World Synergy Blog

Seeing through the Sunglasses of Technology: A lesson from Nate Fick at the Miva Conference

2010-02-26T18:35:00Z

On a sunny day in the Middle East, Marine officer, Nate Fick, and his crew were wearing wrap-around sunglasses. He sensed a hostile feeling of the locals that he had never experienced before. Finally, he questioned one of the villagers why. "We think you have x-ray glasses on and are coveting our women." He let them look through his glasses to see that they were merely sunglasses, but received a reply of "turn them on!"

It may seem funny to us that what seems so obvious, something ubiquitous in our culture, could be taken so out of context, but there are at least a couple important lessons to be had:

Never assume you know what someone else is thinking. Ask!
Technology can seem like magic if you don't understand how it works.

As Senior Application Developer for World Synergy, I've heard some odd ideas about technology. I've heard other SEO organizations mention crazy things, nonsensical impossibilities, as if they were their answers were golden geese; the problem being that they don't understand the technology -- they just aren't technological folks. They end up seeing the sunglasses of optimization as the x-ray goggles for Google.

Is SEO an art? Yes, but it's also based on science. I hate seeing people waste their time and money in the snake oil that's out there: people guaranteeing they'll get you listed in the first spot of Google, then pointing the finger at the site implementers and developers when that doesn't happen. We don't do that. World Synergy takes responsibility for your e-Needs!

We are proud to support every aspect of your site -- we don't point fingers, but facilitate your site in a holistic manner. SEO, e-Strategy, architecture, design, convergence, technology, development, hosting, networking, and support!

World Synergy communicates wtih you allowing us to understand your needs and wants and translating technology to fit you, whether it is an e-commerce site, website, or web application. Our e-Strategy sessions allow us to facilitate the process of turning your wants and needs into a reality. We bring you and your clients closer through technology, concentrating on search engine optimization(SEO) as well as the development of sites that know how to implement SEO best practices. Like most companies, we don't stop there. We know it's not simply about getting your clients to your site, but about convergence, and without convergence there are no sales, regardless of how many people walk through your virtual door.

We listen to you, translate your needs and wants into a technological solution so that you can communicate with your current and potential customers in the most effective way possible. We save you money by offering a complete e-Solution from strategy through design with both marketing and usability in mind, and finally execution and production. We help you see through the sunglasses of your customers, search engines, and technology while delivering the message you want to the world using the language of the web.

Melanie McGee
Senior Application Developer
World Synergy
www.worldsynergy.com
440-349-3930

Miva Merchant Conference 2010

2010-02-23T12:22:00Z

World Synergy’s Melanie McGee, Senior Developer / MCP, is attending the Miva Merchant Conference 2010, “Secure Your Success” Feb 24-27, 2010 in San Diego, CA

Glenn Smith to Speak at the Benefit Advisors Network Semi Annual Conference

2010-02-23T12:14:00Z

Glenn Smith, President / CEO of World Synergy, is attending and speaking at the Benefit Advisors Network Semi-Annual Conference in San Diego, CA, February 21-23.

Glenn will be speaking on the topic: “How to leverage co-branding web marketing solutions to acquire and maintain customers.”

World Synergy is Growing

2010-01-20T15:35:00Z

World Synergy would like to welcome Mr. Mike Murray to our team.

Happy Holidays from World Synergy

2009-12-23T11:58:00Z

World Synergy wants to wish you a very safe and happy holidays this year.

World Synergy will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day December 24 & 25, 2009 and New Years Day, January 1, 2010.

Why Should Companies Blog?

2009-12-11T13:34:00Z

In the Web today, companies have every social media account out there. Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Blogs, Linkedin.....the accounts of social media seem endless. So why blog and who in the company should blog?

Let's start with the first question: Why Blog?

Blogging is a great way to get closer with clients to create a friendly more personal relationship.
Blogging can shed insight as to your products, services, promotions, or any other little tidbits of information regarding your business or staff.
Blogging can also spark conversation and work on a company's branding.
Blogging can also catapult a company into authority in a specific field.
Blogging can also help with gaining future clients. There is nothing better than POSITIVE word of mouth advertising.
Blogging is a great way to promote your brand for free.
Blogging is easy.

Who in the company should Blog?

Everyone should Blog. From the President and CEO of a company to the secretary of the company. A blog is a good way for the outside world to gain perspective from everyone's point of view. People want to hear from the President of a company and they want to feel like the President is talking to them personally. Every person in a company can bring their own view and style to a blog. Every person in the company has expertise and style which can relate to any person. Blogging from a company should be priority and blogging doesn't take much time. Get a schedule together and start holding people in the company accountable for blogging.

Some Truths about SEO

2009-10-16T15:41:00Z

For some people that do not understand SEO you are not alone. There are some people who think SEO has immediate results, and if that were the case, EVERYONE would be an SEO Specialist. SEO is hard to wrap your mind around if you do not practice it everyday.

If you are an owner of a business and you have hired an outside firm to handle SEO you probably ask, 'What are you doing', and you should ask that. Now, the SEO Specialist is going to give you the 9000 foot level of what they do, they will tell you that they follow all the best practices and follow all the rules. I am sure you are thinking, 'how easy it is?' and 'why can't we do this in house?', or 'am I getting my monies worth?'. The answers are: It's not an 'easy task', for someone inside the company if SEO isn't their only job, I suggest you still keep SEO in your budget and your SEO Specialist is working extremely hard to maintain the rankings you have now or are looking for new strategies and techniques of how to improve.

There are things you should know about SEO:

Search Engines are always changing their algorithms and metrics that affect the work SEO Specialists are performing. All the factors that go into search engines secret metrics on 'grading' a web site is kept secret.
Every new day, someone is always trying to compete with you on some level, trying to gain rankings on your site with various keywords
The web sites who are not in the top ten are working that much harder to gain ground, rankings, and authority.
There will always be change and fluctuations

It's a never ending cycle that SEO Specialists play with the search engines. SEO is always on the move, always changing. Good keyword selection is key. You are always looking for the right keywords that best describe your business, product or service. The more competitive the keyword, the more the search engines look closely at the sites vying for top spots.

Sites that have gained the search engines trust and has authority will withstand minor fluctuations. However, there are times when no matter what you do to the site, the search engines will get the best of you. Let the reshuffle run it's course. In this instance, add fresh content, different pages, images, videos, or update your site maps. Fluctuations will happen. I promise. The way you deal with them is a different story. Creating a robust website that caters to both humans and search engines alike will be ahead of the curve.

Competition is inevitable. It will always exist. Since you cannot tell the tactics or the stage in which your competition is in with their SEO, worry about what you can control and that is your own website.

How long does SEO take?

2009-10-13T11:17:00Z

As we know SEO isn’t instant gratification and there needs to be a patience factor that is conveyed. SEO needs time to develop. SEOing for a new website may need more time then a pre-existing site. As far as a time frame for new sites, it can take search engines up to 4 months (to a year) before they start to index the site. This time may be sped up with the likes of SEO, however, with any search engines and their algorithms, there is no guarantee. Again, this all has to do with the industry and the competitiveness of the keywords. Other factors that can help with the SEO process is the size of the website, relevant content, keyword targeting and back links just to name a few.

Search engines need to gain a websites trust before they just hand out rankings, even for your domain name or company name. Over time, and the right tactics, search engines will begin to trust the site. As you work in the months to gain website trust and authority for your keywords and industry, you will start to see search engines favor your website.

SEO is an investment and will show returns if there is commitment to the process. SEO isn’t short term, and it never will be. If someone wants instant gratification regarding keywords invest in a PPC Campaign.

World Synergy at the Ronald McDonald House

2009-10-08T11:37:00Z

On Friday October 2nd, the staff of World Synergy cooked dinner for the residents of the Ronald McDonald House in Cleveland. This was the second year that World Synergy has provided a meal for the families that stay there.

On the menu included:

Ribs
Chicken
Macaroni and Cheese
Corn
Salad
Fruit Salad
Bread
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brownies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Buckeyes
Rice Krispie Treats

The staff had a great time preparing the food and is looking forward to next year!!

Why is Branding Important?

2009-08-17T13:23:00Z

We all know branding is important to your overall marketing strategy. Your overall marketing strategy should include your offline and your online efforts. All your marketing and branding efforts should be uniform with each other. Your logo should remain the same. Your colors should remain the same, your message should remain the same, and your identity should remain the same.

So how do you go about matching your offline and online branding and marketing efforts? Ask yourself a couple of questions:

1. What is your brand?

2. What does your logo look like and is your logo the same on everything you put your company on?

3. What are your colors? Do these colors change from web site to business cards to signs?

4. What is your message, what is your tag line? Do these vary depending on where a person would look?

Successfully branding your company will help achieve:

1. Deliver your message clearly

2. Confirms your credibility

3. Connects your target prospects emotionally

4. Motivates the buyer

5. Concretes user loyalty

Look at your corporate web site, business cards, outside signs, mailings, brochures, pamphlets, shirts, blogs, facebook or even your twitter account do they all say the same thing? Do they describe your company?

Let World Synergy help in developing or aligning all your efforts to look, feel and act the same.

SharePoint by Matt Jones

2009-08-14T13:48:00Z

Matt Jones speaks briefly about SharePoint and some characteristics that SharePoint has.

http://blog.worldsynergy.com/2009/08/14/sharepoint-by-matt-jones.aspx

SEO is Still Important

2009-08-14T12:54:00Z

SEO should be a cornerstone for any website. Just because you have a website, how are people going to find it? Here are some of the things you should be aware of while creating you SEO strategy.

1. Keywords - What keywords do you want your site to focus on? What are your top three keywords that you would want to be absolutely found for? Choose your keywords and start catering your SEO plan around those keywords.

2. Content - So you have your keywords, now you need those keywords in content. Content is important to any website and the keyword placement and density within that content is important. Take time to develop some content, new content, fresh content. Everyone says this will help, and it will.

3. Inbound Links - Back links, directory links, inbound links, are important. Start with the bigger directories like being included in DMOZ; pay the fee for Yahoo! directory. Find industry specific directories to include your site to. Whether you pay for your back links (be very careful and always use caution for the back links you pay for) or you are submitting to free directories, to make back links really work, you must get them from sites which already rank well in the search engines.

The importance of web site search engine optimization cannot be overstated. A site that is ranked favorably can bring in tons of free internet traffic. Evaluate your keyword prominence; focus on getting good inbound links while concentrating on providing useful web site content and the search engines will start bringing more and more internet traffic to your website.

Web Marketing

2009-08-13T12:58:00Z

We all know that good marketing makes people aware of your brand. Marketing is everything you do to place your product or service in the hands of potential customers. There are so many marketing avenues to marketing your business, your products or your services! Which way is the best?

What exactly is web marketing? Web Marketing is sweeping everyone off their feet. With Apps for phones, social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Friendfeed, Youtube, or Twitter, where do you being with Web Marketing? With all these avenues so many people, so much noise how do you possibly break through?

Your Website. Your website should spell out exactly what products, or services your company provides. This is your sales tool, your vehicle, where people want to go to find out more about you.

Blog. Have your employees blog for you about the products or services. Your employees will be the best voices for your company. People want to know what employees and customers are saying about your brand, your product and your services. Customers want to know and will do research on you. Having your brand out there through a blog is great!

SEO. You have a great website, how are people finding you? Don't give up on SEO. This is an important factor. Just because you have built it (your website) doesn't mean they will come. Make sure you are employing the right tactics to have your website found for certain keywords and phrases!

Videos. People send time on Youtube.com searching for videos. Funny videos, tutorials, or general information. Youtube.com is trying to become bigger than Google! Providing short videos isn't hard to produce or upload. Video about anything, your brand, your services, you, company picnics etc.! Get videos about your company out there. Put those videos on your website. Use the video script as text on your website. We all know that new content on a website is what the bots love!

Social Media. People want to become fans of something. Facebook is the booming social media network. Get your brand out there. Include pictures. Include the videos, have your employees write posts on walls, encourage employees to be active in your social media marketing efforts.

Web Marketing can be seen as forever changing. What's the popular network, what band wagon people are jumping on, what are people using? How do you create a web marketing campaign that is effective? All these questions are great, and common. First thing is first, get your presence out there. Get on the popular social media sites, start blogging, continue your SEO and don't be afraid of the camera. Once you establish yourself and get a presence, start expanding your strategies. Reach out to people, start voicing your opinion. Put your brand out there. Don't be afraid of web marketing, get in there and start playing!

SEO Quickies

2009-07-01T18:16:00Z

SEO Quickies to keep in mind.

Content - adding unique content that focuses on primary keywords is extremely important. Adding new content adds relevancy to your site.
Back links - adding quality back links to your site is a good way to promote your site to the search engines.
Design - your site should always be designed with SEO in mind. There is no use for a beautiful site if nobody is going to ever find it. Remember flash might be fancy, fun, and exciting but spiders crawls words, not flash or images.
ALT tags - Don't stuff keywords in this area, however with the new IE, you might want to consider the title attribute instead.
Broken Links- if you have broken links on your site, the spiders will not look upon this as favorable.
Webmaster tools - look into Google Webmaster, Yahoo Webmaster and Bing Webmaster tools. Figure out how to validate and submit site maps to each search engine.
Changing - SEO is forever changing. Remember to keep up with the SEO times and what needs to be done. Prepare yourself for SEO changes.

Remote Desktop fails - mstsc.exe not connecting

2009-07-01T02:49:00Z

OK, came across an issue today that is not well documented related to mstsc.exe not functioning properly. The user was trying to connect to a Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server using RDP 6.1 from an XP SP3 machine. The following error was in the event log:

"Event ID: 1000 Faulting application mstsc.exe, version 6.0.6001.1800"

After digging a bit more I noted that the machine had just been updated with XP SP3. The user had downloaded all updates but chose not to install .net 3.5 SP1 - (download from here Microsoft .NET 3.5 Framework Service Pack 1)

So, after a long download, install, and reboot problem solved.

Basic SEO 101

2009-06-30T11:53:00Z

Everyone wants their website on Page One in Google for a particular keyword. That's great. Here are some things a rookie can do to ensure the right steps are being taken.

1. Title Tags - Title tags are found immediately after the <head> tag. This should be placed immediately after the <head> tag so the robots and spiders notice this first. Your title tag is your website's Headline. Keep in mind that your title tag should contain keywords, however don't overdue your keywords. You don't want to spam with a high density of keywords.

2. Meta Description - There is an argument about how Meta descriptions work and if they are even relevant. My suggestion ....UTILIZE this attribute. When writing your description make sure spelling and grammar are correct and the sentences make sense when read aloud. Use keywords in your description however, be careful not to spam with a high density of keywords.

3. Meta Keywords - If you don't use a Meta tag, this is the one you should be okay to omit. Meta Keywords do not hold the same importance as they once did and I have not seen keywords hold much weight on results. If you use them, make sure they are relevant to your page.

4. Alt Tags - The history of alt tags has an interesting tale. They were developed for images that were 'broken' or 'blocked'. While you can still use them in IE8 they will stop showing when hovering over an image. Use title tags instead. Again, like the last 3 points, do not spam with a high density of keywords.

5. H1 & H2 Tags - When designing your site or making over your site make sure you make use of your H1 & H2 tags. Your important keywords should be headers on individual pages. Be aware that making your headers BOLD or larger font is not the same. Add importance to your keywords on a given page by using H1 & H2 tags.

6. Site Map - The creation of your site maps, HTML and XML helps robots crawl your site. Having your site maps up to date will help tell the robots about your site and the site can be crawled more efficiently. With the XML site maps, make sure you submit to each search engine.

7. Relevant Inbound Links - Everyone always talks about these. Make sure you have relevant sites pointing back to your site. Any of the directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo are a great start. Also look into other business directories that relate to you industry.

SEO is truly an art and a science. To get your site out there follow these tips to get started. Once you start seeing movements you can start expanding your SEO techniques.

Effective Email Campaigns

2009-06-29T18:53:00Z

Effective Email Campaigns

A one time email effort isn't effective. Sending a one time email to a database of clients hoping to generate awareness, leads, etc., will prove to be both time consuming and the least cost effective marketing to put your marketing dollars toward. Email marketing is just a piece of your overall strategy to get your product in front of people. Email marketing needs to be used as a piece of your overall web strategy. Creating a one time ad hoping to generate something will most likely fail.

Here are some things to keep in mind while creating your email campaign.

Email Campaign Planning. - - Having a well thought out plan will aid in the develop, execution and follow up of any email marketing campaign.
- Who is your campaign targeting? Understanding the audience and their needs should be the first question that is asked and determined. Understanding your audience will help you create, promote and deliver a campaign that will engage more of your audience. Having one email campaign may not be suitable for your entire audience.
- What are you objectives & goals? What is the purpose of these email effort? Drive more traffic, creating awareness, generate leads or sales, improve customer relations? Defining and understanding your objectives and goals will help you in tailoring a campaign that is attractive your to your target audience.
Be Personal & Relevant! - - After you have identified your target audience, use that information to create a personalized and relevant campaign! Developing special offers for certain audiences, writing compelling text for another audience can be a difference in campaign success. Understand who your audience is and personalize your message!
The Subject Line - - Remember this is going to be the first thing people will see. They will read the subject line and determine whether they will open the email of not. Keeping the subject line is best and let readers know what is inside the email. Including your company name or personalizing the subject line can be key in high open rates. Using the keywords 'Free' can trigger spam filters and deliver your message to the black hole of 'Spam' or 'Junk Mail' folders where they may never see the light of day.
The Campaign Design - -
- Offer choices - -Having HTML and text versions are a must. Offering a choice to your audiences will be a great benefit in click through rates. DON'T use one large image. Some images may be blocked, thus your message will be lost.
- Short and Sweet - -Avoid scrolling. Scrolling emails may leave your audience quickly skimming your message and not click through to the awesome landing page you created.
- Call to actions - - What are they? Where are they? Make sure your calls to action are prominent. Make sure you have more than one.
The RELEVANT landing page - - Creating a relevant landing page that is attractive and pertinent to your customers may be tricky. Don't use the index page as a catch all for all your links. As your landing page is one of your most important pages on your website, your index page probably is not an appropriate landing page for a campaign.When creating a landing page keep in mind your objectives and goals that were determined when creating this email campaign in the first place. You don't want to leave your readers scratching their heads when they click through. Make the click through a simple seamless process. The simpler the better for your audience.
- Individual landing pages - - Each campaign should have their own landing page. Very seldom do landing pages double for other campaigns.
- Mirror - Make sure your landing page and email campaign look and feel like each other. Use the same images, the same text and the same content. Again, you do not want to confuse the reader.
- Calls to action - - Like the email campaign, your calls to action need to be prominent. Tell the customer what you want them to do.
- Create links - - Perhaps out of habit people like to click. Make sure you have click able links to other relevant items on the site.
Test, test and TEST! - - First impressions can be the last impression. Make sure your email campaign is tested for:
- Email compatibility. There are many email platforms and the emails should appear the same through all of them. The most popular are Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail. Depending on the spam filters and individual settings some images or emails will not appear exactly the same. Reach 90% of your audience.
- Broken? Are you images broken, worst of all are your links broken?
- Test. Test the email yourself as well as other people to ensure everything is working properly.
Monitoring and Measuring Results - - Understanding your results for a specific campaign can only shape your next campaigns. The more people who open the email the better. The more people who click through to your landing pages the better. Studying and analyzing your email campaign performance can be the key to a more successful next email.
It's okay to modify - - In fact, modifying your email campaign to tailor your past results can only help you to become more successful. Understanding your audience, creating and developing a compelling email campaign, creating and developing a compelling landing page will only be perfected in time. Use your results to modify and create a better email campaign next time around.
Keep your list accurate and up to date - - Making sure you have a scrubbed list and a list that has accurate names and titles will only ensure the effectiveness and success of a campaign.

World Synergy is now a PGP Global Partner.

2009-06-26T13:52:00Z

One component of World Synergy’s eStrategy model is to ensure confidential customer and individual information remains secure.

PGP technology is well-known and highly respected by security experts in leading corporations around the world. Industry analysts agree the entire security category is growing rapidly and customers have a great need for products that protect confidential information and keep data secure. Increased data accountability and increasing IT complexity require a new approach to securing data. Customers, business partners, and regulatory bodies are requesting higher levels of security for sensitive information. The PGP® Encryption Platform reduces the complexities of protecting business data by enabling organizations to deploy and manage multiple encryption applications cost effectively from a single management console. When an organization needs additional encryption applications, the PGP Encryption Platform makes installing another, separate infrastructure unnecessary because the infrastructure was deployed with the first PGP® encryption application.

Video and SEO

2009-06-25T13:02:00Z

Videos are the next big ticket item. Everybody is doing video clips trying to catch the next big wave to shoot themselves, or site to an instant success. To help with the visibility of your video here are some tips to consider while you upload your video to your site and most importantly to all those video sharing sites.

What is your video clip relevant to? What is the purpose of your video? Increase traffic, increase sales, both? While shooting videos make sure you have a goal in mind and keep the video relevant to your business or to your goal.
Title you video appropriately. Just like your website, make sure you title your video appropriate, using keywords, however, make sure you are courteous to the search engines.
Upload Videos. Where can your videos be found? Upload your videos to the most popular video sharing sites. Youtube.com, Google Video, and your website should be among the places you upload your video.
Tags. Use appropriate keywords in the tag portion of the video. This will help in identifying what your video is in regards to.
Content, Content, Content. Relevant content is good for seo and the robots. Use the script of your video as a page of html content. Of course insert those keywords that relate to your video into your content.
Video length. Don't bore your audience. Your video shouldn't be any more than a couple of minutes. People's attention span isn't long enough for a 5 or 6 minute video.
Video Branding. Since people may not make it to the end of your video you want to make sure your branding is throughout the video as well as the beginning. If you decide to put your contact information at the end of the video your audience may never see it!
Sharing options. Don't limit the success of your video. Choose the option of allowing others to embed your video and to share it.
Allow users to help. In your quest to have a great popular video, allow your users to comment and rate your video. If you have a good video, let your viewers rate your video and comment.
Submit your video. Submit your video to RSS.

World Synergy is Expanding!

2008-07-25T19:47:00Z

World Synergy, an eBusiness company in Cleveland Ohio, has just added an additional member to their team! Creating a new vertical, World Synergy has now hired a Creative Marketing Director. Gina has a background of over 20 years experience in creative marketing services and graphic design. Gina will add to the structure of the existing team, a professional level of design to the web marketing services side plus add more branding and Marketing capabilities to the mix, including print! Gina has a vast experience in advertising, marketing collateral materials, direct Mail, Package Design and trade show graphics!

World Synergy is a prominent IT, Web Development & Marketing Company!