Archive for January, 2010

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2101.10

Internet Explorer 6 – 5 reasons we are dropping support

Posted by Nick in Company News, Design, News

Goodbye IE 6For almost 4 years now since the release of Internet Explorer 7, Optix Solutions has continued to offer backwards compatibility with older and out-dated browser versions – specifically the one that causes a lot of aggravation for web designers worldwide, Internet Explorer 6.

There was a time when Internet Explorer 6 dominated the market. Now, with upgrades from Microsoft and the competition (Mozilla Firefox/Google Chrome) seeing a massive increase in popularity, latest figures show Internet Explorer 6 usage having dropped below 10% of the market share.

During this time Microsoft has announced it shall be discontinuing support for Internet Explorer 6 in 2014. It’s been a hard decision to make, but with the security vulnerabilities the browser poses to potential secure data we discourage users strongly from using the browser. Continuing to support something that we feel so strongly about just doesn’t make sense. Even world governments and Microsoft themselves have issued warnings about using the browser!

Here are our top 5 reasons why you should abandon the browser now, if you are still using it:

  • Security – The biggest flaw of Internet Explorer 6 is it’s poor security. It opens your operating system to hackers and malicious users, exposing potentially sensitive and personal information. Both Germany, France and even Microsoft themselves have warned against using the browser.
  • Technology – Our biggest frustration here is the technical capabilities of the browser. In the past 5 years, there has been some amazing progress with JavaScript and CSS that Internet Explorer 6 just doesn’t support. It is halting our ability to develop feature-rich and aesthetically pleasing sites.
  • Compatibility – Internet Explorer 6 restricts our ability to conform to internet standards; particularly W3C xHTML standards. Through having to use nasty “hacks” and workarounds simply to get things to show correctly  in Internet Explorer 6 , developers are sometimes unable to create sites that are 100% standards compatible .
  • Efficiency – By dropping support for Internet Explorer 6, we are increasing work efficiency by 10%-30% – that’s 10%-30% more work that we can spend perfecting the minor details on your website.
  • Support – Often, days are spent ensuring  a site functions and displays correctly in ie6 alone. By dropping support for this browser, we are helping both ourselves and thousands of other businesses worldwide by doing our bit to ensure users upgrade their browsers.

In case you are worrying that by dropping support you will be losing out on 10% of your audience, this is not true. While dropping support for the browser, we will still continue to offer minimal compatibility to ensure the site is still functional (even if it is slow) and users can still navigate as they should be able to. Aesthetics however, may suffer in the browser – but look many times better in a more modern browser!

Upon first visiting any new sites we do, Internet Explorer 6 users will now be greeted with a message asking them to upgrade their browser – with download links to the top browsers out there. Just for certain cases sake, we will also give the user the option to keep using their ancient browser and not prompt them again!

Posted in Company News, Design, News | 3 Comments »

2001.10

Conversion Optimisation

Posted by ksousa in E-Commerce, Online Marketing

Conversion Optimisation

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the goal of all e-commerce professionals and their clients, and the latest online market figures make it easy to understand just why.

2008 saw a single year increase in online sales of 16% across the market. Since 2000, Internet sales have risen by 3,500% to £42bn and it’s expected that by 2010 this figure will have climbed to a staggering £72bn.

However, this is about more than an increased willingness to buy online. It marks a seismic shift in consumer habits on the back of an ever more sophisticated online culture. Our confidence in, and dependence on, online technologies, from desktop computers to mobiles and handhelds, is greater than it has ever been before.

You should never assume your site is generating all the sales it can just because it looks good and everything works. All its elements must interconnect smoothly and effectively and this needs to be regularly put to the test. The mantra should be; measure, analyse and build.

The Optix team’s innovative CRO consultancy service can help you do just that. We believe CRO is best achieved by a constant process of site-wide performance analysis, not just confined to the final sales process itself.

One of the keys to CRO is to make your online store ‘intelligent’. There are an ever increasing number of excellent analytic tools that can provide data and insights on customer habits. With Optix’s analytics we can review the performance and effectiveness of your site, including the online store, and highlight weaknesses to be corrected and strengths that can be built on as part of ongoing optimisation strategies.

This regular reviewing of the journey between an initial visit and a completed sale yields insights into a wide range of information about your customers such as where they came from, their likes and dislikes and ultimately what their experience of engaging with your business online is like.

A truly customer-driven site is vital in building brand loyalty and staying ahead of the competition. The bottom line is that those who engage in the changing dynamics of selling online will generate more revenue than those who do not.

In a large competitive market, just a fractional increase in market share can represent a significant boost to profits.

Posted in E-Commerce, Online Marketing | No Comments »

2001.10

P2P – The New Way to do Business

Posted by ksousa in News, Online Marketing

The impact of social media and social networking has gone far beyond enabling individuals to share information quickly and easily with friends and colleagues.

Social Media is having a fundamental influence on the way new and forward-thinking companies actually find and conduct business. After Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Company (B2C), we now have a new business culture emerging, Person to Person or (P2P).

In a nutshell, a P2P business is one that embeds social media (social networking, blogs etc..) at the heart of its internal and external activity. Using and participating in social media enables far closer engagement with clients and partners and can revolutionize the way a business promotes its brand in a rapidly-evolving online market place.

P2P business is not just another piece of corporate jargon. Its principles of using social media to promote greater communication and dialogue, and so understanding, across traditional boundaries are simple and make perfect sense.

Firstly, the new technology allows businesses to establish a far more dynamic and visible presence online. It enables them to engage in an ongoing conversation with customers or potential customers to find out what they actually want and what they are talking about.

The early stages of this business culture shift are already apparent. How much more dynamic, for instance, to learn about a new product or service by watching a video demonstration on YouTube (with a link to the company website, of course) than reading reams of text beside a static picture?

Google increasingly now includes links to the latest Tweets directly relating to its search results.

P2P is about being proactive rather than creating a brand and presence and then sitting back and waiting for things to happen. Social media dialogue can throw up new sales leads and opportunities for partnerships and collaborations that traditional business models and structures are often too cumbersome to identify.

Optix’s social media consultancy service is geared up to helping customers understand how they can best exploit the power of social networking and apply it to improve sales and marketing.

We can customise your website to support the likes of Twitter and Facebook and show you how to establish a presence beyond your own website and on other sites and browsers.

Posted in News, Online Marketing | No Comments »

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