A website needs a website manager

Yet another report reveals that the majority of businesses know that they need a web presence, but a third of those interviewed admit that they neglect to make changes to to update their websites.

One in four are unhappy with their websites design and other common reasons given were; outdated content and images, missing methods for communicating with customers and limited or no e-commerce functionality costing them in missed sales.

The main reason for the lack of attention that a website receives fall down to time restraints - but without finding the time owners understand that their website will fail to reach it's full potential.

In summary, it appears that most businesses have reached the point of identifying the problem, and by doing so they are aware of the solution - more time and focus must be given to their websites.
For many companies, all that is then required, is to delegate the responsibility of website manager to a key member of staff and ensure that they are rigidly allocated the time needed to carry out this new role. Problem solved.

Design for show, type for dough

Most golfers will be familiar with the phrase 'Drive for show, putt for dough'.
In golf, sinking putts is more likely to win you big money than being able to hit a ball a long way.

I've tweaked the phrase and applied it to websites.
If you want a successful website remember, 'design for show, type for dough'.


The most common area of a website that is overlooked and in some cases completely ignored is website content - the written word - the copy. Naturally the design plays its part, but not as much as you may at first presume. Only when a website is underperforming does attention turn to the strength of the copy.

Successful websites will have powerful content and in every instance, it did not arrive there by accident. Understanding the power of the written word and putting it to good effect within your own website will have dramatic results.

I don't just mean the page content either, wherever and whenever text is used, consideration should be given to the effectiveness that the words you use will have. This includes menu names, text links, instructions in graphics and particularly 'call to actions'.

On arriving at your website, a visitor will start skim reading your website looking for what they want - at this stage they probably haven't even given your design much of a glance, they are still deciding whether you have what they want or whether it is would be best to move on. Well written copy will immediately grab their attention and then once it has, it will smoothly guide them through the process of performing the action that YOU want.

This may be to email, buy from your online shop or just to pick up the phone and call you. Not only will you have achieved your goal, but your website visitors will thank you for making it easy for them. Whatever it is that you want your website to achieve, take a look again with a fresh pair of eyes and see if the copy is doing it’s job well.

Never underestimate the power of the written word on your website.
Design for show, type for dough.

Facebook users do poorly in exams

Research has found that students who use the social networking website 'Facebook' perform worse academically. The report indicates that students that use facebook on a daily basis are underperforming by as much as a an entire grade in comparison to students who do not subscribe to the site - so being a user of Facebook could be the difference between getting an A or B.

About 83% of British 16 to 24 year olds are thought subscribe to 'social networking' sites which include, Facebook, Myspace and Bebo as a way of keeping in touch with friends. However, when a sample of Facebook users were questioned, 79% said that they believed that the time they spent on the site did not affect their work.
As you would expect, Facebook defended itself by saying that there was academic research to show the benefits of services like Facebook - although without any evidence from Facebook as to what these benefits were, can I hazard a guess that it was to seek assistance from friends when trying to answer tricky exam questions when revising which may have resulted in them getting a grade B when a grade C would have been their more likely acheivement!