Create Your Portable Personal Marketing Campaign

June 23, 2009
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(This article originally appeared in a slightly different form in Process, June 2009)
You’re not going to have that job forever. I’m sorry, but you’re not.
Business is undergoing fundamental and sweeping change, and one of the consequences is that there are no more “lifers” – not in middle management, not on the factory floor, and not [...]

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Harnessing the White Elephant – Put Your Website to Work

June 15, 2009
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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, Burma — [...]

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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), but [...]

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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 should [...]

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Book Review – Hey Whipple, Squeeze This

June 3, 2009

by Luke Sullivan

When I was an ad agency creative director, I would get resumes every day from optimistic college graduates with career objectives like “Secure a position that allows me to exercise my creativity.”
Hmmm. Look, I’m smart, but I’m not psychic. What are you? Writer? Art director? Origami master? What’s worse, they did’t send [...]

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Book Review – The Tipping Point

May 18, 2009

by Malcolm Gladwell

This is more than just a marketing book, it’s social science at its literate best. Gladwell’s background as a journalist and science writer are evident, as his casual and engaging style guides the reader confidently over what, in the hands of a less skilled writer, could be dense scientific concepts. You’re likely to [...]

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Canning Your Own Spam

May 10, 2009

(This article originally appeared in a slightly different form in Southwest Graphics, Summer 2007)
It’s safe to say we all hate spam (the junk mail, not the snack meat). Yet you and I understand that marketing by email is an effective and affordable way to reach potential and current customers. So how do we write, design, [...]

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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 reason [...]

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My Favorite Web Tools

April 29, 2009

(This article originally appeared in a slightly different form in Southwest Graphics, Winter 2007)
Most of us use the Internet for a handful of common tasks: sending email, shopping eBay and Amazon.com, settling a friendly office wager using Wikipedia or IMDB. But there’s so much more out there, including some incredibly useful tools that can make you [...]

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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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