As mentioned in my last post, creating a strategy and project plan before beginning the design and build of a website or web application is perhaps the most important step in launching a successful website. Most successful businesses start with a business plan, it is our job as web strategists to translate that plan into the ever evolving web. Read the rest of this entry »

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

TOP 5 CLIENT REQUESTS

1. My Unqualified Friends have different Ideas…
   - Judge the idea on its merits, reasonably explain why it may not work, due to your research, experience, etc.
2. Purple is my favorite color, Why don’t we use that?
   - Backup with documentation, color board, creative specs, etc
3. We need more stuff about the FOLD!!
   - A significant amount of research is available to show that users understand they can scroll for more content
4. There’s so much EMPTY SPACE, can’t you fill it?
   - White space contributes to the general hierarchy of the content. NO.
5. MAKE MY LOGO BIGGER
   –>NO. the content on the page is not the logo.

Establishing the Purpose:
Aesthetics and Function. The two cannot be removed from one another in web design. They exist as your highest priority and business principle.
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On Tuesday, December 4, Tom McCracken, president of LevelTen, concluded his three-part series lecture on Synergy Online Marketing. This final installment of the seminars was held at the Iron Cactus in Downtown Dallas with a beautiful view of the festive Pegasus Plaza.

“Process of Illumination,” enlightened attendees on the process of Synergy Online Marketing by showing how to implement a successful plan. Tom educated us on the planning for marketing through audience, competative, and keyword analysis, as well as site audits and marketing mix. Other important factors in planning are budgets and goals - proper preparedness can increase your likeliness to have a larger return on your investment.
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Tom McCracken, President and CEO of LevelTen, gave his first lecture series on Synergy Online Marketing (SOM) on September 18^th. The first portion of the three-part series at Vino100 was held in Uptown Dallas, and it was a great success. Titled “Vitality through Synergy,” this seminar exposed the ways to breathe new life into your business by maximizing your online web presence through marketing. With 30 attendees ranging from clients, prospective clients, employees, and networking contacts, we enjoyed delicious wines, did some networking, and were educated on the principles of SOM.

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I’ll be the first to say I love Javascript. I have two big Javascript books to my right to prove it. It’s one of the greatest things about the web two-point-oh! movement (yes, I hate that term). And I love milk. But I will also be the first to say I hate how some people misuse Javascript.

My main complaint is the use of Javascript menus. If you will, flash back to 1999… no wait, go back earlier than that, let’s say… 1997. Okay, that’s right. It’s 1997 and P. Diddy was Puff Daddy sampling that Police song. Remember the VMAs? Anyway, look at the web and you will see hundreds of tacky, superfluous IE-only menus.

Now flash forward to 2007. Ten years later and Puff Daddy is P. Diddy (or is it just Diddy? who knows) and he’s probably sampling some other popular song from the 80s. But guess what’s still around? Yes, those superfluous Javascript menus.
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No this is not a post related in any way to the fallen pop star’s latest flagellation for attention, but all about how i want the iPhone! And I want to see beautiful websites on that crystal clear LCD.

Here’s how: iPhone’s Mobile Safari Compatibility Tips

We all know that “click here” is perhaps the weakest of all calls-to-action, and should be banned from any good copywriter’s vocabulary.

However, coming in at a close second is “learn more”. This generic phrase screams copywriting laziness and a lack of interest in understanding why a visitor to a page would actually be interested in learning more.

The use of “learn more” seems to be particularly prevalent in home page promo banners.

I see it used so regularly that when someone actually takes the time to write a more meaningful call-to-action, it really stands out.

We all know that “click here” is perhaps the weakest of all calls-to-action, and should be banned from any good copywriter’s vocabulary.

However, coming in at a close second is “learn more”. This generic phrase screams copywriting laziness and a lack of interest in understanding why a visitor to a page would actually be interested in learning more.

The use of “learn more” seems to be particularly prevalent in home page promo banners.

I see it used so regularly that when someone actually takes the time to write a more meaningful call-to-action, it really stands out.

Guilty as charged. As I have become aware of this glaring ugliness of verbage, I have attempted to phase out the use of Click Here to…” but sometimes it takes a really poignant blog to show me the error or my ways.

Here is an example of a good and bad call to action:

Enhance your web knowledge with the rest of this article on SmileyCat.com

Finding the right email campaign application can be tough, much less attaining (and maintaining) a large list of subscribers. I was recently helping a friend get started with a campaign. Having some experience with this, I had a couple applications already in mind. It was a toss-up between Campaign Monitor and Intellicontact. Both good applications with intelligently crafted features. I wasn’t in a rush, but I just couldn’t decide. So I set up personal accounts with both applications and planned to revisit them in a couple days.

I immediately received the token welcome emails from both services - providing me instruction on how to dig in and use their applications. About a day later, after having ignored my new accounts, both services emailed me again. Here’s what each of them said: Read the rest of this entry »

This is by no means a definitive list. Here are just some straight forward tips that I have learned over the years from experience with pay-per-click, AdWords in particular, as well techniques I have learned from gurus’ books, blogs, and newsletters.

This is not merely a rehashed or repeated combined list. These are in my words, and in no particular order. I believe in all of these and am currently using or have used these techniques for multiple client accounts. Each are split into categories that should help for reference.
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