How does a website remember you? (How cookies work)
One minute overview seriesFrom user accounts to shopping carts, websites use cookies to keep track of visitors in order to properly display content. We’ve all heard of cookies but what exactly are they? Good question.
A cookie is a small amount of data stored on a user’s computer and sent back with various requests. In short, it’s typically a user ID. Once a website understands who you are, it can deliver information relevant to you specifically—shopping carts, user dashboards, targeted ads, and much more.
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The SEO tool you have and don’t know about: Lighthouse
One minute overview seriesThere’s a great little tool housed inside Google Chrome called Lighthouse. It’s a testing and reporting system to determine webpage performance and offer suggestions about speed, accessibility, best practices, SEO, and Progressive Web Apps. Don’t worry if you’re not a developer as this information is clearly presented and built into basic overall scores.
This test is run page by page (not website by website) so try running it on your home page, your product/post page, etc. Do some analysis of your site and see what needs a little adjustment to work well. And remember, this isn’t just for SEO, this is also for general user experience. Treat your visitors right and Google will reward you for it, so make that site FAST! Make it accessible, and keep your code clean and up to date.
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Avast Ye Scallywag! An example of tech keeping things fun in the workplace
One minute overview seriesWe believe that having fun is one of the most important aspects to business. Sure, there’s hard work, discipline, focus, and a few other things that are needed too, but having fun is the fuel for our creative thinking and motivation.
Automated reminders for a smile or a laugh are little gems that are worth their weight in gold, and this one just tickles us to no end. Whenever someone reacts to our posts a pirate shouts at us. At the moment this pirate has a limited repertoire of “FULL AHEAD!” for positive reactions and “ABANDON SHIP!” for negative ones, but we’re thinking of expanding this significantly. What do you think? Geoffrey Rush shouting orders as Captain Barbossa is as motivational as it gets. The possibilities!
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Don’t lose yourself while branding
One minute overview seriesThe problem with branding is how easy it is to abandon company essence by building a facade of what we think our customers wish to see. This is a bad strategy and a losing battle from the start. This distortion of the concept of branding is both ineffective and detrimental.
Good branding requires first determining your essence and being the best version of yourself and THEN communicating that in a clear, consistent way that your customers can actually hear.
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SAAS vs Custom Software. When and why
One minute overview seriesWe often hear the question “Should I build my own software or use off-the-shelf systems that are already out there?” and the answer is fairly simple: if you can find SAAS that meets your needs, use it. Because the development cost is shared by all of the users the price is low and the system is maintained and updated at no additional cost.
However, in most cases it is nearly impossible to find SAAS to actually meet your needs, and that is where custom systems come in. Custom-built web software usually pays for itself quickly and is a very good investment. It also allows for a much more innovative approach to business as it is tailored to YOU—if you want to try something different it can be easily built in to your system.
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Respect the time of your viewers
One minute overview seriesQuality doesn’t always equal value. First and foremost ask yourself are you providing value to your viewer, regardless of how polished and professional your content may look. Respect the time it takes to consume your content and make it worthwhile. Make it beneficial. Make it GOOD.
If you are producing videos, consider cutting down some of the dead wood and use faster pacing in general. For written content the same principle applies—provide concentrated, edited, high-quality content that gives value to the consumer.
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Know your allowable tolerance
One minute overview seriesAllowable Tolerance: The tolerance required for any given task. In other words, how perfect you need to be, and how much time and cost can be sacrificed in pursuit of that level of perfection.
Knowing the allowable tolerance for any given task is an easy way to ensure perfectionism doesn’t slow you down. Some tasks require great precision and some don’t. Speed and perfection are both valuable, so understand exactly what is required and act accordingly.
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New product in an unfamiliar market - Don’t make things harder for yourself
One minute overview seriesWhen entering an unfamiliar market it is important to focus where it matters. Focus on the product and not the process. Focus on what matters to your customer.
Let’s face it, when you’re just starting on a new project it can be easy to feel unsure of a product’s value. The inclination to avoid failure by bolstering the value is natural, but be careful how you go about doing that
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Slack as a quick and easy notification system
One minute overview seriesTime is money and notifications are key. An easy alternative to building a notification system is integrating Slack and using it to notify employees of certain events on your site.
The Slack API is powerful which means that you can set up your website as a ‘user’ and send notifications to specific channels and mention specific team members with ease. e.g. New user signup? Send the details to Noah. Error in the checkout? Send the log to Zakk
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Process automation - Focus on things that you do best
One minute overview seriesAutomation of data processing is one of the easiest ways to harness the power of technology and reduce overhead. And not only that, it typically pays for itself within a short amount of time.
Whenever you find yourself entering redundant data, or transferring data, ask yourself if a simple integration could do the same thing instantly and accurately. Human effort is very valuable for complex tasks like problem-solving and customer service and that is where your man-hours are best devoted. Leave the tedium to the machines and automate wherever and whenever possible.
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