free to use generators available, though initially the various options can be slightly overwhelming.

So How Are QR Codes Used?

QR codes are a quick and convenient way to transfer information to smart phones (or any digital device with a reader). The information encoded might direct users to a website URL, add contact details, offer special discounts and much more. They are often seen in magazines and on posters and flyers, where details on an event or product can be transferred. More specialized uses involve supplying extra details on name tags and business cards (vCards or personalized webpages), television adverts that are continued interactively and ordering online from closed high street shops.

QR Codes have also been used as coupon codes, online tickets and in scavenger hunts. Reiterating the paper message is a frequent but uninteresting practice, it is often more effective to create useful and interesting applications that will get people talking.

How Do I Create My Own QR Code?

There are plenty of free QR code generators out there. Generally the default settings will be fine for a quick and easy result and many of the options are fairly self-evident though they will sometimes appear under different headings. Nevertheless to ensure that any interested party has the best chance of using your code it is worth at least being aware of some of the more advanced options available.

Must Know QR Code Tips

• Resolution –An important part of a QR code is the size as if it is too small some devices may have issues reading it. Across different generators Resolution is also referred to as Scale, Block size or Output.
• Data Type – This defines what action the code will take when scanned, it is commonly used to show the user websites, plain text, phone numbers, Google maps and email addresses.
• Redundancy/Error Correction – If a portion of the code becomes unreadable having using Error Correction during creation will mean the code compensates for lost data. There are varying degrees of correction offered (15% is the most common) though the larger the redundancy allowed for the greater the increase the grid size. At 0% any obstruction/damage to the code is likely to render it unreadable.

How Do I Read The QR Code?

Every major device has a number of available readers, some such as Blackberry come with a built in reader, Android and iOS have a number of free and paid options available on their respective marketplaces. QR Reader for iPhone and QR Droid for Android and Google Goggle for both, are favorites.

Your Turn

Hopefully the thought of creating your own QR Codes is now less daunting. So do you plan on making your own QR Code? Are you already using them and have any tips? If have a unique idea for a QR Code use or want to plug your favorite generator, let us know!

This is a guest article contributed by Simon Goble.

Facebook Business Page Design

NEED HELP SETTING UP A FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE? CALL ME: 203.788.0481

4 Reasons Why You Must Setup a Facebook Fan Page!

1) With over 600 million users and almost 50% of them on Facebook daily. . .. stop. . .. think about it. . ...AND over 40% of existing businesses already up and running on it, you want your business to be where your customers and potential customers are going, right? If you knew that your customers were passing by one of the huge billboards in Times Square every day and those billboards didn't cost millions per month to be advertising there, you would want to be up there. . .wouldn't you?

2) Your Facebook business page is like the huge billboard in Times Square except for the fact that it's free. Your customers are there, their friends are there. And you can say a heck of a lot more on a FB page than you can on a billboard.

3) The search engines love a Facebook Business Page. Because a business page is a public URL and not a private one, your site will have a much easier time making it to the top of a Google search than your website. That's unless you've invested a lot of $ into SEO (not that there's anything wrong with that).

4) As mentioned earlier, your competition already has a Facebook business page, and not because they want to share about their favorite rice and beans recipe. The "like" button has become the new "link." Many online marketers, myself included now believe that the Facebook "like" button is becoming just as significant as backlinks to a website. In other words, the more "likes" your page has, the greater the chance of it ranking high in the search engines for your specific field and keywords. So think of it as a link and encourage your customers to press it. Every time you update something on your page these customers will now see it as they have been "linked" to it.

There are so many good reasons to create one of these Facebook business pages I could blather on and on about them forever. For now, think about the math. The average Facebook page has 140 friends. When you post to Facebook, your "friends" and all their "friends" will view your post. Can you spell V-I-R-A-L? As insane as it might sound, there's a reason why Shop Rite wants you to "like" them on Facebook.

(Credits: Facebook)

My extended office in Phoenix, Arizona

I love my job!

Understanding the Benefits of CMS

Creating static websites and changing the content can be difficult and time consuming. A Content Management System or CMS can be used to make this much easier. CMS systems have become increasingly popular because they make it very simple to adjust the contents on your site without needing to change the code or other settings, nor do they require that the webmaster possess coding related knowledge.

What is a CMS?

A CMS is also known as a Content Management System. This is a very popular piece of software which can be installed on your website. Common examples include Joomla, Microsoft SharePoint, WordPress.

Change Content Without Changing Code

CMS are very useful for websites because it makes it possible for anyone to edit the content. Not everyone who wants a website will be able to edit the code themselves. By using a CMS it’s possible to allow anyone to easily change the information on the website

Fast

Simply changing a small spelling error or piece of information would normally involve changing the website offline and then uploading the files again via FTP This is very time consuming. It’s much faster and easier if you change the details utilizing a CMS package, as there is no need to re-upload the site files once again.

You may also perform modifications without waiting for a web developer to make the changes you request at additional fees.

Cheaper

Designing a CMS might initially be slightly more expensive than a static website. However, actually maintaining it will be much cheaper. You will not require any special skills to maintain the website.

Better Control

Another reason why CMS software is very popular is because it gives people much better control over websites. It’s easy to write content and then save this as a draft. Additionally it possible to control who can write and who can approve content. It also ensures that all content is approved before being posted on your website.

Growth and Expansion

CMS makes it simple to keep track of all the pages on your website regardless of how many you add. This means that you can minimize the risk of any errors affecting your website.

Credits: webhostinggeeks.com

My extended office

Today I am working from a little cafe in Ridgefield called Tusk and Cups. They have a nice fireplace and good coffee. I love my job!