blog

Category: Design

Bad dog!: Web mistakes encountered in the pet industry

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Usability

We recently got a puppy.  In the course of doing this research about training and whatnot, I was amazed at how many Web design and usability no-nos I encountered on pet-related sites.  I’ll explore some of them in this post.

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Tell your visitors how donations help

Thursday, June 10, 2010 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Non-Profit, Sound Advice

Having a big Donate Now button is not enough to compel your visitors to donate.  In this Sound Advice clip I give some tips on what more you can do.

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Don’t use “quick links”

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Filed under Design, Usability

If the purpose of your quick links menu is to help visitors to find pages that they are likely to be searching for, then what is your primary navigation for?

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Less is more

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Filed under Design, Usability

You might think that the more you explain how to do something on your website, the easier it is for you users to do it.  Usually, the opposite is true.

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Turn official colours into a colour palette

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Filed under Design, Sound Advice

Don’t limit your website design to your organization’s official colours.  Use a colour palette based on them instead.

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Design your website for your audience, not for you.

Monday, March 1, 2010 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Non-Profit, Sound Advice, Usability

Your website is not for you, it’s for your target audience.  Make sure it looks good for them first.

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Reply to emails promptly

Friday, January 15, 2010 Filed under Customer Service, Design, Marketing & Communications, Sound Advice
1 comment

How quickly do you respond to emails from your audience?

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Frozen vegetables can teach you a lot about calls-to-action

Thursday, December 10, 2009 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Sound Advice, Usability

Look at the calls-to-action buttons on your website.  Would I know exactly what they do just by reading their labels?  Avoid using your organization’s internal language when labelling links and buttons.  Just because your staff understands them doesn’t mean your audience will. 

Also, cook with fresh vegetables.

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If your website is broken, fix it.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Usability

In the age of social networking, organizations can’t afford to ignore errors on their websites.  Some visitor will inevitably point it out, which can lead to an embarrassing situation.  Not long ago, I was that visitor.

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Use positive sounding labels for links

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Sound Advice, Usability

What kind of language do you use for the navigation links on your website?  Do they make your organization seem warm and inviting or negative and confrontational?

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