http://www.globalcopywriting.com/home/ http://www.globalcopywriting.com/6-website-design-mistakes-to-avoid/#PageComment_76299 Hi Doug, You raise a good point about the website meeting the purpose of the company. I agree there is a time and a place for wizardry along with fun and games. You've given good examples of when and where it makes sense. I've seen too many examples of poor usage though - the accountant with cascading tiles, retailers with obnoxious music and property companies with icons whizzing all over the screen. It makes me think the web designer had some new tricks they wanted to try and had no regard for what the business was trying to accomplish. Thanks for lending some valuable examples to this discussion. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:06:19 -0700 Sarah Mitchell http://www.globalcopywriting.com/6-website-design-mistakes-to-avoid/#PageComment_76299 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/6-website-design-mistakes-to-avoid/#PageComment_76298 Nice post. I do think some of these depend on the goals. If I go to a car site, I want sexy flashy zoomy swoopy stuff. I'm not just there for the data. I want to be romanced. For a media company, a busy site packed with goodies is what I expect. But I do agree that tiny type, illegible color combinations and un-invited tunes are always annoying. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:30:14 -0700 Doug Kessler http://www.globalcopywriting.com/6-website-design-mistakes-to-avoid/#PageComment_76298 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/6-website-design-mistakes-to-avoid/#PageComment_76297 Wow, Hayley! Thanks so much for your considerable and considered contribution to this post. You've given me a lot of great information. I love the website grader and use it to track improvements on my own site. I look forward to checking out the color scheme designer site soon. Thanks for stopping by. Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:23:51 -0700 Sarah Mitchell http://www.globalcopywriting.com/6-website-design-mistakes-to-avoid/#PageComment_76297 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/6-website-design-mistakes-to-avoid/#PageComment_76296 As a web design professional I totally agree with you, Sarah. The whole point of a website is to get people involved in your business, not scare them away. Unfortunately, some colour schemes can be frightening. A good place to start with colour is to go to a colour wheel and choose colours that actually fit together. Check out this tool, http://colorschemedesigner.com, it's a fabulous resource and a great place for getting your colours looking like they go together. I always send my client's here as a first port of call when starting a website for them. As a girlfriend who is an interior designer once told me, create a canvas on which to paint with splashes of colour. So the more plain the canvas, the more colour you can introduce in each page or post without it clashing. I also think that flash has its place but it can definitely be overdone and if it is constantly drawing your eye when you're trying to read that's mega annoying and distracting. Use the KISS principle. I'd also like to add a couple of pet peeves I have and one of them is a disorganised site. If I have to click loads of times to get to where I wanted, then I'm not going to stay long. A clearly organised site is always a winner, just as well spaced text that has some highlighting or headers to help me get the gist of the page quickly. And finally tip of the day, if you want to know just how well or bad your site is, pop over to http://websitegrader.com and enter in your website url. In a flash you'll have a grade out of 100 that will tell you how it is faring in comparison to all the other websites that have been graded. It will also give you some tips on how you could improve your site. A great tool I think. For more info, you could pop over to my site, http://thecreaticians.com where I offer a holistic approach to web design and business support. Hayley Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:48:27 -0700 Hayley Solich http://www.globalcopywriting.com/6-website-design-mistakes-to-avoid/#PageComment_76296 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/4-ways-to-improve-your-customer-experience-with-content-marketing/#PageComment_76295 I thought listing a personal passion on the nametag was pure genius. Every person I asked about it beamed. It was a great technique to engage the customer and improve the overall experience. Most people, when they travel, want to feel like they connected somehow with the locals. This helped. Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:28:40 -0700 Sarah Mitchell http://www.globalcopywriting.com/4-ways-to-improve-your-customer-experience-with-content-marketing/#PageComment_76295 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/4-ways-to-improve-your-customer-experience-with-content-marketing/#PageComment_76294 I love the personal interest on the nametags - what a great idea! Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:15:38 -0700 Claudia http://www.globalcopywriting.com/4-ways-to-improve-your-customer-experience-with-content-marketing/#PageComment_76294 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/4-ways-to-improve-your-customer-experience-with-content-marketing/#PageComment_76293 Honestly, Paul, I had contemplated a long rant before I wrote this post. I've been on the customer service warpath so much lately I decided to take a different tack to prove I'm not always a sour puss. Thanks for stopping by. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:30:02 -0700 Sarah Mitchell http://www.globalcopywriting.com/4-ways-to-improve-your-customer-experience-with-content-marketing/#PageComment_76293 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/3-light-bulb-moments-that-helped-my-business/#PageComment_76292 Hi Michele, A/B testing is another one of those things on my "to do" list. I have big ideas but little time to implement. I'm with you on getting posts in my inbox. I just don't know why it took me so long. I really like Brian Massey's post at CMI - he gives step-by-step instruction on how to get it done easily. http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2010/07/an-email-newsletter-that%E2%80%99s-as-easy-as-blogging/ Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:27:49 -0700 Sarah Mitchell http://www.globalcopywriting.com/3-light-bulb-moments-that-helped-my-business/#PageComment_76292 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/3-light-bulb-moments-that-helped-my-business/#PageComment_76291 Sarah, One thing that I really want to try more of is A/B testing. I know that I can reap such rewards by making small changes , so it's something that I need to take the time to learn more about and start practicing! BTW, I love getting your posts through email. I have an RSS reader, but when days get busy (as they often do), it's nice to get my favorites posts in my inbox. Michele Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:39:38 -0700 Michele Linn http://www.globalcopywriting.com/3-light-bulb-moments-that-helped-my-business/#PageComment_76291 http://www.globalcopywriting.com/4-ways-to-improve-your-customer-experience-with-content-marketing/#PageComment_76290 Dang, Sarah; sure looks like you gleaned far more positive lessons than I did from my recent Bali nightmare. Good on you for rising above the scams and finding things to praise. I'm glad you derived some benefit from your stay. Best regards, P. :) Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:03:33 -0700 Paul Hassing http://www.globalcopywriting.com/4-ways-to-improve-your-customer-experience-with-content-marketing/#PageComment_76290