Here is where you can find out more about the Campaign Monitor templates and the MailBuild templates.

• Large file sizes trigger spam filters and increase bandwidth usage for mobile/dial-up recipients.
• When images are disabled, the content is lost in its entirety.
• Those with visual impairments are unable to access any content.
• Recipients with small screen devices (mobile) either receive no content (stripped images) or an image reduced to a size in which the content becomes unreadable.

The folks at Campaign Monitor have recently dissected such a newsletter and offer their diagnosis.

Linking is the foundation of every quality website. Everything starts with the link. You build from the link, not from the sentence.

Read the following paragraph and try to identify how it should be dealt with in terms of links:

“In the following section you will be provided with a range of information that should help you decide which is the right mortgage for you. It also provides you information about the other costs associated with a mortgage. There are specific sub-sections for first-time buyers and for those seeking to re-mortgage.”

Let’s get rid of the above paragraph entirely and replace it with the following four links:

• Decide which is the right mortgage for you
• Other costs associated with your mortgage
• First-time buyers’ mortgage guide
• Re-mortgaging: here’s what you need to know

We have been trained to write full sentences and full paragraphs, but on the Web these full sentences and paragraphs can often get in the way. We have been trained to create context and formal, neat content, but on the Web context and neatness can often slow things down.

On the Web, customers want to skip the details and get straight to the point. Long-winded sentences that bend on and on like country roads are definitely not what they want.

Most people don’t even read full sentences on the Web anymore. What they much prefer is a lean link that is chock-full of information. A typical sentence is like an orange; a web link is like freshly squeezed orange juice. Sure, there’s good stuff in the sentence but it needs peeling.

The following types of sentence are absolutely wrong for the Web:
In the following section you will be provided with a range of information that should help you decide which is the right mortgage for you.
We are delighted to announce the launch of our new version 6.1 of Fangater.
XYZ Limited strives to develop and supply the most robust and cutting-edge financial services for the aviation industry.

Linking is the grammar of the Web. Never say “in the following section” when you can link directly to the exact place people need to get to. Why talk about the launch of your new product, when you can invite customers to see a demo or download a trial version?

Why on earth start a sentence on your website with your organization’s name? Unless your website is for slow learners, then don’t waste precious time telling people something they already know.

Read this sentence again:
“In the following section you will be provided with a range of information that should help you decide which is the right mortgage for you.”

The reader is 22 words in before they discover what exactly it is that the sentence is about. The sentence might be good English but it is bad web grammar. The impatient scan reader has moved on.

Look at your web sentences again. Delete the first half and then turn the second half into a link. Focus on what your customers need to do, not on what you need to tell them. Web content is not composed of sentences into which links are embedded. It is composed of links alone or links that are supported by the toughest, leanest sentences possible. Build from the link, not from the sentence.

Nobody sees you when you’re on the Web. You can be your true, cheap self. It’s what we love about the Web. We comparison-shop to get a great deal; the best price.

But our conscience does get at us. (Or is it our vanity?) When we see those cheap words we can sometimes recoil. Because, really, in all honesty, we don’t want a cheap hotel. What we really, really want is a deluxe hotel at a really, really cheap price. We want a bargain, a special offer. Because we’re special; we’re worth it.

All this can make it quite difficult for helping people find our website. If they don’t necessarily like to read the words they’ve searched for in the content, then what are we to do?

The best strategy is to get linked to from other websites with the words that people are searching for. So, if someone searches for “New York cheap hotel”, then a great link to get would contain “New York cheap hotel”.

The title tag is extremely important. Use “New York cheap hotel” in the title, as the title does not appear in the page content. (It does appear at the very top of the browser, but most people don’t look up there when they’re scanning a page.

Of course, the title has the extra benefit in that it is the link text in the search result. The words we search for are burned into our short-term memory. When we see a search result that has those exact words, that’s a very clickable proposition.

It is also advisable to use “New York cheap hotel” in your description tag, as this content will only appear on the search results page, directly underneath the title. (Google only occasionally uses the description tag.)

Be clever with your content. You might not put the word “cheap” in your heading, but your might say something like this in your first sentence. “The only thing cheap about this New York hotel is its prices.” Be imaginative.

Place some of those softer words into graphics. Your nice heading, “A boutique hotel for the budget-minded”, can go as a graphic and thus not be picked up by the search engine word indexer. Your more hard-nosed words can be placed as text.

Whatever you do, always remember this critical piece of advice:
Do not optimize for search engines; optimize for people who search. Search is just the first step in a task that your customers would like to complete.

When customers get to your homepage it’s just the start. They will skeptically scan your page, giving you about 10 seconds. If your content doesn’t speak directly to them, in the right language about exactly what they care about, they’re gone.

It’s not that hard to bring customers to your website. Getting them to complete a task-that’s the real challenge.

Update your client list
Linking to your clients is a great way to improve search ranking. Do your clients a favour and add a link to your website.

Update news and press releases
Reading last years news is not news. If your website only has last years’ news and press releases, visitors may not have much confidence in you or your company.

Update portfolio and case study sections
Portfolios and case studies are a great way for you to display your work. As you evolve, adding new pieces will show accurately your expertise.

Update FAQs
Do you often receive the same question from clients? If so, then maybe you should add those to your list of frequently asked questions.

Update About us section
Have you had recent additions to your staff? Have you won a major award? If so mention it on your website.

Your website is a valuable resource for your company. It needs to fit in with your other collateral materials as part of an overall company branding strategy, increase exposure to your current and future customers, and keep up with the changing times of the Web. It can only do that by being up to date.

» for more information click here or
» to download our software, click here.

Even though click here is a call to action, it’s a pretty meaningless call to action.

When reading webpages, the majority of us scan them. Headers, bolded words and links are the items that jump out on a page. Imagine if your page has three or more click here. They won’t help your user at all and they will have to read the page carefully to figure out why they need to click here.

When calling the user to action, it’s best to use a brief but meaningful text. You should explain what one will discover if they click the link.

Referring back to our examples above, the following links would be more informative.
» Download document.
» Read more.

» Get the software.

Think about your links and stop the plague of click heres.

I was recently contacted by a company which I will call XYZ co. XYZ co. wanted to modify their navigation structure so that it reflected their department levels. Changing their navigation would have taken a matter of minutes, but would possibly have cost them much more.

By wanting to organize their navigation in that matter, they had forgotten that their website is for their customers and not for their internal organization. Luckily, after a few minutes of discussion they soon agreed that their customers were more important and the navigation was unaffected.

Navigation that works well with your organization, rarely works for your customers. You may find it very logical, but not everyone will be familiar with your departments and in and outs of your company.

Finding a structure that works well for your customers may be a lot of work, but it will pay in the end.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to focus on themselves and not their customers, when outlining their website architecture and writing their content.

Before planning your website content and architecture, ask yourself the following questions:

» When people contact me, what questions do they usually ask?
» How can my website make my business run more smoothly?

The best thing that you can do when writing your website content is to think of your customers. What questions do you get asked over and over again? Will potential customers buy more services from you if they read case studies or testimonials? Will people value your services more if they know which clients you’ve worked with? How can your website help your customers?

The answers to these questions will help you write content that is relevant and informative. Once you have it online, make sure that you review it and keep your information up-to-date. Keep track of customers questions and address them on your website.

Your Web user is sitting at a desk at home, his or her office or an Internet café. Unless they are blessed with owning a Herman Miller chair, you’re probably not as comfortable as you be would be in a lazy-boy.

Launching your Web browser isn’t like opening a magazine. You don’t just open up a page, find something interesting and start reading. Most Web users are looking for something. Most of them wanted that information yesterday!

If you are looking for a business or someone, chances are you’ll Google a search word and go from there. Once your keyword in, you’ll look at the various Google results and make your pick. Notice how Google displays the results? Keywords are in bold, page titles are slightly bigger and links are underlined. One of the most important things to remember about writing for the Web is that Web users surf the Web with their shortest attention span and they scan the Web. You only have a few seconds to grab their attention.

Use short paragraphs
Say what you mean quickly. Unless your Web site is a blog or a repository of your writing material, use short paragraphs instead of walls of text. Try to have a single idea in each paragraph and use a title for each if appropriate. By being concise you will also minimize the amount of scrolling, which users prefer not to do.

Learn to love bullets
Because reading online isn’t as fun as reading a magazine (in a comfy chair); users tend to scan text, not read it. If you find yourself listing services, benefits or advantages that your company offers, you may want to consider using bullets instead of a full sentence.

Use colour sparingly
Have you ever noticed all of the white space in a magazine? Have you ever wondered why? Reading puts great amounts of stress on your eyes and black text on white is by far the best choice. You might love yellow and aqua, but most of your users might not be able to stand the look of your site long enough to read it.

Keep your user in mind
Finally, one last thing to keep in mind. As you are carefully reading, editing and re-editing your content, put yourself in your customers’ place. What would you be looking for if you were a customer? What information do you need? Once you really understand this, your content will be ready for the Web.

Colours are best used for headings and titles. You can also emphasize certain important words or links using coloured text.