Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005 Announced

Jakob Nielson is a well-known and respected usability expert. His newsletter, Alertbox has just announced the Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005.

10. Inadequate Photo Enlargement
9. Frozen Layouts with Fixed Page Widths
8. No Contact Information or Other Company Info
7. Cumbersome Forms
6. Browser Incompatibility
5. Poor Search Function
4. Content That's Not Written for the Web
3. Inappropriate, Overblown Flash
2. Non-Standard Links
1. Legibility Problems

Mr. Nielson sees these frustrations as an indicator to get back to basics in web design -- less whizz bang and more information!

For the full article and explanation of each point, visit:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/designmistakes.html

Offline Promotion Tips

There are lots of ways out there to get your site seen online. There are even more that will be discussed in a future article.

But what about in the living, breathing world? The offline and online venues have a symbiotic relationship, feeding one another customers. You can do your best search engine optimization, and still miss a huge segment of the population.

Here are some ideas to promote your website in RL (that's "real life," folks.)

Extra! Extra!
Don’t neglect print advertising. This could be something as small as two lines in a free classifieds paper, to an ongoing ad campaign in local / state / or national newspapers and magazines.

Card Etiquette
Always carry your business cards with you. You are bound to meet someone who'll want your card in order to get in touch with you. Tack them on bulletin boards and put them in displays on local merchants’ counters. Of course, make sure your website address is prominently printed on it.

Giveaways
Print your url and contact info on pens, and other lightweight gifts. People will want carry them around. Practical items are the best. The point is too keep your name in their faces.

On Air
Get your site noticed on tv or radio. Find a topic you think would be really beneficial to the public and contact the station manager for a spot. Make sure you prepare the topic well and put that info online so that people can look it up on your site. Give the radio/tv people your card, and don't forget to mention your url.

Local Buzz
Write articles and submit them to your local paper. Local PR is much easier to accomplish than national - Oprah will notice you soon enough! Do good things for your community. Your neighbors know people worldwide and they'll talk

Share Your Brain
Everyone knows something that other people don't. Your business is based on your knowledge and experience. Surely you can share a taste of that knowledge with your customers and potential customers. This can be done in the form of a free talk or newsletter, and don't forget to tell them that more information can be found on your website!

Network, Network, Network
If you aren't already, get involved with local business groups, or other groups that share some aspect of what you do. Meet, greet, hand out cards and freebies. Update them on whatever new feature, article, or gizmo you've recently added to your website.

Good Design = More Trust, More Trust = More Sales

[This is a reprint from HSD's E-Newsletter- Enjoy!]

Long before the development of the internet and e-commerce, business owners knew that in order to make the sale, the customer has to trust the business and its products. On the often impersonal web, trust is hard to win, and all too easy to lose.

The design itself can communicate trustworthiness in four ways:

1. Design Quality Rules All

In a recent study of website users, Stanford University researchers discovered that the average person based his or her opinion of a website's credibility first and foremost on the look of the site.

A professional appearance feels solid; clear navigation conveys respect for customers and an implied promise of good service. Typos, slapdash design, and difficult navigation communicate disregard for the user.

2. Up-front Disclosure of All Aspects
of the Customer Relationship Required

For example, reveal shipping charges immediately rather than waiting until after the user has placed an order. You may cheat a few people into ordering by hiding the shipping costs, but many more will abandon the site at an early stage of the process. And those users who do get cheated will only be suckers once.

3. Comprehensive, Correct, and Current Content and Product Selection is Key

If a site has product photos, it should have good shots of all products. Haphazard, random content signal brittle service. Products that are discontinued or out of stock should be hidden or removed.

4. Connect to the Rest of the Web
with Links In and Out

Not being afraid to link to other sites is a sign of confidence, and third-party sites are much more credible than anything you can say yourself. Isolated sites feel like they have something to hide.

For more information on design and credibility, check out this Consumer Reports Web Watch report:

A Matter of Trust: What Users Want From Web Sites
A Report on Consumer Concerns About Credibility of Web Sites

Someone play "Taps" please

It's official. The iBook is dead. And I mean, dead dead. The HD is shot.

So let this be a lesson for you kids, use protection -- surge protection. My surge protector was inadequate or old, and lightning zapped my sweet, sweet iBook.

Donations are being accepted. :c )

A tidbit

In Grrlscout news, the "Whatever Makes You Happy" design is doing very well lately - yay!

Regarding my tatt ... I dropped off my proposal to Jeff yesterday. Keep your fingers crossed!

The Project Farm

Hey! Mexico was great! I'm brown and tired. Pics are forthcoming.

Did I mention my laptop died? Well, it did. This fact makes little tasks like getting my digipix, emailling folks, updating this thingie -- and BIG tasks, like keeping my clients' sites current -- a bit difficult. But I'm working around it until my baby is back from the shop.

Speaking of business, I've got 3 small projects in the works.

Decals for Red Rock Life
Red Rock Life is a lil project I've been working on for a couple of years now. I thought that Sedona and the Verde Valley could really use an online community. You know, a virtual space where people can spout off or help each other out, connect, find their niche. So I developed Red Rock Life. It has message boards, a simple chat app, a directory of community organizations and the like.

The problem is, the site is getting hits, but there isn't a whole lot of traffic on the message boards. And I'd like the message boards to be the core of the site. So it's time for some offline promotion. I designed some decals and am having them printed by Sticker Guy.



My intention is to pass them around town, and to friends, maybe stick some here and there. People love a freebie, especially something cool. I'm hoping that these will also tangentially promote High Sky Design, since it is our pet project.

Which brings me to my second project...

High Sky Promo Postcards

Some of my current clients' projects and slowing down, so I need to drum up some new ones to keep the flow steady. I'll be doing some offline promotion for High Sky as well, in the form of postcards.

I sat around one day and came up with a series of eye-catching and humorous postcard designs. The goal being, many businesses already have websites. But they think that it's a done deal, and they need no care. A website isn't like a brochure. You don't print it and be done with it. A website is a process -- an ever-changing and evolving media, that needs attention. Here is one of the designs:

The message of my cards is, "is your website WORKING?" Many websites out there are grossly outdated, poorly designed, and invisible to search engines. I'm offering to revitalize, optimize, and promote these websites and make them earn their keep.

Tony, over at DeLuz Printing & Design is printing them up for me, and I'm sure he'll do an excellent job, as always.

And finally...

Bits for Tatts
Some of you may know that I've been planning to get a tattoo for many years now. Yes, I'm nearly 33 and getting my first tatt. I've always planned on getting a design based on the Ace of Cups of the Tarot, because I love its message -- look to deep emotion, listen to all your senses, pay attention to your feelings, hope for new inspiration, and you'll gain a higher understanding.

Over the past 8 years, I've come up with at least 7 different versions of the design. This is the latest:



Well, I've come to a conclusion. I just can't get this design to look how I want it to! I gave up and came up with a new one:



Deeper meaning? None really. It's pretty and I like mermaids. I guess maybe you could add some significance to the 3s -- 3 mermaids for my 33rd birthday. The pearl, I suppose could refer to one of my favorite poems and songs. And then there's just that whole ocean thing, that I adore.

ANYWAY, I'm in the middle of negotiating a trade with Inxon Tattoos in Cottonwood, tatts for website. I'm ironing out the details now, and we'll see what happens.

Speaking of my birthday, a personal project of mine, is to weigh 135 my 8/30 (my 33rd birthday). I'm currently ... (running over to scale) ... 143.5. That's about 2lbs a week for 4 weeks. On that note, I'm off to the gym for a nice long treadmill run. See ya!