February 2009 ~ Rags To Stitches Productions

Want An Ask Search Bar On Your Web Site?

3:07 AM Author: RAGS

How would you like a nice full blown Ask Jeeves search bar across the top of your web site?

Well, in this case you don't even have to ask!

The team over at Ask has decided to load their users search results in a frame, along with the web sites users click through to visit. Despite the optional method for dismissing the search bar - which doesn't necessarily work for everyone due to cookie handling - it still creates issues. Once a user gets more than one page deep into a web site, if they dismiss the search bar the reloaded page goes back to the first page viewed.

And let's not even discuss the wonderful suggested search terms they include, which is easy one click access for your visitors to leave your web site.

Any comments?

Yahoo!(R) Mobile - Your Starting Point to the Internet?

2:48 PM Author: RAGS

According to recent Press Release from Yahoo!(R) we will soon be introduced to a new and improved Yahoo! Mobile service.

Features are to include:

Yahoo! oneSearch(TM) - Yahoo!'s award-winning mobile search service providing the most current, relevant answers you need.

Today - The most interesting stories buzzing on the Internet right now, selected by Yahoo!'s editorial team.

Email - Access to Yahoo! Mail and other popular email service providers, including Gmail(R), Windows Live(TM) Hotmail and AOL(R) Mail.

Pulse - Access totheir social networks, including Bebo(R), Dopplr(TM), Facebook(R), Flickr(R), Friendster(R), Last.fm(R), MySpace(R), Twitter(TM) and YouTube(TM).

Yahoo! Address Book - Keeps consumers' contacts always handy and in sync.

Yahoo! Calendar - View, add and edit appointments when users are away from their PCs.

Yahoo! News - Breaking headlines across popular topics.

The smartphone version of Yahoo! Mobile is to include the above, plus:

Yahoo! oneSearch with Voice(TM) - Allowing users to launch searches by simply speaking.

Maps - Powerful improved tools that let consumers locate, learn about and get directions to points of interest.

Opera Mini(TM) 4.2 - An integrated version of the world's most popular mobile web browser, with easy return to the Yahoo! Mobile app, that launches when web site access is needed.

Widgets - Enhanced mobile-optimized experiences for services from Yahoo! and other brands. Users can browse, add and remove these at anytime according to their tastes.

I gave it a spin on my Blackberry this morning and submitted an application to be a beta tester.

I currently use many of Google's mobile services that I find extremely valuable. Google allows you to sync your calendar, contacts and appointments to and from your mobile device and the web, and the Google maps feature is nice on occasion. Gmail has been very easy to use as well. I recently installed Google Latitude, which tracks my Blackberry's GPS signal. Although the application was intended for others to know where you are, I installed it should I ever lose it or have it stolen.

It will be interesting to see what Yahoo! Mobile has in store for us in terms of productivity, tools we can use in our daily business routines and of course possible channels for marketing online.

My Facebook Philosophy

6:35 PM Author: RAGS

Recently I came across a post in an online forum where someone relatively new to Internet Marketing had posted a question regarding Facebook. Basically he was asking other web site owners whether or not linking to a Facebook Fan Page would be a good idea or not.

I was a little disappointed in the replies the poster was receiving. Those who responded made sense, basically encouraging the philosophy of "why link to an off-site web page when you have the customer on your site already". While I do subscribe to that theory, I had to disagree in this particular case.

I replied with:

I'm in the other camp {username}. My FB fan page generates sales and is another way to broadcast announcements and promotions to an opted in, qualified group of shoppers. Furthermore it is showing up in the search engines. While I agree that outgoing links need to be under scrutiny, I have to disagree that a Facebook fan page is a bad idea.

Also, Facebook allows you to create applications. I created one that allows users to send dart shirts to each other. It is generating an average of 100 active users per week. Every time someone sends one to a friend, both sending and receiving users have my products right there on their screen with my company info and link to my shop.

Add it all up, and from an Internet Marketing perspective its a no brainer. Go for it.

Back in December while tuning everything in for the last Holiday rush, I created a Facebook Fan Page for my dart shirts web site as well as the application I mentioned in my reply. By January my application had reached 638 monthly active users, and that number increases daily.

Considering the growth and continued popularity of Facebook, consider signing up if you have not joined the crowd. For more of my Facebook Philosophy coming from an Internet Marketing perspective, watch your mailbox for the next issue of Promowear Magazine.

Do you have social media sharing buttons on your web site or blog?

Providing your visitors with social media sharing buttons provides them one click access for sharing your content. I can add social media sharing functionality with buttons that compliment your site for just $35.00!

Add this important feature to your site today!