One of my favourite shopping websites has earned itself this accolade for many reasons.  I can find the information I want without any problems, the website is easy to use, and it works. 

I can search for items and place orders effortlessly, secure in the knowledge that not only will my debit card details be held securely, but also that the order will be registered on the system, swiftly processed – and that the shiny, new pieces of jewellery will, before long, drop through my letterbox.

Last week I discovered that that the company that runs the website had opened up a small store in a neighbouring town and that it sells all the products that are featured on the website there.  I visited it as soon as I could.

I browsed the many displays of tantalising items, but it dawned on me that while they looked good in the store display cabinets, they looked fabulous online.  It isn’t that the items online are not a true reflection of those in the shop; it’s just that the online images are of a superb quality, and they do everything that an online shopper wants and expects.

I’ve since cast my eye over the graphics on my own website, and while mine isn’t an e-commerce website offering products for sale, the experience I have of my favourite shopping website has sparked some interesting ideas.

Here are five ideas that are worth considering when sourcing images for your website:

1)

Always use high quality images with fast load times

Avoid grainy, blurred images that take forever to appear; they won’t add anything and could detract from your content.

2)

Use images that add meaning

This is particularly relevant if your web pages contain detailed information or offer a step-by-step/how-to guide.  Showing as well as telling can be a very powerful way to add meaning to your message.

3)

Make sure your images are relevant

Make sure that they fit in with the context of your content – and that they showcase your products in the best possible light.

4)

Add image effects that are useful

For example an enlarge, zoom or rotate feature – or a front and back view of your products will allow your customers to see all the detail they need, to help them when choosing which of your products to buy.

5)

Don’t break copyright laws!

I can’t emphasise this one strongly enough.  Securing the copyright simply means making sure you have permission to use an image that you do not own in a particular way on your website.  This could be permission to use that graphic for free or paying for the right to use it.

Alternatively, you can commission your own photography or do your own drawings or paintings.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 27 September 2011.

I originally had another topic planned for this week, but I stumbled across something that will be useful to everyone who provides an e-newsletter or similar online news alert service.

I decided to tidy up my various email addresses yesterday, in an effort to streamline which emails go to which address: shopping emails to one, friends and general emails to another - and one for business-related emails only. 

Before I started working on my addresses, most of my email newsletters and alerts went into my general inbox. 

I thought I could easily sort it all out by clicking on the links in each alert and updating my email address details on the various third-party websites.  No more than around 20 minutes’ work at most.  Or so I thought. 

Are you making your newsletter subscribers jump through hoops?

While some newsletters contained straightforward email address update links at the end of each email, such as: ‘change your email address’, ‘update your profile’ or ‘enter new subscriber details’, many didn’t.

The worst offenders forced me to log in first (and because I had forgotten my passwords, I had to search for the ‘lost password’ button, and then wait for the new password link to arrive in my inbox). 

I was made me go through a three-stage process of clicking an update button, then confirming my choice by confirming a confirmation email. 

Some newsletters provided no update options whatsoever while others provided them at the top of the emails in microscopic print - making it very difficult to find the information.

In one case, I had the option of unsubscribing only and when I tried to re-subscribe, the form kept refreshing and highlighting one problem or another.  Each time the form re-appeared onscreen, it had wiped all the information I had just typed in.  I gave up on that one.

Test drive your newsletter sign-up tools

Whatever functionality you offer on your site do test it out for yourself to see how it works.  And this applies to any newsletters or other content alert services you offer. 

What may appear straightforward could end up irritating your new customers or alienating your loyal ones.

Email addresses are something we can and often do change regularly, so do all you can to make it easy for your customers to receive your content with ease.  Because if you don’t, someone else will.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 12 September 2011.

Even after many years of working on websites, it’s always a joy to discover a website that contains great content. 

Not only are such websites a pleasure to use and read, but when I do find websites like this, I remember them for all the right reasons and come back to them time and time again.

But what is great content and how can you make sure that your website content makes the grade?

Great content is content that is produced and maintained with your customer or target audience firmly in mind.  It delivers what it promises in an engaging and informative way – and uses the right language. 

Here are three ways to transform your web content:

1) Take your readers’ pulse

In other words find out what your readers want and deliver it.  Know why visitors come to your website and what they are looking for.  Have they found what they are looking for? What is their overall experience of using your website? 

Invest time and energy in finding out the answers to these crucial questions because without these key pieces of information, you will be doing the online equivalent of whistling in the wind.

2) Thrill with relevant content

Once you’ve done your visitor research, you should have all you need to draw up a checklist of the type of content your visitors want. 

Your next task is to deliver that content.  If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to sign up for a web analytics tool and activate it by adding the tracking code to your web pages. 

Web page analytics will give you great insights into what is working and what isn’t.  I use Google Analytics; it’s quick and easy to install and use, and it’s free.

3) Step away from the norm

Don’t use the same tried and tested formula day in day out, year in year out.  Keep on top of web content trends and inject something new for your web visitors to use and enjoy. 

Do your readers like audio content or video content?  Could your weekly plain text newsletter format be missing the mark? 

By trying out new tools and ways of presenting your information, you’ll be giving your website visitors more choice, and greater choice often translates into wider appeal – and therefore more traffic.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 1 September 2011.

Having waxed lyrical in my last blog post about how to keep your blog updated, I have failed to follow most of my own advice by neglecting to post anything new here for just over four weeks.

But while I have failed to put pen to paper, or rather fingers to keyboard, I have thought a lot about this blog, and I managed to jot down a few ideas, so I have some new ideas to share with you this week.

Be your own web content critic

I received a telephone call recently from someone who was looking for help with his website.  I will call him Sam. 

Sam offers a range of professional services and his website has been up and running for a while.  When he first set up his website, Sam wrote all the content himself. 

Recently, he took a long and critical look at his website and decided that it could do with an overhaul.  By his own admission, he’d written it using very academic language and it wasn’t hitting the spot, and his business was not benefitting.

Being your own web content critic isn’t as difficult as you may think and it can be a very useful starting point for seeing how you can give your web content a boost.  Reviewing your own web content some time after you have pulled it together – even after a week or a month – is a great start because that ‘distance’ will automatically make you much more objective.

Get an expert view

One of the things Sam told me when he first contacted me was that he had spoken to a web designer.  While I shared with him the ways I could help him by revamping the words and related areas of his website, I realised I had struck a chord with him.  He said that the designer had touched on some of the areas I had mentioned. 

Sam’s discussions with me and the designer gave him the confidence to know that he was being given useful information that would help him to get his website to where he wanted it to be.  It also reassured him that the professionals he was talking to knew their stuff and really could offer something valuable.

Getting an expert view is something I would always recommend.  It’s your way of sense checking your own ideas or gut instinct, against the skill and knowledge of your chosen expert.  The expert you speak to will almost always give you news ways of looking at things and provide you with a fresh perspective.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 24 August 2011.

Blogs are arguably one of the most time-consuming areas of websites because they can be very content hungry.  They need new content on at least a weekly basis, and the content must be of a high quality covering a new topic or new angle. 

If you have run or are running a blog – for yourself or for someone you work for, you will, at some point have experienced what I like to call Blank Screen Syndrome (BSS).

BSS can strike anyone at any time.   It’s that awful moment when you sit down in front of the computer screen knowing that your next blog post should already be online. 

You might have around 20 minutes to bash out the 350 or so words you need, and this sounds easy enough because you’ve done it before and you know that after the first sentence, your fingers will fly across the keyboard as you warm to your blog topic and the ideas flow.  But this time nothing happens and an hour later, the only thing on your screen is a flickering cursor.

BSS can sometimes strike when you are too busy, too stressed or preoccupied.  For example, you may be going through some life-changing challenges – moving house, looking for a new (day) job, negotiating new family arrangements – the list is endless.

But crippling though BSS can be, it is still possible to overcome it.

Here are 5 ways to overcome Blank Screen Syndrome:

1. Set aside five minutes every day (or every other day) to think about your blog and how you’d like to improve it – you can do this anywhere: on a train, while at the supermarket etc.
2. Use the things that are going on in your life to spark your imagination – you’ll be surprised at how seemingly unrelated topics can be quite similar.
3. Keep a notebook on your bedside table – because first thing in the morning is the ideal time to note down new blog post ideas and thoughts; and if you do this regularly, you will rarely run out of new ideas for your blog.
4. Gather up these ideas every week and put them in a brief list e.g. ‘blog post ideas for August’.  If you have time, add dates next to each idea or simply write your ideas in against the days in your diary.
5. For larger topics, consider splitting your idea into a mini series of posts that can be spread over a week or month – or be used as a weekly or monthly theme.  Here’s an example: if you blog about muffin recipes, your Friday theme might be ‘muffin recipes for vegans’ or ‘nut-free/wheat-free/gluten-free muffin recipes’.

All of these ideas work well for personal or business blogs.  For business blogs, you may prefer to brief a professional to write your blog content written for you – and this can help free up your time to focus on other areas of your business.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 22 July 2011.

Is your website traffic flat lining or non-existent?  Are your website stats showing that visitors don’t stay on your site for long, or that you don’t get any repeat visitors?

The chances are that your content is failing to connect with your customers.  And while there can be any number of reasons why visitors to your website may not be turning into paying customers, dead, dull or boring content is guaranteed to kill of any spark of interest.  Fast.

Here are three tried and tested ways to keep your content lively, and avoid boring your customers to the point of driving them to other websites:

1) Make eye contact with your content

Make your content all about your customers. 

Draw your customers in, by talking to them about their needs and how you can deliver those needs.  If you don’t know what those needs are, find out by asking – and make a point of reading or listening carefully to the feedback you receive.  Remember, your website is not the place to wax lyrical about you and you alone. 

By all means share who you are and what you do – and be human, but don’t become the equivalent of the dinner party bore who everyone avoids because she talks non-stop about herself, her achievements, her success, her failures – and nothing else.

2)  Create content charisma

If you’ve got a way with words, flaunt it. 

Write engaging copy that grabs your audience and holds its attention.  Be attentive, be interesting, add variety and your visitors will stay on your website longer and come back to visit time after time.

Use the active voice rather than the passive voice – for example ‘call us now for an instant quote’- instead of ‘the company may be contacted for an instant quote’.

One way to gauge your content charisma ‘rating’ is to check your website stats.  These stats will reveal all sorts of eye-opening information including: where visitors go on your website and the keywords that have brought them there. 

Your next step is to use this information to improve on what you have - or hire a wordsmith to pull it all together for you.

3) Deliver fluff-free content

By fluff I mean anything that doesn’t improve your content. 

If it doesn’t add anything, don’t add it. 

Here are some examples: long, complicated words, out-of-place jargon, and long boring sentences. 

Fluff-free content includes content that does the job without any unwanted extras. 

Avoid extra padding or pointless repetition.  Make a point of looking over your content regularly and tweaking it so make sure it is working in every way possible for your customers. 

This extra work will pay off in the long run.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 15 July 2011.

One of the reasons why I write one weekly blog post rather than writing several per week or one every day is research.

Research takes time.  But I believe it is time well spent, and this why I’ve opted for a happy medium: fewer posts that contain well researched material.

I regularly carry out research both before and during my blog post writing, and research also goes hand in hand with my other (web) writing work.

But, you may be thinking that there is no need to do any research if you write about a topic that you know well or about something that you do for a living, right?  Wrong.

Why research is important

There are a few reasons why research is important – regardless of your knowledge of the topic you are writing about – and why it matters to your web content:

• there is always something new to learn
• adds objectivity – forcing you to look at other viewpoints
• can add more quality and make your content more rounded – such as an opinion piece from a niche area professional – e.g. in the form of an interview on a hot topic)
• challenges your own ideas about what you know – or think you know
• helps to promote you as someone who is knowledgeable about your niche – rather than someone who has static knowledge only
• makes your website a highly desirable go-to resource for useful/new information about your specialist area
• can add a flurry of interest in the related goods or services you offer

Yes research is a skill, because you have to know where to draw the line when gathering information and checking your sources.   This is something that you will gain with experience.

I once worked with someone who spent so much time gathering as much information and as many details that she could find that she never actually got around to delivering any work; it was a painful process to watch.

Not everyone will fall into the same information-gathering trap as my former colleague, but it’s a cautionary tale worth heeding.

Get someone to do your content research for you

Research also gives you some great skills that you can apply to your business (as well as adding weight to your content) – for example the ability to use and understand unfamiliar information or jargon.   

I have written for legal publications for a number of years, and can now read through legislation with relative ease and get to the crux of the issue for articles or other content I need to write.

Research is a skill that you can develop over time but if it isn’t your forte or you don’t have the time for it, investing in someone who can deliver that researched material for you could be well worth it.

If you’d like help with your research, why not share some details now?

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 8 July 2011.

It will soon be possible for companies or organisations to create a new top-level domain name (TLD or gTLD) of their choice. 

The changes – which have been approved by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the international body that monitors and approves TLDs (ICANN) – will open up limitless possibilities in domain name options. 

Rather than being restricted to the current small clutch of generic TLDs – such as .com, .net and .org – and the country specific TLDs (such as .co.uk, .fr, .jp), companies or organisations can use their brand names (such as .orange or .simplywrite), or create generic names (such as .content or .telephones).

I asked Victoria Bell, an associate at law firm Baker & McKenzie in Sidney, Australia to share how she believes the changes will affect businesses and brands.

The advantages of the new TLDs to business

Bell believes that the new TLDs will help brand building, by opening up a world of possibility for companies, ‘for example a confectionery company could register the TLD .confectionery rather than relying on a generic one such as .com.’ 

Bell adds that the new TLDs will allow brand building by giving business owners the opportunity to use their chosen domain as a dedicated space where their customers can go to find all their products and services.

It is also a powerful way, she adds, to tell customers that a particular TLD is where they should ‘go to for the legitimate brand’.

Companies will no longer have to practice ‘defensive registration’ – by registering multiple domains under the existing batch of TLDs, because they will have the opportunity to register their own brands as a TLD or use a TLD that clearly highlights their area of activity.

 Bell points out that over time, there will also be price benefits for companies or organisations that register secondary domains under their TLDs, because as more domain name registration companies enter the market or offer the new TLDs, they will drive down the cost of registering such domains.

Drawbacks of the new top-level domains

Bell says that at the moment, cost is a major drawback to the new system.  Filing an application to register a new TLD with ICANN will cost US$185,000, which could make it less attractive to small or medium-sized companies.

There is also a further US$75,000 to pay per year for maintaining the registration.

Bell also highlights that brand owners should brace themselves for further costs ‘to protect and defend their brand’ – through the legal system.

But the hefty price tag isn’t the only drawback; Bell points out that individuals are not allowed to register for a TLD. 

In addition, companies without the necessary expertise or technical know-how would be less likely to be able to successfully maintain their TLD.  Bell explains ‘companies have to provide a minimum set of technical requirements, which can be technically demanding.

New TLDs and branding disputes

The new TLDs could lead to brand-related disputes, and Bell believes that there will be an increase in the number of branding disputes for three reasons:

1. The new TLDs will not be geographic, unlike trademarks which limit goods and services to a specific  geographic area
2. Due to the lack of geographic distinction, the new TLDs will not allow for brands to co-exist in the same way that they do offline
3. Two or more companies may want the same or similar domains but under TLD registration rules, this will not be possible

As with many new legal developments, the full impact of the changes will become more obvious over time, once case law has been established.

Bell adds that a ‘similarity test’ will be applied to new TLD applications and cases will be assessed by dispute resolution panels on the basis of this test.  There will, she adds be some ‘interesting test cases and the line that will be taken will depend on whether the dispute resolution panels are multi-jurisdictional – and whether global rules are applied.’

More about branding.

More about gTLDs and the application process.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 2 July 2011.

If there’s one thing we all have in common (apart from death and taxes!) is a 168-hour week.  In other words, we each have a total of 168 hours available to us every week.  

How we choose to spend those 168 hours depends on many things.

Once you’ve done all the essentials, such as sleeping and eating, it’s very easy to squander what’s left of your 168 hours – or allow them to be ‘swallowed up’ by the day job, life in general, a new all-consuming hobby, television, social media, socialising or ‘just stuff’.

But it is possible to set time aside to get important tasks done.

Create a 168-hour web content plan

One way to keep your website content at – or near the top of your list of priorities each week is to make sure you set aside at least a fraction of your 168 hours for web content updates.

For example, if you publish a new blog post once a week, work out how long it takes you to complete that one blog post – and this includes research, writing and finding an image.

If you have more than one weekly blog or a daily blog, perform the same calculations for each one, adding in an extra 15-20 minutes of buffer time for each post.  

So, if it takes you 40 minutes to complete one blog post, you should set aside a total of one hour times however many blog posts you are publishing.

If you would like to approach your content creation with even more precision, or would like to give yourself a timed challenge, you could break down the task and allocate timings to each part of the task, as follows – using a blog post as an example:

• idea and rough planning – 5 minutes
• writing and editing – 25 minutes
• sourcing an image – 5 minutes
• publishing on your website/blog – 5 minutes
• buffer time – 15-20 minutes

Why you need buffer time when creating web content

Your buffer time gives you a little extra time insurance should you need it – e.g. to reboot a temperamental computer, do some research, or create some thinking time.

I have, in recent weeks, been making use of my blog post buffer time to put together ideas for future blog posts. 

I have found that the task of writing a blog post fires up my imagination and supplies me with a flow of ideas.  By making a note of these ideas during my buffer time, I am building up a growing pool of ideas that I can dip into when I write my next blog post.

Why not give the 168-hour content plan a test run?  It’s a tried and tested way to make sure your web content gets the attention it needs each week.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 22 June 2011.

I’ve been attending a number of networking events since last summer, but one event in particular stands out in my mind – and has given me the idea for this blog post.

The event started much like any other, but with one major flaw.  Throughout the networking session, the organiser constantly interrupted the flow of discussions, managing to ruin the evening. 

Using a selection of loud noises – including at one stage – shouting at the top of his voice, he paused proceedings several times during the networking evening. 

He had one aim in mind; to make us listen to what he had to say about:

• his business,
• how he had built up the business,
• how long it had been running,
• how much experience he had and where he had gained it,
• how determined he was to succeed,
• how he used all the tools at his disposal to move his business forward,
• how he projected himself in front of his clients,
• how he dressed etc… 

The list was endless.

By the time he interrupted us for the umpteenth time to tell us about the new products and services he was launching, we were all suffering from ‘listening fatigue’.  He had bored the pants off most of us and we weren’t prepared to listen to anything more he had to say.  He’d lost us.

Is your website guilty of the same thing?

Don’t make your website about you, you and you alone

Let me explain what I mean. 

Many website owners believe it’s good practice to include all sorts of details about themselves on their business website, making the focus of the site them and them alone.

This could take the form of an extremely long About Us page that really should be renamed: All About Me and My Life.  One example I came across a few years ago mentioned the number of siblings the business owner had and detailed the childbirth challenges his mother faced.

This approach may well work for quirky business sites – but I am struggling to think of a single relevant example.

For most sites, the aim should be to make your website about your customer – or at least 95% about your customer.

Yes, you do need to say who you are and what you do, and to add something that lends weight to what you are saying – for example your experience of working in the sector you cover or exposure to the range of products you are selling. 

Is it time you started thinking about launching a personal or hobby blog?

But when preparing such information, remember that it does not mean you should supply a detailed history of how you came to be where you are and every waking thought since that moment – or give a blow by blow account of all the hobbies that have carried you through life. 

Such information, would probably work best on a personal or hobby blog. 

By all means build your customers’ trust in you by showcasing your skills and personality via your business website or business blog, but don’t drive your customers away to someone else’s website.

Remember that your online business content is a delicate balancing act involving sharing a good mix of information. 

But always veer more towards customer-specific copy rather than information of the navel-gazing, it’s-all-about-me kind.

Post written by DEBBIE LEGALL on 15 June 2011.