1. Create a Twitter Account for your client.  Add a Twitter feed to the client’s website and teach them how to update it.  It’s a quick way to post updates without knowing any programming.
2. Create a Facebook Page for your client.  Incorporate the client’s logo and messaging.  Add a “Facebook Connect” button to the main website to encourage visitors to connect.
3. Do a video tour of the business.  Create a youtube account and embed the video tour on the website.  Do this for your client’s existing TV commercials.

One note about video and load times:
Stay away from embedding Windows Media.  With services like YouTube, there is no reason for you to host or stream media from your server.  Upload the video to YouTube and use the embed code to make load times fast and efficient.

Thanks to Workforce Development and Human Capital Expert Karla Porter from the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber for sharing the link.

Another great reference for CSS is CSSZenGarden.com.

Now, part of the contest is ensuring your site is programmed using CSS and that CSS is “external.”  What does that mean and why does it matter?

CSS is often very textually intense.  By storing your CSS externally, you load that information once and then every other page automatically inserts it as ONE line of code (a link reference).  That’s a lot less to load and a lot less for the search engines to crawl when searching the Internet.

Great tutorial: http://www.tizag.com/cssT/external.php

Windows has a built in video editing program called “Movie Maker” – information at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker.

Mandy Boyle, SEO Specialist at Solid Cactus writes:

According to Practical eCommerce, 8 percent of the 2.7 billion video ad impressions studied by Google-owned technology firm DoubleClick involved higher levels of user interaction – a vital element in the overall shopping experience. Another study conducted by Innovate Media, an online video production company, showed staggering increases in conversion rates ranging from 12 to 115 percent.

eMarketer also puts online video viewers at more than three-quarters of US Internet users, and estimates that percentage will rise to 88% by 2012 – in short, video is a wise choice for keeping up with the pace.

“Every page on our web site using video converts two or three times more than pages without,” says Todd Holmberg, co-owner of AirgunDepot.com.

“Some products were gathering dust on our shelves, but we knew they were good products and people would buy them if they could see how they worked,” Holmberg says.  “Two of these items are now among our bestsellers in their category.  Video is 100% responsible for the change in sales.”

Uploading just any content won’t give you the results that online merchants like AirgunDepot.com are enjoying. Creating a creative, informative, and well produced video will often receive the best response. By making a clear outline of what exactly goes into producing a quality video it’ll be easier to dictate your next move and give you guidelines around which you can design your video project. Let’s take a look at some of the factors.

Content

The first and one of the most vital parts of the video creation process is deciding on the content. Product demonstrations, merchant information, and answering user questions are some of the most popular video formats for e-commerce sites, however, one form of video may work better than others. Decide which type or format of video works best for the message you’re trying to send to your visitors. Then, develop a well-written script that is easy to both perform and understand. Remember, writing for video is much different than other forms of traditional media. Develop a script that uses a conversational tone, short sentences, and gets your message across in as little time as possible. Also, brainstorm ways that you can set your video content apart from the competition. Personal or creative details may be the competitive edge you’re seeking.

Length

Remember to keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Although you may want to expound on all of the great features of your product down to the manufacturing facility where it was made, working in time frames less than five minutes will be most effective. Site visitors tend to skim product descriptions or articles, rather than spending the time to read carefully. The same principle applies to video. Visitors are looking for fast, easy to understand information presented in a short format that is visually appealing. After developing your content, practice your script to see if it needs to be trimmed to an appropriate length.

Talent

Adding a professional actor or voiceover can add value to your production, but sometimes site visitors would like a more personal approach. Starring in your own video gives your visitors a chance to get to know your site on a much more intimate level, which can increase their overall trust in your brand. This is up to you though. Professional actors are not for everyone, but the right actor can significantly enhance the quality of your footage, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t like to be in front of the camera.

Graphics

The images and text used in your video presentation can make or break the level of engagement in your visitors. Graphics can be created using special software by either yourself or a professional production company, however, be mindful of the way they are going to look on screen. Try to choose graphics, logos or colors that are easy to read and cleanly designed. Choosing opulent graphics can distort or cloud your video’s overall message or goal. Remember, keep it simple.

Music

Choosing the right music may seem easy enough, but copyright laws may indicate otherwise. When choosing music for your video, be sure that you either have permission to use it or are paying the appropriate royalties, or if you’re creative, compose your own.

Setting

Shooting video footage can be challenging depending on what facilities you have available. While the outdoors can seem like a great idea, wind and other elements can impact the comfort of your talent, the quality of your sound, and the safety of your equipment. Using a studio space would be ideal, but may not be within reach of your budget. Try to improvise by creating a well-lit, comfortable atmosphere, or be modern and go with a solid color backdrop. If you’re doing a product demonstration, put the product in a setting where it would normally be used.

Equipment

Quality footage can start or end behind the lens of a camera. If you have access to professional video and sound equipment, utilize it, or hire a production company to take the headache out of filming. . If you’re working on a small budget, using a personal video camera can suffice; however, you will be sacrificing image quality. Be sure to read up on best filming practices if you’re shooting the footage yourself.

Editing

When it comes time to put it all together, you have two options. The first is to edit the video using editing software like Cyberlink PowerDirector, Adobe Premier, or Pinnacle Studio yourself. The second is to hire a professional editor. If you don’t have experience in making and editing videos, hiring a professional is the better way to go, mostly out of necessity of time, convenience, and knowledge.

Quantity

After you’ve made a successful video, try not to overload your site with too many that could make loading times slower for visitors or can bog down your server space. Try selecting some of your best performing products and creating a few videos for various landing pages, or under the “About Us” section, upload a video tour of your operations. Moderation, as in most things, will be essential. The video is supposed to add to the appearance and integrity of your site, not detract from it.

The opportunities offered in e-commerce are endless, especially for the merchant who is willing to develop and adapt his or her site to the changing needs of visitors and the demands of our economy. Investing in video this year is just what you need to give your site a boost in sales, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction. You have the ideas. You have the tools. Now it’s time to make it happen.

From a design standpoint, it means that your site’s visitors will see the same navigational element on every single page.   This is most often done via a top or side nav.  For example, this website uses a right-side common navigational element  that is the exact same thing no matter what page you’re on.   There is also a less prominent TOP navigational element that exists for the homepage and About pages.

From a programming standpoint, it means that if possible, the same file should be used on every page for navigation.  Sometimes called “Include” pages, the navigation is placed in a separate file from the rest of the site.  That way, if you have to update a navigational link you only have to do it one place instead of on every single page.

From a load-time standpoint, this helps because the navigation typically only loads once and that bit of code doesn’t have to load on every click.

Here are some varied resources on the subject of site navigation:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1058652.html

http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/navigation.htm

http://searchenginesmarketer.com/2008/11/14/website-navigation-left-vs-top/

Here is a neat program that will allow you to see how your site will render in different versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer.   Beginning with IE 5.5 Microsoft browsers began rendering what I would consider “modern” web standards including CSS.  When developing a website in 2009, you really don’t need to worry about programming for browsers before 6.0 in the IE platform.

IE Tester: http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage

You should also be testing all your sites in:

Mozilla Firefox: http://www.getfirefox.com

Apple Safari: http://www.apple.com/safari

You might also want to… test your sites in Google Chrome (http://www.google.com/chrome) and even in mobile browsers since more and more people are surfing the web using their Windows Mobile browsers, iPhones, and Blackberry.

Solid Cactus Senior Project Manager Matt Kresge provides this article on Browser Compatibility Issues: http://www.ebizinsider.com/2008/07/17/testing-1234567-testing-1234567/