Captain Dan said, “Yeah Mon’, keeping it real” after a snorkeling excursion at Grand Turk while my family was on vacation.He said this after asking everyone if they had a good time, after promising a great trip, after setting high expectations and after he praised his great crew. The 25 people on his small small boat responded to his question with a resounding “Yes!” and I loved his response, “Yeah mon, keeping it real” in his Jamaican tongue.

During the 7-day cruise, I continually heard a common question from various members of the staff, “Am I exceeding your expectations?” Huh??Think about it.What does this mean?It smells like a tip reference, right?I don’t want you to think that I’m a cheap skate, so before I get too far into this, there’s something you should know.The cruise line charges $10 per person PER DAY for gratuities.Do the math for a family of four.

As I mentioned in my last post, expenses can add up fast, but the question still stumps me.ARE they exceeding my expectations? Hmmm…If so, do I just smile more because I made a good vacation choice…or reach deeper in my pocket?What if they are MEETING my expectations?Isn’t that still good?Should I feel bad if I respond, “No, but you are definitely MEETING all of my expectations.Thank you so much!”?This is my first cruise.I have no idea what to expect.I just want some R&R with my family.So if I get this, should I offer to pay more?Should I even be made to feel like I should pay more?I just don’t know.

Now, if I’m “keeping it real”, to me, tipping is simply a compensation/revenue model chosen by a business owner to control cost & profit by separating customer satisfaction between the product and the service(s).You pay the business owner for the product and let the staff “earn” or “determine” its ultimate compensation.In theory, good staff will earn more on their own by going the extra mile (or in some cases, taking the easier road by reminding customers that tipping is allowed…or even expected).I don’t mind tipping, but it drives me crazy when I’m asked for it, even more so when I’ve already prepaid a good sum specifically earmarked for gratuities.

There’s a much deeper debate here, but I’m just returning from vacation, so let’s hold that for another day (or better yet, maybe we should skip it altogether).I’m just saying, doesn’t every business nowadays depend on customer service?So why doesn’t every business put out the tip jar?I know.I know.“It’s how it’s always been done,” in some industries.Who am I to rock the boat?However, it would be interesting to see the reaction if one of my project teams carried a tip jar to every client meeting.But that’s not how we do business.My “tip” is repeat business or a nice referral.But isn’t this the ultimate goal of most all businesses, especially those that expect tips?

Personally, I believe gratuity should be triggered by an emotional reaction to exceptional service and it should never be expected nor requested.It just happens.

What’s my point?First and foremost, it was a great day with my family in Grand Turk, snorkeling along “the wall” (a 7000 foot cliff that drops straight down into complete blackness).Captain Dan’s crew got into the water, showing the marine life directly to us, including an up close look at a 4 foot nurse shark that passed through our area unexpectedly.Exceptional service was part of a great memory for me.

It was genuinely important to Captain Dan to deliver something special.Sitting near him, I heard him say softly to his crew, “That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” after everyone proclaimed it a good day.A tip was “No problem, mon”.That’s keeping it real.

As a business owner of 10 years now, I seem to see everything from a business perspective.It’s just how my brain works now, good or bad.From the moment my family started researching a cruise to the moment we boarded the plane for the return trip, business was in gear all around us.

It started with the web.The website marketed the ships, cabins, destinations, excursions, family fun, and all-inclusiveness through content, video, pictures, testimonials and I was always one-click away from a customer service rep.We became excited about all this and made a purchase.But did the sale stop there?Absolutely not.Now that we were “in”, we now had special access to what I’ll call “accessories”…excursion pricing, upgrades, special events to plan for, transportation, etc.Yes, we were reminded that there was “limited-supply” of some things (so hurry and buy!).There were also ways to “make the trip easy”…all with some additional fees (of course).So we booked some excursions, reserved shuttles back and forth and registered for events.Cha-ching.

Oh it didn’t stop there.What was I thinking?3000 tourists on a ship for 7 days with daily access via get-togethers and an intercom system!This has to be a marketing person’s fantasy.So, put jewelry, perfume and souvenir stores on board.Sell. Sell. Sell.

Need a tux for formal night?Rent one.

Want to get your bags checked directly to the airport?Extra fee.

Want to play Bingo?Charge it to your room.

Want unlimited soft drinks for your kids?Buy a drink card.

How about a nice relaxing massage?Use your “sail & sign” card!

Pictures?Paparazzi-like staff were everywhere! All the pictures were on display on the promenade deck.Take one or more home for a small fee.

It was a great trip, so don’t get me wrong.I’m not complaining, just observing, admiring (and now blogging afterward)…watching 1000 crew members work this business, this floating shopping mall, with precision.Even the shuttle bus back to the airport dropped us off at a spot between two terminals, rather than at the main door, such that skycaps and baggage handlers could get in on the action.

Like it or not, it was a business work of art.

As corny as this may sound, it is somewhat analogous with Beacon’s mission.The U.S.S. Beacon navigates the waters of the worldwide web, showcasing its customer’s products & services to visitors that come and go each week, providing a sturdy and secure infrastructure for all aboard, while guiding visitors via many channels to businesses managed on board and in ports of call.

website design, search engine optimization, ecommerce development

Last week Google made one of the most awesome upgrades to Google Website Optimizer! If you’ve used GWO much at all, you’ll agree that this upgrade will make your life much easier. I’ve outlined the primary changes below. If you want to read more about the upgrade directly from Google, visit the Official Google Website Optimizer Blog site.

There are 3 major changes in the upgrade that have me jumping up and down with joy:

1. You can now validate an A/B experiment by uploading a local file (this was needed badly), enough said;
2. You can disable a combination in an active experiment; and
3. Better color representation of a combination’s performance confidence.

The image in Figure 1 below is from the new GWO report. Click on the image to view a larger version. The biggest thing to note about the changes is that now you can disable a variation that is performing badly and concentrate on the variations that are doing very well. Just click on the checkbox (item 1) then on the disable button (item 2). This option will allow GWO to produce more definitive results much quicker and without having to stop, copy, and re-start the experiment. That is so awesome that I’m almost plum giddy!

The final major improvement to the report is the color representation of how well a combination is performing (item 3). Although Combination 2 is performing much better than 1 or the original, the graph will not turn green until it is truly a high confidence winner.

Go ahead and give it a try for yourself!

The Setup:
Two people are sitting at the airport waiting to catch a flight. They do not know one another.

Person #1 is a Business Owner. Person #2 is Beacon Sales Guy.

Business Owner (Person #1) looks to Beacon Sales Guy (Person #2) and sighs: “What a day! I just lost my 3rd major account this year. Apparently they had grown tired of telephoning and faxing in orders and receiving shipments the following week. They found another supplier that could actually take orders online and process and ship next day. Whatever happened to the telephone and fax machine? Whatever happened to personal relationships? What’s the world coming to?”

Beacon Sales Guy (shaking his head slowly): “Hmmm. That is tough news to hear. Sounds like a very bad year for your business. My timing may be off here perhaps but my company, Beacon Technologies, actually helps companies automate outdated processes by developing custom integrated ecommerce and ordering websites. We build ecommerce and ordering websites that integrate real-time to our customers accounting and inventory systems. Your clients would actually be able to purchase products, review order history, check inventory levels, receive customer specific pricing and much more if we were your web partner. Sales would quadruple. I promise!!!” (okay, i actually would not say the last two sentences but you get the idea)

Business Owner: ” Sounds like a lot of fancy fast talk to me. Whatever happened to simply picking up the phone and calling in an order? Geez!!!”

Beacon Sales Guy: “Well, actually it’s not really that fancy. Automating your ordering process to an automated web system can be a bit complex but we do it everyday. It is EXACTLY what we do!!”

Business Owner: “Well you seem rather confident. Do you think you can help little ‘ole me?”

Beacon Sales Guy: We are experts with all things ‘web’. Call me Monday and we’ll talk. (okay, i would actually ask for his phone number at this time)

Like the Business Owner above, are you struggling to find a reliable web partner?
Have you had several web partners over the past 5 years and they are simply not meeting your expectations?

Beacon will succeed!

About Beacon:
Sure, Beacon Technologies has been in business for over 10 years.
Sure, Beacon has 30 employees and can offer you vast expertise and experience with web strategy and implementation.
Sure, Beacon has a proven process and methodology to deliver high quality websites and web application, from start-to-finish, on-time and on-budget.
Sure, Beacon’s Graphical Design Team is excellent. Just ask them!!!
Sure, Beacon’s Content Management Software is flexible, robust, reliable, SEO-friendly, and fully licensed and supported technology.
Sure, Beacon’s CSS, UI, Web Designers are exceptional.
Sure, Beacon’s application developers, database administrators, system integration experts will develop a self-service system that will scale for you for years to come.
Sure, Beacon’s Managed Hosting services at TW Telecom Co-location Data Center is world class.
Sure, Beacon’s Project Management Team will truly please you with their personalities, energy, and attention-to-detail.
Sure, Beacon’s PCS Maintenance Team is well organized to facilitate ongoing minor maintenance request with a ticketing system to manage the workload.
Sure, Beacon’s Search Engine Marketing services are highly capable to deliver measurable results and positive ROI.
Sure, Beacon’s SEM Team has been recognized by Google as experts with both tools: Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer

But how can this help you?

If this sounds interesting or familiar (even just slightly)…call Beacon and let’s talk!

Full-Service Web Development Firm

• Website Design and Develop
• Content Management Software – with Cascade Server
• Custom Software Application Development
• Integrated eCommerce (frontend to backoffice)
• Search Engine Marketing
• Google Analytics Authorized Consultants, Google Analytics Partner List
• Site/Application Maintenance
• Hosting – Website/Server/Email
• Logo/Branding Design

Patrick Flanagan
336-232-5668
pflanagan@beacontec.com

Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) began as vector-based animation software that was embraced by artists, designers, and animators. Its application on the web initially began as a cool tool that designers used to try and make the web more visually interesting by making things animated.

Knowledge of computer programming was not a requirement in order to build Flash animations, and for several years many Flash designers and developers had little knowledge of code or computer science fundamentals, while some Flash designers and developers had no knowledge of programming at all. Flash provided a growing but limited development environment using ActionScripting, so for many, Flash was simply an animation tool and not much more than that.

During its early web implementations, many users will remember Flash applications as those annoying “flashy” banner ads that were found on lots of web sites. These animations were annoying because they caused sites to load slow and also because users had no control over the animation and often found them distracting. Then there were those web sites which when a user tried to visit the site, they got the infamous Flash splash “Intro” page or the “Enter Site” page. Many users hate these pages because they’re viewed as barriers to the information they are trying to access. Even now, many users do not understand that there was often an underlying reason for those pages to be there. “Intro” and “Enter Site” pages were often used as a check to see if a user had Flash capabilities since there was no universal cross-platform way of checking to see if a user had the Flash plug-in installed. These pages also served as a method of offering users an option to view the Flash version of a web site if they had a higher speed internet connection, or to view the static HTML non-Flash version of the web site for slower internet connections. But users did not care that the developer was trying to give them an option. They expected to be able to access the site immediately and these Flash “Intro” pages were often seen as an annoying hindrance.

On top of robbing users of controlling their internet experience, Flash applications and web sites were often big and bulky which is the reason that they were best viewed on higher internet connections. Even with higher bandwidth, some Flash content still loaded slowly. This made accessing information or just navigating within a Flash web site a time-consuming and frustrating process that quickly caused users to lose interest in a site. In addition, some Flash developers went overboard when trying to showcase the interactivity possible with Flash applications and created web sites that were a usability nightmare. Because of this, when many clients hear “Flash” it conjures up bad memories of negative user experiences, of sites that were too complicated to use or utilized functionalities that users were unable to control. Thus many folks are quick to express their disdain for anything Flash.

Their complaints are, at least on the surface, well founded. A large majority of Flash used on the web fell into this category. These specific instances often contained large amounts of graphics, images, text, and audio with complex animations that were all contained in one file, which had to be downloaded all at once. Often these files contained more information or data than was necessary to display at any given time. It was an all or nothing situation, where the user had to download the entire web site at once, yet all they needed to access was the home page.

The good news is those days are in the past. Flash does not have to be a bad memory and there are several reasons for this. First, there have been drastic changes in the use and capabilities of the web. The web is now many things to many people and is becoming more and more media driven. Studies have shown that users respond more positively to web sites with high modality, in other words, multiple pathways of communicating information to a user, as opposed to sites with low modality. A web site with high modality would incorporate multiple channels of information communication such as text, images, interaction, and video, whereas a web site that has low modality is one that consists of text alone.

Secondly, there has been a tremendous growth in the capabilities of Flash software. Flash has gone from a vector-based animation application to a full-fledged robust development environment. ActionScript is the programming language used within Flash and it has evolved from a basic scripting language to a fully developed object-oriented programming language with the latest version, ActionScript 3.0. Flash now has the ability to seamlessly combine graphics, text, animation, audio, video, and logic driven interactivity that also allows integration with XML, JavaScript, Classic ASP, ASP.Net, PHP, and Cold Fusion. This integration allows Flash applications and web sites to be built in a more modular fashion, where content is loaded dynamically based upon user interaction. What this means is that instead of downloading an entire site or application, the user downloads only what is necessary for the specific content requested, which can be updated in real-time based on user interaction, without having to refresh the entire page. Integration with JavaScript and the ability to load dynamic data allows Flash web sites to have page specific URLs, which means that users can bookmark or navigate to individual pages within a Flash site, which is a critical factor in implementing Search Engine Optimization functionality such as page tracking. In addition, there is also the ability to add browser history functionality within a Flash site, which means if a user hits the browser’s “Back” button they can actually navigate forwards and backwards in the browser’s history, so that there’s no more “accidentally” hitting the back button and watching as the whole site reloads and takes you back to the beginning—which was a major complaint of many users.

Lastly, there has been a shift in the technical abilities of Flash designers and developers, so that many are proficient in programming concepts and capable of developing robust applications. This has led to much better implementation methods while making Flash’s past uses a gross misrepresentation of its current and future potential.

Flash is now a powerful development environment, which can offer many advantages when implemented correctly. Yet I do not believe that Flash is always the best solution. I am a large proponent for using the right tool for the job whether it’s Flash, ASP.NET, AJAX, Java, or simply XHTML. However, I do believe that due to its disreputable past within the IT industry, Flash is sometimes overlooked in situations where it could play a vital role in creating ideal solutions to complex needs. When considering using Flash technology as a part of your web site, it is important to choose an IT company that can properly assess the efficiency of having a Flash solution and implement it in a way that serves your business, whether it’s a simple image transition promoting a marketing message, or interactive modules that concisely display complex information, or video capabilities that spotlight products, services, or serve as educational tools.

What is a Google Penalty?

When you can’t find your website at all in the Google index or if you don’t have top rankings for your domain name, you most likely have a penalty. Google penalties are the result of violations against the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Violations against the Google guidelines are either detected algorithmically or are detected manually. Some violations are considered worse than others. A penalty can expire in a few weeks, a few years, or may be slapped on permanently.

For example, hidden text is considered a relatively minor infraction. Hidden text can be detected by the Google Algorithm and a penalty will usually be automatically lifted in a few weeks once the hidden text is removed.

A little higher on the list, another type of algorithmic penalty can occur when you have content detected that looks like gibberish, links on a page using anchor text that point to what has been deemed a bad neighborhood, or too many links without a nofollow that point to duplicate or cookie cutter type pages. Depending on the severity, penalties can last quite some time, on the level of several months, even after being corrected.

Other penalties, such as a manual penalty for participation in a link farm or link exchange program, can last several years if a reinclusion request is not filed. Even then, your request to get re-included in the Google index may be ignored.  Google will not confirm or always lift a penalty to avoid tipping off spammers.

What is not a Google Penalty?

Many webmasters occasionally report seeing a sudden drop in the rankings by 30 or so spots. Sometimes called -30, -60, or -950 penalties, these are the result of filters the search engines have used to dampen your search rankings. The filters are based on the quality scoring algorithmic signals for your website pages much the same as the quality score guidelines for Adwords. If your site is run through the filters, Google may adjust your web page ranking by lowering it 30 or more spots for a particular keyphrase from which you will have to fight your way back to the top via better relevant content, traffic, and incoming links. Not a penalty or ban, but a way for Google to put you in your place so to speak.

Lowered page rank is not a sign of an incurred penalty as long as your site is still present somewhere in the search rankings. An update to your Google toolbar PageRank can be affected for a myriad of reasons. Most commonly, backlinks have likely been discounted as reverberations occur throughout the entire web as PageRank for other linking websites are updated.

What to do in case of a Google Penalty?

In the case of an algorithmic penalty manual penalty, keep in mind that you are guilty until proven innocent. Clean the site of infractions and file a re-inclusion request in Webmaster Tools. Be honest, clear, and detailed. Also, pray that it is your lucky day. Given the workload that Google has to deal with these requests, one can only wonder how much attention your site will receive for re-inclusion. There is a better chance that your site will have the penalty expire automatically and leave it at that. For those who can’t wait, the best solution may be to 301 redirect the penalized domain to a new domain for a least a year. After the bans have hopefully lifted given that length of time, you will get your PageRank back. In the same regard, be very wary of purchasing old domains. Some curses live on and never die.