Author Archive
Help for Youth in BC
Bluelime has helped The Crisis Centre with their websites for years, including maintaining the Youth in BC site. Until recently the latter was easier said than done because the site was, well, a bit of a tangled mess under the hood. Little changes took longer than you might expect because of old-style coding. To the viewers eyes, it was visually overwhelming and not very user friendly. Given the number of resources offered on the site, and especially the potential state of crisis that viewers may be experiencing, ease of finding information and ease of maintenance are crucial.
Recently we designed a new site incorporating Youth in BC’s new branding and built it with WordPress so that staff can do most of the maintenance themselves. They’ve been receiving positive feedback from their audience, including:
The site is way better than the old one. Lots more info on so many things now.
…Which was music to my ears. It’s actually the same information, just easier to find. Mission accomplished :-)
Viral Marketing: Go Backstage for Free Music
If “Free is the future of business“, then the folks at Backstage have created an interesting marketing tool for all the Radiohead wanna-bes out there. They offer musicians a platform for sharing free music and gathering a database of interested listeners. For the rest of us, it means a few free tracks in exchange for our e-mail address and for recommending the page to a friend. You fill out a quick form, and the downloads are yours.
At first I was irked by the requirement to give a friend’s e-mail address in the form. But then I realized that’s the hook their model is hanging on. You probably have a friend who likes the same music as you, and since you’re recommending a freebie, and Backstage promises not to spam them, they’ll probably forgive you for sharing their address… Probably. There’s a bit of a leap of faith in that assumption. I think this requirement to share a friend’s address will affect their uptake on the offer somewhat but it also makes viral marketing more effective than it would be otherwise. So the net effect is probably a positive one for them.
What do you think?
Use 4 Design Principles to Gain Market Share
Jared Spool of UIE has written a little case study of how the company Pure Digital has captured 13% of the video camera market in just a few months. They designed the Flip Video camera with 4 principles that really made a difference:
- Think like a minimalist. The camera has just a few buttons to do what the vast majority of users want to do: record, play, delete, zoom, scroll through movies, and control volume during playback. Compared to multi-level menus in most cameras, this minimalism creates an ease-of-use that sets them apart.
- Remove your customer’s worries. Their different approach to batteries means the camera owner doesn’t have to think so much about the batteries and is more likely to use the camera as a result.
- Eliminate that which has no value. They loaded the software onto the camera instead of a disc, so there’s no need to install software on any computer you go to. The camera does it all seamlessly.
- Integrate the next step. Realizing that the next logical step after making a movie is to share it. so, they made it easy to email your video or share it on YouTube
I think these principles are great ones to keep in mind whether you’re designing a website, a physical product, or a service, and especially if you are designing an end-to-end customer experience that may include all of these things.
New Home for Your (not-so-)Old Tech & Office Stuff
While this might be a little off-topic, here’s a brief plug to check out the BC Crisis Centre’s Wishlist. In addition to office equipment, they could also use some kitchen equipment for their volunteer’s break room and a volunteer photographer.
Bluelime has been helping the Crisis Centre with their websites for years, and we’re looking forward to launching an updated version of their web-based youth hotline in the near future.
Google Calendar for your Website
Louise‘s great suggestion for putting your business on the Google map reminded me of another way to use Google’s tools for your business: a Google Calendar. You can share your calendar with selected viewers, say, to keep your family or partners in the loop. If you want the whole world to know when your Tupperware party is, you can make your calendar public to anyone with just a few clicks. (Do they still have Tupperware parties? OK, maybe you want to list your naughty toys party instead. Whatever floats your boat…)
You can take it even a step further, and include a public calendar in your own website to list your events or schedule. When you sign up for a Google Calendar you can create more than one calendar — so if you had a Bed & Breakfast, for instance, a calendar for each room could show when it’s booked.
There are certainly more advanced and customized ways of doing some of these things, but this is some great functionality if you’re on a budget.
How to add a public calendar to your WordPress site
If you’re comfortable with the teensiest bit of HTML tweaking this is really easy to do.
- Create a public calendar at google.com/calendar
- Make a page in WordPress
- Go to the Google Calendar Details screen and copy the code for including the calendar in your website
- Paste it into your WordPress page. Note, you’ll need to switch from Visual view to Code view in your WordPress editor. You may also need to adjust the width and height to fit your page layout.
Your website calendar page will be kept up-to-date because it loads all the events you add within the Google Calendar interface, each time your page is visited.
That’s it. Neat trick, eh?
Getting to First Base
Now if that isn’t a catchy title, I don’t know what is. Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo have just released their eBook Getting to First Base: A Social Media Marketing Playbook. I’ve only read a bit of one sample chapter and already learned a great idea: to make a social media resource page on corporate websites. That would be similar to a press kit, but for the age of citizen journalism. They also include a quote from Dirty Dancing. How apropos.
Increase sales with PayPal and Google Checkout
WorkHappy.net has a good article on why you should consider accepting PayPal and Google Checkout in your online sales. The full article is worth a read but here’s a few tidbits of note:
- …according to a recent survey by JupiterResearch. Among Internet users, 33% said they had a PayPal account and 23% called it their preferred way to pay.
- 18% of U.S. online shoppers in a recent PayPal-sponsored survey said they would not have made a purchase if the retailer had not taken PayPal.
- You can include a Checkout button with your Google AdWords, making your ad more noticeable.
- Some of the Checkout fees are being waived until Jan. 1 2008
All the good stuff aside, the readers’ comments point out a few complaints about the process/user flow in Google Checkout. I imagine they’ll improve the service as it matures.
Miracle product solves design problems
If you’re unhappy with your current website or your latest brochure, why not try the Make My Logo Bigger Cream. Who says design takes skill and creativity? Pshaw!
Thanks to Karole for sending the link.
Is there a doctor in the (Facebook) neighbourhood?
Recently I was contacted by a new potential client about a website redesign. When I asked how they’d heard about me, I was surprised to hear “Facebook“!
Facebook has allowed other companies to create little extras (widgets, I suppose you might call them, or applications if you’re techie) that users can add to their profiles. A while ago I added Neighbourhoods and joined the Roberts Creek Neighbourhood. I was one of about four people. Seriously. It was so small, I almost left. Good thing I didn’t, because that’s exactly where they found me.
There’s now about 14 people in my “neighbourhood”. I wonder what they all do for a living…
P.S. Here’s some other things we’ve had to say about Facebook recently:
8 Reasons for Using Facebook for Business
5 Lessons In Getting Quoted, Linked & Discussed
Web Marketing is about Serving Searchers
If you’ve read our blog for a while you might have noticed we often quote Gerry McGovern. His article Honest Marketing Works on the Web contains not only a good rant about the frustrations of airline ticket pricing, but some words of wisdom as well:
The Web shifts the balance of power away from the organization and towards the customer. It is the customer who searches. It is the customer who compares. It is the customer who evaluates. It is the customer who is highly impatient, with their finger always on the Back button.
Web marketing is not about finding fools. It is rather about serving searchers. We go to the Web because we have a question and we want an answer. Please answer the question, Mr. Marketer.
The importance of the text on your website cannot be overstated. You might be tempted to focus on how pretty or cool-looking it is. But if your text isn’t doing it’s job, there’s less of a chance that people will find the site in the first place or stick around once they get there. Here are some of the things we recommend to make the most of your site’s content:
- Ensure the important text is visible to search engines in the way the site is built. Your site should be built with current web standards and including text alternatives to any images or flash that contain important text.
- Avoid linking to PDF or Word documents, which the search engines can’t scan as well as a web page (if at all).
- Consider using the services of a professional writer who’s experienced with writing for the web and search engine optimization of content.
- Aim for a design that supports the text rather than undermining it. Part of that is making it easy-to-use: clear navigation, standard scrollbars, allowing the text to be resized without breaking the design, etc.