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Last week, I updated an unnamed client’s website with some minor changes and noticed something weird. I noticed that the Facebook widget on their page was blank.

Check out the example on the right for an idea what I’m talking about. We removed the name of the business to protect the innocent, but beyond that you’ll see a large blank space in the middle of the widget.

That blank space in the middle is where their latest updates from Facebook should post. I checked the html code for the widget. It looked fine, but who knows, maybe it was corrupted along the way, so I went to Facebook and got the code again. I added the code and check to make sure it was fixed.

It wasn’t fixed. The blank space remained. I did some experimenting and the problem wasn’t fixed until I updated their Facebook page with a new post.

The problem was that they hadn’t update their Facebook page in a long time. Now, I’m not exactly sure how many days you have to go without posting for this problem to pop-up, but it looks like it’s somewhere longer than 45 days.

You can prevent this problem by posting on a regular basis Now don’t be lazy. Post a lot more often than just once every 45 days. I’d even go and say you should post once a day during the work week.

Why? Because your customers are on Facebook and you should be too. When a prospective guest sees a stale Facebook page, they’re going to click away from your business.

So why not take a few minutes once a day to lure in new customers with pictures of your food or events in your neighborhood. Let them know about your specials or important upcoming events.

It’s that easy to prevent the blank widget effect on Facebook!

Between Facebook’s emphasis on mobile in Mark Zuckerberg’s first address since the lackluster IPO debut, and the excitement around the iPhone 5, it’s easy to see why businesses need to place so much emphasis on their mobile presence. Facebook already recognizes that users are more engaged and spend greater amounts of time on the service when using a mobile device than when using a desktop, and several other businesses may have similar experiences with their websites.

Take the restaurant industry, for example. When you do a search for the next place to have dinner, are you searching from your desk? Certainly, people still search this way, but the data is mounting that more and more folks are searching for their next culinary adventure while they are out on the town, likely when they’re already in route.

The return on investment becomes obvious rather quickly.

Are you prepared to deliver a mobile experience to your user base? Most mobile searchers become frustrated with having to enlarge the content of a site specifically designed for desktop. No matter how many new iPhones come out, they are still designed to fit in your pocket or purse. A screen that size can’t possibly reflect the same design settings that your enormous desktop monitor or even your relatively small laptop monitor can.

Is It Worth Your Time to Update Your Site Design Now?

The wonderful thing about stats and analytics programs today is that you can make decisions supported by data rather than just making a wild guess. Take a look at your web stats. What are your mobile numbers now? What percentage of your users is on mobile devices of some kind?

Next, take a look at your users’ behavior through the past year. Are you seeing an increase in mobile percentages? (Hint: most likely, you are. Even for industry sites that aren’t accessed as heavily by mobile devices, user behavior is shifting across the board.)

Even with increases, you may be in a field of business that is not showing rapid signs of growth on the mobile front, so you may have a little longer that you can get away without having an optimized site.

But, if you’re noticing big spikes in user behavior towards mobile devices, then you need to make the move quickly. One statistic you need to pay close attention to is the amount of time on site for mobile users. If they are getting to your site and finding it difficult to navigate, then they are going to head back to the search engine to look for another business.

Do your homework and see if it’s time to make your content more mobile-friendly. Now may be your chance to gain an edge over your market.

For anyone who’s been keeping up with Google’s Maps and social space, you’ll know that it’s been frustrating to have to login into multiple services to try and keep up. Thankfully, Google has been working toward consolidating the experience, and the process just recently took a major step forward.

Google is now allowing business owners to verify their Google+ pages. What does this mean? It means that you can not only send out updates to the public as normal Google+ pages and profiles can, but you can also respond to customer reviews and ratings (formerly a Google Places / +Local function only). We all know that we have too many places to check when it comes to monitoring social sentiment towards brands nowadays (Yelp, Google+, Facebook, TripAdvisor, FourSquare, and on and on), but now you can cross off one of those places that you should check.

Another benefit of the combined services is that Google+ Local pages can now have more than one administrator. This has probably always been one of Google Places’ most difficult limitations, and now Google has opened the door to be able to allow business owners, managers, and social media managers the ability to share the responsibility of public relations and marketing. Kudos, Google. We wish this feature had been turned on a lot sooner, and we’re thrilled to have it now!

Google Is Deeply Interested in Local Business

Lest you have any doubts whether Google will continue to expand in the local space, you can simply take a look at the acquisitions they’ve been making lately. Zagat’s ratings and reviews have been on Google+ for a little while now; they certainly wasted no time putting that investment to use. With the more recent acquisition of Frommer’s (one of the leaders in printed materials for travelers), we can expect to see an even richer and more diverse data set for recommendations to users.

The overwhelming shift of communication towards mobile devices will ensure that not only Google but also Apple — and all of the other location-based services mentioned earlier — will continue to compete for the attention of the mobile user.

Do yourself a favor and make sure that your business has a strong presence on mobile services. You’ll see the benefits sooner than you expect.

Search engine optimization has been growing and changing more rapidly over the past few years than probably any other time in their existence. With major updates to Google’s algorithm and the new emphasis on social media, search engines depend not only on a number of links for a site but also user engagement and relationships to determine what searchers want most.

The SEO team from Compucast had the opportunity to interact with search engine marketing industry leaders over the past week at MozCon in Seattle. Not only did the team have the chance to ask in-depth questions and load up on tons of new tools, we also had some fun along the way.

From the Space Needle to the Fisher’s Market, the Compucast team explored Seattle’s beautiful attractions. Apparently, the city is known for rain (so they say!), but we had only beautiful skies for the entire week – especially the day we went to the Needle. Even though the northwest didn’t have spices of southern Louisiana, we also enjoyed the fantastic food in restaurants nearby the market.

During the conference, the team members were able to not only work with the event speakers but also other search engine marketing teams from around the world. Different cities and markets have faced unique difficulties in trying to get websites to rank prominently. Understanding the way that Google and Bing have treated businesses in other markets help to illuminate more of the intent behind search rankings on a global level.

And in case you ever decide to visit Seattle, just know that you can find a Starbucks every 20 feet or so. They’re everywhere!

The Compucast team returned with heads stuffed full of knowledge and with the excitement to help clients get the search rankings they deserve. With holistic tactics that will benefit rankings today and in the future, Compucast is dedicated to helping you create an online presence that helps you grow your business.

Recently, everyone’s favorite search engine behemoth made a big change to the way it presents online business listings. We’re talking, of course, about Google, which recently did away with its Places pages in favor of shifting that information over to Google+.

Now, any information from your business’ Google Places page will appear in the Google+ format, a streamlined feed that some see as akin to Facebook. Users will access your company’s Google+ Local page either by Search, Maps, or with Google+’s new Local tab.

Note that this is still a work in progress–so if your business already had a Google+ page, you may now have two pages, one of which is the new Google+ Local page. Eventually, Google will merge them to create a unified presence for your company, including social functionality like sharing. Right now, they’re offering examples of a few businesses that have had their Places content and pre-existing Google+ page merged, like this one:

Google worked with the Chicago Music Exchange to provide a sneak peek at the upcoming merge of existing Google+ business pages and Google+ Local.

If you have two pages at the moment, don’t worry–they’ll be merged soon. How can you edit what content appears on your Google+ Local page? You can still access this information through your Google Business Dashboard at http://www.google.com/placesforbusiness.

By tying important business information like location, reviews and hours to Google+, Google is encouraging users to get more involved with its social network. It’s a win for them, but it’s a win for you too–when you sign in to Google+ Local, you will see recommendations from friends and other “Plussers,” and results are tailored to your location and interests.

Google also acquired Zagat, and is fleshing out the Google+ Local pages of restaurants and some other businesses with Zagat’s 30-point scoring system and comprehensive reviews, free of charge. Users who sign in to Google+ can see full reviews and scores from Zagat, while those who choose not to join Google+ will still be able to view all of the same information they got from the previous Places pages (business address, phone, website, reviews, maps, etc) as well as Zagat score highlights and review excerpts.

Though it’s a bit confusing right now, Google+ Local is good news. Unlike the old Google Place pages, business +Local profiles will be indexed to show up in search results. All of a company’s existing reviews will be imported to its new page; if a user has not signed up for Google+ and chooses not to follow Google’s prompt for a quick verification process, that user’s name will appear as “A Google User” above his or her review. Users will no longer be able to use nicknames; all reviews will appear under real names, meaning that users may think twice (or proofread!) before posting a review.

More changes are coming. For now, go ahead and claim your Google+ Local page by finding it at https://plus.google.com/local and clicking “Manage Page,” so that you can control its content and respond to reviews. And sign up here to be updated when Google makes another change to the service! http://goo.gl/8apbo

One of the CTIA broadcasting stages.

On May 8, Compucast headed downtown to the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center to attend the 2012 International CTIA Wireless trade show, an annual convention where mobile industry professionals are treated to exhibits, floor shows, panel discussions, and the latest breakthroughs in mobile technology. The largest conference of its kind in the world, CTIA was held in New Orleans for the first time since 2005, drawing over 40,000 attendees and more than 2,000 exhibitors, press members and analysts to the center of the Crescent City.

CEO Judy Weitz and Social Media Specialist Michael Roberts were Compucast’s delegation to CTIA, and were interviewed by Internet broadcasting company bnetTV as experts on the New Orleans restaurant and event social media scene. Compucast CEO Judy reveals,

“One of the reasons Compucast’s network of sites on New Orleans is so successful is because it is perceived as social media: we recommend only businesses that we, as lifetime New Orleanians, have visited and enjoyed. In a sense, Compucast did that before anyone else in New Orleans.”

Mobile technology has greatly influenced and continues to change the way that visitors to New Orleans, as well as locals, pick restaurants and other venues. More and more, consumers are turning to social media outlets for honest reviews, location information, and alternative suggestions. Compucast, which created New Orleans Restaurants to this end, is a leader in this arena. Explains Michael,

Supergirl and Batgirl hand out promotional materials at CTIA

“Restaurants were a big focus because there is so much tourism in New Orleans. People want to know–what’s the accurate information? Bringing local opinions and knowledge to plain data helps give people a personalized approach. Visiting a new city, you can see if your friends liked or hated that place.”

In addition, the interview focused on how to manage social media. Brand managers who oversee a venue’s different channels are able to convey positive and negative feedback to other staff members: for example, to the chefs and owners of restaurants, who need to know what guests are saying about their establishment.

A uniquely New Orleans application of mobile technology is Mardi Gras. Mobile resources lend themselves perfectly to mitigating the unpredictability of Carnival events, which can be affected by weather, traffic, street closures, and a host of other factors. These days, mobile customers can get up-to-the-minute reports on where the best parade parking is, which route a krewe will be taking, and, of course, where their friends are standing!

Having founded leading Mardi Gras website Mardi Gras New Orleans over a decade ago, Compucast is an authority on making Mardi Gras information available to the wireless consumer.

Android was a CTIA sponsor.

Compucast was excited to participate in the bnetTV discussion, tour the vast array of CTIA exhibits, and share insights gleaned over almost twenty years of serving at the forefront of New Orleans’ web design and marketing community. We’re looking forward to next year’s conference!

On Friday, March 23, Louisiana State University will honor Compucast Web Design as one of the LSU 100 Fastest-Growing Tiger Businesses. The ceremony, co-hosted by the Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute, celebrates LSU alumni who have found success in the business world, and highlights former Tigers’ local, regional and national influence in a range of industries, from hospitality and insurance to construction, energy, retail, design and more.

Compucast founder Judy Weitz majored in Business Administration at LSU. The company was born in 1994, after Judy created two websites showcasing New Orleans’ unique atmosphere in order to counter common misconceptions of the Crescent City. Since then, Compucast has grown into a full-service web design and Internet marketing provider, and continues to add new services to better serve its clients in the hospitality industry. Judy is excited to be honored, and looks forward to maintaining the standard of excellence that has made Compucast a leader in the web design and marketing fields.

The LSU 100 Honoree Luncheon will be held at 11:30AM on Friday, March 23, 2012, at the Renaissance Hotel. For more information, please visit LSU100.com.

Travel organizations focused more on digital marketing in 2011, according to a survey by Frommers, and will continue to do so in 2012. Social media, web content and mobile are all big priorities in budgeting, but search engine optimization is still the key.

HotelMarketing.com quoted Giles Longhurst from Frommer’s Unlimited as saying about the survey results, “It’s clear that marketers are looking at how content creation and new applications can reach wider audiences, over and above traditional advertising. When we then drilled down and asked organizations what content was most important to them this year, search engine optimization was still by far and away the top priority, followed by high quality destination content and unique content to compliment the SEO strategy.”

Last year, Frommers surveyed a variety of travel organizations including airlines, agents, car rental companies, hotels, insurance agencies, cruise lines, and many others. 70% of all those surveyed said that they planned to increase their digital marketing budgets for 2011 compared to 54% who planned for a similar budget increase in 2010. Of those companies planning budget increases, 68% are spending more on social media, 63% on creating new content, and 50% increase in mobile.

Much to user frustration / delight, Facebook continues to update the user interface. Timeline, announced at f8, will drastically shift the “sharing” experience.

If you’ve been on Facebook in the past week for more than a minute or two (or maybe even less), then you have seen how strongly users reacted to changes to their news stream. Whether people felt it was the end of the world or merely inconvenient, the change revealed a resistant group of users. To be fair, Facebook’s constant evolution can be difficult. Also, when a company has a userbase of 800 million people, a percentage will always be unhappy with any kind of change.

But wait, the changes don’t stop there…

Introducing Timeline

Timeline is the next big thing from Facebook, already being hailed as one of the biggest innovations to the service since it originally launched. Though the new display will only appear when a user visits another user’s profile, Timeline entirely alters the standard interface. Rather than a simple listing of status updates and “Likes,” the new Timeline lays out photo albums, status updates, and Likes in an engaging way. The overall design is much more pleasing, and users can look at the Timeline like a story instead of a jumble of information.

After playing around with Timeline for only a short time, I can easily see how this shift in the user interface will change the way that people will interact with Facebook.
Depending on how much information users are willing to give to Facebook and their timelines, users can potentially document everything in their lives, all the way back to pictures of themselves as a newborn. The new Facebook wants to know more than what is currently happening. It wants to know your past, too!

While the changes are certainly fascinating from a user perspective, there is also a very interesting point from the business side. By making this one change, Facebook has suddenly given new value to all of its old data. No longer will old posts or photos gather “digital dust” — time spent with no views or clicks. Now, those photos and status updates are a part of a tapestry, each receiving attention and adding value to the overall story.

Further Changes

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced further developments regarding changes to their Open Graph technology, as well as new partnerships with media outlets like Netflix, Hulu and Spotify. Users can watch and listen to entertainment while still using the Facebook interface, creating a shared experience (Netflix movie night, anyone?).

The next year in social media will certainly be interesting. How will users adopt the new updates? Only time will tell.

Patients in Need of Urgent Care Can Easily Access Relevant Information Online

Designed to provide quick access and pertinent information for residents of southern Louisiana and Mississippi in times of medical need, Millennium Healthcare Management’s new website is now online at http://www.millenniumurgentcare.com/.

It is never a good time to get sick or injured, but medical problems that occur on weekends or even weeknights present an even bigger problem. Emergency rooms are available but costly, and primary care physicians’ offices are closed.

Millennium Heathcare’s facilities provide a convenient, service-oriented approach at each of its nine urgent care locations. MHM has facilitated the successful certification and accreditation of its centers by the Urgent Care Association of America and The Joint Commission, so visitors can rest assured that they are receiving care from qualified physicians in facilities designed to meet patient’s needs.

Millennium Heathcare’s new website features information about the Healthcare Management group, as well as contact information and office hours for each of the associated Urgent Care centers located throughout southern Louisiana and Mississippi. Photo galleries, videos and a list of available patient services help visitors know what to expect before arriving.

Millennium Healthcare Management is a practice management group and holding company headquartered in Metairie, Louisiana. The company is equipped to open, acquire, and manage accredited urgent care and occupational medicine centers that provide extended-hour urgent care for acute illness and injury. Management services range from center startup preparations to full ongoing management. Millennium is led by an experienced management team with a clear vision and strategic plan for the future.

Millennium Heathcare’s new website is designed and hosted by Compucast Web Media.