Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Feb 17, 2010

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We got that simply saying something that seems sufficient to you, but does not address the concerns of the public or your client, is not a productive way to handle a crisis. Certain statements must be made and actions taken to show those watching that you take the situation seriously. – How to Productively Handle a PR Crisis (WebWorkerDaily)

No matter how careful you are, your company will have missteps and PR issues at some point. If you’d like to be prepared for how to handle them in the most efficient way possible, this article has some good tips. While some companies (and celebrities) think that ignoring the problem is the way to go, that just makes things worse. Action is required for just about any PR crisis.

The advent of Flash and similar technologies, to my mind, has fostered an air of sloppiness. This is, not to finger point at Adobe/Macromedia, the side effect of slack work from company-after-company. Sites that should contain information rich content in HTML, as well as Flash experience, are turned into pure wrappers for flash, forcing HTML to act as a mere delivery agent. In short, if you do not have Flash installed, the page alerts the site visitor to download Flash rather than to supply them with proper alternate content and perhaps what the visitor was actually looking for. – User Experience & Why HTML is Not Just a Wrapper (Permanently Uncached)

Flash websites are not new, but I still run across ones that have so much Flash that there’s nothing there if the Flash is turned off. While a vast majority of computers accessing the site may have Flash turned on, there are devices, like iPhones and text readers (for the Blind) that cannot read Flash at all. It used to be that Flash sites also weren’t crawlable by search engines. This has changed somewhat, if the Flash is coded properly. But I agree with Vincent, Flash has become a bit of a design crutch – whether or not its used, good usability and accessibility standards should be followed – which will improve the site for everyone.

At a time when consumers are searching for value in every purchase, Amazon, Google and Bing, Expedia and Kayak, and Scottrade took highest honors in 2009, among online providers, for successfully engaging consumers and creating loyal customers in their respective categories, according to the 2010 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (CLEI). – Brands With the Most Engaged, Loyal Customers (MarketingProfs)

Loyalty can be extremely important, especially in a recession (or after one). Even with lower budgets (for most), these companies were able to engage customers online. While these are all relatively large brands, I think there’s a lesson here for all businesses. Whatever you’re selling, you’re selling it to people (even if you’re B2B) and those people only buy something that provides value to them. If you want people to return as customers, you have to provide them with a good overall experience, including good products and service – and communications – listening and responding to customers is key.

Facebook is now the top source of traffic for major news and entertainment portals such as Yahoo and MSN, according to traffic analysis firm Compete, and is “among the leaders” for other sites as well. Although far from conclusive, this is just another sign of how the “social web” is becoming an increasingly dominant force in terms of driving traffic flows on the Internet — and that in turn makes it a growing threat for major web players such as Google, MSN and Yahoo. If your core business depends on controlling and/or getting a piece of the web’s traffic flow, as it does for all of those companies, the social web is something you ignore at your peril (which helps explain the launch of new services like Google Buzz). – Facebook Driving More Traffic Than Google (GigaOM)

Perhaps explaining Google’s speed to market with Buzz, social networks are becoming more important than search for certain types of websites (news & entertainment mostly). This is not to say that they are the top traffic providers for businesses websites selling products or services (although they may be at some point). But social networks are certainly an important part of any online strategy.

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