Occasionally you come across a little nugget like this; for all you clients who don’t know.

It is one of the oldest tricks in television plots, the evil twin. Whenever a fledging series is looking for plot, insert evil twin to cause havoc and peril for the protagonist. This usually comes complete with “evil” mustache, goatee, or beard. Case in point, evil Michael Knight from Knight Rider…

It appears now, minus the facial hair, that Adwords has an evil twin circulating through the internet. Several clients have emailed us questions concerning their Adwords campaign, saying that their ads have been suspended. This warning comes via email, with a link to the “Adwords Login” landing page to access the account and correct the problem.

However, this is not the Google Adwords login page, but rather a phishing site garnering your Adwords user and password information. Several signs that the email and the waring are not legitimate include:

• The URL - the redirect URL to the landing page should read adwords.google.com, whereas the phishing site URL read something like http://adwords.google.efr9ifd.cn/select/Login.

• Page Elements - the landing page looks enough like the Adword’s homepage, but not exactly. Image load times and additional text can serve as warnings (I was going to include an image of the page, however it has been taken down in the past 12 hours).

• Browser warnings - Firefox’s security feature caught the “suspected web forgery” and provided this warning

Everyone here at LevelTen is VERY excited that NationalBreastCancer.org is one of five nominees for Best Charitable/Non-profit sites that “empower and educate people, facilitate civic participation and enable learned pursuits.” Working on a project that educates and gives hope to those affected by breast cancer was incredibly rewarding…and quite challenging at times. Here are a few of the lessons we learned while working on this project: Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes I look down at the time and think to myself, “It’s already 2:00 … where did the day go?” I came across this cool application called RescueTime on makeuseof.com. It’s a time tracking application that “gives you a birds eye view of how you spend your time”. Intrigued of how I actually spend my time during the eight-hour work day, I downloaded the application to see the capabilities and functionality, and really to see the productivity of my day. Since most users have many applications open at one time, RescueTime only pays attention to the “application or site currently “in focus” … measuring what you are paying attention to”. Over the last month, I have been tagging applications I frequently use (Quickbooks, Excel, Word, Yahoo! Messenger, Outlook) and websites I frequent most often (Google, LevelTen Design, DiningIn, Paypal, EFTPS, RescueTime, Twitter). I get the “birds eye” view of how I have been spending my time, either today, this week, this month, or forever, on the RescueTime Dashboard.

I also put a widget on my iGoogle showing my “Top Activities for Today”, with tabs on the widget so that I can easily switch from today, to this week, to this month, without having to move to the actual site. I feel more productive already.

Which is more important; getting people to your site or having people do what you want once they are there? I ask this question because many interactive agencies are contracted to get people to do both but rarely seem to do both well.
Read the rest of this entry »

Today the 12th Annual Webby Awards nominated LevelTen for the Best Charitable Organizations/Nonprofit Website of 2008 for our creation of NationalBreastCancer.org.

Winners will be announced on May 6, 2008 and honored at The 12th Annual Webby Awards in New York City on June 10th, 2008.

LevelTen is so excited for this amazing nomination and for the opportunity to be honored alongside other talented professionals in our industry. Our team is dedicated to using the web’s best practices in building fully functional and asthetically pleasing websites for our clients. Last year, we were recognized as a Webby Award Official Honoree for RepublicWorldNews.com and are excited to have our hard work noticed again.

As a nominee for a Webby Award, LevelTen is also eligible to win a People’s Voice Award. People’s Voice voting, sponsored by Nokia, is open to the public from April 8th to May 1st at http://pv.webbyawards.com. Simply visit the page, sign up with an email address, go to the Society section and vote for NationalBreastCancer.org in the Charitable Organizations/Non-Profit section. (It’s that easy!)

Hailed as the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. The awards are judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization that includes David Bowie, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, AKQA Global Creative Director Rei Inamoto, “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser, and The Weinstein Company’s Harvey Weinstein.

This year the Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states.

“The Webby Awards honors the outstanding work that is setting the standards for the Internet,” said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. “LevelTen Design’s Nominee for NationalBreastCancer.org is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators.”

Once again, congratulations to everyone at LevelTen who worked so hard on NationalBreastCancer.org. Additionally, at the LevelTen site you can read more about NationalBreastCancer.org and our award winning sites.

These four organizations in Dallas are ideal for marketing/advertising professionals. Two are targeted toward those working in Interactive media in particular. I have personally attended functions with three of the four organizations and, in my opinion, they pass the test.

I refer to these groups below as “organizations for networking” not networking groups because these groups are not strictly devoted to gaining referrals, but exist for many other reasons such as industry learning and personal development. Sometimes it’s just fun to socialize with other people in your industry. Whether you are looking for a job, seeking clients/vendors, or just want to build your business connections for a rainy day I recommend checking these out. Read the rest of this entry »

In the past couple of weeks I have been reading an O’Reilly book called “Designing Interfaces,” by Jenifer Tidwell. She makes some good points about what users want in an interface, and I’d like to share a few of them here with commentary of my own.

1. Instant Gratification
   The idea of instant gratification is apparent in all aspects of life, and it’s not stranger to the online world. Users don’t want to wait around. They want things to happen right now. This relates to Luke Wroblewski’s book named Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks, where he says “Sign-up forms must die.” Sign-up forms do not allow the user to get what they want right now. Picnik, an online photo editing software, allows the user to use their services without registering. All you have to do is click on “Get started now!” and you’re ready to go.
2. Satisficing
   The term “satisficing” was coined by Herbert Simon in 1957 and is a combination of the words “satisficing” and “sufficing.” It suggests that “people are willing to accept ‘good enough’ instead of ‘best’ if learning all the alternatives might cost time or effort.

   Users are glancers. If I see the word “search” next to a field on top of a page, I’m going to immediately think that is a search box and start typing in my search query. I don’t spend time thinking or reading whether it really is a search box. A site that is confusing to me is Yahoo! Answers. There is a field in the top left, but it’s not a search box at all. It’s a place to type in your question. Every time I visit the site I catch myself typing my search query into that box. The important thing for web design is to make elements and functions as obvious as possible. In Yahoo! Answer’s case, this may be making the “Ask” text a button taking the user to a separate page to eliminate confusion.

3. Habituation/Spatial Memory
   Users are used to a particular way that websites are set up. This is apparent in everything from search boxes being in the top right corner to cancel boxes in dialogue boxes being in the bottom right corner. We become used to the patterns and spatial locations of these items. Even in Desktop programs, I find that many keystrokes apply across programs. For example, in Axure, a program we use to wireframe websites, the Ctrl-A and Ctrl-Arrow keys work just like they do in Word or in Photoshop.

These are only a few user findings in Jenifer’s book. I hope to share more about user interfaces as I continue to read. We should keep these findings in mind as we develop wireframes and design websites. The user is the point of why we are creating them.

If you have been working in sales for any length of time, at some point you have been sitting on a conference call or in a prospects office and those words that we love and hate begin to be uttered of the lips of the decision maker thats holding your next “big” project in their hands. ” Thank you for taking time to meet with us today and after much evaluation have decided to………. award you the project!”

AAAAH, music to my ears! On the flip side, we have also heard, ” we have decided to go with company xyz” uggggh. So lets just say from an analytical standpoint what is the major reason’s that we lose or win projects? Dr. Rick Johnson talks about this as well in an article titled Sales Success and the Art of the Question, http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=2772

When I first began working in sales, I always blamed everyone else but me. As Ive gotten wiser and have gained more insight and experience, Ive learned that I was most likely the root of the problem if it was an issue that was not based on price. Granted there will always be those opportunities that are better passed or lost, but what about the ones that you are REALLY excited about and you lose them because the other team was more prepared, presented better or offered much interesting ideas, or what if they were just better listeners?

In the early stages of my sales adventures, one of my mentors told me if I remembered nothing else to remember that the Fortune is in the Follow-Up. I have never forgotten that and with following up you have to become a better listener. I bet that a lot of sales professionals out there say, “I listen”, when really they spend more time talking. In order to really understand what your clients want and need, you have got to 100% listen to them, ask them lots and lots of questions and the more you do this the more valuable information you will uncover.

Through Listening, not talking, you will uncover there problems, needs, wants, goals, desires, personal notes(this is great for reminders and follow ups) budget, time-line and even if your a fit for what they are looking for.

you just might find the more you don’t talk the more you get awarded to you and your firm.

Friday, Myself and 10 of my colleagues headed out to Austin to attend SXSW, one of the most intense, knowledge savvy conferences that anyone in the interactive, film and music industry would want to be a part of! Why you might ask? Only some of the brightest and most knowledgeable mind on the forefront of technology were there, thats why! From Microsoft to individuals that have made it big through ingeniousness( Tim Ferriss) the representation was astounding!:) One of my absolute favorite panels that I enjoyed was on Monday, the discussing was the Marketing of No Marketing, HUH??? This panel ws comprised of the following incredible people:

•Deb Schultz-(deborahschultz.com)- She believes strongly on personalizing your brand. Live Journal, Social software background, music biz, social software tools, customer service, product development: how to get? GIVE!!!

•Chris Heuer-(the conversation group)- Making a place where you want to be! Social media as an element. How we relate amongst each other. Stop trying to sell me and start trying to help me make smarter decisions. www.theconversationgroup.com : remember the best thing you can give away is Knowledge.

•Jermeiah owyang-(web-strategist.com)- Communities and bloggers: let customers take charge, i.e .a personal embassy, amongst get feedback from clients. Ambassadors of the community. Elf replicating marketing. www.web-strategist.com

•Tara Hunt: research on social capital: value of relationships. Online community. “down in out in the magic capital” KARMA woofee: www.horsepigcow.com, The more you give the more you get- bring goodness to the world. Web 2.0 demo crazing for the world we are in. Book: blue ocean strategies. How do you become successful? Theme here is : GIVE!!!!

•Hugh McLeod: storm hook winery, blog writing, and boost! Giving away bottles, company didn’t have any $$, Impromptu geek dinners and bringing wines take pics and post, Conversations about the product and the people, Social communication among geeks is objects. Hence became social gestures, now turn into social markers. Examples of your objects: www.gapingvoid.com : Russel Davis, big brands have lots of little small ideas, ie star bucks, apple, tables, ear plugs. BIG BRAND= good little things

•David Parmet: the future of the economy is free? Giving it away! www.marketingbeginsathome.com

there was so much to take away form all of these wonderful people, but mostly the theme was unanimous in the sense that you have to give to get! Thats right, GIVE to get! We have been listening to our moms tell us this since we were kids, remember the word share? It works like GIVE, your offering something because you want to and those that receive will talk well about you for doing so. Its about edifying your friends, your friends businesses and the things that you get excited about! Its not always about the bottom line and how much money you will make. Companies forget this sometimes. A really great example of a company that follows this example was Zappos. com they were so good at listening that when it started pouting down raining ion Sunday, they had rain hoodies for EVERYONE at SXSW to wear! Now thats what I call good GIVING!