Google Wave

Google Wave, although still at a stage where you have to be invited to use the BETA version has already become our key tool for online communication, collaboration and project management. The working day at VR3 Media carries on well past 5pm and we also have freelance developers and designers who work for us remotely. Instead of relying on numerous emails and telephone calls, not forgetting the perfect memory recall, Google Wave helps communicate effectively online.

Conversations or 'waves' work like instant messenger with a number of added features. For example the messages are shown as they are being typed and can also be edited after the fact. The two features that I find the most useful are that anyone involved in a wave can upload files, jpeg, mp3 etc. It is also possible to play the waves back when ever required with each element of the wave loading in sequence.

Both of these features allow colleagues who were not part of the conversation initially to see what had been said, sent and agreed without the need for another long phone call, email or face to face conversation where every last details has to be recalled.

Google will be releasing APIs and giving access to the code allowing a number of developments including embedding elements of the platform into other web applications. A feature I would like to see added and maybe it will be in the future would be a real time voice recording system that could either convert voice into text or save as an audio file. It would also be useful to be able to send links to a wave to a colleague or team member by email or SMS.

We will continue to use Google Wave to complete projects and general communication, I look forward to any future developments to the system and no doubt VR3 Media will be putting all new features to good use.

Importance of Return Visits to your Website

The importance of attractive returning visits to your website cannot be understated. Whether your site is eCommerce or an information resource, keeping the content relevant and dynamic is important in insuring people revisit your website.

According to this artice on the BBC a user will take just 50 milliseconds to form an opinion on the quality of a website, so its hard enough to grab the attention of a first time visitor. With this is mind the load time of your web page should/must also has to taken into consideration.

Considering the length of time your website has to hold the users attention it becomes even more critical that the visitor lands on a page that has the information or product they are looking for or it is easy for them to find and navigate to.

Users on an eCommerce site may visit the same site (browsers) a number of times before committing to a purchase. Making the browser's experience easier on their revisit is key. Using a shopping cart that holds their selected products while browsing over multiple visits cuts out the need for the user to search for the product a second, third, fourth time. After sales service is just as/if not even more important (you now have their cash) as the content or usability of the website, late deliveries, damaged or the wrong goods when delivered could kill any potential repeat business stone dead.

If you don't have an eCommerce site content has to be relevant, engaging and kept up-to-date. If you already have some returning visits to your web site you should use web analytics to discover the content they are viewing. We have noticed with a number of our clients that any users with 4 or more visits were viewing the news page as the second most visited page (on one website is was also the most popular landing page for direct traffic). Based on this both clients started update the news and events pages on a much more regular basis.

Here are a few tips on attracting returning visitors;

• Make the content relevant and engaging for the user the first time they visit, use targeted campaigns, right keywords and landing pages

• Offer a excellent customer service before, during and after purchase/subscription (Live Chat, quick replies to emails, easy to find telephone numbers)

• Analyse the content the returning visitors are viewing, keep that content up-to-date, also use other reports such as the Visitor Loyalty and Recency

• Add an element of interactivity and participation to your web site, addictive games etc

• Use Social Bookmarking on websites such as Digg, Deliciuos and Twitter as well as RSS feeds

• Gather feedback on your web site and service, use the fivesecondtest tool to get an idea on people's opinion on your design

• Keep your existing customers/subscribers up-to-date with regular contact (be very careful with this and always allow a way of opting out of receiving any marketing material)

This is my first ever blog and would appreciate any feedback! Thanks