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Friday, March 25, 2005
One Is Not Always The Loneliest Number
Hello.
A company here in Alameda, California (To protect the guilty, I won’t mention their name) approached me recently about building a website for their organization. I said I would be happy to and said, “let’s setup a time to meet.” I tried and was informed they were too busy and would get back to me. I’m still waiting. I also haven’t seen any change to their website. It still only shows a directory structure.
Unfortunately I’ve seen many sites like this.
If nothing else, there should be at least one page that represents the company. You don’t have to create a full 100 page website to advertise your organization. One page may be all you need. At least have something.
On this one page, the company can add their logo, a small blurb about their services and/or products, one or more pictures of their product, and contact information. That’s it.
If you have a website, but no information, visitors will not trust you or the organization. And how is anyone supposed to find out more about the company? The old saying goes, if it’s not ready, it’s not ready.
It all boils down to planning
If you plan on registering a domain name and setting up a web hosting account, don’t forget to add to the mix one website. In this case – a one page website.
Have a great holiday weekend.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 12:11 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Accepting Feedback
My Dad, a regular visitor to my blog, wanted to know if the orange RSS button was a bad link, because when he clicked on it, it displayed only the RAW data from the RSS feed.
I was going to send him an email letting him know how to add an RSS feed and found it cumbersome trying to explain the current method of copying & pasting the RSS link into a RSS Reader or Aggregator. Isn’t there a simpler way? There is if you’re using the Firefox browser – which I highly recommend.
Easily Subscribe to an RSS feed Using Firefox
If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed and you’re using Firefox, all you have to do is click the red button in the bottom right hand corner of the browser. It asks you to subscribe to the feed and you’re done.
I checked out our blog and I couldn’t find the button – Firefox wasn’t recognizing our RSS feed. Determined to fix this, I searched for “Firefox RSS” in Google and found out how to get Firefox to recognize our feed. (Thanks to JB for this info).
Now you can easily subscribe to our blog (or RSS feed) thanks to my Dad, JB, Firefox and me.
This probably would have never gotten done if it wasn’t for my Dad informing me about it.
It’s Amazing What a Little Feedback Can Do.
Giving and receiving feedback is one of the most important characteristics we have as humans. The gift of giving helps all of us. Because my Dad informed me of the problem, I was able to help him out and help out everyone else visiting our site. Thanks Dad.
Always ask for feedback and always accept it. You don’t have to like it, but the feedback you get could provide a benefit to others.
That’s my lesson learned for today.
P.S. My lesson learned coincides with a book I just read, called “The One Minute Manager“. In the book the author talks about giving feedback – praising and reprimanding and the benefits it has on others.
Mike Swartz says, “Check it out.”
Hope your weekend is a long and relaxing one.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 12:13 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Blogroll, Web Design
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Making it Look Easy
I knew it was going to be a disaster, but I tried it anyway. I tried to convert a Microsoft Publisher file to HTML. It worked but it contained 4,635 lines of code – file size: 204KB. Wow! The file now is only 180 lines of code and the file size dropped to 7KB. That is a huge reduction.
What does all this mean?
It means one of the most important factors when developing a website is to make sure your audience can view your website almost instantly. Reducing the sizes of your files on your website reduces the time your visitors must wait for your site to load. No one wants to wait on the internet. Who’s got time, right?
Another good reason to reduce the amount of code in your web files is that it makes the file (and site) more manageable. Our client wants to be able to update their new website. This is near impossible when dealing with an enormous amount of worthless code in your pages.
Anyhoo…morale of the story here…
Don’t create a website in Microsoft Publisher, use Dreamweaver. Also, build simplicity into your design. You’ll be thankful in the long run and your visitors will appreciate it too.
’til next time.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:14 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design
Monday, March 14, 2005
5 Tips For Business Bloggers
Hope your weekend was good.
I just read an article in Information Week about how 5 executives are using blogging to their personal and professional advantage. The author offers 5 tips. I thought I’d add my 2 cents worth.
Tip #1: Use Your Clout
Be the expert. That is the beauty of the blog. Writing about what you know considers you an expert.
Tip #2: Don’t Mix Work and Play
Have a focus or theme to your blog. There are over 8 million blogs (and growing). Yours better be unique.
Tip #3: Keep it Human
Your human, keep it that way. The internet is a very impersonal environment. Blogs provide a more personal side.
Tip #4: Find the Time
This is an important one. If you don’t have the time to write, people won’t take the time to read it. And that’s the whole point, isn’t it?
Tip #5: Don’t Be Afraid to Take Stock and Eat Crow
You know your own boundaries. If you’re putting it out there, you better be ready to accept responsibility. What you think may not be what you want to write.
Read my post on Blogging for Business. Also read my full length article on how to blog and the advantages and benefits of blogging for your business.
‘til next time.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:46 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Blogroll
Friday, March 11, 2005
Learning From Others
Hello and Happy Friday.
I just received an email from the editors at VARBusiness magazine, asking me to participate in their Exclusive Ad Study on the effectiveness of specific advertisements. I did. The study was very interesting, helpful and worthwhile. Why? Because deciphering someone else’s ad’s effectiveness, will only help in OUR future ad development campaigns. You always learn from others – their mistakes and successes.
The study, which took about 10 minutes, showed a copy of the advertisement that had appeared in a particular issue of the magazine and asked a series of questions like do you remember the ad, after reading it what action did you take, and what was the ad trying to convey.
Only two ads really stood out
Most of my answers where “Yes, I remember the ad, but I didn’t undertand what they were trying to convey”. (Advertisements have really got to stand out for me to pursue any kind of contact with the company). Two that did stand out, in my opinion, where the Trend Micro ad and LG Electronics. Trend Micro showed me the product immediately and told me what the product meant to me. The ad was clear, simple, and to the point. LG Electronics showed me the benefit of their product immediately – no catchy headline that I couldn’t understand, just a simple and effective way to demonstrate the benefit of their product.
Apply the principles of good design
What I found most helpful was applying the principles of good design to the advertisements and seeing if they were really effective to me. In my last post I mentioned the principles of good web design. While participating in this study, I applied those principles to the selected ads. Some worked, some didn’t. It’s knowing which ones did work and applying those same results and principles to your own design. The experts say, and I agree, after you understand the principles, check publications and websites to see how they’re putting these principles into action.
Learn from others. While reading a newspaper, magazine, or a website, notice how the ad or article is laid out, how your eye scans the page or website, and if it abides by the principles of good design. Then clip the ad and add it to your library for future reference.
Have a great weekend.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 11:57 am
Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design
Tuesday, March 1, 2005
When Good Web Design Is CRAP
Hello. I hope your week is going well.
I just finished reading an article in eWeek on good web design. What is it? It’s ease of use, its usability. Does it do what it’s supposed to do?
The article reminded me of a seminar I presented last year entitled “Introduction to Good Web Design”. I spoke about keeping uniformity and simplicity in the design. Here are four basic principles on good web design I spoke about:
C: Contrast – Something needs to stand out from the rest of the stuff. For instance, if every word was the same size, you wouldn’t know what word was more important.
R: Repetition – “Repetition is the mother of skill.” Anthony Robbins told me that one. Repetition is the logo in the same place throughout the website. Repetition is navigation on all the pages, same color scheme, same theme, etc.
A: Alignment – My personal favorite. Aligning text with an image, border or margin can display many dramatic effects. Try justifying everything left, instead of centering everything.
P: Proximity – The importance of grouping like items together. For instance, adding a caption near the corresponding picture.
Notice the acronym…that’s right, good design is CRAP.
P.S. These suggestions are my own but the principles I learned from Robin Williams (No, not the comedian). See my post and reviews of her books.
Mike Swartz says, “Check it out.”
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 11:50 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design
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