Webitecture Blog

How Google made $37.9 Billion

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:53:00 GMT

Last week, Google’s earnings disappointed investors with revenue falling US$300 million short of analyst expectation. Despite profit growing from US$2.54 billion to US$2.71 billion over Q4 2010, stocks fell 10 percent overnight.

The top industries contributing to Google’s $37.9 billion in revenue over the course of 2011 were Finance, Retail and Tourism, according to research by SEM software/PPC service firm Wordstream.

Industries with the largest Google Adwords spend in 2011

Industry spend estimates reflect global spend. With that in mind the top industries spending the most on Google Adwords for 20111 were:

Finance: $4.0 billion
Retail: $2.8 billion
Tourism: $2.4 billion
Education: $2.2 billion
Home and Garden: $2.1 billion

The top 10 industries by their Google Adwords spend accounts for 60% of Google's annual advertising revenue, according to Wordstream.

Lowe spent $59.1 million on Google advertising placing it at number 1 in Google's top spenders. The infographic below breaks up big spenders by industry:

Interested in Google advertising for your business??

For more information on Webitecture’s web design and development services contact a member of our sales team on 1300 66 46 48.

Minimalist Web Design: When less is more

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:15:00 GMT

As web designers we are constantly fighting the battle against clutter and overload, whether it’s on our own website or it’s a design for a client.

The design of a website needs to enhance its purpose by putting the focus on the content whilst being able to be used and viewed by everyone. Taking the time to ensure no detail is left overlooked produces a much more effective and attractive website.

We will discuss your main objectives on your website, the attention to detail, less = more, and finally finding the balance between cluttered and minimalistic.

My online objective

First is first, if already live, does your website have objective and if it is not yet developed, what is your objective? Your website needs a clearly defined purpose and objective to eliminate any confusion, from the first project brief to completion of the project.

For example, at Webitecture our website’s purpose is to:

Showcase our capabilities and experience
Showcase our best work to potential clients
Provide relevant information to prospective clients on the services we offer

Our objective is to:

Increase brand awareness
Increase revenue

By clearly defining your objective at the early stages you create a uniform and systematic approach to your online presence. It creates relevance, maturity and professionalism.

Attention to detail

When we design a website we look at every detail, every pixel of the design is scrutinised to ensure nothing is out of place. Just remember, what you remove from the website is just as important to what you put in.

Your website becomes much more relevant and its content become much more pleasing to the eye when you remove the fluff and put in substance. Have you ever listened to the parliament? Julia Gillard gets up and speaks for 10 minutes when she could have just said a simple “yes” or “no”.

Unite your layout and content

Your website’s content need to get along in order for you to achieve your overall objectives. You need to create a hierarchy of information, headings and contents need to be separated.

Align objects

There are many ways to align objects on a website design, just remember that the cleaner your web design, the easier it is to spot something that is off by a single pixel. Grids are a great way of keeping your objects aligned and spaced together. The key with alignment is balance, using a grid your columns, spaces and alignment is kept standardised across the website.

The 960 Grid System is one that we use very frequently.

Hierarchy of objects

A user will determine their opinion of your website in a matter of seconds, the same way a hiring manager manages to look through 1000 CV’s in one day. Most users glance over text with predetermined keywords in mind, in other words they already know what they are looking for.

Going back to your online objective and using it as a guideline, you need to find relevant content that will make the most impact, and achieve the best results and place it in strategic areas of your design.

Usability, usability, usability

A website that is easy to use will improve a user’s experience and encourage them to find out more about you. Your online presence is there to engage users, not confuse them.

Things that are a must on every website:

Going back home – How does a user go back to the home page?
Contact us – Ok, I’m interested in what you have to offer or I have only come to your website to find your number… so where is it?
Navigation – Should be consistent and easy to use, and lets not forget easy to find.
Close buttons – Pop ups are an annoying yet effective way of grabbing someone’s attention or providing content without going to another page, but if there is no way of closing them the user will close their browser or steer away from your website, neither of which helps you.
Eliminate Browser prejudice – ensure your website can be viewed the same (or at least without bugs) on every browser and platform.

How Less equals More

The sheer fact that you have been reading this blog up until this point means that the content has been engaging. No? you have better things to do right?

Engaging content that makes users want to read more is the most effective style of website copywriting. You are passionate about your work and you are an industry expert, so write a whitepaper, not a website. There is a time and place for everything. When a user visits your website’s home page, they don’t want to know about your life story, that belongs in the “about us or about me” section of your website. They want to know who you are and how you can benefit them by reading a sentence or two not paragraphs. Wether that is in the things you educate them on or the services you are able to provide them.

Interested?

For more information on Webitecture’s web design and development services contact a member of our sales team on 02 8006 6126.

Image Drag-and-drop now featuring on Google Docs

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:42:00 GMT

Google’s Web-based document, spread sheet, drawing and presentation platform now has image drag-and-drop from desktop functionality.

The feature reportedly works with the latest versions of Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari, while Google says it plans to also support other browsers soon.

Image drag-and-drop works exactly as you would expect, users click and drag a file stored on their computer to an open document in Google Docs, the file is uploaded and added to the document in real-time for other users to see.

Whilst Google Apps competitors support drag-and-drop for some of its apps, drag-and-dropping images into Zoho Docs merely inserts an image stored on your computer locally rather than uploading it to Zoho.

We have tested the new feature with our internal Google Apps account and found no issues with the feature. Dropping photos as large as 1MB worked seamlessly with very little delay using both the latest version of Chrome and Safari 5.0.2.

As HTML5 usage is increased we expect many more features such as image drag-and-drop to become available. Paving the way for Google’s ultimate objective of drawing users away from Microsoft’s Office

Interested in Google Docs?

Webitecture is a Google Reseller, for more information on setting up or migrating to Google Apps contact a member of our sales team on 02 8006 6126.

* Savings calculator estimates are based on sample customers, and may not reflect your actual experience with Google Apps or Microsoft Exchange 2007.

5 Great websites for start-ups

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:42:00 GMT

The advent of online business as a business structure brought along many resources.

Outlined below are a number of free or "near-free" resources to get your business idea online. From investment opportunities to free software, large companies are now helping you get your idea out there.

Being a part of the Microsoft® BizSpark™ program, we know first hand what it means to have access to thousands of dollars worth of software.

Microsoft® BizSpark™

Microsoft® BizSpark™ is a global program for start-ups that provides fast, easy access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools and production licenses with no upfront costs and minimal requirements. It also provides support, training and marketing visibility to start-ups in their earliest stage, when their need is greatest. BizSpark start-ups also receive guidance, mentorship and other assistance from Microsoft’s Network Partners.

Microsoft® WebsiteSpark™

Microsoft® WebsiteSpark™ provides fast, easy, access to Microsoft Web design and development software and solutions, support, visibility and training to professional Web development and design companies.

iPitch

The start-up space draws a special kind of person, one who wants to break free of the 9 to 5 schedule and pursue limitless wealth (although frequently the path involves 80 hour work weeks and depleted bank accounts). At IPitch, we understand that mentality because we live it.

Sydney-based Venture Capital firm Green Lane Digital conceived IPitch as an answer to the struggles they had as both an investor and from their roots as a start-up. Recognizing the need to raise the profile of Australian start-ups on a global level and that funding was a key part of that, IPitch was created to help all parties in the start-up space thrive.

YouNoodle

YouNoodle is a place to discover and support the hottest early-stage companies and university innovation. We develop decision-making technology and tools for the start-up world.

CrunchBase

CrunchBase is the free directory of technology companies, people, and investors that anyone can edit.

Getting to know Google Apps

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:49:00 GMT

Easy, collaborative workgroup communication with Google Apps

Google Apps is an enterprise suite of applications that includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Spread sheets, Google Sites and Google Video.

As a web-based service they can be securely accessed from anywhere with internet connectivity, work on mobile devices like BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad and more, and integrate with other popular email systems like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail.

Run your business, not your mail server

Google Apps provides the hardware and software to run critical business resources like your mail server. An organisation's mail server is one of its more prized possessions with setup costs reaching into tens of thousands of dollars.

Based on the Google Apps Savings Calculator (here) a 50 user office will save USD$111,856 over 3 years*, by selecting Google Apps over Microsoft Exchange 2007.

Access documents and applications from anywhere in the world

Access Google Apps securely from anywhere in the world, as long as you have access to the internet. Utilising an automatically enforced secure Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encrypted user authentication system for all applications, Google Apps provides enhanced security to all its users, big or small.

For Enterprise applications, you can use Google Apps’ SAML-based Single Sign-On (SSO) service, which allows you to tie your own authentication system to the Google Apps web-based login.

Collaborate in real-time

Google Apps enables secure, simultaneous and real-time collaboration among workgroups of all sizes.

Cloud hosted documents - word processing, spread sheets, and presentations – Google Apps makes information usable from any browser or smart phone, whenever and wherever users work. You can now view what others are doing in real-time, revise history and changes, share securely with your team members or the world. Collaboration has never been this simple.

Interested?

Webitecture is a Google Reseller, for more information on setting up or migrating to Google Apps contact a member of our sales team on 02 8006 6126.