Internet Marketing

Best Free Online Marketing Tips for Those Who Ask

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best online marketing tips(Thank you! Please read our book referral disclaimer)I've been reading a lot lately about the importance of communities and trust in the emerging new era of business and online marketing where "everyone is connected," as author and blogger Mitch Joel puts it.  In his new book Six Pixels of Separation, Joel stresses the importance of utilizing your strengths to help your community. Helping your community will help the word get out about your business, which will ultimately lead to more work and and a larger community.  You can see how such a cycle would be a good thing.

Help the Community and Watch it Grow

Having a budding community of our own, Big Picture Web is always eager to help you with plenty of best-practice, free online marketing tips each week with our blog posts.  We strive to live up to our tagline of "Complex Internet Strategy in Bite-Sized Chunks."

Vote in the Online Marketing Poll

So here's the deal.  In this post, I'm reaching out to you, my community, to see what help you need with online marketing.  Vote on the poll below to voice your opinion on which online marketing topics I should choose for the road ahead.  I'll make sure to post plenty of best-practice free online marketing tips based on your responses.

Do you have a suggestion beyond what was listed in the poll? Leave a comment below to continue to conversation.

My Squarespace Website Review: 3 Pro's and 1 Con

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(Visit Squarespace)Building a website involves many decisions, including selecting a content platform and hosting.  You can use Squarespace.com(affiliate link)to both host and build your website.  Today's post is a brief history of Big Picture Web's interest in Squarespace and an honest, (mostly) objective review.

(Update: Since joining Squarespace, I've gone on to write the 101 Reasons to Build a Squarespace Website or Blog, and a new Mega Squarespace Review, featuring the thoughts of a dozen Squarespace customers.)

This Week In Tech, Brought to You by Squarespace

It's been nearly two months since I changed my website hosting to Squarespace, the hosting/content management system (CMS) upon which Big Picture Web is built.  Podcast host Leo Laporte introduced me to Squarespace in an ad spot on his weekly show, This Week in Tech.  Laporte has a philosophy where he'll only accept advertisers if he truly believes in the product.  I was immediately interested when he plugged Squarespace.  I went to their site, took the tour and ended up signing up for two week free trial.  I haven't looked back since.

Create Content, Not Code

I started Big Picture Web using Drupal, another very customizable CMS.  Its open source platform made virtually anything possible with the right amount knowledge and skill.  But in the end, Drupal's versatility was its downfall.  I found it took me way too long to add, configure and customize all the necessary modules to make my site run.  Squarespace has allowed me to focus more on creating content than on creating my website.

If you go to their site, you'll see tons of videos and resources about how easy Squarespace is and how stunning some of their templates are.  I agree with them completely.  In addition, I've come up with three of my own reasons to go with Squarespace and one suggestion for improvement.

Three Pro's of Squarespace

  1. Accessibility.  It's vital that your web pages load quickly for visitors.  A lot of folks will hit the back button if a web page hasn't loaded in under a second.  Squarespace's infrastructure appears to be much cleaner and lighter than what I had put together on the Drupal framework.  Just look what happened to my site load time since moving to Squarespace (courtesy of Google Webmaster Tools):
  2. Time-to-Market.  Creating entire sites takes a fraction of the time it used to.  There are no modules to download or install.  Everything is intuitively integrated into the Squarespace administrative controls.  And while there is a learning curve to any CMS, I think Squarespace would be relatively easy to learn for most.  You won't be able to customize some areas completely to your liking but this will be offset by the time you save using the plug-and-play tools in most cases.
  3. Constant Updates.  Squarespace is constantly releasing new tools to maintain your blog/site.  I can post new blog entries (including photos) from my iPhone thanks to their relatively new app.  Also, you can see that my search engine traffic is back in full force now that I've been able to set up my 301 server redirects from my Drupal-era url structure (courtesy of Google Analytics):

One Piece of Feedback for Squarespace

  1. Comments.  While most of the Squarespace's features are near-flawlessly implemented, I think their comments area needs a little rework.  Best practices are pretty much in place with systems like Disqus, where you're notified of comments posted and you can reply to particular comments.  Being able to engage with your community is vital in this era of the social web.  I can't wait to see any improvements Squarespace rolls out in this area.

The Final Squarespace Review

Your website hosting and platform should always be selected only after carefully reviewing your business goals.  Review the ones that meet your requirements and ultimately go with the one that delivers the best value.  If you're planning a blog or a website for your small/medium business, be sure to check out Squarespace in your review process. It's certainly been a positive experience so far for us here at Big Picture Web.

Update: If you want to know more about my thoughts on Squarespace, check out these posts:

What's your review of Squarespace? Are you a fan or are they over-rated? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Testing Usability: Question Before You Code

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usability questionsI said it last week and I'll say it again.  I really do enjoy being a website project manager because I get to do really neat things on the job.  For example, last week we performed usability testing on some software that we're developing.  If you've never done usability testing, you may want to read this week's post.  You'll see that doing usability testing before you publish your website will leave your visitors with less questions and ultimately help you achieve your business goals.

User Friendly. Easier Said Than Done

Usability is the science of ensuring that your website is easily understood by your visitors and that the tasks they want to perform are clearly identified and simple to use.  Sound easy, right?  You'd be surprised.  If you've ever found yourself fumbling around on a website, chances are you've been the victim of poor usability.

If you have poor usability, it can adversely impact how customers perceive you.  Or even worse, your potential audience might not even see your message at all.  Testing for usability helps to be sure that your message will be clear and that your visitors will have fewer questions about how to further engage your services.

Four Steps of Usability Testing

In a nutshell, usability testing involves four main steps:

  1. Take a drawing, a concept, a wireframe, an existing website... anything you want to test for usability.
  2. Show your "something" to someone who has never seen it before.  Ask them to tell you what they think about it, what they would expect to be able to do and what other things strike them as interesting.
  3. Encourage your test participants to always be broadcasting their internal monologue as they are performing the tasks so that you can tell when they've come across something that doesn't make sense, is unclear or when they're just plain lost.
  4. Some usability issues will be more serious than others.  And many times it's best to make a prioritized list of the biggest issues and then to work on improving, then testing your site repeatedly over time.

The cool thing about usability is that you don't often have to make a huge investment to get huge insights.  Don't get me wrong, I think really good experts in this area are worth every dime.   But if you are strapped for cash, you can get by on a shoestring usability budget.

Much More to Learn

testing usability(Thank you! Please read our book referral disclaimer)I've barely just cracked the usability testing surface in this post.  For more information, I'd recommend reading the brand new Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems, by Steve Krug.  In it he walks through the process of testing usability step by step.

Take our challenge this week. Show your site to someone who has never seen it and ask them what they think it is about. Share your results with other readers in the comments below.

7 Examples of Good Web Design Page Layout

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One of my favorite things about being a full-time project manager in addition to an Internet marketer is that I get some very good on-the-job training and networking opportunities at my nine-to-five.  For example, I've recently had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Susan Weinschenk, Chief of User Experience Strategy at Human Factors International and an expert in web design page layout.

Experts in Web Design

(Thank you! Please read our book referral disclaimer)In her recent book, Neuro Web Design: What makes them click? (New Riders Press), Dr. Weinschenk describes important aspects of usability and persuasive web design.  In plain terms, usability is the practice of ensuring that your website's layout and information is easily understood by your website visitors.  Persuasive design is the art and science of how to make your message more compelling, resulting in more website leads and sales.  Neuro Web Design was a great read and since then I've been looking at websites differently.

Practical Examples of Web Design

This week I came across an excellent example of good web design page layout in a site called Daily Mugshot.  Daily Mugshot is a free service that allows you to take a picture of yourself every day and then post them to a flipbook that you can share with your friends or embed on your website.  Today, I'm going to take you through seven examples of great web page design, thanks to Daily Mugshot.

 (Click to open a larger version in a new window)

7 Examples of Good Web Design Page Layout:

  1. Home page link - It's now become best-practice to have your logo in the top-left corner of your website.  Clicking on the logo should bring visitors to the home page.
  2. The "welcome mat" - Your website should have a section of the home page that introduces the visitor to your website.  You should give folks an idea of what your site is about and why they should be there.
  3. Social proof - Visitors to your site want to know whether your product is any good or not.  Seeing other people who have taken the time to use Daily Mugshots sends a message that the site is worth it.
  4. Search - Search is an important means of navigation for many web users.  A visible search box is a must of almost all websites.
  5. Clear Call-to-Action - Your first goal in great web design page layout should be to provide a crystal-clear action you want your visitors to perform.  Notice how Daily Mugshot uses about three different visual cues to get you to sign up for their service.
  6. Page Layout Navigation - Make sure your visitors don't get lost.  Provide clear navigation with intuitive page titles.
  7. Clear Explanations - Be sure to use clear, concise language that your ideal customer/visitor would understand when you design and layout your web page.

Much to Learn

Great web design page layout requires that you take a lot of factors into account.  Neuro Web Design helped me realize that there is much to learn.  What are some of your favorite examples of good web design page layout?  

Do you have any thoughts or questions about this post?  We'd love to hear them.  Leave a comment below to continue the conversation.

What's Your 2010 Online Marketing Resolution?

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If you've been keeping up on the online marketing news and blog posts lately, you may have seen some of the various predictions for 2010.  For example, Top Rank posted their analysis of eMarketer's 12 online marketing predictions for 2010.  Also, AdWeek posted their media predictions for 2010.  And now that we have a better idea of what industry changes may lie on the road ahead, it's time start with resolutions.  Today on Big Picture Web, we ask you, "What's your 2010 online marketing resolution?"

What Do You Resolve to Do in 2010?

What online marketing goals do you have in 2010?  Is it time to start your blog?  Create a website?  Maybe you're ready to embrace social media through Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter?  Whatever it may be, please share your 2010 online marketing New Year's resolution in the comments below.  Let's make 2010 the start of a great new decade!