Simply launching a website is a success in itself, but how do you know if it’s hitting the mark with your audience? It’s a crucial question to ask so you know that the time, effort and money you put into your investment is paying off. The key is to set goals before you even begin […]

[This little gem is the e-mail newsletter our subscribers just received. Want a slice for yourself? Sign up now.] The best websites are organized websites. Plan your pages with a content analysis before you write one word. Here’s how to start: Define your writing style. You might appear in some of the most distinguished academic

Let everyone on your staff and board give feedback on your design, and apply everyone’s preferences. Put someone in charge who doesn’t care about the website. Replace pages or menu items with PDFs. Make your mission statement about six paragraphs long and put it front and center of the homepage. Hide the donation forms. It

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”732″,”attributes”:{“class”:”media-image”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”style”:””,”width”:”500″,”height”:”375″,”alt”:”Zen Garden”}}]] Zen Garden by euart, on Flickr It’s 9 a.m., Monday morning. The phone is already ringing as you download the dozen or more e-mail messages that came in over the weekend. Someone pops their head into your office and tells you that the main printer has gone down and no one is there

Never one to turn down a free bagel, I sent away for a coupon from my friendly neighborhood bagel shop. They e-mailed it, as promised, but without any regard for the way most e-mail programs by default disable images. Because the entire thing is an image, I couldn’t tell what arrived in my in-box, and

If you don’t know who’s visiting your website, you can’t accurately guide them to the information they’re most likely looking for. That’s why before you begin planning a new website project, you should do a little demographics research. Your research into who’s using your site – the people who make up the segments of your

One of the first questions we ask during the kickoff of a new project is, “Who’s taking ownership of this project?” It’s incredible how many times that answer is, “Nobody.” Unless you plan to let your website turn into a ghost town, put somebody in charge. Appointing no one as the website manager will have

How many times have you sat down in a hairdresser’s chair and said, “Surprise me”? Not often, I’ll bet. All but the most adventurous (or foolhardy) have at least a minor plan when they have their hair cut. Now, why would you subject your website to the same risky random results? Any time you’re planning