Nu Finish, a longstanding envisionit client, came to us wanting to grow their online presence and breathe new life into their several-year-old website.
After performing a full audit of the website analytics and competitive online landscape, we identified some areas for opportunity for the Nu Finish website, including consumer education, fresh unique content, and revised architecture driving users to critical pages.
To showcase Nu Finish’s car-care expertise, we added a Car Care section featuring information on car wax versus car polish, as Nu Finish’s product is wax-free, which educates visitors on the benefits of using a car polish over a wax. A new How-To video section, embedded from the Nu Finish YouTube channel we created, equips users for product application and creates fresh, search engine-friendly content to help capture “how-to” based keyword searches. We also added a Testimonials section with an online submission tool, to leverage all the great consumer feedback Nu Finish receives.
Keyword research helped us update content, metadata, and marketing messages with stronger calls-to-action and discoverability through organic search.
Not only did organic search traffic increase 111% for “wax versus polish“ searches, but bounce rates and site engagement times improved significantly. Also, the number of visitors proceeding from the Home page to the valuable Where to Buy page doubled in Q3 over the same period last year.
Now that we’ve revved the engine of Nu Finish’s online presence, we invite you to see the Car Care site for yourself!
It involves both an aesthetic and structural update meant to keep users more engaged and on the site longer. YouTube’s ultimate goal is most certainly to increase their (thus, Google’s) advertising revenue potential, but put your cynicism away, because the key is: It’s designed to keep users more engaged and on the site longer. That is what you really need to know.
Here are the 2 key changes to the site and why they should matter to you:
More emphasis on Channels and Subscriptions than just on individual videos What Does This Mean? On the home page, users will now see handy channel categories helping them browse for content that interests them–even stuff they may not have considered being on YouTube. There’s also recommended channels, which is based on previous searches and views. And a customizable feed of new videos added by channels they subscribe to. Users can also connect from YouTube to Google+ and Facebook to see what theirs friends are sharing.
What Does This Mean For Your Business? YouTube currently reports 3 billion video views per day, which will start translating into lots more engaged viewers, with all the redesign alerts YouTube has all over the site. As video watchers start to more actively peruse content through YouTube’s cleaner structure, you need to take steps to get in front of them! read the full story...
Develop videos that you can upload on a fairly consistent basis: seasonal tips/motivation/ideas/inspiration, how-to’s on something your company produces, footage from events (especially great if you run a club, restaurant, or store and had customers in attendance–most people love seeing themselves and will share that content), footage of your company building a house for charity, even silly antics around the business.
Google has introduced Real-Time traffic data to all Google Analytics users, allowing you to view all traffic on your site as it’s happening in…real time!
Real-Time Analytics allows you to view who is entering and leaving your site, if they are a new or returning visitor, and most importantly what traffic source they are coming from.
Since Real-Time will define the source of a visitor, this is very valuable for marketers and business owners who want to know how well an ad campaign or social media post is performing. They can now gauge the immediate impact of those marketing efforts. For example, if you tweet about a new product on your site, you can immediately see how many site visitors were driven by that particular content. This will allow you to help pinpoint your marketing strategy, by allowing you to find what type of messages are the most effective and what time to post to drive the most traffic to your site.
Make sure you capitalize on this new feature, and use it to maximize your advertising campaigns to their full potential!
Check out some screen shots of the new Real-Time Google Analytics in action below:
We are proud to announce the launch of the Springfield Dolls microsite SF Style Club! Fibre-Craft Materials Corporation approached us to create an interactive program that will grow awareness and drive traffic to their Springfield Dolls line. Fibre-Craft is the parent company to crafts, games, and toys lines including Creative Hands, The Springfield Collection, Jr. Designer Series, and Rondo Room.
The Dressing Room in SF Style Club
SF Style Club is a space that encourages individualism, imagination, and creativity in young girls. Each site visit encourages deeper engagement by earning points to unlock content, merchandise, activities, and special features.
A key component on the site includes an interactive Dressing Room that enables users to dress their doll in over 160 clothing items from the Springfield Dolls Collection. The photographed items in the Dressing Room allow the girls to see their actual doll in clothing options before purchasing the items at a local retailer. Within the Dressing Room users are also able to share an image of their doll and the outfit they created with a loved one—which includes product SKU numbers so the recipient can locate items in-store, and soon, online!
Want to see what the site is all about before signing up? No problem! Just view the video we developed below for a quick overview of all the fun features and activities SF Style Club has to offer!
Carnivale is an exciting, colorful, and unique Chicago restaurant and bar located in the city’s west loop neighborhood. With energetic colors, photography, and wild design, it’s a luxurious restaurant that engages all of the senses with global flavors, Latin music, and savory aromas—not to mention their award-winning Mojitos, fresh ceviche, and wood-grilled steaks.
Carnivale approached us with the task of bringing that exciting, colorful, and unique experience of the restaurant into the online space, along with improved usability, strong SEO benefits, and an emphasis on their private event booking opportunities. We were more than happy to accept the task!
When you first enter the site, you’re exposed to an array of dazzling colors and a vivid movie behind red curtains that showcases all that Carnivale has been known to host–from weddings and private events to cabaret shows and live music.
To go along with the elaborate design and taste appeal (we all found ourselves constantly salivating while we developed this site), you can easily make reservations and request a booking or more information for a private event, while easily viewing the layout of every room and what each one has to offer. Users can browse Carnivale’s extensive photo galleries, view the menus and daily specials, and watch Carnivale videos on the site. You can experience Carnivale while on the go via the new mobile site we developed for them!
So, make sure you go check out Carnivale Chicago for some fine Latin cuisine, your next private party booking, or if you are just looking to enjoy a great Mojito (or three!) in a stunning vibrant atmosphere.
envisionit media is once again happy to announce the launch of another website, www.AlvaAmco.com! In 2010, Alva came to us to not only update the last website we designed for them, but with a list of several other business objectives. As a leading over the counter (OTC) Pharmacal company located in Niles, IL, Alva Amco has a unique challenge of wanting to sell their OTC products online without upsetting their distribution channels of offline retailers. Launched last week was a robust ecommerce site, Alva-Direct.com that integrates into AlvaAmco.com without taking any attention from the retailers that sell their products.
Along with this challenge, below is a list of Alva Amco’s business objectives that EIM accomplished:
Improved website optimization, allowing for Alva to be found online for non-branded keyword searches, and increasing online market share
Custom reporting that allows for Alva to make better marketing and product decisions
Improved site speed using the latest technology and resources like Google Webmaster Tools, which allows for a better visitor experience as well as improved search rankings
Implemented online customer surveys tool that allows site visitors to provide feedback on their favorite products to obtain a coupon; also allows Alva to organically grow their database
Improved CMS capabilities, allowing Alva to make changes to their site on the fly, even to add a complete new product line. This means they won’t have to engage their agency for moderate web edits… but that’s okay, we still have lots to do
Last but not least, we provided them a much-needed updated look and feel, with unique brand pages that reflect the target audience of each product.
Congrats to the wonderful Alva team, who we’ve known and worked with for years. We’re poppin’ a champagne bottle to many more!
Social media has become a huge part of every company’s marketing mix, whether you are a local business or a nationwide brand. It is important to have a branded Facebook page and a branded Twitter handle to communicate with your consumers directly. Many companies are utilizing Facebook to its maximum potential, but are you using Twitter to its full potential as well?
According to this article by Mashable, Twitter has over 100 million monthly active users, 50% of whom are signing in every day. That is a HUGE audience. But sometimes just pushing your Facebook posts to your Twitter account doesn’t cut it. So let me share some tips to help you maximize your success in the Twitterverse.
1. Utilize free Twitter tools
There are a lot of free tools that can help you utilize Twitter to its maximum potential. My two favorite are Hootsuite and Tweetdeck. These tools not only provide easy management of multiple accounts or brands, but will also greatly help with the other tips proved below.
2. Set up relevant live searches
When using Hootsuite or Tweetdeck you have the ability to set up live streams of searches using whatever terms you desire. As an example, lets say you are a hotel in the Chicagoland area. You can set up a search for “Chicago Hotels” in your Tweetdeck account. You will then have a live stream of all Twitter users tweeting about Chicago hotels, hotels in Chicago, etc. So if someone tweets, “What is the best hotel to stay at in Chicago?” you can quickly reach out to him or her directly with a response in a matter of seconds. read the full story...
Stefan Wissenbach has a mission: to help others take control of their lives, achieve more in life than ever thought possible, and have a lot of fun along the way. To do that, he and his UK team created Magic Number — and sought an agency to help make this dream a reality. After months of hard work and collaboration between EIM and the Magic Number team, we are excited to announce the beta launch of Magic Number.
Watch the video!
In just a few easy steps, anyone can get their Magic Number — the amount of money they will need to make work optional when, and how they want. A fully interactive experience guides each user through their own vision of how they want to live: what kind of house they want to live in, how they want to spend their time, what they want for their family, and much more.
After receiving your Magic Number, the website provides insights and guidance to help make your dream a reality. Future releases of the website will provide enhanced tools for keeping track of your vision and goals.
In late 2012, a Goal Manager will be released, to help “break down your big endeavors into manageable tasks.” Upcoming releases will also include a Habit Tracker to help stay on task toward your Magic Number; and a Vision Board to help you visualize what’s really important to you, and to keep you motivated.
To celebrate the beta launch, Magic Number is giving the first 2,500 subscribers a free lifetime membership. That means you get your Magic Number, and get to experience all the great upcoming tools and features, free and forever. We’ve all signed up, and shared with our family and friends, and we encourage you to as well! read the full story...
Pack Expo, the premier event for the packaging and processing industry, wrapped up another show in Las Vegas last week. Domino Printing, a marking and coding industry leader, saw great success at this event, which was supported by a new microsite EIM built specifically for the show. The microsite is an interactive form that showcases Domino’s innovative technology and ease of use, all while collecting leads for the tradeshow.
One area Domino saw great growth opportunity was the Beverage industry, so the overall concept needed to speak to that industry specifically, while keeping the broader packaging industry intrigued.
Overall the microsite and supporting email helped keep Domino’s booth at Pack Expo full and fun! Check out the microsite now: www.dominoexperience.com
Proactive Worldwide is a global decision support, research, and consulting firm that provides evidence-based strategic intelligence anchored by primary research. Since PWW’s start 15 years ago, much has changed with the company, and in the industry itself. envisionit was tasked with building a new website that communicated these brand and industry changes.
In developing the new website, it was important to showcase PWW’s global presence and experience with helping companies make important strategic decisions. And with offices in countries all across the world, it was vital to allow the site to be translated into multiple languages. We also needed to create a site that showed PWW’s penetration into a number of different industries and to show how Proactive can customize their services to meet any company’s needs.
Take a look at Proactive Worldwide’s smart new website.
