Manually repeating the same resizing actions on each photo will take hours.

This tutorial will take you through the simple steps to batch optimizing (and slightly improving) images using a Photoshop Action. For this example I have used 4 photos with several resolutions and dimensions.

You can try creating your own action using the steps below or download the Photoshop Action.

Preparation

Copy and paste all the files that need to be optimized into a new folder – you want to leave the original files intact. I renamed the new folder to “Photo Gallery Optimized”.

Set up an action

To keep things neat and organized for later use, it is a good practice to categorize the action in a set. Ensure that you pause the action before opening the first file, as you do not want the ‘Open’ command to be part of the action.

Recording

Ready? Press the “Record” button at the bottom of the “Actions” window. The action is comprised of a few simple steps:

Resize: For a web upload, you want to constrain the height of the photo to 600px, to ensure that the entire image displays on a 1024 x 768 monitor. The resolution is reset to 72 dpi. The resolution and image dimensions are adjusted concurrently to ensure that all images conform, regardless of their original attributes.

Contrast: Set “Auto Contrast” under the “Image” menu.

Sharpen: Duplicate the background layer (Command + J). Select the new layer (“Layer 1”) and apply a basic sharpening filter (Filter -> Sharpen -> Sharpen). Set the opacity to about 60%. Now, select both layers and merge them into a single layer (Command + E).

Custom Levels: Brighten the photo very slightly by shifting the levels (Image -> Adjustments -> Levels). Unless an effect applies to all images, do not record photo filters or colour settings as part of your action.

Ok, done. That is all that need s to be recorded. Press the “Stop” button on the actions window. Close the file without saving it.

Batch Process

Run your new action on the folder you created (File -> Automate -> Batch) using the following settings below. You will be able to set the quality for each image when saving. Remember to select the source folder.

Still stuck? Download the Photoshop Action.

Although these ideas may seem plausible at first, the implications and amount of ongoing work that is involved is customarily not quite fully understood.

The motivation behind a community interaction or user-generated content is often incorrect and the cost of building and maintaining it cannot be justified.

Part of our role as a marketing, design and development company is to offer expert assistance to help our clients in making informed decisions when it comes to online marketing. Considering that projects have time constraints and limited budgets, items that have the most direct and effective results possible should receive the most devotion.

An example

Let’s look at a forum as an extreme example. In this case the client might mistakenly believe this is an easy way to “generate a buzz” about their product or service. In reality, someone who is willing to comment on an article is often not prepared to go through a registration process. An active forum requires constant moderation (often 24/7), costs a lot to set up and requires a large user base in order to function.

Similar objectives can be accomplished through simpler and cheaper alternative means such as professionally designed Facebook and Twitter pages.

A common goal

The budget for an effective web presence is divided into parts, all of which work together towards a common goal. A successful business website will receive appropriate traffic, establish a professional image and convert visitors into clients.

Design

A goal oriented, simple website design will establish a professional identity and employ an intuitive interface that allows visitors to quickly find what they are looking for.

Development

Websites require a solid back-end that is secure, scalable and easy to administer and update.

Marketing

An SEO and marketing campaign will drive qualified visitors to the website, resulting in leads and ultimately conversions.

A final note

More traffic does not automatically equate to more business. Unqualified visitors are like shoppers coming into a restaurant because they mistook it for a furniture store or to simply use the restroom.

Relatedly, a badly built website might be hard or impossible to optimize properly for search engines or could daunt potential clients through its poor usability, resulting in a high bounce rate.

Speak to the team here at Gnu World. We are here to help you plan your marketing strategy.

• Buying a specific product
• Visiting an affiliate link
• Downloading a file
• Filling in a form
• Registering an account
• Subscribing to a newsletter or feed
• Calling a phone number

Your call to action does not need to be the same on every page. Instead you can use smaller as “stepping stones” that help your website to achieve it’s ultimate goal or goals.

For example, the main purposes of a restaurant could be to increase the number of reservations and take-out orders.

“Stepping stones” or page-specific goals could include:

• Downloading a PDF of the take-out menu
• Sharing the website with friends
• Signing up for a weekly specials mailing list

The written content, photographs and site structure all work together towards these goals.

Potential clients of a web design company would certainly first want to see a portfolio of work before requesting a quote or consultation. Therefore, the secondary call to action can be to direct visitors towards the design portfolio page, with the eventual objective of selling a web design package.

Building trust and demonstrating value

Web users are becoming increasingly skeptical. Looking at the amount of worthless information and scams out there, you can’t really blame them either. Before you can drive a user to act, you will often need to create familiarity, build trust, demonstrate industry knowledge and often even offer something of value for free.

Identify a need and offer an answer

Some time-tested sales techniques that can be effectively applied to increasing conversions include:

• Offering an incentive: Free gifts and discounted prices can sweeten the deal. Often, these free gifts can add value to the client, without being an incremental cost to you such as an e-book or automatically generated report.

• Create urgency: Limited time offers can motivate users to act impulsively.

Creating a focal point on every page

When it comes to the appearance of the call to action there are no defined rules, but plenty of guidelines. Ordinarily, the main call to action is visible above fold in the main content area and can be repeated at the end of the page if necessary.

It should stand out through careful application of colour, relative sizing and negative space.

The main idea is to keep pages simple and uncluttered so that there is a definite focal point. Focusing and limiting the content, choices and actions available on a page ensures that users aren’t overwhelmed or distracted and are more prone to complete the call to action.

Wording

Language usage on even simple elements such as contact forms or buttons is critical. A button labeled “Submit” tells the user what the process will be, which is largely irrelevant to them. A label such as “Send Message” or “Sign Me Up” clearly describes what the button actually does.

Avoid Dead Ends

Visitors to your website should not have to the think very hard about what to do next – tell users how they can react on the information they have just seen by leading them on. If the user reaches a dead-end they will leave without responding to your call.

Contact Gnu World today to find out how we can make your business website more goal-oriented.

It is routine for us to have to tell prospective clients who have just spent tens of thousands of Rands on a website that their site is unfit for use as a marketing platform, and that they will either have to abandon SEO marketing altogether and focus on Pay Per Click marketing, or design their website from scratch.

This means that many businesses setting up an online presence tend to waste thousands of Rands on failed websites and ineffective marketing campaigns before they finally come across a web agency qualified to provide them with the expertise, information and guidance they need to build successful websites.

This situation is a result of the fact that many business owners and prospective webmasters simply lack the level of knowledge of online marketing, design and development processes required to make informed decisions when it comes to choosing who should build a website, what it should cost and how they should go about the entire process.

There’s a legion of independent designers, developers and SEO marketers out there who are more than happy to capitalize on this confusion and siphon money off businesses – providing partial, often ineffective, and sometimes damaging and expensive ‘solutions’ to companies’ design, development and marketing requirements.

In essence the situation boils down to the following factors:
•    Many business underestimate how much modern, fully functional websites or SEO marketing campaigns cost
•    Businesses therefore tend to look for the cheapest solutions to their design and marketing needs
•    There are countless one-man-bands who offer ‘value’ design, development and marketing services and are more than happy to exploit this state of confusion to sell their services and products
•    Even those businesses with realistic expectations of cost are frequently unable to discriminate between digital agencies capable of providing effective solutions and ineffective fly-by-night operations

We have found that independent web designers are often the worst culprits when it comes to marketing ‘complete’ web design and development solutions that are anything but complete. This is largely a result of the fact that designers are quite easily able to lure clients into deals based on mock-ups and designs that simply look good to clients.

While appearance is a critical factor in the overall scheme of marketing and designing a successful website, there are numerous other factors that are either subtle or effectively invisible to prospective clients that are far more important in determining whether a site will or won’t be useful and effective.

These factors include, but are not limited to:

•    Optimization of content, information structure and page layout
•    Use or absence of Flash elements on the site
•    The type of platform used to build the site
•    Use of images to present textual information on a website
•    Absence or presence of conversion optimization elements
•    Information architecture

•   Conducting market research to determine optimal layout and content requirements

However, because these elements are sometimes invisible, and are understood only vaguely, if at all, by many businesses, clients tend to zero in on the element of the site that they can most easily access, relate to and assess – its appearance.

Designers are able to leverage off this confusion over web fundamentals and over-reliance on appearance to market their products using superficially attractive images and mock-ups.

They often sell a ‘complete’ web design service based on a single mock-up when they in fact have very limited or non-existent knowledge of market research, conversion optimization, back end development, front end development and SEO best practise. In fact many of them will work off a standard design template that will allow them to knock out a new website in several hours.

These websites are known as ‘cookie cutter’ websites in the industry, as they provide very little customisation in terms of either design or functionality, and are frequently inferior to the free blogging sites offered by WordPress and Blogspot, which can be customised by a user and are at least fit for online marketing campaigns.

The results of this are websites that:
•    Are not structured to meet the needs of the client’s target market
•    Are difficult for search engines to ‘read’ and index
•    Require expensive 3rd party assistance for the addition or modification of content
•    Cannot be used in SEO marketing campaigns
•    Are not scalable, and can require extensive redevelopment to add additional functionality, pages or design elements
•    Lack the elements required to convert traffic onto the site into sales

While designers are often guilty of wasting client funds by churning out aesthetically pleasing but otherwise substandard websites, SEO marketers are often just as guilty when it comes to providing partial services at ‘reduced’ costs.

Rather than turning away business promised by the owner’s of substandard sites, marketers will take on business, deliberately overlook the fact that the site is not fit for SEO optimization, and proceed with months of Internet marketing. This will either involve the use of illegal or ‘black hat’ marketing techniques that may ultimately have devastating consequences for the site’s rankings, or will attempt to market the site through conventional means with very limited scope for success.

Case Study

One of our current clients, Africa Skills Village, provides an excellent example of the results of this sort of process.

ASV Original Site

At first glance Africa Skills Village website appears satisfactory -  the site has a pleasant colour scheme and an engaging central image. However, to the practised eye there are several critical elements that are faulty or missing from the site entirely, including conversion optimization, layout, absence of a content management system and the overall presentation of the ASV business model.

ASV approached us with this site requesting marketing assistance, only to find that the design was inadequate, the site would perform poorly on any SEO marketing campaign and had been developed on a platform that made the addition or modification of content expensive and unwieldy. As a result ASV contracted Gnu World to build their website from scratch.

In order to build a successful website for ASV, Gnu World drew on the expertise of five different departments in our company:

•    Marketing
•    Web design
•    Development
•    Content
•    Project Management

Each of these departments contributed information and insights that are essential for building an effective website:

•    Marketing performed market keyword research for ASV, indicating what keywords consumers were using to search for the types of services that ASV offers.
•    Project management consulted with ASV to develop a design brief that would accommodate the aesthetic and corporate branding requirements of the client.
•    Content used the market research and client business model to develop a flowchart indicating the optimal structure for the site as well as required content and pages.
•    Development assisted in assessing the effectiveness of the layout and structure as well as providing feedback on the client’s functionality requirements and recommending optimal  and cost-effective development solutions.
•    Web design was then provided with wireframes (basic page layout guidelines) of the critical site page templates, and was left to implement knowledge of design and conversion optimization to create a premium design.
•    Once this design was completed it was submitted for internal review before being delivered to the client for feedback.

As you can see this is a complex, multi-level process that requires the integration of input from diverse people with specialised knowledge of marketing, design and development, and is obviously not something that could easily be performed by one-man-band development agencies.

Here’s a draft of the home page that resulted from the Gnu World development process:

The site has effectively come to life and includes:
•    Multiple, clear avenues to conversion (client contact)
•    A clear, concise mapping of the client’s business model and various services allowing visitors to rapidly determine what ASV does and what services can be accessed on the site
•    A carousel providing the site with a live dynamic feel, whilst simultaneously showcasing and marketing ASV’s core services
•    Clear indication of the company’s accreditation, adding authority to the website
•    Bold, simple design, easy-to-read text and bright colours, giving the site visual appeal

‘Hidden’ elements that are included in the new ASV website include:
•    Building the site on the Drupal CMS, allowing ASV to inexpensively control, add and modify content
•    Market research that was used to determine the site layout and content structure
•    Meta Data on each page containing professional SEO text designed to optimize the page for indexing by search engines
•    Analytics services that will track visitors to the site, determine which content is functioning optimally, and be fed back into ASV’s marketing campaign to ensure that traffic to the site increase as it climbs the search rankings for critical keywords

We hope that this post has clarified why the integration of marketing, development and design talent is essential for the production of successful business websites. Taking this information into account one can easily understand why this process can be more expensive than the cheaper design solutions offered by many independent agents.

However, we firmly believe that you get what you pay for in the online business environment, and that in the long run a cheap solution to your web development requirements will prove far less cost-effective than building a high-quality website – capable of delivering results from the outset – up front.

For more information on integrated website development solutions contact Gnu World on 021 448 9280.

What is conversion optimization?

Conversion optimization is essentially the art of optimizing the structure and content of a web page to make it as simple and attractive as possible for visitors to your website perform a desired action – ranging from calling your company for a quote to purchasing an item from your eCommerce store.

Achieving this goal requires taking various elements of page structure, content, and design into account and strategically using these to increase the number of conversions generated by a website.

Conversion optimization basics

• Think clearly through content before creating a page. Use Google’s Adwords tool to research the most searched keywords for the item or service you’re selling. Use these keywords to optimize your page for search engines. Also ensure that the content on your page meets the expectations created by the page title and description displayed in PPC campaigns and search results.
• Make it work above the fold. The area of the page that is immediately visible to a visitor to your site is essential to retaining and converting traffic. Use this area to assure visitors that they have found what they are looking for, use quality, persuasive copy to tell them what you have to offer for them, and have at least one prominent route to conversion in this area – be it a contact number or an ad banner. As a rule of thumb the most important conversion elements should be placed in the top of the page as well as the top-left or right area of the page.
• Avoid clutter. Bright flashy banner ads that are not relevant to your content or services are distracting and annoying, and tend to be subconsciously screened out by the majority of web users. Ensure that any advertising on your page is content or product-relevant, and don’t go wild with fancy page elements and widgets. The less your visitors have to sort through to find what they want, the less likely they are to leave your site without converting.
• Keep converting easy. Site visitors shouldn’t have to dig around your site to discover how to convert. If you want them to contact you put your contact number in a clearly visible position above the fold. If you’re looking for bookings put a booking form on the page. If you’d like your visitors to click through to an affiliate, pepper your content liberally with affiliate links and showcase affiliate banner ads where suitable.
• Calls to action and benefit statements. You can be virtually certain that you’re not the only website that sells the services or products that your visitors are looking for. You need to reassure them that you’re their best option – therefore make sure your page contains benefit statements that tell visitors why they should use your product or services. Then round off your content with a call to action – a short phrase that functions as a nudge towards converting as soon as possible.

Conversion Optimization Case Study

Here’s an example of a conversion optimized page created by Gnu World for a 2011 Six Nations Championship microsite created for our client, Gambling Guru. This website is designed to facilitate online betting for sports fans who follow the Six Nations tournament – the goal of the site is therefore to direct site users to trusted British bookmakers. The image below is a screenshot taken of the home page of the Six Nations site, displaying content above the fold.

Note the following:

• The top banner ad is content specific, showcasing the odds for a forthcoming Six Nations match.
• The center of the page features a bright, attractive image that links off to a tournament preview where visitors will find a pre-tournament analysis, along with betting tips and the latest odds.
• The page features both a fixture list and the points table for the tournament – relevant, topical information that provides the site with authority.
• The right hand side of the page features a Paddy Power ad with a prominent call to action and powerful benefit statements – directing users to a bookmaker that will offer maximum benefits for their rugby bets.
• The site is uncluttered, with all content and links featured above the fold directing visitors to relevant, useful, topical pages – which are, in turn, conversion optimized.
• There are two prominent conversion opportunities above the fold.
• In addition the page has been optimized for the keyword “2011 Six Nations Betting”, with this keyword included in the page title, header text on the featured image, and in copy located below the fold. At the time of posting, the Gambling Guru Six Nations site ranked #2 on Google.co.uk for searches of “2011 Six Nations Betting”

Get Expert Advice

Many online marketing agencies focus exclusively on optimizing content for improved search engine rankings. However, understanding the role that website design and structure have to play in getting traffic to convert is essential to creating a profitable website.

Gnu World places a strong emphasis on its integrated, holistic approach to web marketing – combining over a decade of Internet marketing experience with superb design and development capacity. This ensures that your website’s design and structure are capable of assisting in the conversion of traffic generated by search engine optimization and pay per click campaigns.

If you’re looking for expert advice optimizing your website to generate conversions, or want to build a profitable website from the ground up, contact Gnu World now for a quotation.

• Make it easy to contact you online by including a simple contact form. Respond as quickly as possible.
• Ensure your site has a logical structure and user-friendly navigation.
• Always display the full contact details and physical address of your business in a very prominent place. You can expand on this by adding a Google Map, live chat and even a photo of your premises (where applicable).
• Keep your website updated. Remove outdated content, continuously add new offers. Check that no internal or external links are broken and ensure that all contact details are still relevant. A Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress will allow you to manage you website without needing to hire a developer to do content updates or minor changes.
• Prove to potential clients that you are knowledgeable about your industry by regularly publishing relevant articles and news that could benefit and educate them.
• Show the faces behind the business. People like seeing people. Make your website personal and familiar by telling users about your business and your employees and even include photos and short introductions to your directors and sales staff. Don’t ever use generic stock photos.

  

  Stock Photos: Nobody really believes they are speaking to a hot model in a powersuit.

• Limit banner ads, contextual ads and animated content. Don’t be greedy – it makes your website look cheap.
• Include real testimonials from previous clients. Where possible, show full names, a quote and a description of what you did for them. For events or products that are bought online, display reviews.
• Prominently showcase any industry recognition or membership, qualifications, certifications, positive press coverage, awards and official business associations.
• Make it easy for customers to check up on you. When presenting any facts or statistics, back up your claims with hyperlinks to reputable sources.
• Tell people the purpose of your site if it isn’t obvious. Usually visitors will immediately understand the purpose of your site, be it online sales or advertising space. Your honesty will get rid of misgiving they might have had.
• Avoid silly errors. Poor spelling and grammar, pages that don’t display correctly in all web browsers, broken links and missing pages can severely diminish the credibility of your business website. Hire a professional to write and proofread your content and test your website rigorously before it goes live.
• Don’t buy generic, pre-made templates. These websites might be cheap, but they are often badly coded and do nothing to build your brand and establish your professional image.
• If your website requires users to log in or supply personal information, provide plain English, printer-friendly “Privacy Policy” and “Terms & Conditions” pages. Customers need to rest assured that their personal information is safe.

We can help

Let us take a look at your website. Contact us today and we can assist you in improving the credibility of your website.

WordPress helps to keep things current

A big turnoff for visitors is outdated content such as advertisements for events that have taken place, special offers that have ended and contact information for employees that have quit. WordPress makes it extraordinarily easy to create and delete pages and posts. You don’t even need to know what HTML is.

An uncomplicated administrator “Dashboard” with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface allows editors to restructure menus, write or style rich text and add lists, tables, images and videos.

Blog posts are organized according to dates, categories and keywords and can be subscribed to via RSS feeds, making it simple for subscribers and return visitors to keep abreast of new content.

WordPress is very SEO Friendly and complies to Web Standards

Being accessible to Search Engines such as Google is extremely important. A beautiful site with no visitors is rather useless and a little sad too. Standard WordPress features including XML sitemaps and automated search engine friendly URL’s are utilized to ensure that websites are 100% search engine friendly and comply with all Web Standards.

Using WordPress is easy

You don’t need to buy a book or attend a lengthy seminar to figure out how to run your website. Most people have no problem understanding the back-end interface. However, if you get stuck or are unsure how to do something, there is always a lot of help right at your fingertips:

• Ask Gnu World. We are always happy to help you get the most out of your website.
• Watch YouTube. There are many excellent WordPress tutorial videos.
• Visit www.wordpress.tv. for training videos.
• Search for answers to your questions in community forums. Chances are your question has already been answered in detail.

WordPress gets better every day

Improved versions of WordPress with new features are released often. Developers are also continuously writing new plug-ins to extend the functionality off the CMS, making it more powerful and versatile than ever before.

Contact Gnu World now if you’re looking to set up or redesign a WordPress website.

We regularly get requests from clients to make their business websites more ‘exciting’ using Flash animations. Flash can be a great tool when it is used appropriately. However, it can ruin a website just as easily.

Let’s take a look at the negative aspects first.

• Flash can waste a user’s time. A flash splash screen is an obstacle, not an enhancement. Loading times can also annoy potential customers and cause them to find what they are looking for elsewhere.

• Flash is expensive and will significantly increase the development time of your website. These days, similar interfaces can often be created with HTML ,ASP.net and Java. Furthermore, Flash content is not easy to update.

• Although the majority of internet users have flash installed, not everyone has Flash or will be willing to get it.

• Flash is not search-engine friendly. A homepage that uses Flash exclusively or extensively will obstruct your search engine exposure. However, embedded Flash elements used sparingly on a content-rich page will not harm your rankings

• Flash elements use unconventional graphical user interfaces which can hamper website usability. People prefer a website to work and act in a way that is familiar.

So why use Flash at all?

• Flash is great when used as a presentation tool for showcasing relevant and informative content in an interactive format.

• File sizes for vector based animated graphics are very small.

• Embedded Flash is an excellent way to play sounds, music and short animations.

• There are no known browser compatibility issues. Every user that has Flash installed will see your Flash object in exactly the way you wanted it to look.

The core of the problem is that Flash is often used to show off by adding it in places where it is not necessary. Just because you can make something move or make a noise, does not mean it is a good idea. Flash should be used sparingly and effectively to enhance sites. If Flash is obstructing the main goals of your site get rid of it – quickly.

Do not splash or you won’t be allowed to swim.

A Quick Guide to Flash Usage

• Your website does not need a splash screen – ever.

• Do not build an entire website using Flash.

• Do not let sounds or animations play automatically when a page loads. Leave the decision up to the user.

• Flash is a luxury. It is more important to get a functional, usable website up and running. Flash can always be added later.

Still confused? Speak to our team – let us help you to make important decisions and build an awesome website for your business.

1. You own one of the sites displayed above

If you recognize any of the screenshots as your company website you are in desperate need of our help.

2. You cannot update your own content easily

Great websites are built using efficient Content Management Systems such as WordPress. These platforms provide a simple interface for a casual user to administer and edit their website content. If you need to drag in a web developer every time you want to edit text or upload an image, your website desperately needs an overhaul.

3. Comic Sans font is used

Comic Sans is not ‘playful’, ‘cute’ or ‘fun’. There are literally hundreds of alternative free fonts available in a handwritten style. There is no appropriate time to use Comic Sans.

4. Your website looks old

Does your footer state “Copyright January 1996″? A website will be rendered ineffective unless it is regularly updated and improved. Internet conventions, best practices and trends evolve very quickly.

Your business and brand will benefit immensely from the credibility and quality that is represented by a professional website that contains dynamic, relevant content.

5. People don’t find what they need

Users are easily daunted by a haphazard site structure and poor navigation system. Annoyed visitors will simply give up when they cannot quickly find what they came for and go to a competitor website. It is essential that your website content is presented in a logical, flowing way using structural menus and appropriate internal links.

6. You struggle to find your own website using a search engine

Customers are very likely to search for your company name using Google instead of memorising the URL of your website. If you can’t find your own website, nobody else will either.

7. Your website is not compatible with the latest versions of the most popular web browsers

Although, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still the most common web browser, you are losing business from the growing proportion of internet users that are using a different browser. Your website needs to look good and work properly regardless if someone is surfing using Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari, Google Chrome or Opera.

8. Music plays when you enter the website

Unless you are a musician promoting your latest album via your website, your website should be seen and not heard. Not everyone shares your taste for Jazz Funk Fusion.

9. You have a splash page or Flash intro

Splash pages are not classy. They are an obstacle to visitors entering your website and will probably even bring down your search engine rankings.

10. Pop-Ups pop up

A ‘Pop-Up’ is equivalent to hi-jacking somebody’s computer. The majority of internet users turn on pop-up blockers so they won’t see what you wanted to show them anyway.

We can help

Let’s get your site looking and working the way it should.

> Request a website audit
> Contact our sales team
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