Talance Blog | Talance, Inc. | Web Design, Development, E-learning

A New Day Dawns

Wed, 08/18/2010 - 19:01

Take a look at A New Day, a heroic organization in Massachusetts that helps victims of sexual and relationship violence. We helped them bring a bright and hopeful face to the work they do with a new logo to match their new name (they’re formerly known as Womansplace Crisis Center). The new logo provides instant recognition to non-native English speakers and those who may be illiterate. It also communicates calm, freshness, vibrancy and empowerment.

A New Day Logo

Visit them at their website: anewdayma.org, and stay tuned, because big things are planned for this space.

Who Is A New Day?

A New Day is a free and confidential space for survivors of domestic and sexual violence and their family. They provide counseling, medical advocacy, 24-hours’ response to individuals who have been sexually assaulted (including meeting them at the hospital and staying with them through procedures), legal advocacy and prevention, working in the community to change the way they think about and respond to domestic and sexual violence in hopes to stop it at its roots. Check ‘em out. They’re worth every bit of good will they get.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under News, design.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

Find Your Hidden Audiences

Wed, 08/11/2010 - 15:05

We talk a lot about discovering who your audience is and talking directly to them through your website. If you’ve been a faithful reader, you know by now that it’s an exercise in self-aggrandizing to focus the website on the big wigs at your organization. However, you should also be looking at less visible audiences.

Let’s say you’re a social services agency, and you say, “Our audience members are the people who come in for treatment or services.” Good start, and your website should make it clear to those people how to do things like book appointments and give feedback on services they’ve received. But you have more work to do.

If you’re that social services agency, think about what you can add to your website to address these additional audiences:

Local and regional governments.

You’ll want to swap information with them and also receive client referrals. Make it easy by providing clear channels and maybe even building networks on the website to facilitate the flow of data.

The locals.

Social care businesses occupy an important segment of the community, so remember to engage the people around you who may one day depend upon you. They are one of your strongest sources of new clients, so think about how you can make it easy to include them.

Partner organizations.

The other social care, transport, hospitals, education, law enforcement, housing services, leisure services and benefit entitlement services all depend on you for information and vice versa. Create a strong connection to them through technology, and you’ll serve yourself better, as well as your clients.

Your staff.

I’m not talking about putting biographical information on the staff pages. I’m talking about how your website should support your field staff in their daily activities.

The key is to think about your website not as just a way to push information to your primary audience, but to also think about it as a connecter throughout your community. This is the kind of thinking that will help you and your website reach out to new people and make them better cared for while making your website a worthwhile investment.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Web strategy, marketing.

3 Ways to Get to Know Your Community

Mon, 08/09/2010 - 13:00

[This little gem is the e-mail newsletter our subscribers just received. Want a slice for yourself? Sign up now.]

The more you know about the people who visit your website, the better. Creating a profile of the people who visit your organization site can help you make better decisions about what you can do for them.

Your website should be the central repository for this research. Here are a few tools you can add to your existing website to compile info on your users.

Feedback forms.

A simple feedback form can gather so much. Tuck these around your website soliciting comments, and you’ll start learning more about who your people are.

Surveys.

If you want serious feedback, host a survey. If you build this into your website, you can keep names, contact information and responses local to your website rather than a third-party service. You can also set it up so you receive e-mail alerts every time someone submits a response.

E-newsletters.

E-newsletters are good sources of information as well as good ways to deliver targeted information to your subscribers. Make sure you have a sign-up form on your website as well as archives.

Call (888) 810-9109 or e-mail if you want demos or pricing.

August Birthday Goodie: Free Webinar

We’re halfway through our 10th year and still celebrating. For August, we asked you what you wanted for a freebie, and you spoke. You want a crash course on how to write for the web. We’re taking registrations through August, so sign up now for this handy session on how to fine-tune your writing to appeal to online readers.

Keep, Cut or Kill: Writing for the Web is Sept. 2, 2010 at 2 p.m. Eastern.

>> Register now!

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Content, News, Web strategy.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

Keep, Cut or Kill: Writing for the Web Free Webinar

Wed, 08/04/2010 - 18:08

Scissors and friends by BOSSoNe0013, on Flickr

We’re halfway through our 10th year and still celebrating. For August, we asked you what you wanted for a freebie, and you spoke. You want a crash course on how to write for the web.

We’re taking registrations through August, so sign up now for this handy session on how to fine-tune your writing to appeal to online readers.

Keep, Cut or Kill: Writing for the Web is Sept. 2, 2010 at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Click here to register now!

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Uncategorized.

Six Party-Planning Tips That Make Your Website Rock

Mon, 08/02/2010 - 12:49

You’d never throw a party without sending invitations. Who wants to sit alone with four dozen spinach triangles and a couple cases of beer? (If you just answered, “I do!” then you might want to get out a little.)

That’s effectively what you’re doing if you’re like one of the many people I talk who aim to have an “interactive” website but don’t kick-start the festivities. They expect people to start participating, yet they don’t tell anyone what’s happening or make it a destination worth visiting.

It helps to think of your website as a venue where the party never ends. An always open house. How do you do this? By applying some of the same principles you would to any bash you host.

1. Send out invites.

If you know how to reach them online, you can invite them through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, listservs or however you normally chat with them. Are your partygoers the type to read a paper invite over an electronic one? Put it in the mail. The point is to invite them. Check out 18 Ways To Promote Your Website for ideas.

2. Keep inviting.

Remember, you website isn’t the one-time event of the year. It’s the ongoing event of the decade. Inform people they’re welcome to drop by any time. And then keep inviting them. People forget, have dentist appointments, get interrupted, so you need to keep the invites coming.

3. Plan something fun.

You don’t have to whack a piñata every time you throw a shindig, but people minimally expect snacks, drinks and good music. Why would they come to your website if there weren’t some kind of payoff? Make it worth their while, and they’ll keep coming.

4. Take pictures.

You know how weddings nowadays have disposable cameras in the middle of the tables? It’s because everybody likes to see themselves and their buddies participating. That transfers to your website too, whether it’s actual photos of the people you know or representations of them.

5. Make it pretty.

Picking up the dirty socks from the sofa and doing the dishes translates into fixing broken pictures and links and correcting typos. Read our Spring Cleaning guide so you can get everything sparkling before the party starts.

6. Plan for amounts.

In the event-planning world, you need to know who’s attending your party so you rent a big enough space, have enough canapés and staff appropriately. If you have the kind of website that’s likely to receive a surge in traffic, make sure you’re expecting it. If you aren’t, people might receive a message that the website isn’t available. Up your hosting account, talk to your webmaster about planning for what happens if 100 people try to click the same thing at once.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under marketing, promotion.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

8 Non-Profit Website Tools That Really Work

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 11:44

It’s true that your website should be a reflection of your organization’s goals and audience, but there are a few proven tools that we suggest again and again because they simply work. They make a more interactive website. They drive more support. They deliver information most efficiently.

I happen to be right, but you don’t have to take my word for it. I ran a check against some of best top non-profit websites out there – the ones that were official nominees for the 14th annual Webby awards – to see what tools they had on their homepages.

Here are the top eight and why they work so well. Keep reading and you’ll see the breakdown for Teenage Cancer Trust, ASPCA, One, SocialVibe and The Nature Conservancy.

Search

There’s only so much information you can cram onto your homepage. Search provides a way for website users to tap into your reservoir of information.

Donate button

You’ve got to earn money, and people want to give it. Don’t stand in their way.

Newsletter

Establish a regular newsletter and then encourage people to sign up. This way you can remind them that you exist and that what you do matters.

Slide show

Slide shows are an efficient way to display evocative, image-based content in a confined space.

Blog

Blogs not only keep your constituency informed of what you’re doing, but they also help fill your website with content. That gives search engines more to latch onto, and therefore drive more people to your website.

Social media plug-in

Whether you have an initiative on Facebook or Twitter or some other social networking platform, bring it into your website. It serves as a cross-promotional element and gives people other ways to interact with you.

10 Commandments of Writing for the Web

Wed, 07/28/2010 - 18:18

Thou shalt break up long pieces of text with bullets, for it is easier to scan that way.
Thou shalt use short sentences, even if it feels thou art using more periods than commas. Punchy maketh for better reading.
Thou shalt bow down and worship thine spell checker.
Honor the inverted pyramid style of writing. It hath helped journalists for decades for good reason.
Useth not more than one idea per paragraph. Readers never readeth carefully enough to catch more than one.
You shalt not make wrongful use of verbs. Choose active verb construction rather than passive.
Thou shalt cut everything you write in half. Shorter articles art better.
Thou shalt use highlights, such as bolds and hyperlinks, to call attention to important words.
Thou shalt not be creative with sub-headings and instead use clear ones. They aren’t the place for cuteness.
Useth lists and numbers to organize ideas into an easy-to-read format (cf. 10 Commandments).

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under usability.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

Supercharge Your Web Writing

Online Course or Webinar?

Fri, 07/23/2010 - 12:06

table.sample { border-width: 2px; border-spacing: 1px; border-style: none; border-color: gray; border-collapse: separate; background-color: white; } table.sample th { border-width: 0px; padding: 4px; border-style: none; border-color: white; background-color: rgb(235, 246, 250); -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } table.sample td { border-width: 0px; padding: 4px; border-style: none; border-color: white; background-color: rgb(235, 246, 250); -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px; }

You may have piles of experience presenting to live groups but are fuzzy on how to make the transition online. Particularly confusing is the difference between an online course and a webinar. While both formats let you present information to people from afar, they’re not the same, nor are they mutually exclusive.

If you’re considering opening up your training to include an online element, this matrix might help you find the best tool for the job.

Ask yourself … Webinar Online Course Is it a short, one-off training best suited for an hour or less presentation? X Do you need to track attendees, for instance if they’re employees required to attend sexual harassment or compliance training? X Would attendees benefit from interactive exercises? X Should attendees be able to submit assignments? X Do you need to know who attended? X X Do you need to know what material attendees looked at? X Would you rather not have a staff member be in attendance? X Do you need participants to see each other? X Do other participants need to see you in real time? X Are you converting a workbook or binder? X Are you looking to do a presentation for free? X Do you need professoinal help gearing your material for an online audience? X Would you like to use discussion groups, wikis or allow users to use a device? X

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Uncategorized, online learning.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

How To Design by Committee (And Live To Talk About It)

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 15:33

If you’ve never seen the words “how to” followed by “design by committee” without words like “throw yourself out a window because you were involved in this horror show known as” in between, you may be shocked to read on. You may be one of those people who’s been trapped on a committee and all its egomaniacs, petty arguments and grudging concessions and know what a mess committees can make of things like web projects. Wikipedia puts it this way:

“The defining characteristics of ‘design by committee’ are needless complexity, internal inconsistency, logical flaws, banality, and the lack of a unifying vision.”

That pretty much sums it up.

But as much as people hate to have web projects designed or decided by committee, it still happens. All the time. Like at almost every company we work with. So, as much as it pains me to write this article, I’ll do it anyway knowing that if a committee is going to be involved in a web project, it should at least be run the best way possible.

Don’t design by committee

I know what I just said, but if you can find a way of disbanding the committee, do it. Have one capable, knowledgeable person in charge, and other parties involved weigh in at appropriate times. Note I said “weigh in” and “appropriate.” Not make the final call, unless those parties are uniquely qualified to do so.

I once worked on a website project for teens. The COO – in other words, the 50-something-year-old who was in charge of writing contracts and making sure the organization was following its overall strategic objective – decided that keys were a better teen image than whatever shape the designer came up with. I suppose the reasoning was something like most people get a driver’s license when they’re teens. That means they can drive cars. You start cars with keys. So the final design had keys all over it, which looked weird and spoke to no one.

Opinions are valuable, but they’re just opinions. Let the experts make the final call.

If there’s no escape, organize responsibilities

If a committee is unavoidable, assign separate responsibilities rather than giving everyone a share in every single responsibility. The trouble is taste is inherently subjective. Some will agree, but many will have different opinions. Giving everyone a chance to weigh in on everything goes exactly nowhere. Or worse, it leads to compromise. (”I hate the blue.” “Well, I hate the red.” “Then let’s just choose green. At least nobody hates it.”)

Yet, if you give each person on the team his or her own role and responsibility, they can feel as protective about the thing they’re in charge of as they like. Plus, it helps eliminate indecision and might actually move a project along faster.

Foster collaboration rather than compromise

Sometimes nixing the “I don’t like” and the “that’s ugly” kind of comments can make a difference. When reviewing a design or idea, ask instead, “What works and what doesn’t? Why?” Instead of making or responding to visceral comments, ask, “What can we tell the designer that will address our concerns?” Reasoning and thinking together can help you arrive at rational decisions that leave everyone feeling included.

Speak for your audience, not yourself

The bane of committees is the egomaniac who feels their preference must be reflected in the design. If you’re the rational person on the team, you may understandably feel irritated. Remember, preferences are natural. The person you are and the position you have will influence your taste. You can’t help it if your gut is telling you that you like something or that you don’t. It’s what guts do.

Understand this reaction, and make every effort to direct the conversation to the people who really matter: your audience members. Ideally, this will take the form of user testing. Even informal user testing, where you send the idea to a handful of your audience members and ask for their feedback.

If you can’t do a simple audience survey for some reason, at least put yourself in their shoes. If you were your main demographic, would you respond to these colors? If you were of a certain age and background, would you respond to that style of writing? Do the people who use your site use products whose designs are similar to what you’re considering?

Despite your best intentions, you may very well be pulled into a committee or form one. As long as you make sure you’re asking the right questions, and everyone can come to a sensible decision.

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Project management, design.

You may also enjoy the following related articles:

Your Turn: Choose a Birthday Treat

Wed, 07/14/2010 - 14:42

We thought next month we’d let you tell us what kind of deal you’d like to receive from Talance in celebration of our 10th year. Pick your favorite; we’ll offer the winner on August 1.

What birthday deal should we offer next month?online survey

© Talance for Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg reddit email facebook
Who's linking ? Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under News.