EvoBloggito

Web Design is Not Just Graphic Design for the Web

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 14, 2009; Category: Communication, Design/Development, Usability; Tags: Design/Development; 14 Comments

I started my design career as a print designer. At that time, there was no Internet, and no such thing as a website. In fact, computers were not something designers used, or thought they ever would use. About a decade later, Macintosh, Aldus Pagemaker, and Photoshop changed all that, and print design, or at least print production, became something we did onscreen. Frankly, I was glad to not to risk my fingers to X-acto knives any more.

A few years later, in the early ’90s, websites appeared. Most designers, myself included, did not immediately grasp the differences between print design and web design (my first homepage layout was vertical, with a huge image). After all, we’d been doing print onscreen, so what was the big deal?

Eventually, those of us who had gravitated toward web design began to understand there are fundamental differences, some of which are so profound that trying to do both print and web design can leave a designer feeling schizophrenic jumping back and forth. It’s not just a matter of using different tools, or the same tools in different ways, or even understanding the specific technical requirements differently (e.g., color, font-sizing, etc.): the mindsets of successful print and web designers are very different. As a result, only a small percentage of designers are truly competent in both disciplines, and even fewer are brilliant in both.

Here are some of the major differences:

Control vs. Lack of Control Over the End Result

Print designers who do not obsess over every minor detail of a print job aren’t doing their job. Font selection, color selection, paper color and weight, color separations, press checks, etc.: it’s all about controlling what the end user sees or holds in their hand. Web designers, on the other hand, know they have much less control over what the end user sees. Differences in browsers, platforms, monitors, and even user-defined style sheets limit web designer control. It used to be considered OK for a web designer to use image-based typography and tables for more print design-like control, until it was commonly understood that accessibility was critical for users with disabilities. Good web designers accept that they have, at best, "conditional" control of what the end user sees, and focus on website design that is both accessible to users with disabilities, and looks good to visitors using common browsers. When the print design obsession for control is brought to web design, usually accessibility is the first casualty.

Orderly vs. Random Access to Information

When a print designer creates a product brochure, they have a reasonable expectation that people will start on the front cover and proceed through it from front to back, or maybe flip directly from the front to the back to find product specs or contact information. But they’re going to start on page one most of the time, and if there is a message there, they will at least make note of it. And if for some reason, they pick up an already opened brochure, they can see clearly they’re in the middle of the publication, and decide where to turn from there. Thanks to search engines and links from other websites, visitors can arrive directly on any page on a website. Web designers cannot assume that someone will arrive on a page having already seen another page (aside from checkout processes and similar cases). Visitors often don’t even view the homepage, because they know that it’s usually not full of particularly useful information. Information design and navigation design (not just how they look, but how they function in helping people find information) become critical in creating a usable, well-designed website. The print design mindset is still in evidence on the majority of corporate and business websites in the "front cover" approach to the homepage.

Project Completed vs. Project Never Completed

Print designers complete a project, then they take it to the printer, and it’s done. Yes, they might make changes and reprint it, but there is a definite point at which they can say, "I’m done with that project!" Web designers rarely get that warm, fuzzy, self-congratulatory moment. Unless we get fired or fire a client, we’re never done with a website. It’s like birthing a baby: you can’t just bring it to life and ignore it. Sooner or later it will spit up or need a diaper change, and it will always be hungry for content. Even if a website includes a content management system so clients can add and update their own content, there are always things that need to be added, changed, or reorganized in ways that are beyond the technical skills of our clients, or beyond the capabilities of the CMS. And that’s a good thing! The worst thing that can happen is that a client thinks of their website as an online brochure, and it becomes a set-it-and-forget-it site.

Let's Sit This One Out vs. That Looks Like Fun

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 11, 2009; Category: Business, Communication, Marketing, Video, Zeitgeist; Tags: Humor, Seth Godin, Zeitgeist; No Comments

I read Seth Godin’s blog almost daily, and check out just about anything else the man has to say in print or on video. I don’t always agree with him, but he always makes me think. The other day, he shared a video on his blog that showed people dancing at a concert, and how it grew from one crazy (and probably intoxicated) guy to a mob of people (also probably intoxicated). Watching it can tell you a lot of what you need to know about group behavior as it relates to creating a tribe or building a market. Seth talks about the importance of the third guy joining in, and you should go read his post.

However, I’d like to focus on the people in the foreground. The ones trying to maintain their dignity as (near the end of the video) people all but run over them to be part of the mob. Why didn’t they get up and be part of it? They didn’t even have to walk far (a few of the folks sitting in the foreground did get up and dance, but not many). Why did they adopt and maintain "anti-mob" behavior?

Here’s my theory. Sitting close by, they witnessed a crazy guy making a fool of himself from the very beginning of his let-it-all-hang-out performance, before other crazy guys (and gals) had joined him. You can almost hear the conversation.
"Look at that guy making an ass of himself, Bobby Joe."
"What a jerk, Bobby Jim. Don’t you get any ideas about dancing around like that."
"If I was dancing, I wouldn’t be lurching around like a drunken idiot."
"If you were dancing, you’d look just like that, only worse."
And so on…

What I’m guessing* is that these people created their own barrier to participation by taking a mental position they could not easily abandon. Having agreed on the foolishness of such behavior and reinforced in each other their superiority for not participating, they were no longer free to say "Hey! That looks like fun!" when other people rushed over to join in the "foolishness."

Most of us have done this at one time or another. In fact, I’m willing to bet that right now almost all of us are prevented from doing something we would enjoy or that would benefit us in some way, for no other reason than that we’ve adopted a mental position/barrier. The trick is to identify our assumptions (what if we start with what we’re resisting?) and examine whether or not they still serve us well.

*It’s also possible they’d made a realistic assessment of their dancing abilities and had wisely decided it was better to enjoy watching other people have fun, in which case, they hadn’t had enough beer.

The Upside of 62% of Small Businesses Not Having a Website

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 8, 2009; Category: Business, Marketing, Search/SEO; Tags: Local Search, Marketing, SEO; 4 Comments

A couple of days ago, I posted my reaction to an article I read that said 62% of small businesses do not have a website, which astounded me. But there’s a big upside in that statistic. You might think I’m talking about the upside for me, owner of a web development company, but I’m talking about the upside for you, the small business owner. Whether yours is one the businesses that already has a website or not, that statistic represents a “sweet” opportunity you can take advantage of.

First, you need to understand that more than 70% of consumers have adopted the web as a place for finding information before they buy (and sometimes as a means of purchase: e.g., Amazon). A great deal of that information gathering results in a local purchase from a local business found online. In support of this trend, Google has made recent changes that enable people to find local providers of goods and services more easily. If you want customers, you want to be where 70% of them are looking (radio ads, newspaper ads, and even Yellow Pages ads do not draw that percentage).

Second, of the 38% of small businesses that do have a website, fewer than one-fourth have websites that are effective in terms of drawing search traffic or giving web visitors reasons to become customers. This is for a variety of reasons, but from observation, I believe it’s mostly because typical small business websites are static, non-interactive, and haven’t been updated since the day they were launched. We call those set-it-and-forget-it websites. A few years ago, they were of some value, if for no other reason than to show your prospects that you were “with it.” But things have changed and that’s no longer enough.

That means fewer than 10% of small business websites are of any value whatsoever in attracting new customers. Which means that, if you create an “effective” web presence, you’re in better position to take advantage of search traffic than 90% of your competitors, and that opportunity is open to you if you already have a website that isn’t effective, or if you’re one of the 62% that doesn’t have a website at all.

The thing about the web is, it’s a constantly changing environment. What worked 5 years ago is hopelessly outdated. What works today will be outdated 5 years from now. That might seem discouraging, but only if you decide to let it discourage you. There are some things to learn in order to use it effectively as a marketing tool, but as my wrestling coach used to say, “It ain’t rocket surgery.” Once you get into it, you will find it all within your capabilities, and you’ll be able to keep up as things evolve.

Let your competitors keep their assumptions that it’s too hard (not knowing makes everything seem hard), or too expensive (certainly not compared to that Yellow Pages ad!), or ineffective (and it is ineffective, if your website is the set-it-and-forget-it variety). As long as they think that way, your opportunity is intact (and as long as you think that way, so is theirs). But as a business person, I’m sure you know some action is required to turn opportunity into reality. (Our phone number, BTW, is on our contact page. I’m just sayin’…)

Wanted: A Plumber Who Wants to Grow His Local Business

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 7, 2009; Category: Blogging, Business, Marketing, Search/SEO; Tags: Blogging, Local Search; 3 Comments

To prove that local businesses can grow their business through blogging, we’re looking for a plumber who wants to serve as our "test subject" in a public experiment, which we’re calling "The Plumbing Project." We’ll set him (or her) up with a blog and provide free consulting services for a year. And of course, we’ll monitor how things are going and let people know about it here on EvoBloggito and on Twitter (and that kind of exposure can’t hurt your business, either). If you’re not a plumber, but know one who you think should be blogging, please point them here.

Here’s what the plumber gets, absolutely free:

1. Professionally designed WordPress blog with appropriate plugins to assist with search engine optimization, visitor engagement, etc.
2. Google Analytics account to track blog visitors.
3. Twitter account to help with business and blog promotion.
4. Training, coaching, advice, and assistance for 1 year.
5. Webhosting for the blog for 1 year (after which we’ll charge our normal annual webhosting fee of $125 if you want the blog to remain on our servers; otherwise, we’ll move it somewhere else for free).
6. More business!

This is not a free ride (the person we’re looking for knows that nothing worthwhile is)! We’ll do everything in our power to help you be successful, but ultimately it depends on you. You’ll have some things to learn and some work to do, but if you do it right, it’ll be fun. Here are the selection criteria:

1. You do not already have a business blog.
2. Your business must be in northern New Mexico (would like to conduct some training face-to-face).
3. Your business must be full-time.
4. You must be 18 years old or older.
5. You must agree to follow our advice on blogging and online promotion (we promise not to advise anything painful).
6. You must currently rely on Yellow Pages advertising and other traditional local marketing techniques (radio, newspaper ads, etc.) to reach your customers and prospects with your message.
7. You must be willing to write; you do NOT have to be a great writer.
8. You should have some opinions about your business and how it benefits your customers (a business blog is not the place to express political opinions).
9. You must care about your customers and prospects.
10. You must have a reasonable comfort level with computers (you have to own one!) and the internet.

Also, we’re not absolutely dead-set on the local business person being a plumber (although, if not, we’ll need to change the name of the project). It could be any local business person whose business serves a local area, as opposed to a national or multi-state market. The reason we think a plumber would be a great test subject is that most people, including most plumbers, wouldn’t expect a plumber to blog. However, if you own a produce store or bicycle shop that caters to local customers, make your case: we’ll consider it.

Write us using the application form below, the email link in the right column, or send a letter via snail mail (see our contact page) and convince us that you are the plumber (or other local business person) we’re looking for.

Here’s My Convincing Case for Helping Me Grow My Local Business

The "convincing case" deadline is July 7, 2009. Evo reserves the right to reject any application.

Sorry, deadline has past: no takers.

62% of Small Businesses Do Not Have a Website: the Glass is 38% Full

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 5, 2009; Category: Business, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Business, Entrepreneurs, Website; 10 Comments

I stumbled onto an article on Entrepreneur’s website (Turn Web Traffic Into Foot Traffic; Justin Kitch) that changed one of my basic assumptions, which was that "most" businesses have a website. Note the imprecision in the word "most," which is a hallmark of bad assumptions; I should have known. The survey from which the numbers were taken is recent: April 2009.

Clearly, the benefits of online marketing are not as well known to the general public as "most" of us in the online industry believe. Or maybe people have some idea of the benefits, but aren’t sure how to get started and follow through. Maybe it’s just easier to let their local Yellow Pages provider sell them an overpriced and under-performing print ad. (BTW, I called Dex to inquire about pricing for Yellow Pages advertising, and they took my information and told me they would have a "marketing consultant" contact me in 5-7 business days. I promise to share the results in a future post.) Or maybe it’s all of the above.

The business and marketing landscape is changing: advertising does not yield the same results it did even a decade ago (I looked hard for data, but was confronted with words like "colinearity" and other words I’ve never read before. My personal belief is that the difficulty of determining ROI on advertising has resulted in a great deal of obfuscation). People’s behavior when they are preparing to buy is changing: a Performics survey indicated 75% of baby boomers use search engines when looking for information to assist in the purchase of automobiles, appliances and electronics. But so far, only 38% of small businesses even have an online channel with which to speak to their customers and prospects. In 2009, that’s almost unbelievable.

As I mentioned, I had hoped to do a comparison between online marketing and Yellow Pages advertising. Sort of a "Marketing Media Smackdown." That will have to wait until the lumbering Yellow Pages mechanism fires up enough neurons to contact me. Watch this space.

August 2009 update: I had reason to go look up the study referenced in Justin’s post. It turns out that 38% of small businesses surveyed did NOT have a website. The figure was 37%. What about the other 1%? They "weren’t sure."