'Net Features : skype

6 Super Calls-to-Action (Plus Tips)

Amberly Dressler — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:20:00 GMT

Whether it’s completing a project or taking an action, people will take as long as you give them to do it. This is why in business, deadlines (enforceable ones) work and why, on the Web, calls-to-action (good ones) are integral to a website’s success.

IaaS and Web hosting provider SingleHop recently released an infographic (click here) that details five tips for a more successful call-to-action (CTA). In it, the company details that, unsurprisingly, the click-through rates (CTRs) of above-the-fold CTAs are substantially higher (72 percent) than below-the-fold CTAs (47 percent). While that may be best practice number one, SingleHop provides interesting data on the fact that buttons, as opposed to text, provide upward of a 200 percent higher CTR. With SingleHop’s tips in mind, Website Magazine has compiled six super CTAs.

H.BLOOM

Super CTA: Nothing creates urgency (and a sense of value) more than mom does. By providing the date for Mother's Day, the copy leading into the CTA enhances the urgency and the words "Shop Now" are direct. Additionally, this floral subscription service's CTA uses high contrast to grab attention.

SKYPE

Super CTA: In SingleHop's infographic, it's suggested to play with shape, which Skype uses in a purposeful manner. It's clear to the user that the CTA is part of the product description and the best course of action is to "Join."

NETFLIX

Super CTA: After offering a one-month free trial and then conveying value (e.g. you can watch your programs wherever you want), Netflix directs users to "Start Your Free Month." Notice that Netflix uses its above-the-fold real estate to confirm and then reconfirm that a one-month free trial is available.

MailChimp

Super CTA: This beautiful, sleek homepage uses a calming color palate, but hits users with a sense of urgency with its "Sign Up Free" CTA.

Volusion

Super CTA: Volusion wants users to try their product for free. If you couldn't tell, the e-commerce software provider uses the same CTA in the center of the page (larger) and in the upper right-hand corner (smaller) to reinforce where they want users to go and what they'll do when they get there.

PagePart

Super CTA: While PagePart's CTA differs from the rest on this list, it's appropriate for this mobile and social Web platform, because business owners want to create a mobile website, which is why they ventured to PagePart in the first place. The words "instantly" and then "Go" provide even more urgency.

Bonus: There are myriad factors to keep in mind when designing a website, but there are many seen repeatedly (like a missing call-to-action). Make sure your site isn't making these mistakes by checking out this article by Rafi Sweary, the co-founder of WalkMe.com.

Upgrade Habits of Everyday Software Users

Michael Garrity — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:00:00 GMT

We’ve all gotten those alerts telling us it’s time to update some of our software. Doing this seems like it should be a no-brainer; after all, the newer version is likely to offer new and improved features that will make the software that much more useful. But alas, we don’t always get around to upgrading our stuff in the most timely manner (my iTunes at home has been asking me for months now).

Recently, a coalition of top-tier tech names, Skype, Symantec, and GPS company TomTom, published an infographic looking at why users do, and don’t, go through with software upgrades.

The companies surveyed consumers in the US, UK, and Germany to learn more about their software upgrading habits. What they found was that on average, 40 percent of adults usually don’t upgrade their software when they receive a prompt. This number is highest in the US at 42 percent, followed by the UK (41 percent) and then Germany (37 percent). It also seems that men are more likely than women to commit to a software upgrade prompt.

For some, this may seem nonsensical, but while three-fourths of the respondents said they had received upgrade notifications in the past, a quarter of them said they don’t “clearly understand” the benefits of upgrading. About 25 percent also said that they need to see a prompt twice before actually doing it, and still one-fourth said they have no idea how to check to see if their software needs to be upgraded on their own.

When asked why they decided to upgrade, the primary reason (76 percent) was in order to keep their computer safe and secure, while 67 percent said it was to make sure the software runs more smoothly and crashes less often, 47 percent said they wanted the latest features, and over half (52 percent) did it because it was free.

Meanwhile, those who didn’t upgrade were also largely motivated by security concerns, as 45 percent said they were actually more worried about it being a threat to their machine. Other reasons were because it takes too long (27 percent), they see no benefit (25 percent), they don’t understand what it will do (26 percent), they fear it will slow down their computer (20 percent), and they think that new versions tend to be too buggy and crash too often (18 percent).

Clearly, the biggest take away here for software providers and users alike is that transparency is important. Users seem to overwhelmingly desire upgrade prompts that present the benefits and explain the purpose of the update, as well as offering reassurance that it will improve, or at least not threaten, the security of their computers. And it always helps if the upgrade is free.

Check out the infographic below:

Inspire Consumer Confidence Through Classifieds

Michael Garrity — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:00:00 GMT

The makers of the first classifieds Web application built for social media want to make the process a little easier with its new social classifieds engine optimization (SCEO) software.

Noah’s Classifieds gives users the ability to include LinkedIn profiles right in a posted ad that has been incorporated into the solution. Noah’s has also added Skype call functionality directly in ads.

The company also strengthened its existing PayPal partnership to provide users with assurance and confidence in their purchasing decisions. Now, posters can include PayPal stores in their ads that allow users to directly link their products and services to PayPal from within a listing.

Friday 15 for Web Pros

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:00:00 GMT

Friday is the perfect opportunity to take a moment and look back at the most important and interesting business and technology developments of the week – those that will influence you in the future and likely are impacting some aspect of your Web enterprise right now. This week, let’s look at 15 key developments in the world of Web business.

- The Open Commerce Ecosystem of Ebay Arrives
Ebay has been the talk of the Web this week with its X.commerce effort, which aims to connect developers with merchants to create a complete commerce operating system. A few of the integrations announced at the Innovate Developer Conference include those with Facebook (integrating Open Graph functionality through Magento and GSI), Adobe (integrating its digital marketing platform), Kenshoo (which automates digital marketing campaigns) and online bookkeeping tool Outright.

- The Value of Real-Time Search Data
URL shortener bit.ly played its trump card this week – an immense set of real-time data. The company released a reputation monitoring service for enterprise customers based on its search technology which weighs results by cross-platform social engagement. Bit.ly joins several other vendors in the real-time search and analytics space including Topsy and Google.

- Google+ Closes in on Twitter
The Google+ network/platform has surpassed the 40 million user mark, inching ever closer to the 100 million active users of Twitter but still quite a distance from Facebook's 800 million users. Revenue was up 33 percent year-over-year, and quarter revenues were just short of $10 billion for Google, but questions remain about its ability to foster social communities.

- Can Anyone Save Yahoo? Comscore Search Data
Comscore reported that Google’s share of the search market increased a half percentage at the expense of Yahoo – which fell to its lowest search volume levels ever. Perhaps an Alibaba acquisition isn’t such a bad idea, after all. While Yahoo! has a strong foothold in the display advertising market, the network might have seen better days.

- Let’s Take it Offline
Mobile payments company Square, which offers apps that allow merchants to process and manage credit card transaction with a swiping device that plugs in to the headset/microphone jack, announced that it is now processing 2$ billion in payments volume per year. Square also announced that it is dropping several requirements for new Swype merchants.

- Jumping on the KickStarter Bandwagon
Crowdfunding service Kickstarter has seen 1 million people sign up and offer financial support for projects listed on its site. Kickstarter also indicated that of those who have backed projects 89% of them have supported at least one idea that was successful.

- Search Ad Spend Rebounds
SEM and software provider Covario released its global spend search ad spend analysis which indicated that PPC spending was up 26 percent from the previous quarter and 24 percent versus the same period last year.

- A Local Vibe from MapQuest
MapQuest unveiled Vibe this week, a local search/mapping tool which identifies neighborhood-level hot spots. MapQuest Vibe profiles more than 50,000 neighborhoods, 27,000 cities and 50,000 hotspots in the U.S., reaching 98 percent of the population.

- Ad Boosters from GreyStripe
Mobile advertising network GreyStripe released several new industry-focused and social ad units this week dubbed Ad Boosters. The customizable “boosters” allows advertisers to direct users to take specific actions. A retail booster, for example, could include a “Find Store” button, a coupon or buy now button. This is somewhat similar to the way that Google has introduced the +1 button on its display ads.

- Foursquare Gets Real with Radar Notifications
It seems as if the hottest new trend on the Web is in real-time data retrieval, and now location-based social media service Foursquare is hopping on the bandwagon. Earlier this week they announced Radar, a new real-time feature that will sends notifications to users when they're close to businesses that fit into their "to-do lists", or any other Foursquare lists to which they've subscribed. This tool will be especially useful for driving relevant customers to local businesses when they're in a city or area that they're not familiar with.

-Location-based Marketing with Hootsuite
HootSuite acquired location-based marketing tool Geotoko this week. This geo-aggregation tool collects audience information from check-in tools like Facebook Places and Foursquare. The integration of this tool with HootSuite will especially help multiple location brick and mortar businesses better understand audiences, based on data such as location, sentiment and demographic. With this data, businesses will be able to reach out to consumers with specific offers, promotions and campaign adjustments.

- Google Commerce Goes Mobile
Just two years after Google Commerce was launched, this week Google announced Google Commerce Search for mobile. According to Google, the launch of Google Commerce Search for mobile came about after consistently finding an increasing number of shopping queries from mobile phones. Timberland is one of the first Google Commerce for Search customers, and claims that since its mobile-optimized website launched, mobile sales have grown 20 times faster than desktop sales.

- LinkedIn Acquires IndexTank

Linked acquired hosted search service IndexTank this week, which will integrate its technology with LinkedIn’s search. IndexTank’s real-time search technology already powers many searches, such as Reddit.com, Twitvid and Spoke. Currently, LinkedIn claims that it will release key components of IndexTank as open source software, which will allow others to run the IndexTank API.

- Microsoft and Skype Seal the Deal
Microsoft finally made it official with video/chat software application provider Skype after being in talks to buy the company since May. The software giant finally closed the deal and purchased Skype for $8.5 billion. For now, Skype will operate as an independent division, with their offices and employees remaining and over time it will be integrated into Microsoft products like Xbox Live and Windows Live.

- Facebook Friendly
Facebook, the reigning King of social media, recently acquireded the startup friend.ly, the company behind a popular social question-and-answer service featured on the social network. Friend.ly will still exist and operate as a standalone service on the site, while the company’s team will begin focusing on new projects at Facebook.

Skype Adds Facebook for Mac Users

Allison Howen — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Skype has finally integrated Facebook into its services for Macs.

The new beta version of Skype for Macs gives users the ability to message and call Facebook friends as well as view a Facebook newsfeed that is reformatted for the Skype desktop application.

Skype 5.4 for Macs allows a user’s Skype account to connect with their Facebook account, and import everyone from their friends list to their Skype contacts. The contact page also breaks down everyone into categories, to separate Facebook friends from Skype users.

The newsfeed feature allows users to like and comment on statuses, as well as post their own statuses.

These new features for Mac users have already been available for Window users for almost a year.

Another addition for Skype 5.4 is the inclusion of ads on the home screen for non-paying Skype users. These ads can be seen above the activity timeline of Skype contacts and Facebook friends.

Skype Launches App Store

Allison Howen — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:00:00 GMT

Skype has launched an app store, with apps ranging from business to productivity tools.

However, the "app directory" currently only contains about 25 apps, which is far away from Apple’s more than 425,000. Yet most of Skype's apps are geared toward business users— with features like call recording and screen sharing.

The top paid downloaded app is currently the InnerPass Screen Sharing app at $4.95. This app gives users the ability to share their screen with up to 50 Skype contacts.

The Free top apps include VodBurner Video Call Recorder, a solution for recording and editing calls, Zaplee, a cloud-based company phone system, and PamFax for Windows, an app for sending and receiving faxes.

The categories that Skype currently features in its app directory include business, call recording (audio and video), call recording (audio only), desktop and whiteboard sharing, faxing, integrations with popular software and mobile video communications.

Skype Launches New Ad Program

Linc Wonham — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:29:00 GMT

Communications platform provider Skype has announced the introduction of advertising in its software, which will appear in the Home tab of Skype for Windows starting this week.

The move represents the first time that ads may appear in Skype’s voice and video calling platforms, and among the first advertisers to sign up are Groupon, Nokia and Visa. Skype has been considering a move of this kind for some time now, and it has been estimated that advertising could bring the company $200 million in annual revenues.

Skype has partnered with Meebo in the U.S., Ad2One in the U.K. and Ströer Interactive in Germany to sell ads in each of their respective markets.

With 145 million average monthly connected users for the fourth quarter of 2010 and 29 million concurrent users at peak times, Skype’s reach and engaged user base makes it an attractive platform for advertisers. Skype Home will provide a sponsored large masthead space at 650 x 170 pixels expandable to 650 x 340 pixels for advertisers to display ads that can include audio or video.

Advertisers can add a Click & Call button in the ads as another call to action, and users can share ads to their Facebook or Twitter accounts and also close ads with one click.

Skype for Business – Let’s Connect

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:52:00 GMT

Skype formally announced the launch of Skype Connect 1.0 (formely Skype for SIP).

Straight out of beta, Skype Connect delivers a solution that enables IP-enabled private branch exchange (PBX) or Unified Communications (UC) systems to connect to Skype. With nearly 2500 active global customers, it is certainly poised to be a viable option for small and medium sized businesses.

Skype Connect users are able to make outbound calls from their desktop phones to landlines and mobile devices at a per-minute calling rate, and receive inbound calls from Skype connected users by placing the Click & Call buttons on websites. Users will also be able to receive calls from landlines or mobile phones in the corporate PBX using Skype’s online numbers (purchased separately).

“Our team’s goal is to empower businesses of all sizes and types with rich communications tools to unleash their productivity, while reducing their telecommunications costs. Following Skype Manager’s launch in May, we are very proud to add Skype Connect to our list of specially designed enterprise solutions. Skype Connect seeks to enable our customers to reduce their phone bills, while protecting their investment in existing telecommunications equipment,” said David Gurlé, VP and general manager of Skype for Business.

Pay-Per-Call at Marchex via Skype

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Marchex and Skype are hoping to bring pay-per-call advertising to a completely new level or at least give it some renewed legitimacy.

Click & Call Advertising from Marchex enables customers to make free phone calls to participating businesses using Skype. Advertisers opting into the program will see graphically-enhanced advertising listings appear on search engines and review sites in the Marchex network. Since Skype has over 500 million users this could be immensely attractive to advertisers.

Advertisers will need to agree to pay a fixed amount per call (rates are determined based on advertising categories), and set a budget (advertisers only need to pay for completed phone calls). Call volumes are tracked by Marchex so advertisers can monitor campaign results and detailed call analytics.

The downside of course is that the whole program relies on users having Skype software installed on their PC (Click & Call Advertising is currently not available on Mac or mobile versions of Skype software). The other obvious question is whether users will actually call advertisers through the system – something which based on my experience has been none too successful with other pay-per-call programs.

“We believe advertisers have a strong demand for generating inbound phone calls and Skype is a promising customer acquisition channel that offers a large base of users who are typically familiar with making calls from a PC,” said Pete Christothoulou, Chief Operating Officer at Marchex. “Today, we are seeing a shift in the way consumers find phone numbers, the way they place calls and how those calls are paid for. As a result, coupling Skype’s reach with Marchex’s call advertising technology, sales team and service, we believe we can offer a high quality solution to large and small advertisers.”

Skype Manager Unveiled

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:58:00 GMT

Skype today unveiled a new Web-based managed tool designed for businesses. The solution, Skype Manager, will replace Skype's Business Control Panel which was developed to provide SMB's the ability to organize Skype usage among employees.

Feature of Skype Manager include centralized payment system and real-time analysis and reporting capabilities. It also gives companies the ability to manage Skype user accounts across an organization and assign Skype features through an administration dashboard.

“We looked at how Skype is being used in the workplace and specifically designed Skype Manager to make it easier for businesses to centrally manage how Skype is used, managed and paid for by an organization,” said David Gurle, VP and General Manager of Skype for Business. “We want to empower businesses to exploit the full power and value of Skype so they receive all the benefits of enhanced collaboration and cost savings.”

Skype Manager is being offered as a free trial until the end of October 2010.

Skype’s New Click-to-Call

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:51:00 GMT

Click-to-call just got a major boost and taken a big step towards legitimate use in business.

Skype is rolling out a click-to-call product in a partnership announced today with European Directories, a geographic-focused lead generation group operating in the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Czech Republic, Sweden, Gibraltar and Slovakia.

The partnership between Skype and European Directories will offer consumers free calls to up to 700,000 businesses across Europe. Participating European Directories advertisers will have the opportunity to be highlighted with Skype’s blue “Free Call” button anywhere their number appears on the internet. The new product offering is funded by the businesses participating.

“This partnership is a great example of our evolution from a print centric company to one truly focused on lead generation. By working with Skype, European Directories can now offer its advertisers leads from yet another source in addition to existing channels such as mobile applications, print publications, our own online search sites and those of our partners. The new Skype ‘Free Call’ button will turn search for businesses into calls and leads for businesses. It will make our advertisers stand out from competition everywhere on the internet, including in search engines,” said Cornel Riklin, CEO of European Directories.

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eBay Removes Skype Links in UK

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:34:00 GMT

By now you've heard that eBay hopes to spin off its VoIP solution Skype. While Skype certainly has a future, it's clear that its future has nothing to do with eBay.

eBay has never been pleased with the division's capacity to turn a profit and based on a message to UK sellers this week, eBay is speeding the entire process of ending its support of the product.

"eBay is discontinuing Skype voice and chat buttons in listings as of 10th June 2009 in an effort to remove features with limited buyer and seller usage," according to the formal announcement. eBay sellers are not required to take any action. eBay users will no longer see the Skype voice and chat options new items are listed and they will not be included on the new item page or on your existing listings.

Eliminating Skype entirely is a dramatic departure from the excitement that eBay initially felt. A quote during the acquisition of Skype back in 2005 from then CEO Meg Whitman tells the story; “Communications is at the heart of e-commerce and community. By combining the two leading e-commerce franchises, eBay and PayPal, with the leader in internet voice communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the net.” Seemed to makes sense to many, but is now a significant departure from the viewpoint of current eBay President & CEO John Donahoe who was recently said that “it is clear that Skype has limited synergies with eBay and PayPal.”

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Skype 4.0 Brings Better Video

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:00:00 GMT

A new version of VoIP solution Skype has hit the Web. New features for Skype 4.0 for Windows most notably include full-screen video calling, but hardcore users of the solution will also appreciate the improved call quality.

To improve the often buggy video and audio calling experience, Skype has included a built-in bandwidth manager. With a connection at 400 Kb/s or higher and a dual-core processor PC, Skype delivers up to 30 frames per second of video - a great fit for those without high-bandwidth connections.

Other features include some modications to the interface itself, namely the Conversations tab, which presents users with the ability to keep track of and switch among several conversations and communication methods - video, audio, SMS - at once.

"This is just the latest example of how Skype is continuing to innovate and improve its software to deliver an even better voice and video calling experience," said Bartlett. "The combination of feedback from tens of thousands of users over the last two years of development has allowed us to create a truly amazing experience that puts the focus on bringing people closer together even when they are continents apart."

A screenshot of the improved full-screen video experience is below:

Skype 2.8 (Beta) for Mac OS X Released

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:34:00 GMT

Popular VoIP provider Skype announced at a MacWorld event last night the new 2.8 Beta for Mac OS X.

The new version will be available today from the Skype website.

Perhaps the most notable feature of the release is Skype Access, a service that lets users connect to any of the 100,000 Boingo WiFi hotspots using Skype. When Skype users connect, they will pay on a per-minute basis, and the fee (roughly 20 cents per minute) is deducted from their Skype Credit. No Boingo monthly fee and no hourly or daily fees either.

Another interesting feature is screen sharing. Users can share their entire screen or just one part of their screen with another Skype user. Now, a Mac Skype user can share their screen with Windows and Linux users - sweet.

Other features of the 2.8 realease include chat prioritization, notes on contacts, quick add, a new set of icons, mood message chat, larger avatars and hidden avatars.

Translate Skype Chats with MokaChat

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Moka today unveiled Moka Chat, a mobile language tranlsation service for Skype.

The tool gives users the ability to chat in English, Spanish or Chinese with other Skype users. Clearly there is a lot of value in a solution like Moka. Both businesses and consumers can essentially carry on dialogues/conversations and actually learn a little while they are doing it. This is clearly important in an increasingly borderless world.

Moka Chat for Skype is available free during the beta period. After downloading and installing the application and selecting a language pair, users enable real-time language translation for any text messaging conversation with anyone on their Skype buddy list.

"Skype is one of the most popular and effective services in the world today for global communications, and we are excited to be adding a high-value multilingual communication capability for Skype users. Moka Chat for Skype is the ideal translation solution for a community with such a vast multilingual user base," said Diego Winegardner, President and Co-founder of Moka.