From the category archives:

Making Websites

Don’t Let IT Run Your Website Project

August 25, 2010

I got a note from a prospect the other day saying, roughly, “We don’t think we need a site architect. Our IT department is going to work with our designer.” Yikes. That short exchange raises so many concerns. I’ll start with the last one first. Your IT department won’t work with your designer. They will [...]

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Tweaking for Dollars

February 4, 2010

I just finished reading Steve Krug’s latest book, Rocket Surgery Made Easy, and was particularly struck by his suggestion that you tweak your website rather than redesigning it. In fact, one of his usability testing maxims is "When fixing problems, always do the least you can do." "Do the least you can do" isn’t a [...]

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Harnessing the White Elephant – Put Your Website to Work

June 15, 2009
Thumbnail image for Harnessing the White Elephant – Put Your Website to Work

Why do we call the gift that keeps on re-gifting a “white elephant”? The answer may surprise you, and along the way it offers a valuable lesson about productivity for your website. It’s Good to Be the King (or His Pet) In the lands where such beasts could be found — India, Sri Lanka, Siam, [...]

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10 Questions to Ask About Your Website

June 12, 2009

Have you ever seen the infomercial for the Ronco Rotisserie? Ron Popeil up there on stage wearing his apron and a big grin, roasting a chicken and leading the studio audience in shouting his product’s tagline — “Just set it…and FORGET IT!” Ron Popeil is an American marketing legend (Veg-o-Matic, Popeil Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone), [...]

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Design Your Website for the People Who Use It

June 8, 2009

(This article originally appeared in a slightly different form in Southwest Graphics, Fall 2007) One of the most common requests we receive from our clients is to include an FAQ section on their website. Despite the frequent requests for FAQs, we rarely put one on the sites we build. Why not? Because your entire website [...]

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Writing for Websites

May 6, 2009

Writing for websites is different from writing for print media. Numerous usability and eye tracking studies have shown that website visitors skim and click. They don’t read thoroughly or linearly. To draw users into your text and to improve your site’s “skim-ability,” use these well-documented tips: Get to the Point – Site visitors have a [...]

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10 Danger Signs of an Underperforming Website

April 23, 2009

Find out what your customers want from you on the web, then give it to them. That’s my first rule of success on the Internet. Is your website doing all it can for you, or are you breaking the rule? Take five minutes to look at your website with a critical eye and see how [...]

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The Hunt for a Unique Domain Name

March 30, 2009

(This article originally appeared in a slightly different form in Southwest Graphics, Winter 2008) I used to complain that the most difficult task in marketing was naming a company or product. The process is always highly subjective, fraught with the pitfalls of connotation, innuendo, vernacular, and slang, complicated by trademark searches and translation issues. Then [...]

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