More than Shine
The days of shiny destination portals and product sites as all-encompassing consumer conversion tools are over. It is no longer enough that a destination page features a slick presentation; a de-rigueur over-designed marquee that promotes your product. Sensitivity in design is necessary now that users have become more familiar with website use, functionality, and purpose and expect them to provide more than just an advertising pitch. To get consumers to value the site and perform any conversions you intend them to do, your site needs to offer features such as toolsets and other engagement points that are useful and enticing enough for repeat visits for information as well as for functional tasks which yield information and useful results.
A good toolset must involve something that the consumer can take advantage of without actually purchasing the brand’s product to do so. Often these users are seeking information beyond the products themselves. Something as simple as a clearly marked button, a module that enables them to forward information via e-mail to friends or facilitates a download of information, or sample applications can help make consumers view a brand’s site as a useful resource.
Hurricane Ike and the Power of Planning
One of the toughest challenges when managing a data center is keeping everything up and running in the face of a disaster. Our clients depend upon us to keep their brand online and their back end operations working smoothly, regardless of the circumstances.
About a month ago, Hurricane Ike brought hurricane force winds to Louisville, leaving thousands of homes and businesses without power and an indefinite power outage to the home of our primary data center. This was the first major test of our emergency plan, and I am happy to announce we passed with flying colors.