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I did a bit of research today regarding a way to solicit suggestions from customers the way that Starbucks has done with myStarbucksIdea.com. Though the reviews of that site have been a bit mixed (suggesting that authenticity is lacking), I think most marketers agree that the general idea is sound. Engaging customers in improving a company, product, or organization is what it’s all about.
So, how can I harness that power for other clients. Back to my research. I found a promising new web site called UserVoice that provides a free hosted feeback platform that allows a company to suggest possible product or service enhancements, solicit new ideas, and capture feedback on those ideas. At first glance, it looked a bit too good to be true, but further investigation has left me very hopeful that it will work for more than just one client.
Have you used UserVoice? What’s your opinion on their product, and on that method of engaging users in improving a company, product, or service?
July 21st, 2008
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I received an email recently from one of the employees at Web Hosting Search notifying me that they’re starting a new web designer directory and wondering if I wanted to be included.
This was remarkable for two reasons. First, a real person emailed me to verify my information (obviously not a spam link building scam) and second, they didn’t want me to pay them for the service. They wanted a little attention in return, which I’m happy to provide to any quality web site.
I’m happy to participate in a free service when I know it’s backed by professional people trying to help their clients find a real designer. Way to go Web Hosting Search!
July 17th, 2008
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I’m sure you’ve done it. Every designer has. You cleverly assign a background image to a page division (DIV) that contains some more DIV elements you’re going to float right and left to make columns. You float the columns right and left. “Voila”, you say.
Then, you look closer. Your background that was supposed to appear between and around the columns to unify the design has simply disappeared. Where did it go?
As far as I know, Internet Explorer and Opera are the only browsers in which a parent DIV expands to contain floated child DIVs (the columns in our example). What do we do for Firefox, Safari, and others?
A simple hack I’ve used very often comes from the kind folks at Position Is Everything. I’ve copied it below:
.clearfix:after {
content: ".";
display: block;
height: 0;
clear: both;
visibility: hidden;
}
All you need to do is to assign a class of “.clearfix” to the element that is being floated and is protruding below its parent. If you’d rather not add ANY extra markup to your HTML, you can just refer specifically to the elements that need clearing without adding the class.
If you have any questions or comments, please share them below. Also, visit the very helpful page at Position Is Everything for more details. They’ve also linked to an updated method as covered by SitePoint.
July 16th, 2008
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Out of the box, Wordpress is not very optimized for search engines. One very simple technique I’ve used to help remedy this is to create my own version of the title tag. This version looks good in the search engine results pages and is very relevant to keyword searches since the title is up front. You may or may not want to include your blog name, I choose to keep mine.
This is the code used for the title tags on this blog:
<title>
<?php wp_title('', TRUE); ?>
<?php if ( !is_home() ) { ?>
- < ?php } ?>
<?php bloginfo('name'); ?>
</title>
Other Resources:
There are some interesting resources for bloggers available to help with search engine optimization. Here’s a short list.
July 12th, 2008
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Let me preface this post by saying that I really, really like Wordpress …
However, I’ve been cleaning up a mess that injected spam into my blog for a while now. The hacks consisted of two types:
- Comments that injected spam links
- Hacked template files that imported scripts with spam links
If you use Wordpress, make sure you take a close look at your source code. Better yet, lock down the permissions on all your template files. This will not allow you to use the online theme editor that Wordpress provides, but for most of us, it’s an acceptable trade-off.
I don’t understand the cause of the security breach, but have been more diligent ever since about updating to the newest version of Wordpress whenever it’s released. I’d suggest all bloggers do the same. We’ve got to stop the spam.
Some links for more info:
July 8th, 2008
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I just finished listening to an excellent podcast from Jason Fried (from a talk given in 2005). For those of you who aren’t interested in reading the 37Signals book (shame on you!), the podcast summarizes the main points very well.
His philosophy of rapid development recomends only adding features that are necessary. Hmm. Perhaps this compares well to a minimalist school of design. Not just for aesthetic sake. Minimalist design should offer what a user needs, no more and no less. Listen up designers, you may learn a new approach to design from a software developer!
Listen to the podcast, it’s excellent food for thought.
June 3rd, 2008
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Virginia (Ginny) Redish’s Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works is not just a book about writing sales copy. Instead, it is a book about creating usable web content that meets the needs of your target audience.
If your audience needs sales information or technical information the task is essentially the same. Focus on their needs, meet those needs with clear and easily accessible content, and reap the benefits. Of course, Ginny doesn’t say it that simply and that wouldn’t be worth the price of a book!
Each chapter covers one aspect of creating usable content for the web in depth. I recommend this book for anyone interested in marketing on the web. It is chock full of time tested advice that will help you create a successful content rich web site.
May 30th, 2008
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