Change, Its like a breath of fresh air…

Although some would disagree and say if it ‘aint broken …why fix it?

We have all been there before, when you do the same thing everyday in work it becomes second nature to us, we become complacent with the task at hand and very often lose site of the function that we are doing and how it shapes our forward progress.

We become complacent with a lot of things in our life, work &  business, and that is when the damage is done.

Change

A website is for “all intents and purposes” a shop window for your business, it is the immediate message that you want to get to a client or customer in the absence of yourself being there.  In today’s fast paced lifestyle, first impressions count- a customer makes an educated decision to proceed or not, within 8 seconds of landing on your website, engagement is the key, it is a reflection of your business, an out of date or old looking website will reflect on you as being “out of touch” with progress, or worse still-out of touch with your product.

'Your website is a reflection of your physical business in the virtual marketplace.' Click To Tweet

So why is it, a website is always the last thing to be looked at-budget permitting?

If you think it will cost you too much to keep changing your website and updating it! Think how much its costing you in revenue and lost custom if you dont.

Here are some things to look at to determine whether an update/change is imminent.

• Actual Content.

  Long winded text and lots of it……oh-no. Today people don’t wish to read mountains of text. keep it short, sweet and cover the points that the user wants to know. The use of Bullet points is great.

• No Blog/Social Media….Oh’o

  We see it all the time, kids engrossed into social media, they are your customer of tomorrow, so get on their wave length. Bloggin’ is a great way to connect your product to your client, 92% of business’ that blog regularly every day acquire a customer thru their blog

• The BIG banner.

  Its imposing and unless it gets your message over, it can take up a lot of retail space, not to mention the data it costs to download to your possible customer.

• That annoying pop-up.

  We’ve all seen them, that frustrating pop-up asking you to sign up as soon as you open the website, if you need one because your business relies upon subscription based clients then configure the pop up to initiate on page close, that way the message is still there but not to the detriment of your content.

• Your source code…..WHAT!!!!

  If you right click on your website and “view-source” Search engine spiders see the same thing we do, words. Now take a look at the code. A Search engine friendly site should be easy to read. If your website is full of code which doesn’t mean much to you, chances are it won’t mean anything to search engine spiders either.

• Flash

  What use to be the next best thing to sliced bread, is now rapidly becoming stale, thanks to the smart phones, simply put “They don’t support Flash”. It’s also not Google friendly, so a Flash based site can hurt your search engine optimization efforts.

  'What use to be the next best thing to sliced bread, is now rapidly becoming stale' Click To Tweet

• Music/Video

  Its great to have all this media at your fingertips to show “Everything” off, but its always best to leave the choice of when its played, down to the viewer, its all about choice.

• Photos

  A picture tells a story, just make sure it isn’t a “Stock” photo that has to tell it, don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a stock photo but use them wisely, your customers/clients can spot them a mile away and if they feel you are trying to disillusion them about your product or service, they will soon say good bye!!

• Unresponsive…….YUK!!!

  Toward the end of 2015, if your website is not responsive(adapting to different screen sizes- tablet, TV, smartphone, Desktop or laptop) you will be missing out on a hunk of business. Tablet users spend 50% more than desktop/PC users and 48% of users that view an unresponsive website as an indication of that particular business as simply not caring!

Embrace change…

It doesnt need to be a huge change, small tweaks here and there will keep your website Fresh looking and with new content going on, it will also keep those google spiders busy and help with your Search Engine Optimisation.

The Mayfield Lodge Guest House needed a Change.

if you need any help……

Get in Touch

“Mayfield Lodge Guest House”

has been a favourite of travelers to the vibrant city of Edinburgh for years,
and Gecko~Grafix was privileged to take over the Guest House’s very much needed redesign of their website.

The remit from the client was to engage their customers through an interface that was responsive, that could be used whilst on the “go” and a design that would embody the Guest House’s ethos as a “home from home” as well as one that would monopolize there chosen demographic.

Before any coding took place, extensive research was undertaken on current trends of Guest House’s throughout the UK. Whilst doing this research on guest house’s in Edinburgh and across the UK, We found out that about 75% of them were being totally misrepresented in terms of demographic catchment, being under represented with the Guest house itself and displaying the Guest house in a flat, unappealing and unresponsive way. A majority of those websites incorporated 3rd party software responsible for capturing bookings for the owners, I felt this posed a series of problems,

1. They were reliant on 3rd party software functioning and reporting in a timely manner.
2. The ability to style and incorporate the software into your own design was limited, if at all.
3. The Majority of software/plugins used redirected the customer from the Guesthouse website to the 3rd parties’ website, thus losing the customers attention to other possible selling points
4. and, They all lacked that personable approach.

We at Gecko~Grafix created a beautiful website that was soft on the eyes, captured their chosen demographic eloquently, it was also functional and felt like an app when used on a mobile device.

What we included

With a lot of functionality like touch-enabled slideshows, click-to-call links and an intuitive user interface-all work cohesively together to create the perfect online presence for this popular guest house in Edinburgh Scotland.

if you would like something similar……

Get in Touch

Why Should You Promote Yourself ?

How people see you at work
as a potential leader or Team builder is vital to your growth in your given industry.
With the Internet, social media, your need to “brand” and “promote yourself” effectively is essential. No matter how skilled you are, it wont matter unless your boss or future employer can see those skills and think of how they can be attributed to the future vision of the company/business.

So, how do you and your “Brand” stand out from the crowd?

Taking control of yourself or at least the perception everyone has of you. I know, that doesn’t sound easy does it, it is not a natural thing, most of us really lack the ability to self promote, whether its self-confidence, timidity or you just don’t want to bother or annoy people with “You”.
'Either write something worth reading OR do something worth writing' Click To Tweet
So what you need to do is detach yourself from your brand. and promote your Brand or your vision of “You” and how you would like others to perceive you, and the internet is THE BEST way of taking charge of all of that. By marketing yourself properly in this media rich environment, you are in fact limiting the chance of things that you don’t want employers to see!
'If it doesn't challenge you then it wont change you.' Click To Tweet
All an employer needs is an internet connection and they can find many things about you, searching Social media is probably the best way, unfortunately this will also highlight some failures in their perception of you that could go against you in your en-devour to achieve your success.

So lets create your Brand.

So what is a brand and how do you change “YOU” into a brand?

There are typically 5 factors that define a brand.

1) Brand delivery

This is your promise to an employer, what will they get when they take on your brand.
eg.Think of your favourite brand and why it is your favourite, it promises to achieve a certain criteria and meets it all the time.

2) The Brand Perceptions/referrals

The only thing that matters is how consumers perceive your brand. You need to work to develop consumer perceptions that accurately reflect your brand-by highlighting testimonials etc
eg. Think of an eBay shop and how the feedback tool creates an aura of professionalism of the given shop.

3) The Brand Expectations/Consistency/Standards

Where do you stand within your profession, what is your style.
eg. If you’re a Chef, do you see yourself as a director of many subordinates high creating quality volume production or Michelin style finesse?

4) The Brand Persona

That’s you, this is the part where you let them know about the person behind the brand.
eg. Let them know your activities and how they tie into your goals, like reading for knowledge or gymnasium for stamina, what the person behind the brand and how you wish to drive it forward etc.

5) The Brand Elements

Cohesion is the name of the game, make sure all the above elements work together to portray you in the direction that you wish to go.
eg. It’s futile going through all the work above only to have a logo that speaks of “Disjointedness or harshness.

So what do we have to do?

Take control. Take part in forums of your chosen profession, commenting on a wide variety of topics, use your real name instead of “theBigBoy10465” earn some respect by being professional in your answers, but the key to what we are doing here is Networking, Jason Shen has a brilliant article on how to promote yourself without looking like a “Douche”.

Build an online Identity.

One of the best places to start would be About.Me, its basically a single page intro with linkage to other social media accounts all in one place. like for example your “youtube account, facebook, google+, LinkedIn, twitter and if you wish to go further and I highly recommend you do, a homepage/website, which leads us to the next part…

Building an online presence would not be totally fulfilled without your very own website, this is an ideal place to instigate your brand and using sections 1 thru 5 as an outline/guide to completing it

Imagine having your own Domain name and website just full of all your accomplishments laid out in an interesting journey of achievement. There’s no substitute for having an email address from your own URL, a photo gallery on your own site that’s populated with your own photos, or a blog with your own URL that’s full of your ideas and thoughtful but interesting articles. here is my Professional Chef Page.
One thing that can help you build a better online Identity is getting backlinks to your website. With backlinks you have to be very precise about what you do. They should be natural, so it won’t hurt your online rankings. Building backlinks can easily become a minefield of mistakes and mishaps for uninformed SEOs. Check out this step-by-step process on how to build backlinks the right way in 2018.

What not todo.

1. be gregarious with the truth.
2. plagiarize.
3. be a link fink, posting your site at every given moment, use it wisely to justify comments or as a way of establishing prior knowledge of a given subject.
4. be spammy, dont link to EVERY photograph you take, instead create an album and link to that, this will allow the viewer to establish whether they wish to proceed thru the other 100 photos or not. Promote it wisely.
5. forget about all the work you have put into it, keep it active and up to date, use your down time to do this, rushed work will show its rushed.

if I can be of any help……

Get in Touch

or leave a comment.

Michael White

some links on the same subject
How to promote yourself
Establishing an Identity

What happens when we are not Creative….

To be creative? It feels like you’re banging your head against a brick wall trying.
Some days you’re popping ideas like crazy, and you think, “I’ll remember those idea’s” for that rainy day, But you don’t. That rainy day has visited you and your mind is a cavern of “nothingness” (is that even a word?).

So what can you do to reinstate the flow of creativity and stop the ebb of “nothingness”!

Well there are quite a few things you can do, not all of them will work for you, so my thinking on this is take only the ones that do it for you and stick with them.

Its not just scribbles

Doodle.

This can sometimes be a hard one because in essence the mere act of doodling is creative in it self, so pick the key subject of your anguish and just start moving that pen.

Have your very own “side-project”

Having your own side project allows you to escape the realms of the task at hand, sometimes doing something that is self rewarding can be enough to get those creative juices flowing again.

Look at your previous projects

and ask how you could reinvigorate them or change them to suit a different client.

People Watch.

or some would saying being “Nosey”, but being in open spaces helps you to “think outside” the box.

Go to a coffee shop.

Just for the caffeine of course what else is there, combine it with the people watching if you need an excuse.

Don’t stress about perfection.

Perfection is the destination, the idea is the starting block, the creativity is the actual journey. enjoy the journey.

Its about thinking about “nothing”

Meditate or Daydream about a Far Away place.

I use to get told off a lot for doing this at school, but it is a great way of releasing your mind of any constraints of the day and in return allowing the creativity juices to flow once more.

Deal with rejection

Take Rejection as a Positive vibe

Whats this doing here….. Well, actually getting rejected or having an idea shelved is sometimes enough to rethink a problem or scenario

Learn something new.

Physical exercise is great but the ol’ grey matter needs exercise too and the best way to break the dormant state is to learn something new.

Do some yoga or Exercise.

According to the Barrons, when we’re physically active, the body loosens up and our mind is a little freer. So it’s easier to come up with solutions to problems and think of new ideas. Plus one recent study found regular exercisers performed better on creative tasks than their less active peers did.

Problem solving games

Play a video game.

here’s one excuse to sit in front of the computer: Video games that energize players and encourage a positive mood (Portal or Portal 2 are great, not Mortal Combat) can also promote creativity by boosting our problem-solving skills.

Get some sleep.

If you’re trying to solve a problem and can’t, get some shut eye. The morning will bring a new way of thinking. Sleep restructures new memory representations, meaning we think about experiences in new ways. At the very least, take a power nap, which stimulates right brain activity (the part of the brain responsible for creativity).

Don’t Stress about it.

The last and one of the most important, is this one, just don’t stress about it -lack of creativity happens to the best of us, stressing about it will only hinder the process of overcoming it.