Build a Killer Website: 19 Dos and Don'ts | Inc.com - Aurora
I’m continually surprised by how many people call my design company with very firm ideas about what they want on their business website and yet, they haven’t thought through some of the most basic questions first. For this reason, our first question is always “Why do you need a site?,” not “What do you want on it?” At bottom your website is a marketing tool. Here’s my quick-hit list of the top dos and don’ts before you get started: Do: Set smart goals. Don’t: Do it yourself.
Six Key Lessons from a Design Legend (a before-and-after) | GiftRocket Blog
When we first built GiftRocket 1.0, our team was absent designers. As the only one without a CS degree, I ended up spending a few weeks reading design books and mocking up the site before our March launch. Eventually we recruited a professional designer named Mike Kus to help us out. We liked his emphasis on large text, illustration, and simplicity. He redesigned our site and we released the results last week. I did a quick comparison of the before and after, and wanted to point out some things any developer can do to improve the feel of their site. 1. We were extremely conservative when we started, So we made the site… blue and gray. Mike, experienced and unhesitant, presented the cream, gold, and black palette we currently use. 2. We suffered from two contrast issues. Mike approached the app as a cousin to the website, using the same branding but inverting colors and layout. 3. Our Yelp business icons started out tiny at 60px by 60px. 4. 5. 6. Mike applied them everywhere on the site.
Principles for good navigation design
Navigation encompasses the range of ways a user may move around a web site, and the tools designers offer to help them. Good navigation needs to complement the information architecture, and be totally clear. Principles for good navigation design A site must: 1. ‘Signposting’ is part of navigation (how can you navigate somewhere if you don’t know where you’re starting from). Where navigation includes “where you are now”, it must be clearly indicated. Note: Tabs naturally show “here” from “there”. 2. When navigation is apart from content, differentiate through complete physically separation, grouping and/or style from content. When links are within content, you have to use style to differentiate. 3. It must be obvious at a glance where I can go from here. 4. Being able to see pages you’ve already visited helps you to filter where you might want go now. HTML differentiates between unvisited and visited links by default. 5. 6. The target of a link must be obvious. i.e. e.g. e.g. inShare4
The 20 Best Marketing Infographics of 2012
Compelling imagery and visual design ruled marketing in 2012. Never before have pictures and images been so important for igniting engagement in your social media, email, and content marketing campaigns/strategies. With that, the popularity of infographics (information graphics) has also taken the marketing world by storm, and it’s easy to [literally] see why. Psst…Want to make an infographic of your own? Social Media:“Like Us!” How Much Time, Money Do Small Businesses Spend on Social Media? The Power of Pinterest; Internet Marketing Inc. How LinkedIn Works; InfographicLabs The ROI of Social Media – Is Social Media Marketing Effective? Blogging:12 Things to Do After You’ve Written a Blog Post; DivvyHQ Virality:The Anatomy of Going Viral; Single Grain Copywriting:15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Silly; Copyblogger Content Marketing:Understanding the Content Marketing Explosion; BlueGlass The Anatomy of Content Marketing; Content+ Email Marketing:Email Best Practices; eMerge Social vs.
7 Tips for a Polish Web Page
Different web designers make use of simple techniques to allow their web page to stand out. Here are 7 tips that I have made use of for one of the mock ups I’m working on. It’s the little, subtle things that really make the biggest difference. Just a note, this article is not for advanced users, but it is good to have a re-read about it. 1. Anti-aliasing improves reading speed and accuracy. 2. Blend modes give us different ways for a layer to interact with, or "blend" with, the layer or layers below it. 3. By adding 1 pixel of stroke to your layout, makes a whole lot of difference by making your site stand out. 4. Another great way for your page to stand out is by adding a subtle shadow along the edges of your page. 5. Whenever you have a box with transparency on top an image, try blurring only the portion of the image below the box. 6. You may not have noticed that images and icons lose their clarity when you resize or rotate them. 7.
12 LinkedIn secrets to supercharge your social networking
To know me is to know that I love—love—LinkedIn. At 150 million members and growing, LinkedIn is a powerful professional networking tool, and it’s not just for job seekers. Frankly, if you’re in the professional world and not using LinkedIn, I’m not sure what you’re thinking. Our team at V3 uses it for new business development, competitive research and analysis, participating in groups and discussions, and engaging with and learning from peers—and, of course, it’s the go-to site for savvy job seekers everywhere. One of the cool things about LinkedIn is there’s always something new to learn. I do a lot of corporate LinkedIn training and these are some of my favorite tricks and tips: 1. Want to ditch a connection? How to wield this magic? When you’re logged into LinkedIn, Select Contacts in the main navigation bar. 2. Sometimes it makes sense to operate in stealth mode. Click the drop-down menu under your name in the top right corner of the page, then select Settings. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
The Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page - Formstack - Aurora
Placement and Content 7. Keep It Above the Fold The space a visitor sees without having to scroll is where the most important parts of the webpage should be. Place the call-to-action button above the fold and in a location where the viewer's eye will scan to. Never have the button or form in a place where it has to be searched for. 8. Optimize a landing page for conversion over time. 9. Implementing motivational speeches, videos of user testimonials, and product images into a home page can have a positive impact on viewers, as well as give shoppers an extra push to look further into a product. Bellroy uses great imagery and videos on many of their pages. 10. Links connecting the user to a bunch of other sites or pages will distract them and have a negative impact on conversions. This landing page is designed well, but look at all those header links getting in the way of the message!
Email Marketing and Email List Manager | MailChimp - Aurora
24 Must-Have Social Media Marketing Tools
Are you looking for ways to enhance your social media marketing? Do you want new tools to simplify your job? We asked a group of social media pros for the hottest social media tools they use today. Check them out to see if these social media tools are a good fit for you! #1: Unlock to Share Plugin My favorite social marketing tool of all time is the unlock to share plugin. Make your site go viral by requiring the user to share your link to unlock content. Why is this so valuable? In my most recent experiment, I had 452 people land on a page where they had access to royalty-free music they could use in their videos. These unlock to share plugins are everywhere. James Wedmore, co-founder of Video Traffic Academy and founder of Video Sales Magic and Video Copy Pro. #2: SlideShare This isn’t a “new” tool, but I’m amazed by the number of marketers who still don’t use SlideShare as a main staple in their social media distribution. #3: Commun.it #4: YouTube’s Audience Retention Report #5: Cyfe #6: Cloze
