Once your print catalog is published, it’s out the door and you can’t track how or when users engage with it. However, if you choose to expand your brand with a digital catalog not only can you view the overall traffic your catalog is receiving, but also individual page views and how customers discovered your interface. Now, with that being said, it sounds like it’s quite simple, right? But Google Analytics definitely has a learning curve. To simplify everything, we created a Basic Google Analytics Guide for your Dirxion Digital Publication.

If you already have a Dirxion Digital Publication or you’re just curious about how Google Analytics can help give you a better understanding of the way consumers shop, visit http://www.dirxion.com/GoogleAnalyticsGuide/ to download a free guide.

We know that you already have an amazing print catalog, that is the anchor to your brand. But why not give it that extra flavor, that extra ingredient associated with your catalog using a new method of delivery…go digital!

It’s all about expanding the way people use your product. While we know that most businesses send their catalogs via USPS, you could also offer it to customers easily with a digital publication or there is also the option to deliver your pages in a native app.

By going digital, your reach grows even further. Your publication becomes social network friendly – connect to Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Utilizing the Facebook app, you can showcase your whole catalog on your Facebook page, connecting products and pages in one place. Consumers can start to share your products, catalog pages, or even entire catalogs throughout the social spectrum, becoming yet another way to circulate your brand.

Dirxion has been producing digital publications for almost 20 years, and we offer top notch customer service. Our sales team will provide a step by step experience guiding you through all the small details. If you’re ready to find out more information (with no commitment) contact our friendly sales team today.

With the holidays coming up, people all over the globe will be setting up gift wish lists and house projects to complete over their holiday breaks. Social media, especially Pinterest, can be a really powerful tool to connect with your customers and keep them engaged in your product, especially ahead of the holidays. Pinterest allows users to hunt and gather products and ideas, adding items and descriptions (with a handy link) to organized and themed boards. It’s all right there – clicking, pinning and buying. The average pin gets repinned eleven times! The average order value through Pinterest is $50, that’s higher than any other social media site including Amazon and Google.

There are over 70 million Pinterest users with 2.5 billion page views a month. That’s a lot of time and activity spent on Pinterest. Pinterest provides a great opportunity to drive traffic back to your website, it also enhances brand recognition and customer service. We know how important these social media outlets are to you and your customers. That’s why we’ve made sharing, pinning and following even easier in your digital publication. All within the Pinterest feed, a customer can follow you and share your pins on the major social media platforms. Take a look at our friends Moosejaw and how their Pinterest feed works! Contact one of our handy sales reps today to receive more information on new ways to show off your products and catalog!

Happy Pinning!

How many times have you left a site or a webpage because it was just too slow? Research shows that 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.  While common sense might tell you that speed is a factor in creating a positive user experience with your site, it is also a ranking factor used by Google.  Since site speed is a result of page speed you often see them discussed together.  Page speed can be measured in 2 ways—the time it takes to display the content of a specific page or the time for your browser to receive the first byte of data (also known as first byte).  Site speed is the speed of a sample of page views on a site.

Site speed ultimately affects user experience and your bottom line.  Longer load times per page mean fewer indexed pages, higher bounce rates and less time spent on pages.  When a user leaves a slow page before making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, you lose revenues and conversions.  Good user experience also promotes linking, sharing and repeat visits; which are additional factors that affect site ranking.  At Dirxion, our digital pages load faster, resulting in more page views per session and higher user engagement levels.  We do this by using multiple servers to balance traffic across our products, and we monitor server response times for performance issues to continually tweak any areas that need adjustment.  Dirxion also utilizes top rated CDN (Content Delivery Network) services for caching content at multiple data centers around the world which allows us to deliver information twice as fast to each user from a location that is as close to them as possible.  Dirxion digital pages provide users the best possible performance with reduced risk of site outages due to traffic surges or attacks.  Our products are built for speed and reliability.

Beyond the user experience, site speed is one of approximately 200 ranking factors used by Google.  Although Google is unclear about the specific impacts of page speed in rankings, researchers at Moz studied the relationships between page speed and rank in order to develop a better understanding of what they referred to as the ‘probable influences’ that site speed has on ranking.  Not knowing which page speed method Google might be using (content display time or first byte time); Moz first set out to see if they could determine which page speed exhibited a correlation to search rankings.  In their study, Moz reviewed 2000 sites and found that there was no apparent connection between when a page load completed and how well it ranked in search results for a variety of search terms; but, there did seem to be a connection between server speed and search rankings indicating that Google could be using the first byte measurement to determine site speed.  If their findings are correct, this means that in terms of page speed influence on search rankings, the backend set up of your site is just as important as front end performance and design.  You need to have both aspects of your site in line with current best practices for optimal performance.  To learn more about best practices for improving site speed, visit https://moz.com/learn/seo/page-speed.

If you are looking for a new solution for your digital publishing needs or just want to learn more about Dirxion, please contact us.

Simply stated, a widget is anything that can be put “on top” of a web page. Now the technical definition, it is a rich media application that can be embedded onto a page within your digital publication adding more value.

Grab a user’s attention and engage them with the widget of your choice. It can be as simple as an image ad showcasing a sale, new product or even a discount code. Ballard Design makes great use out of their ad widget by including a special offer on page 2 that they can update at any time. For a more interactive ad, you could use a video in your widget, much like the Dublin, Ohio Visitor and Event Guide. After scrolling through a couple pages, you can see the interactive video they created. Makes you want to dance a jig and drink a pint!

R Stahl uses ad widgets to connect with their customers offering live chat. Dollar Tree promotes coupons and uses the widget to present terms and details. So clever

If you’re considering an ad widget, first find a size that works best for your product. For the best viewing experience we recommend the following dimensions: The prime sizes for desktop are 249 pixels x 600 pixels , 1566px x 600px, 249px x 929px, and 643px x 832px. The best size for a tablet is 600px x700px. And for a smartphone 250px x 250px usually has the best resolution. Second, decide if you want to host the widget or simply send us an image. Finally, think about what you want the widget to do. These are just guidelines though, if you would like to discuss further, we are more than happy to chat!

Take your digital publication to the next level and give users a fuller experience with an ad widget. Call our friendly sales team at 888.391.0202 or email at sales@dirxion.com and they can help get you started.

Facebook is the most popular social media site with 1.35 billion active users! Your business is most likely on Facebook, where is your digital publication in the social media landscape? Your social media efforts go into building a bigger following, a bigger audience on Facebook, so why not put your publication on the main social stage?

By placing your digital catalog in a Facebook application, users can stay engaged while on a familiar platform, never leaving your unique social brand. A Facebook app is a great option that is simple yet effective. When you update your digital catalog on Facebook, you could write a quick status update, allowing users to go check it out in real time.

Adding your catalog to Facebook gives you an opportunity to drive more fans to your products on your e-commerce site. Since the app works just like our digital catalog interface, linking and adding detail windows is a cinch.

It’s time to get social. Let us help.

You’re new digital catalog can be a new, all purpose tool! Once your digital catalog is ready our Publishing Specialists are here to guide you through possible key usage and placement.

Placement is everything! There are several different ways you can implement your digital catalog. MSC strives for great customer service, and an important part is ensuring that purchases are fast and easy. Because of this, they added The Big Book as a quick and convenient tab to their website.

Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to to grow your business. Channel traffic by sending out an email featuring your latest digital catalog. Our friends at REI do this periodically. Their Gear Mail members receive an exclusive preview of sales. Here’s a snippet of the email:

Lastly, don’t forget to blog it! If you have a blog, it is a wonderful tool for showcasing your digital publication’s custom features or informing customers about new, updated pages. Your customer relationships will become more enriched with blogging and sharing each blog post on all your social media outlets will boost SEO!

These are just a few ways customers are implementing their digital publication. For more information please reach out to us via email or call us 888.391.0202.

Dirxion: Official sponsor of a better digital publishing experience.

We’ve incorporated three of the largest sites that boost your visits into your digital retail catalog! Pinterest, Facebook and Houzz are three of the biggest sharing sites with invaluable backlinks. Here’s the scenario — a designer is flipping through your catalog on any platform (yes, even smartphones), they see an item they want to share, they simply use the improved crop tool, share on Pinterest, Facebook, Houzz or by email. From that point, the designer can create Idea Books on Houzz or Galleries on Pinterest.

It’s simple yet powerful! Dirxion’s crop tool opens the door for catalogs to extend their reach. Houzz gets 16 million monthly visitors, 300 million monthly page views and 15 million downloads of their apps. Those are IMPRESSIVE numbers! Now with just a quick crop and share, your products can be a part of this number. Get more traffic and make it easy for users to buy your products through Dirxion’s digital publication solution.

Great Idea!
This feature will help with creating vision e-boards in a shorter and more efficient manner. Many of my clients prefer seeing conceptual ideas through email and the internet. Sharing concepts and images easily helps to jump-start the design process and the less time spent means more profitability, from the designer’s standpoint.

Hilary Machovina | Interior Designer, NCIDQ, LEED AP
Remiger Design

Why should a small to medium sized business use social media power? The main reason, it’s free marketing! Social Media marketing is important because it’s a businesses bridge to existing and potential customers. For instance, on Facebook a business can offer deals if you like their page. On Twitter, you can encourage followers to engage, by running contests. In addition, a business is showcasing their brand and promoting positive word of mouth. While you’re not face to face, you can still have a conversation with customers, allowing a Q&A session on your Facebook/Twitter page. This also adds a bit of personality to a business! Just be sure that whomever is in charge of the social networks, expresses the right feeling with the company’s brand.

Figuring out which social media sites to utilize can be tricky, but it is important. Your social medium depends on your business and which direction you want to go. Here’s a breakdown of the top five social sites and how your business can benefit:

1. Facebook is still the most popular and fastest growing social network. If your business organizes events, Facebook is a great place to start by utilizing it to send out invitations and as a bonus, customers can invite their friends to events. If you’re looking to build your audience, Facebook has target audience advertising, it’s a great way to connect based on interests, demographics, age, etc .

2. Twitter allows for quick and easy communication. With a limit of 140 characters, a simple tweet can go viral in no time. Posting tweets is great, but the real time interaction with customers, will likely benefit you the most. Follow Twitter handles that post content pertaining to your business, then retweet those interesting articles! Brand recognition will enhance as you become more interactive on Twitter.

3. Linkedin helps individuals and companies build a relationship and maintain it. It’s an online network for people to connect to each other for professional reasons. Linkedin’s profile page resembles a work resume where you include work experience, skills and expertise and education. While there is no real time communication Linkedin’s networking tools can help you achieve your professional goals! Business owners, if you’re searching for that right person, you can passively search for qualified job candidates.

4. Pinterest. Ah, what can I say, my favorite site. After creating a business profile, let your creative edge fly! Everyone loves to browse products, so create boards that target a specific topic like traveling or recipes. Pin your products to these boards, but don’t stop there. Show what inspires them, create boards for the ideas, places and values behind your brand.

5. Instagram lets your create your own window shop. Share your photos on Instagram and try to get followers involved by asking them questions. Go behind the scenes and show how your product is made, people love the experience of a backstage pass! Have fans submit photos creatively (via hashtag) using your products, in return you’re engaging followers and bringing new ideas to the company!

GET SOCIAL!

As you consider the layout of your home page, how does it best serve your end user? Google’s dominance of the internet relates back to their focus on how people use their search engine. For a Local Search site, you should be looking to connect your advertisers with potential buyers in your market. That being said, the users are the buyers, so let’s focus on how we make the user experience better. We’ve done that with overhauls on the listing results page and the business profile pages. Our next step will be an improved home page and overall site design.

However, these things take time and there are changes you can make right now that will help your customers navigate the site. One area is the category footer links at the bottom of the page. While footer links are not generally considered valuable for SEO, they are still very important for helping the user navigate the site effectively. The easier time they have with the site, the more time they will spend on it, which does leads to more exposure for your advertisers. Take a look at your footer links. Are they the same for every market? Are you trying to compete in the categories for restaurants, attorneys, and similar hyper competitive categories?

Maybe it’s time to make some changes to your footer links. Go for some home improvement categories and maybe change them seasonally. Also make sure your footer links lead to categories with plenty of advertisers. Why send a user to a category with no advertisers? I would recommend adjusting these footer links up to four times per year. It’s simple to do just by contacting your Publisher Services Manager.