“Cache” is a term coined back in 1967 by IBM System Journal’s editor Lyle R. Johnson. It works on a simple principle: providing temporary storage for computed content to be accessed later.  It acts as a memory bank, making it easy to access saved data rather than re-downloading and processing it every time you visit a website.

If I ask you what 5x4 is, you’ll know the answer is 20. You didn’t need to work out the math - you’ve done this multiplication so often that you no longer need to. You just remember the answer.  That is how caching works.

Websites are viewed thousands or sometimes millions of times per month.  Each time a browser requests a web page, the server must do a bunch of calculations – pulling posts and images, calculating who’s on air now, deciding if the events are current, displaying the correct banner ads, weather information, and so on.  Cache stores these calculations and presents them with a much faster web experience.

Today, we will cover different levels of cache and why they benefit your radio station website.

For more detailed show notes, visit https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/website-cache-explained-how-it-makes-your-site-faster.  

Browser Caching: Browser caching allows your browser to store these files for specific amounts of time, so it doesn’t need to retrieve them every time you visit the website.

Server Cache: Server cache speeds up websites for everyone, not just for returning visitors.  When a browser requests a webpage, the server takes time to process the information. After that first request, the server “remembers” the processed content and delivers it faster to subsequent visitors.

Downsides to Cache

However great the caching system is, no one is entirely safe from cache-related issues.  Cache issues can specifically be related to a user’s device, the content management system, or the hosting service.

Wrapping Up

Caching is a technology that increases the speed of your website.  When used correctly, it will result in significantly faster load times and decrease the load on your server. Depending on your hosting provider, an increased load on your server could result in higher hosting fees.

If you aren’t already caching your web pages, please look into it immediately.

Banner ads are everywhere because they’re an affordable, measurable, and effective way to increase brand awareness.  For radio stations wanting to make any revenue online, they are essential. We drive traffic to our websites from on-air and social media to increase the likelihood that a visitor will click on a banner ad so we can get more money from those advertisers.  Generating website traffic is a key step, but another is creating banner ads that generate clicks. We must create the most clickable banner ads possible.

For more detailed show notes, visit https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/create-banner-ads-the-get-results. 

Before we jump into tips on designing effective banner ads. Now is a good time to mention that your sales team must have a Digital Inventory List. We’ve covered this in previous posts and podcasts. A Digital Inventory List lists every ad space, sponsorship, or advertiser opportunity on your station website. It should also cover things off the website, like podcasts, social media posts, Youtube video mentions, live videos, etc. Everything “digital” should be included. Once you have this, it’s much easier for your sales team to know what you have available to sell. If one position on your website is full, perhaps another location or opportunity would be better for their client.

1. Use the most effective, standard banner sizes.

2. Keep it simple

3. Maintain design hierarchy

4. Make text instantly readable

5. Instill a sense of urgency

6. Be consistent with the client’s brand

7. Use relevant images when needed

8. Choose appropriate colors

Creatopy.com has a great read on how color can affect a viewer’s emotion and perception of the brand: https://www.creatopy.com/blog/color-banner-design-inspiration/

9. Use animation

10. Use the correct file formats and keep them small

There you have it! Our 10 tips to create high-performing banner ads.  If graphic design is not your thing, or you’re too busy running your radio station, reach out to designers on services like fiverr.com to design the perfect, clickable ads for you.

Small Business Saturday, observed on the last Saturday of November, was created by American Express during the 2010 recession to encourage people to Shop Small and bring more holiday shopping to small businesses.

For more detailed show notes, visit https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/owning-small-business-saturday.

Shopping small during the holiday season is more important than ever. According to the American Express Shop Small Impact survey, 78% of small business owners have stated that holiday sales indicate whether they stay open the following year or not. This means that most small businesses are poised to accept ways to increase their traffic in every way possible.

Throughout November, you’ll find that media outlets will mention “Small Business Saturday” here and there. If your station or group can grab hold of the reigns and own it more than the others, it could mean more profitable relationships that last much longer than the month. Here are some ways you can do that.

1. Create a Public Interest Campaign

2. Tell Small Business Stories

3. Go Big with Digital Properties

4. Create a Small Business Saturday Page/Directory

5. Create customized SBS signage

Why is Small Business Saturday important?

Small businesses have long been considered the heart of the American economy. Successful small businesses bring a community together, increase real estate value and help keep local money local – which directly benefits their towns’ economies.

Make your November all about Small Business Saturday. If you can own it more than your competition, those businesses should rely on you more to help with their advertising beyond November.

Need help with your station website?  Reach out to us at https://www.skyrocketradio.com

Our podcast and blog aim to help you and your station generate more visitors and revenue. So, it's only fitting that we list out several website mistakes that could cost you both.

Get more detailed show notes at https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/15-website-mistakes-that-cost-visitors-and-revenue.  

1. Outdated/No Website Strategy

2. Not Focusing on the User Experience

3. Slow Load Times

4. Not built for Mobile

5. Too Much Content

6. Weak/Too Little Content

7. No Calls to Action

8. Poor Navigation

9. Not Following SEO Best Practices

10. Overusing Stock Photography

11. No Image Alt Tags

12. Lack of Video

13. Too Many/Too Little Ads

14. Not tracking your Analytics

15. No Ongoing Optimization Plan

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but it’s a great place to start examining your website. Are you guilty of any mistakes that could cost you visitors and revenue? If so, make a plan to resolve them right away.

Need help with your radio station or corporate website?  We're here to help.

Since 2004, October has been celebrated as Cybersecurity Awareness Month, previously called National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Now in its 19th year, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaborative effort between government and industry to raise cybersecurity awareness nationwide and help ensure that all Americans have the resources they need to be safe and secure online.

This year’s campaign theme is “See Yourself in Cyber” and represents that cybersecurity is ultimately about people, which means seeing yourself in cyber no matter your role.

This year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) have identified four key areas where we can all take action to protect our presence online and work to keep others safe. These same concepts can be used to help secure your radio station websites and any other system that touches the internet.

Get more detailed show notes at https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/october-is-cybersecurity-awareness-month.  

1) Think Before You Click

2) Keep Your Software Updated

3) Use Strong Passwords and a Password Manager

4) Enable Multi-Factor Authentication

National Cyber Security Awareness Month is a great time to review our personal and professional security hygiene.  Remember, cyber security is a team effort.  Encourage everyone on your team to change their passwords. One employee’s mistake could lead to a virus installed on a work device, infecting your website or even your on-air system. Establishing cyber security as a fundamental part of your station to help secure it from online threats is essential.

For more detailed show notes, visit https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/using-contests-to-boost-your-website-traffic.

Online contests are a great way to keep visitors returning to your website to engage with your station brand experience. Frequently touching your station builds loyalty and can turn the average visitor into a fan.  Tracking those visitor numbers provides valuable data to show existing and potential online advertisers. So, contests can be a powerful tool for meeting your online marketing goals and increasing your online revenue.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind for your website contests.

1. Always Have at Least One Active Contest

2. Build Contests Around Sponsors When Possible

3. Include Reasons for Entrants to Return/Register Often

4. Limit your Contest Questions

5. Provide a Way for Entrants to Sign Up for your Newsletter

6. Properly Define the Rules

7. Properly Promote Your Contests

8. Properly Track Visitors

A contest may not be the most obvious way to generate traffic to your website, but the results may surprise you. Just be sure to invest time and effort into making your contests more engaging. The more engaging your contests are, the more traffic they will bring.

Need a platform that will effectively allow you to provide engaging contests.  Reach out to us.

This week, hurricane Ian ripped through Florida and up the east coast.  Before the storm, a few stations asked us to help quickly create an emergency information page so they could refer to them on-air and over social to help get essential news out to their local listeners.

Do you have an emergency information page for a natural event that may affect your listeners?  It’s unlikely that a hurricane will hit a station in Kansas, but they have their share of tornados.  Tornados may not frequent places like upstate New York, but locations in the northern United States have blizzards.  Other places may not have any of these but experience long periods of drought or be susceptible to wildfires.

If you have any natural events affecting your listeners, it’s a great idea to have an emergency information page on your radio station website to provide essential information when needed.  It’s great for your listeners, and it provides you with an in-house location to refer to on-air instead of directing listeners somewhere else online.

Get more detailed show notes at https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/emergency-information-pages.

So, let’s look at some elements of an emergency information page that you may want to include.

1) Twitter/Facebook Feeds

2) Current weather, radar, and alerts

3) Live video reports

4) Local Shelter Information

5) Checklists

Ready.gov and the National Weather Service have amazing guides to get you started.

6) Important numbers

The right time to create emergency information pages is not just before the event.  Take the time to create these pages now, before the storm.

The more useful information you can provide on this page, the more valuable it will be to your visitor.  And you’re more likely to get sponsors to jump on board.

Need help with your radio station website?  Reach out to us at https://www.skyrocketradio.com.

You’ve undoubtedly noticed a dramatic increase in digital sales over the last several years. Large radio groups were the first to see the writing on the wall that told them they needed to expand their sales offerings to include more digital products. And there are many options out there that your station can offer your clients from targeted banner ads, social media marketing, pay-per-click, SEO services, websites, CRM tools, and the list goes on and on.

For detailed show notes, visit https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/steps-to-take-before-offering-digital-services.

In this episode:

Digital is About Content

Promote Your Content

Digital Inventory List

Training the Sales Team

Set Goals and Beat Them

Know The Competition and Beat Them

When you’re eventually approached by a client to help them with their digital footprint, you’ll explain that they need content. They’ll need a vehicle to promote it like on the radio and over social. They’ll need to make goals and review their analytics often to see how they are doing. And they’ll need to know what their competition is doing if they want to beat them. Your client’s journey will be different from your station’s, but the roots will be the same.

If you start your digital journey with your website, the insight you’ll gain will give you better information to help your clients with a more expanded array of digital services. You can’t do this from the bench, however. You must be fully invested in completing the digital transformation if you want to grow your revenue well into the next decade.

We’d love to assist you on that journey. If you need help making the next step with your station website, please reach out to us at https://www.skyrocketradio.com.

Sponsored content started in print publications and has been around for decades. Today, we’re exposed to sponsored content daily, and most of the time, we’re entirely unaware of it. So, why offer it on your radio station website?

For more detailed show notes, visit https://www.skyrocketradio.com/blog/generating-revenue-sponsored-content.  

Sponsored Content Works

In a 2016 research study, over 4,000 Forbes magazine readers were asked to view webpage content featuring brands like SONY, Maserati, and Boeing, followed by a post-exposure survey. The results demonstrated that:

- Brand recall, brand favorability, and purchase consideration points rose.

- Consumers were likelier to say they intend to seek more information about the brand.

- Mentioning the brand name more often within the content caused the brands to be perceived as more educational (or providing service). So, they became more trusted.

- 18-34-year-olds responded better to long informative articles, driving higher engagement consideration rates and aiding recall.

- Consumers perceive sponsored content as more consumer-centric because it is less about selling products and more about providing value.

PDF to the full report here: https://ipglab.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/IPG-Lab-Forbes-Storytelling-The-Current-State-of-Branded-Content-Deck.pdf.

What kinds of sponsored content can your radio station take advantage of?

- Informational articles

Preparing Sponsored Content

As you would imagine, writing sponsored content takes additional time to get right. The traditional, in-your-face advertising tactics that we’ve become used to will not work as sponsored content.

No matter who writes the content piece, here are some tips to keep in mind.

1) Provide substantial value to your audience

According to a study by Neilsen and Mode Media, consumers can spend 2.5 minutes reading a sponsored article that interests them. When implemented correctly, sponsored content can be a lucrative part of your digital strategy.

I hope this information is helpful. Please leave a review for this podcast wherever you get it and be sure to share this with a colleague.

With every station website we create, we’re asked about what tools and services we use. So, in this post, we’ll cover what we use and offer some alternatives.

Image Editing Tools

Adobe Photoshop

Creative Cloud

Free Alternatives to Photoshop include Gimp and Pixlr

Adobe Illustrator

Free Illustrator alternatives include Vectornator and Inkscape.

Screen Recording

ScreenRec

Loom

Stock Images

Pexels

Envato Elements

Writing Content

Grammarly

Communication

Slack

RSS Readers

Newsflow

Viewing Your Website

We regularly use Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Opera.

Conclusion

So, these are our “go-to” list of programs and services. I hope they can help you create content for your radio station website.