2010

21

Apr

Google is begging you to flag up content – why aren’t you?

By Hugh Fidgen

Recent Google Webmaster Blog posts highlight the new features in Google’s Webmaster Tools which webmasters and site owners can use to submit information to Google. Also highlighted is the need for businesses to keep an eye on what the search engines are asking them to do, else they risk being left behind their more savvy competitors!

I will be concentrating on Google here, but we can apply the below to other search engines.

A lot of people will already know the basics of SEO

  • Create page titles which carry information, rather than just one or two word titles.
  • Create the page content & copy with audience and keywords in mind.
  • Structure the page using headings, paragraphs and lists in the code.
  • Give images descriptive alt text and titles.
  • Add metadata descriptions to your page. (This is becoming less and less important, but it is still often used on the search engine results page!)

Following the above guidelines goes a long way to achieving a good ranking on any search engine you care to mention, but any SEO consultant will be at pains to tell you that there’s a lot more you can do.

Read on…

2010

25

Mar

How to generate ideas for your website

By Dan Hawtrey

In his book, A Technique for Producing Ideas, the advertising creative James Webb Young proposes a simple 5-step process:

  • Gather research and materials
  • Go through the materials and allow the mind to “digest” them, generating tentative or partial ideas
  • Walk away from your thinking to go and do something completely different and relaxing
  • Allow the idea to come to you passively (this could happen anywhere and at any time)
  • Revisit your idea in the cold light of day and refine it

The process has been lauded by many creatives inside and outside the ad industry. Even though the book was published in 1965, you’ll see from recent reviews on Amazon that it is considered to be just as relevant today as it ever was. However, what if you are trying to generate ideas for a website? I am not talking about ideas for a simple brochureware website, but a site that truly engages its audience and actively draws them to visit it. Does Young’s technique still apply for generating website ideas?

Read on…

2010

12

Mar

Is print advertising taking a lead from Rich Media?

By Hugh Fidgen

Creative adI spotted this whilst reading The Times on the train, and it struck me that this is a static version of the interactive rich media ads you see all over the “glossy” websites. Have print media agencies taken a leaf out of their digital partner’s books?

You can see the print ad on the right (view full-size). Below are some examples of some Flashy rich media ads, where cars, people and products crawl from one box to another, taking over the page:

I don’t know who got there first – this might even be old hat to the hacks of the advertising world – but it struck me as an unusual crossover that works very well.

2010

08

Mar

The future of the internet: what is HTML5?

By Hugh Fidgen

The internet has been abuzz recently with talk of a new kid in town: HTML5. There has been a slew of articles detailing the new features that this version of HTML offers and what they mean for the web, but the real question is whether or not HTML5 can topple Flash from its position as the king of rich media.

What is HTML5?

HTML is the coding language that the internet is built on. With this in mind, HTML5 is just an upgrade providing some new tricks and features as well as some judicious trimming of the fat and old outdated code.

Read on…

2010

15

Feb

QR codes: the future of mobile internet promotions?

By Julia Strueber

The observant consumer abroad may have noticed patterned squares on their purchases. In Japan, these shapes now take up space on the side of whole houses, and seen teenagers whipping out their mobiles to take photos.

Of course, these codes contain more than just obscure patterns. Devised in 1994 for industrial use, ‘QR codes’ were employed for tagging boxes as a more information-heavy barcode. For example, the German Post uses them to keep track of packages.

Read on…

2010

12

Feb

Wrong address: the day Facebook moved house

By Geoff Scaplehorn

Usability is generally trumpeted as a major consideration in website design. What is often ignored are the results of a website losing its usability – or, indeed, its familiarity. Yesterday, a number of users were unable to log on to Facebook. Why? Because they weren’t actually on Facebook.

What happened was that, for a couple of hours, Facebook slipped off the top Google rank for the search “Facebook login”. Instead, a blog called ReadWriteWeb (an excellent read, by the way) slipped into first place. Not noticing the change, users simply clicked on the top link anyway and were taken to a ReadWriteWeb article about Facebook, which looked entirely unlike the actual Facebook page.

Read on…

2010

15

Jan

The case for well thought-out navigation

By Daniel Keegan

It’s not enough for a website to simply look good. It’s not even enough to have a good product. If a user can’t find their way to that product, the best images in the world won’t help your sales.

As designers it’s our job to take stock of the behaviour of typical users and position navigational elements where users would expect to find them.

Your navigation will be based on the Information Architecture (IA) – the structure and organisation – of your site. When choosing a navigation type you should weigh up its limitations and benefits. Will it be a series of buttons? Is it Flash-based? Does it use any special features? Where is it on a page?

Read on…

2010

14

Jan

Quality counts: eradicating errata on your site

By Geoff Scaplehorn

Nothing kills the authority of an intranet site – or any website – faster than obvious, avoidable errors. These errors can be factual (such as job titles or general facts), graphical (the wrong image assigned to the wrong person, for example) or grammatical (bad spelling or punctuation), but whatever the mistakes the effect is the same: users go elsewhere.

It’s not enough to make sure that your site owner is thorough. Everyone makes mistakes, and the best way to cope with the possibility of a slip-up is to ensure that you have a dedicated quality control process in place at all times. If you use an agency to run your site, then they should be able to work this out with you. If you work on the site yourself, read on for some key areas that you should focus on…

Read on…

2010

07

Jan

Top 5 New Year resolutions for website owners

By Geoff Scaplehorn

We’ve already written our top 5 resolutions for 2010 for intranet owners – but what about those of you out there on the Great Wide Web? Keep reading for our top 5 New Year resolutions for website owners…

Read on…

2010

05

Jan

Improve your website metrics: track your Flash

By Hugh Fidgen

It is, as everyone knows, best practice to use analytics code on websites to track visitors.

Pretty much every client we talk to expects metrics on their website (and we soon suggest them if the client doesn’t),  but no one seems to know that you can track visitors in Flash applications too.

Read on…