1. Cloud vs Catch and Forward

This is probably the largest difference between these two email clients. Cloud-based email, like Gmail, allows for all email to be stored on a central server that is accessed from computers and mobile phones. This system allows for even your oldest messages to be read on a mobile device. The Catch and Forward approach server that Microsoft Exchange uses works like a distribution center. It stores the recent items, but in the end, each user archives the old information on a local machine. Only the emails stored on the server are accessible on a mobile device.

If your business frequently relies on information received in the past while in remote locations, the cloud system is your best choice. If your business uses little remote access, or if old email is not as important, the Catch and Forward system may be the better option.

2. Task Management

Do you rely heavily on task lists to keep you organized? If so, Microsoft Outlook takes the cake in this department. It smoothly allows for tasks to be created and prioritized, and for calendar events to be created — all while attached to the email. Emails can be flagged and categorized in multiple colors.

Gmail has made several large steps recently to improve its functionality in the task management department. Inside Labs, you can unlock several new star colors to use. They also implemented ‘important’ emails and have worked on their task manager to allow an email to auto create a task and link to itself. All of these are great improvements, but they are clunky and not as intuitive as Outlook.

3. Email Drafting

Through the use of Microsoft Word, Outlook brings the comfort of a well-known document creation program. Word allows for inserting images directly into the context of the document. This is something that is extremely helpful when doing ‘how to’ walkthroughs or showcasing a new product. Gmail falls short in this area as you have to attach the images separately. Gmail is the king of simple and compact and its email creation wizard is just that. Formatting and drafting is quick and easy but lacks much of the advanced options Word offers. However, both programs do support drag and drop email attachments.

4. Email Threading

Email threading is another benefit Gmail brings to email. This form of viewing emails creates a blog-like email chain that stores all replies in the same ‘thread’ so you can view each individual message from a chain of correspondence at once. This makes a great tool for reading through previous conversations before responding to a message. It works well with multiple people replying to an email as well. Additionally, in this view, there is a feature that notifies you when someone replies while you are drafting a response. This helps prevent duplicate responses from being sent from several people.

Outlook struggles to keep up in this area. You can search for related messages and it will show all emails with the same subject, but you can’t scroll through each one or get real-time updates to an email chain.

5. Folders vs Labels

Have you ever had an email that you tried to file in the proper folder and realized it fits equally in two or more locations? I have, and remembering where I placed it is always difficult months later. Google solved this problem — one big reason they excel at email organization. They introduced ‘labels’ instead of folders. These labels allow for one message to be in multiple virtual folders. Searching by label or a phrase in an email is also a breeze with the Google Search function.

Outlook has a very limited search and can only store a message in a single folder unless you physically store the message two times by copying and pasting it. However, it does well when you need to save a specific message to a file folder. You can easily copy a message from Outlook to a folder on a server or computer.

It may seem that these differences are minute in the scheme of things, but choosing the right email client contributes to individual efficiency and affects overall company productivity. Whichever client you choose, take the time to get to know the features, add-ons and keyboard shortcuts available so you can make the most of your online communication and organization.

What is a rendering engine anyway?

First off, let me explain what a rendering engine does. Behind every browser is a rendering engine. It’s a software component of the browser that takes all HTML, XML, images and formatting information (such as CSS) and displays it on the page in the way the Web designer and developer of that page intend. In other words, the reason you can read and navigate this page is because a rendering engine has done its job.

When Google Chrome first arrived on the browser scene, it adopted a lightweight and powerful rendering engine called WebKit. WebKit is an open source engine used by many other popular applications, such as Safari, Mac Mail and Adium.The pairing of Chrome and WebKit was mutually beneficial; Chrome was released quickly, and WebKit received a huge amount of developers in its open source community. Since then, WebKit has continued to grow and improve, thus giving Chrome users an excellent experience on the Web.

So why did Google create Blink?

Let’s get back to Google’s announcement about Blink. Why did Google decide to replace WebKit with a new rendering engine? Actually, Blink is what is known as a “fork” of WebKit. In the open source world, a fork is essentially what it sounds like: developers take the source code from one software package and branch — or “fork” — off to build upon it and create a totally new software package. Google forked from WebKit for multiple reasons, including:

- To spur innovation to continually improve Chrome’s rendering engine.
- To help Chrome take advantage of its specific multi-process architecture (helps keep your browser tabs running when a Web page crashes) in order to make the browsing experience faster and more reliable.
- To improve “the health of the entire open Web ecosystem.”

A win for open source, a win for the Web

I, for one, am eager to see the improvements Blink will bring about to the Web — not just within Chrome, but also within other browsers as they continue to innovate to keep pace with Google. Because Blink is just a fork from WebKit, in the short term it will bring little change for us as Web developers. In the long run, though, we could see the total disappearance of vendor prefixes, a faster DOM and JavaScript engine, better security and better performance. It’s exciting to imagine.

All of us at Skyhook value open source development and the kind of innovation it brings. We tip our hats to Google for making such a bold move, and we look forward to the ongoing creation of a more open and standardized Web.

The 2013 TIMs recognize Arizona talent and work in the interactive realm for 2012. At last night’s awards banquet, Skyhook secured the title of “Best Website” for our strategy, design and development of Desert Star Construction’s website. Skyhook’s first place award was one of only 12 given from among a total of 100 entries from 36 companies.

The “Best Website” honor is not only the very first award we’ve ever won for our client work, but it’s also the very first time we’ve submitted our work to be judged. (Batting 1.000 isn’t too bad, eh?) While our whole team is thrilled with this accomplishment, we want to give a special shoutout to these four brilliant marketers who collaborated with DSC to create such a visually captivating and functionally flawless website:

Dallin Harris (Strategy), Camille Whiting (Project Management), John Gough (Design), Kyle Theisen (Development)

We’re honored to be recognized by AZIMA, proud of our team and excited for many more projects to come!

Do you have a passion for digital design? Are you eager to apply those skills to strategic Internet marketing campaigns in a creative, collaborative environment? Yes? Good.

Our ideal candidate knows it takes more than pretty pictures to make websites usable and effective. He/She is steeped in UX/UI principles and creates websites that not only appeal visually to users, but also inspire them to interact and engage with brands in desired ways. Despite being an experienced professional, the designer is committed to continual improvement and growth. He/She is accountable and professional, loves learning, values relationships with coworkers and clients and revels in the occasional game of NBA Jam or Mario Kart.

THE IDEAL DESIGNER HAS:

- At least 3-5 years of experience in interactive graphic design, with a focus on UX/UI
- A bachelor’s degree in graphic design or a related field
- Experience with design software (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.)
- Understanding of content management system fundamentals (We love WordPress.)
- Basic understanding of HTML, JS, and CSS
- Knowledge of, and adherence to, Web standards
- Passion for new technology and problem solving
- High attention to detail
- The ability to work on deadlines and perform under pressure
- A desire to experience and contribute to Skyhook’s growth

COMPENSATION:

Commensurate with experience and qualifications + health, vacation and other benefits

HOW TO LAND THE JOB:

1. Call 480-814-1900, ext. 562, put on your confident pants and leave us a message about why we should interview you.
2. Send an email with your resume and work samples to jobs@skyhookmarketing.com.
3. Impress us during an in-person culture/skill interview.
4. Write your grandma a letter (optional) and wait for the congratulatory phone call.

ABOUT SKYHOOK INTERNET MARKETING:

Skyhook is a rapidly growing, fast-paced interactive marketing agency based in Mesa, Ariz., that provides smart digital strategy and technically brilliant implementation for organizations across the country. Our team currently consists of 11 talented marketing professionals—including copywriters, designers, developers and search engine specialists—who are passionate about using the Internet to help businesses grow and are eager to enhance their expertise through constant learning. Oh, and we have a homemade arcade in our office.

For the last several months, users logging in via a mobile device or using a mobile app have enjoyed a focused, fresh-looking design that is consistent with Facebook’s brand styles and is tight and usable (if a little heavy on promoted content). Desktop users have had a slow but gradual improvement cycle, with Timeline being the latest major design revision released worldwide in January of 2012.

With the unveiling of their latest redesign, Facebook showed what the desktop version is soon to be: a version of the crisp, clean one that mobile users have been looking at for months. Check it out:

image via

One reason this redesign is important is because it brings consistency to the visual experience for all Facebook users, regardless of how they access the website. Many of Facebook’s 1+ billion users (as of last September) aren’t using just mobile or just desktop, but a combination of the two. With the move to unify the desktop and mobile experience, multi-platform Facebook users will now recognize the new visual language on the desktop as one they’ve been familiar and happy with for some time now on their mobile devices.

As Facebook gets rid of clutter on its desktop version and embraces the liquidity of the content it provides, we should all pause to consider if we are doing the same for our users. Are the doodads and features of your website getting in the way of your message? Is the experience consistent across platforms and channels? When a customer who is familiar with your brand in one context encounters it in another, will they recognize you?

These are the questions business owners and marketers at every scale will need to answer as technology continues to change and the way we interact online evolves.

Who should do the writing?

This is among the first questions you need to answer before planning your blogging strategy. Your team likely knows the most about your company and has the best insight into your industry. However, just because your team members are knowledgeable may not necessarily mean they are good writers, or that they have the time to contribute to your blog. If you aren’t able to identify at least one writer internally, outsourcing is the way to go. There are plenty of great writers who can get up to speed on your business and post high quality, engaging content regularly on your behalf.

If you do feel confident in your team’s ability, be sure to get everybody on the same page about the messages you want to send your audiences. Also, create guidelines for posting on the blog, i.e. do’s and don’ts about how to refer to your company, the tone that should be used on the blog, spelling and grammar styles, etc. These guidelines will allow your company to communicate to your readers in a consistent way, even if multiple people are contributing to the blog. To ensure these guidelines are followed, it is helpful to have one person responsible for reviewing and editing each post before it is published.

What should I write about?

Whatever you decide to do with authorship, your next step is to brainstorm post topics and plan when each will be published. A very common and useful method of doing this is to create a content calendar that outlines the topic, author and date of each post. To determine what you should write about, I recommend thinking about two types of blog posts: company posts and consumer posts.

• Company Posts:

Do you hear the same question from almost every client or strategic partner? Do you have a complex process that takes time to explain? Do you have pieces of information that you share constantly?

Why not make your life easier and post these items as a blog post? Just like a LinkedIn profile can be shared to explain your professional background, a blog post can explain any aspect of your business that you’re repeatedly sharing. Spending some time to write these out once and then referring people to the links can save you time and money.

•  Consumer Posts:

Reader engagement is vital for repeat visits to your site, and what and how you write will either keep visitors or turn them away. The same goes for your blog. If your blog consistently features high quality information or unique viewpoints, readers will look to you as an authority and come back to your blog to learn. If your blog is witty, readers will come back to be entertained. If you offer giveaways that are deemed valuable to your readers, they will engage with you to win free items or services.

In keeping with these principles of engagement, you’ll need to come up with topics that are interesting and appealing to your consumer-readers. These may include industry news and opinions, best practices, tips and advice, company events, public relations articles, contests or anything that may be relevant or useful to your consumers.

Publish

Once you and your team brainstorm ideas for your company and consumer posts, fit each topic into your content calendar, put someone in charge of reviewing and publishing posts and get the first post up. When blogging is done well, it’s one of the best strategies a company can use to engage current customers and generate leads.

If blogging seems overwhelming, we’re happy to walk you through any or all steps of this process. Contact us to let us know how we can help.

On the advertising front, it was all about the Internet.

Consumerism is making an online shift in exponential ways. Ten or 15 years ago, it was innovative to put your company online. Five years ago, it was expected. Today, it’s crucial. No matter how good your product is, if you don’t have a functional online component (complete with savvy website and consistent social media presence), you’re standing in the way of your own progress.

And the Super Bowl advertisers knew it.

The folks over at Marketing Land pulled together some stats on the Super Bowl ads, and as an Internet marketing agency we’re loving the results:

image via

Yes, more than 80% of Super Bowl ads included an online call to action.

The face of advertising has been making a gradual shift to a bigger online focus, and this stat only solidifies the evidence. Depending on the company and type of product, different online platforms make the most sense for different advertisers. Does your company use online calls to action?

And just for kicks…

The Skyhook office took a quick poll and threw down our picks for favorite Super Bowl ad. The three most notable mentions (and their respective calls to action) included:

Leon Sandcastle by NFL Network (CTA to watch NFL Draft on website)

Whisper Fight by OREO (Instagram CTA)

Clydesdale Brotherhood by Budweiser (Twitter CTA)

Did you have a favorite? Did it include an online CTA? 

First of all, congratulations to Tumblr on such a huge achievement. It definitely deserves a place near the top of the content-generating pyramid.

As the article’s author, Fernando Alfonso III, points out in his post, traditional blogging is not as easy as posting a status, a joke or a picture. Tumblr hits a sweet spot that allows a person to aggregate this micro content in a context where that amount of content is all that is expected. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, it’s not interrupted in a feed with other people’s content. Tumblr users repost and like content across the network, and their commentary is present, but secondary. The blog owner’s content is what counts.

Tumblr vs. WordPress?

At the end of his article (a traditional blog post), Alfonso compares Tumblr and WordPress as blogging platforms and sets the two as rivals competing for supremacy in the blog-hosting corner of the Internet. He says:

Thanks to streamlined blogging networks like WordPress, which powers about 22% of websites in the U.S., the traditional blogging model is certainly not going anywhere fast. But with Tumblr powering 87 million blogs, and growing, WordPress’ days of dominance may be numbered.

While this statement appears reasonable at first blush, there’s an important nuance that is lost here: the assumption that WordPress is used in every instance as a blogging platform.

It’s not a wrong-headed idea, really. WordPress began as a blogging platform. It’s a really user-friendly, easy-to-use one. At Skyhook, we set up a blog on WordPress just about weekly. But, the same source as the previous statistic says that WordPress is powering 22% of websites in the U.S. and 14.7% of the top million websites in the world.

WordPress has evolved into a full-fledged content management system. It is more than a blogging platform, which is how it can power hundreds of thousands of the top websites around the world. Add to that the fact that it’s open-source and can be used to build applications (i.e. e-commerce solutions), and without question WordPress is infinitely more versatile than Tumblr.

Different Tools

Bottom line: Tumblr and WordPress are completely different tools for different purposes — both wildly successful, and both major players in the world of online content. The reason we use WordPress, and the reason we are confident in its relevance for a long time to come, is that it powers so much more than just blogs. Even if traditional blogging declines or disappears (or even if Tumblr declines or disappears) in the future, WordPress will still be kicking. And we’ll be kicking with it.

Sure, it’s tempting to go with some generic, less expensive, prepackaged marketing strategy, but if you want real results, you need a plan designed specifically for your business. In order to develop a well-rounded plan, you need to take a look at all your options. Here are a few of the main types of marketing that you can consider using to get the word out about how great your company is:

• Print- Print advertising mainly refers to ads in magazines or newspapers. One thing to keep in mind is that your message or ad usually needs to be prepared well in advance so that you can meet the publishing deadlines of the organization. This is great if you are trying to target a specific demographic or even a specific location. For example, if you wanted to reach Phoenix residents who read the newspaper, you could pay to have your ad included in one of the Phoenix newspapers.
• TV and radio- Advertising on TV or on the radio is a great way to broadcast your message to a huge audience. It is important to note, however, that a good TV ad or radio spot can be quite expensive. So, for most small businesses, this may not be the best first option for marketing.
• Direct mail- A lot of marketing professionals feel direct mail has lost its value over the years. Direct mail refers to sending flyers, postcards, brochures or letters to homes and businesses. They usually feature a direct call-to-action. I had the opportunity to attend an event where one of the speakers was the owner of LA Fitness. When asked what his most successful form of marketing had been for the company, he responded with, “door hangers.” He continued to say that even he was surprised that this was the best form of marketing, but that their data showed that this provided the most return on investment. This should be a reminder to all of us to always keep an open mind with marketing.
• Organic search- Organic search marketing or Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a great way to target people who are searching for your products or services online. This form of marketing helps you to get your website onto the first page of Google for specific keywords. For many small businesses, this is a really great solution for bringing in more, better-qualified leads. While you can generate tons of new business by ranking well for relevant searches, it does take time to make it onto the first page. I recommend looking at Search Engine Optimization as a long-term marketing strategy that can pay for itself several times over.
• Pay Per Click- For those who like the idea of online marketing but need results right away, Pay Per Click (PPC) is the perfect solution. Think of PPC as bidding for search positions for certain keywords. You create a group of keywords that when searched for trigger a text or display ad in search results. The more you are willing to pay when someone clicks on your ad, along with the quality of your ad will determine its position in search results.
• Email marketing- A good email marketing campaign is a great way to nurture leads and increase your conversion rate. It is also a great way to encourage multiple transactions from existing clients as you send them updates on sales, specials, or new products/services being offered.

Deciding which type of marketing is best for your small business takes a lot of planning and consideration. At Skyhook we work one-on-one with each of our clients to deliver outstanding results and incredible return on investment. Give us a call today, to discuss the specific needs of your business and how we can help! 480-331-8905

As a graphic designer, I believe that design is art with a purpose. A website may be a visually captivating piece of art, but unless it meets a business need, it won’t ever reach its true potential of becoming an effective component of a broader Internet marketing strategy. For instance, if a customer visits a website that impresses her eyes, but she isn’t able to find the information she is seeking, her mind – and wallet – will not be inclined to take the action you want her to take.

On the other side of the argument, a website that functions ideally but is not visually appealing runs the risk of being forgotten. After all, we humans judge with our eyes first, even if we do so on a subconscious level. To prove this point, researchers who conducted a study in 2006 about this very topic concluded that, “Unless the first impression is favorable, visitors will be out of your site before they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors.” While this study is several years old, I believe its insight into consumer behavior still holds true.

Don’t believe me? Try A/B testing.

If you want to see for yourself the benefits of balancing aesthetics and function, I recommend A/B testing. This is a type of analysis that allows a website owner to compare the performance of two versions of the site, or even two parts of the site. The owner can compare anything from a page layout to a typeface, or a button color to an image, to see which performs better from a business perspective. Which version keeps visitors on the site the longest? Which converts more users into buyers? Which garners more signups for the newsletter?

After we do A/B testing for our clients, I admit that the version that wins is not always what I would consider the “best looking” of the options. Usually, though, the better design is the one that looks impressive and functions seamlessly.

What’s your take? As a customer, would you rather use a visually appealing website, or one that you can easily navigate?