What’s been on my mind and passing through my social media streams this week? Well, I’ll tell you:
The ever-predictable web site design: love it or hate it, your users are expecting it.
This just in! Chicago-area technology maven discovers online pop-art, shares it with THOUSANDS! http://xkcd.com/1283
Non-profits, your donors are getting read to make their end-of-year contributions. How can you make it easy for them?
“Once you’ve piqued their interest, ensure you’re inspiring comfort and confidence in giving to your organization online. Doing so will help keep folks from turning back from the brink of becoming a donor.”
New discovery and addiction: Getty Critics, a blog that pokes fun at the worst of stock photography.
“A family of 4 doing the only 4 things you can do in this house: Touch the vase. Water the plant. Touch your ear. Sit.”
Your web site may be beautiful, but it still has to have interesting content on it.
“Let’s face it: Customers don’t buy from websites because they ‘look good.’ Despite this, businesses and design agencies sometimes obsess over beauty at the expense of ROI, resulting in a great looking, lipstick-on-a-pig website.”
How many words does it take to describe what will happen when your user clicks on something? There’s an art to descriptive web interfaces.
“Brevity is a luxury that you can occasionally get away with. Most of the time, it takes quite a few words to explain what’s happening.”
You have to have a web site that works on a phone. You just do. I’ll write more on this in next week’s blog, but for now, check out this great article on SmallBizClub.
“…there is something organic and seamless about the relationships we have with our mobile devices.”
What do your users want? What they’ve already seen.
“If your visitors are conditioned to certain characteristics being the standard for a particular category of site, deviating from that could subconsciously put you in the ‘less beautiful’ category.”
GOOGLING IS FOLLOWING EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE. Well, so are a few other companies. Hope you’re not surprised.
“Depending on your own usage patterns, Google may be collecting between 2 and 6 times as much data on you, compared to any site.”
Why on earth is Conan O’Brien trying to dominate LinkedIn? He could actually be helpful instead
“This year, over 5,000 partners across the country will participate in the #GivingTuesday event on Dec. 3rd. I’ve been doing nonprofit fundraising online for years, and I know that media exposure makes a huge difference in their success. If Conan did a monologue about charity giving on his show, he could use his significant influence to help thousands of people in need this holiday season AND climb to the top of LinkedIn influencers list.”
Have I ever mentioned that I am a woman who owns a business, but I’m really not a woman-owned business. Well, of course I am, but actually…well, you could read this piece I wrote for a website co-sponsored by an office supply company and a football player
“If this sounds obvious, step back for a moment and ask yourself what being a “woman-owned business” really means, beyond that chromosomal difference. In the daily functioning of your company, what are the decisions you make that have anything to do with your gender?”
Finally, because of my obsession with funky bike helmet brand Yakkay, several people sent me links to this video about another fashion-forward bike helmet company. Wait for it, watch the whole thing, and then I dare you not to say “Woah! COOL!” In case the embedded video doesn’t work on your phone or tablet, here’s a direct link: http://vimeo.com/43038579