The web design landscape is changing and we saw this trend more than a year ago. That’s why we  changed our approach to design. We no longer design sites for a fixed 1024×768 computer monitor. We create simple, responsive prototype layouts in HTML with actual content so our customers can interact with them on multiple devices and screen sizes. We show content when appropriate and hide it when it’s not. Sometimes we target 2 different screen sizes, sometimes it’s 5 – it depends on the application.

What is Responsive Web Design?

It’s a cost effective way of visually changing how a website or web application looks for different visitors without having to build separate versions.

The best way to understand it is to see it in action. Take a look at one of our simpler sites, Cozy Trucking, on both your desktop and mobile phone or tablet. They look different right? Look again. The content is nearly identical, we’ve just rearranged the pieces of the puzzle. One web page and one set of content to maintain that responds to different screen sizes.

You can get more complex with it as well. For the Horizon League, we rearrange schedules, news articles, images and video. In some cases we hide what’s not important from small screens.

The Business Case

Still not convinced that responsive web design matters, here are a few more facts for the bottom line:

• In 2011, PayPal did more than $4 billion in mobile payments while eBay sold more than $5 billion in merchandise on mobile devices.
• For the past three years, mobile devices have been quickly eroding the 20 year dominance of Microsoft Windows.
• 28.5% of US consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site this Thanksgiving holiday.
• On Black Friday this year, Apple’s iPad contributed to 10% of online shopping, followed by the iPhone at 8.7% and Android devices at 5.5%.

In 2013, if you fail to address the user experience on mobile devices you’re leaving money on the table.

Sources: Why Mobile Matters • Data Monday: Mobile Holiday Shopping • The Rise and Fall of Personal Computing

Matt Sellers: Game, iOS and Ruby on Rails Developer
Matt has been on a wild and crazy ride across the country developing games for Windows, Mac and the iPhone. Just a few days in and he’s already working on new mobile applications and debugging a million line C++ app.  He’ll be working closely with Greg and Mike on Rails apps and mobile projects.

Matt Gilbank: C#/ASP.Net Developer
Originally from Canada, Matt has settled down with his wife and infant son here in Indianapolis. For the last few years he has been developing custom Microsoft .Net applications to manage product inventory, both locally and through Amazon’s shopping APIs. He’s already working on brand new an ASP.Net application that’s so awesome, we can’t tell you about it. No really, it’s top secret.

Bob Moore: Interaction Design Intern
Bob is a junior at Purdue University and has joined us for the summer. Where most interns are just learning the ranks, Bob already has already thrown down the gauntlet with his ASP.Net, CSS3 and jQuery skills on that super secret project. No, seriously. Stop asking. We’re not going to tell you.

Please join us all in welcoming Matt, Matt and Bob to TGFI.

We started by taking their existing design and created a solid foundation with a custom Ruby on Rails application to replace their failing PHP web site. Once the foundation was in place we began to slowly redesign key elements of the site, such as the navigation, coupons, search functions and administration.

Not to mention their are some great deals on the site, most of which are exclusive to PinPoint Perks.

Growing Up and Reaching Out

After two years in business, it was time for PinPoint Perks to take the next step. Just this past month we spent some time on the organization of the site, added some key pieces for Search Engine Optimization, and took the covers off the site, opening it to the general public. The reception has been great.

For this year’s update, there were four specific things we wanted to address:

1. Make it easier for a visitor to find the product they want and suggest related items that might meet their needs.
2. Treat customers with respect and make them feel safe about their decision to purchase with Floormingo.
3. Simplify the purchasing process.
4. Increase product awareness in the search engines.

At lot of research and attention to detail went into this design and it has truly paid off. Here are a few quick stats about the changes we’ve made to Floormingo.com:

• Visitors spend twice as long on the site.
• Unique visitors are up over 400% year over year.
• Sales are up over 500% from this time last year.

And don’t think for one second that we’re done just yet. We have a large number of new features, minor changes and tweaks that we are testing to optimize the shopping experience even further.

If you’d like to know more about the changes we’ve made and how we might help you sell on line, please give us a call at 317- 663-3296, ext 202.

In addition to speed improvements, new features include:

• A much larger video archive, including some games in HD (requires IOS 4.0).
• Schedule of Upcoming Games
• iPhone 4 Retina Graphics

For those of you wanting to watch games live, you’ll have to wait a bit more. While we have the capability to show them to you, most of the game locations cannot give us the multiple, large video streams we need.

Image Gallery

Here are a few screen shots of the iPhone App. Click on each one to view full size.

Over the last two years we have been working hard to change this and bring video to mobile viewers. We found early on that people wanted to watch sports, podcasts, TV shows and even movies on the go. In 2008 there was really only one choice for mobile video – archival footage on YouTube for the iPhone. Live streaming was not supported and hosting it yourself was not worth the pain.

Thankfully, the landscape changed dramatically in 2009 and early 2010. We can now deliver mobile video to 100′s of millions of people in both archived and live streaming formats.

Apple, Android and Blackberry

Based on market share, there are three platforms you need to care about when providing mobile video. The iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android devices and some Blackberry phones.

All these platforms handle H.264 encoded video with AAC audio in an MP4 wrapper. This is a major bonus as the MP4 wrapper is great for both the desktop web and mobile as it allows you to start playing the video before it downloads the entire file. That’s the difference of seconds over minutes to start watching a video and also keeps them from clicking elsewhere.

The biggest challenge we have is what dimensions and bit rate we use for the video. Apple set the standard and the others are now following suit. The iPhone, iPad and Android all play nicely together, but some of the older Blackberry handsets need smaller video files.

Here are the specs to use:

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .mp4 file formats.

If you have specific Blackberry phone coverage you need to meet, then we suggest you take a look at Blackberry’s list of supported media types for their phones. Many of the older phones or smaller screens only support 320×240 resolution.

I would also suggest you keep the bit rates closer to 650Kbps. Many cellular carriers can’t handle larger files and it will take too long to start playing the file.

Note: We haven’t been able to test it yet, but the specs for Windows Phone 7 show similar support for H.264.

Hosting Video for Free

At this point you have a choice in how to handle delivery of the video. You can do it yourself, pay someone to host it for you, or use a free service. There are pros and cons to each.

YouTube

These guys have been around the mobile space the longest. They know how to do it, and as long as you upload them an H.264 video file, they will convert it to the proper formats for both desktop and mobile.

There is one big caveat to YouTube though. You don’t have as much control as they are hosting it for free. Consequently, if you include copyrighted music or video from third parties, chances are their automated flagging system will pull your video down. Many news organizations have been caught out by this, even when they legally have the right to fair use.

YouTube works great at no cost, just be careful building mashups pulling in other video or music. The also have the best API for automating large numbers of video in the background.

Vimeo

Vimeo separates itself from YouTube in several ways. It has both free and paid options (faster conversion and larger files), has above average content from a great community, and does not allow commercial video. If you are a business, you can skip this one.

Back in January 2010, Vimeo announced HTML5 video support for desktops using H.264. This was a great first step that lead to their Universal Player announcement this past August. The Universal Player is an embeddable iFrame that works on iPad, iPhone and Android. Their support for Blackberry is suspect, but they are working on it.

If you want to use Vimeo for mobile, make sure you pay for the Plus option. It’s the only way to get it.

Viddler

This is a product built for businesses. Viddler provides some of the best ways to customize, monetize and track the video playback experience. I would suggest watching their promotional video for an overview of what they provide.

In order to get mobile support, you’ll have to be a business member (starts at $100/mo) and you’ll have to specifically enable iPhone and iPad support. This works with Android as well and may work with newer Blackberry models.

The Community Aspect

All three of these hosted services provide discovery features for visitors browsing their site. If you are providing video for wide audiences then you’ll benefit greatly from the community. However, if you are targeting a niche the impact will be near zero.

Live Streaming to Mobile for Free

There are three main competitors for businesses in the live streaming space: UStream, Justin.TV and LiveStream. As of today, the only one that supports live streaming to mobile devices via a web page is LiveStream. Ustream and Justin.tv have applications that must be installed, but frankly, that just doesn’t work for business.

In the long term, Ustream actually looks very well suited. They are currently working on the technology to stream events using variable bitrates from one master feed. This will allow you to stream a game or press conference to just about everyone on their desktop, mobile device on cellular or wifi and still provide the best video they can. Their uptime and load capabilities are also the best around.

Personally, we’ve used LiveStream in the past, but switched away due to downtime issues. I still wouldn’t put them aside though. Their mobile streaming package is currently the best.

Hosting Video Yourself

If you are one of those companies who needs to have total control, then you’ll want to host it yourself. You have a lot of options here, but the most common for hosting archival videos are Amazon S3, Edgecast, Rackspace and Akamai.

You’ll need to do all of the file conversion yourself using tools like Apple’s Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier or Handbrake before you upload, or pay someone to do it for you. Most of the time your video production or web design partner can do this for you.

You’ll also need some very specific knowledge around Flash video, HTML5 video and JavaScript to make this all work. We’ve spent a significant amount of time investigating the different ways to deliver video to the desktop and mobile devices at the same time. It’s not easy, but it works great when done right.

Streaming Video Yourself

If you are wanting to stream events live, there aren’t many choices here and you will pay a hefty fee for it. Edgecast, Akamai, Ustream and LiveStream all provide white label products so it looks like you host it yourself. However, unless you are a major corporation with money to burn, you don’t want to go this route. It’s highly cost prohibitive.

Planning for the Future

For a variety of reasons, video is great way to set yourself apart. With 100′s of millions of devices in the market, mobile video has tipped and is on a downhill rush. You are making a huge mistake if you don’t have your website videos viewable on the go. Consumers are eager to see great content about your product, or watch your events live, but they want to do it on the go.

Don’t make the mistake and hide what you have to say from so many people. It’s minimal work to make that sale or gain a new fan – Be mobile ready and beat your competition today!

Horizon League Mobile provides fast access to the latest blog entries, news from other sites around the web, Twitter updates, and videos for your favorite Horizon League teams — Butler, Cleveland State, Detroit, Green Bay, Loyola Chicago, Milwaukee, UIC, Valparaiso, Wright State, and Youngstown State.

You can view the app on the iTunes website or in iTunes on your desktop or iPhone.

Find Ideas and Save Them for Later

People are extremely efficient at going through information quickly. There are two ways you can use this to your advantage. First, you can scan copious amounts of information your self in a short period of time. Second, other people already do it for you.

Personally, I scan some 400 RSS feeds and 140 people on Twitter every day. Out of that, I probably have 10-12 items that I read. Typically I save them until late at night by bookmarking, flagging in Google Reader or saving to Instapaper. Scanning, not reading, is the key here.

Once you get into a scanning mode, it’s amazing what you can process. However, sometimes it’s best to let others do it for you. Google Reader (RSS) and Twitter Search trends for shared items. Fever takes that one step further and looks for trends in your own RSS feeds so you don’t have to scan everything.

Read! Read! Read!

Now that you have those items tucked away, you can use it to build your vocabulary and style. Subconsciously, you’ll find you prefer some sites over others because of the writing style. This in-turn will guide you to your own style of writing. Having a style makes it easier to say what you want the first time.

Write More often

Nothing is worse that trying to write a letter, blog post or web page copy when you haven’t done it lately. You’ll find every excuse in the book not to do it. However, when you get into a routine, something magical happens. It becomes much easier! You’ll get in to the zone faster, create better content and make fewer corrections.

Twitter and Texting

When you are forced to keep it short, you get to the point faster and with less fluff. Instead of trying to add to the piece you are writing, ask your self, “What can I remove?”. In a world with tremendous amounts of information, you have to stay on point.

Friends and Family

If you wouldn’t say it out loud to the ones you respect, don’t write it. Having a voice is everything on the web. This will make your personality shine through and that’s what matters.

Concentration is Important

Finally, before you start writing, you need to clear your mind. There are a lot of synergies between writing and music — structure, tempo, tone, volume, etc. With the right songs I can quickly slip into a flow in just a few minutes.

Choose music with slower tempos. Personally I prefer Radiohead, Pink Floyd or Ben Folds, but it should be what works best for you. The right music will relax and calm you, and put you into the flow.

Every company is different — people, customers and culture. When considering a blog for your company, there are five key things you should know.

It is a Long Term Commitment

Like most marketing efforts, blogging is a long term investment. You start slowly, trying different things. Mistakes are made, but you adjust as you go. Slowly over time you will begin to gain followers. These are people who appreciate the value you offer them. Treat them like friends or they will disappear as fast as you gain them.

Press Releases Don’t Belong

When you speak to your friends, you don’t talk about how wonderful you are all the time. You have conversations with them where they learn just a bit more about your personality each time. You also learn a lot about them. Press releases were created for people who write about your products, not the people who use them.

Traffic Doesn’t Come to You

Just like that new website or e-commerce store, people don’t know about you yet. You have to earn it. Blogging on a regular schedule and sticking to it creates a rhythm that readers enjoy. They’ll know how often to come back and won’t waste their time. When you create great content you win sneezers. Those are the people who tell their friends.

Your Competitors Will Read It

So what if they do? It just doesn’t matter. When all they do is follow your lead, you will always be ahead of the game. The better the content you create, the harder it will be for them to be original and win over readers. They’ll stress about it and waste time while you pull farther into the lead.

Only You Can Make the Difference

In the end there is only one thing that matters. You. It’s you who has a voice. It’s you they want to know. When you create a friendly dialogue you become transparent. People are fallible and so are companies. It’s OK when you make a mistake. Admit your wrong doings and explain how you will correct them.

Now that you know what to expect, let’s go back to the original question.

Should you start a blog for your business?

Yes you should, but only if you have the will, the transparency and long term vision to stick with it. Just like a friend, you must earn it.