NZS.com Newsletter September 2008

The ninth month of the year is here already! The NZS.com team still feels like the year has only just began, but summer, autumn and now winter have just flown by. We've launched some exciting new features on NZS.com this month, read on below to find out about Kiwi Status and Site Profile.

In the spirit of spring cleaning, our September newsletter takes a look at getting a fresh look over your website's landing page. We also offer your business some e-tailing solutions to get your goods online, and we look into the latest online video war which began with streaming internet coverage of last month's Olympics.

Contents:

• Top Ten Sites
• New on NZS.com
• War over Online Video Homogenisation?
• Landing Page Optimisation
• E-tailing Solutions

Spring is here! Daffodils, baby lambs, and crisp sunny days - a Kiwi Spring is a delight for every New Zealander, especially in the wake of the flooding and other extreme weather conditions we've endured over the winter period. Spring brings warmer, longer days - meaning plenty of time to take care of all of those bits and pieces around the house that have been neglected for the last few months: get in the garden, clean the carpets and undertake a mass recycling purge of your junk.

Spring cleaning however, is not everyone's cup of tea. Many of us prefer to sit back and enjoy the longer nights over a BBQ, rather than filling them with hard labour - especially for Dad, remember to celebrate Father's Day this Sunday! Still want a sparkling clean house this season without getting your hands dirty?

Check out the Top 10 sites from the Cleaning Category on NZS.com from last month:

Rank	Site Name	URL
1.	Busy Bees Cleaning Services	www.busybees.co.nz
2.	Brown and White	www.brownandwhiteltd.co.nz
3.	Above & Beyond Cleaning Services	www.abovebeyondcleaning.com
4.	Absolute Domestics	www.absolutedomestics.co.nz
5.	Above All Cleaning Services	www.aboveall.co.nz
6.	Brightshine	www.brightshine.co.nz
7.	Andy Andersons Chimney Sweeps	www.andyandersonschimneysweeps.co.nz
8.	An Extra Pair of Hands	www.anextrapairofhands.co.nz
9.	0508 ANY JUNK	www.anyjunk.co.nz
10.	Capital Carpet Cleaning	www.capitalcarpetcleaning.co.nz

September 1st saw the launch of two exciting and innovative new features to the NZS.com directory, Kiwi Status and Site Profile.

You've probably already noticed the categories are looking a little different within the NZS.com directory, and there are new icons beside every listing - this is Kiwi Status, NZS.com's new way or ordering our website listings.

Kiwi Status is a unique way of identifying quality within the New Zealand Web space. We've created a system (the only of its kind in New Zealand) which orders websites based on around 20 different criteria - and gives them a "Kiwi Status".

Kiwi Status offers you an objective view of what is available in the New Zealand Web space. The primary objective of this is to ensure that you get you the quality information that you want, faster.

Coinciding with the launch of Kiwi Status has been the launch of Site Profile. Site Profile is a useful tool for SEO (search engine optimisation). It displays the information about your site that search engines can see, such as: title tag, server information, Kiwi Status, and information from your NZS.com directory listing.

Site Profile also displays all of the sites that are currently linking to your site, and who you are linking to. This is a great link building SEO tool, as essentially you can use it to find out who your potential online partners could be, who could be linking to your site.

If you're looking for government sites you can read the newzealand.govt.nz Site Profile, or if you're more interested in news sites check out the stuff.co.nz Site Profile.

For more information, check out the Kiwi Status information page and the Site Profile information page.

Every Kiwi who watched even a few minutes of Olympics coverage last month would have been aware that Olympics content was also available streaming from TVNZ's website - the URL was branded every few minutes by commentators throughout the Games. Did you catch any of the Olympic Games 2008 coverage online this year?

TVNZ offered four channels of Olympic coverage 24/7 for the two-week duration of the Games, which meant sports fans could catch our Olympic team in action on their morning tea break at the office, or with their wi-fi enabled laptop or portable device at a cafe. While the service offered was generally quite good (minus the blackout during the Moss Burmester swimming semifinal), the NZS.com team found it easier to turn on the break room TV instead of squinting to see outstanding athleticism on a four-inch video window.

TVNZ, as official Olympic coverage supplier for New Zealand, streamed all video using Adobe's Flash technology, the same as used on YouTube. Approximately 80 percent of online video is offered via Flash worldwide. However, the 40 million or so US Olympic viewers needed Microsoft's Silverlight player on their browser to watch content on NBC.com, America's official online coverage source for the Olympics. It is estimated that half of them did not have the software installed prior to watching live Olympic streams, and NBC's partnership with Microsoft officially set the stage for the world's next internet battle: the war over online video provider homogenisation.

After gaining a significant user base from the world's largest event, Microsoft is hoping to win over Web developers worldwide by offering the best in next generation video streaming technology. Microsoft's Silverlight offered the option of streaming four videos at once with an optional commentary throughout the Games. Internet video users can expect more innovative ploys to win over Web developer's hearts in the coming months. Where will the war lead us? Just like the Blue Ray versus HD-DVD run of technological competition, one clear winner will eventually prevail.

In the meantime, Kiwi Olympic fans without data caps can keep themselves occupied by their August internet bills, which may have gone through the roof after hours of on-demand entertainment!

If you work in the online world, you'll definitely have a feel for good and bad landing page design. Some websites do it well: everything is easily accessible and leads you where it should. Some sites, however, are a nightmare: icons that don't work, messy navigation menus, dead links. Sometimes it makes you wonder if some website owners ever look over their own site!

On the flip side, the problem could very well be that you look over your website so often that you've become immune to its positive and negative design features - it just looks like home to you. Have you considered getting a professional site assessment on your landing page optimisation?

Consider finding a search engine optimisation professional and obtaining some objective usability testing from them. Computer consultants that specialise in website usability have seen thousands of poor designs, and understand how to extract underlying commonalities. Often, they'll quickly uncover potential issues without even undertaking a fully-fledged usability test, meaning often just a short assessment is all your website will need to let you know how to give it a fresher, more user-friendly look.

Usability testing can be done reasonably informally too, simply by asking friends and family to sit down on your site in a quiet room for 15 minutes. Ask them to perform a list of basic operations on your site: find your key objectives; find examples or references; find your contact information, and so on. You, as the website owner may think you have mapped your site easily, but others unfamiliar with your layout may think otherwise.

To go one step further, consider a focus group with several members from your target market. With a moderated group discussion, insights can be obtained about user needs and expectations. The process can also offer analysis on your website's position against similar websites in which that group might frequent. You should only need an hour or so of your group's time, and many market research agencies have the resources to bring in appropriate members for the group and acquiring feedback on your website's design and functionality. Alternatively, contact a local Web user group with a proposal for their time and analysis.

There are an increasing number of apparel retailers and fashion designers entering the world of e-commerce. With current statistics showing close to 60 percent of apparel and accessories purchased online by New Zealanders from offshore websites, you can't afford to be left behind!

Thinking about offering an online sales channel to your customers? With no crowds, no queues, no petrol consumption, no parking hassles, an easy returns policy and 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week attention, your customers will be thanking you for it.

Last month, NZS.com attended the August eCommerce Seminar held by the New Zealand Retailers Association in Auckland. Just one of a series this year, the conference was a great insight into enhancing any company's online presence through e-retailing. The seminar provided attendees with practical advice and tools for the e-commerce world, from both local and international industry professionals.

We caught up with some great companies at the eCommerce Seminar, including Auckland-based Solutionists - a company who have helped several fashion names (including Barkers and Sabatini) understand what it requires to take fashion online, and SLI Systems, who offer great site search, navigation and merchandising solutions.

NZS.com also met up with EstarOnline, who provide comprehensive e-solutions for retail, wholesale and hospitality businesses (working with big names like Untouched World and Ezibuy), and Netconcepts, who provide online marketing services to increase the visibility of your Web assets in search engines.

For more information about the New Zealand Retailers Association and their next conference, check out their website.

We're interested in your opinion, if you have anything you'd like to hear about in the newsletter, let us know.

Images from Flickr: Olympics, Blog of the Day, Commerce Bank Card.