Leave the Lights On!

Your Website works, you sleep!

Pretty good?
Well, what are you saying about yourself, while you snooze the night away?

~~~~~~~

That’s what it comes down to.
A smart communication medium, the web, and catering to people of all time zones and sleep patterns.

So, speak well, act naturally, welcome your visitors in as if you are actually there and awake, and tell them what you have to say.

Oh, – and a beautiful entrance leads the way in. Awake or asleep, if you build it, and no one comes, it’s not much of a party.

O

Come See the Show! – Clarity in Small Bites

Come see the show!

You’ve got something to say, no, wait, 3 things!

Slow Down!

Choose the most important one, and start there.

>>

Picture an old fashioned (from the movies) Carnival Barker.
He yells out, “Come see the show!” focusing on one aspect to attract the attention of passersby.

“We’ve got a snake with three heads, the only one ever in existence!  You’ll be missing something truly amazing if you don’t hurry in to see the snake with three heads!”
You may start to slow down and consider going in.

But,

What if, at your moment of decision, he yelled out, “ and we also have clowns and balloons and games and a tattooed lady!”
What? you’ve completely lost interest, because it’s not so clear anymore what exactly he’s offering. Sounds like a jungle in there!
And, if he’s trying so hard to push many disparate things, he starts to give the impression that none of them are all that interesting on their own.

What if,
instead, when he had your attention,
he paused and started to talk softly about this one particular attraction and how they came upon it.
You might find yourself inside before you know it.

Clarity – It can be quite exciting!

Who are you?

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us -don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Emily Dickenson

It doesn’t matter who you are or who your think you are.

What matters is your singular message.

A clear resounding message.

One voice.

Your Voice.

This is where your truth lies.

Sing Out!

It’s a Conversation, really.

We talk, we are engaged with each other’s thoughts, with our lives, and lots of other details.

So, a relationship forms, trust builds.

This is how we do business these days.

It’s not faceless anymore.

If you care about your client or customer, you’ll serve them better, and retain the working relationship.

It’s satisfying, isn’t it?

It may seem informal, but not necessarily. What is, is more intimate. A connection, that starts with a conversation.

A Simple Site

Keeping it Simple

simple |ˈsimpəl|

adjective

1 easily understood or done : a simple solution

• plain, basic, or uncomplicated in form, nature, or design

• [ attrib. ] used to emphasize the fundamental and straightforward nature of something : the simple truth.

You know what simple means.

Well, I think I do too.
But it does seem to take on different meanings and interpretations, depending on the situation.

A Simple Website

Is clear in one message, everything there works together in harmony,  your viewers have all of the basics of what they need to know to take the next step. (Finding out more)

Harmony in color design and message.

A single idea told with grace and clarity.

Keep it Simple has been said a lot lately. Maybe it’s because it’s so important, and we have so much inclination to muck things up.

Remember that a large part of Google’s success is due to it’s perceived simplicity.

Your Voice on the Web – Make it Shine!

Make it Shine!

Make it:

Unique
Clear
Relevant

Make it Your Own!

1. SHINE ON!

   You  have a reason to be ‘speaking’ online. You have something to say, or show, or do. The medium is all about communication, so, go on – brag a little! That’s why you came to the party, isn’t it?

2. UNIQUE

   My one and only! There’s no one else doing what you’re doing, exactly like you’re doing it. Keep it in mind in all of your communications!

3. CLARITY

   There’s no point in communication if no one knows what you’re talking about. Have priorities, and make it very clear what your MAIN message is. If you try to talk about too many things, you’ll get seen as disorganized, or unfocused, or worse. Keep in mind – it was the simplicity og the Google home page and it’s singular, clear focus that made it what it is. Its easy, and comfortable to use. It DOES lots of other things, but this is where they chose to make their voice heard.

4. RELEVANCE

   Stay on topic. All the time. Keep your subject matter consistent to your objectives. This is another area where you put your visitors at ease by choosing an area of primary expertise and make everything relevant to it.

5. IT’S YOURS!

   These web ‘visitors’ are people you may want to have a relationship with. They want to know who you are, what it would be like to do business with you. The more you present yourself (your business) as though your were talking in person with this potential client, the easier it will be to know what is authentic to you,and your voice will ring true!

The Web Story

Every business has it’s story.

Does your website tell yours?

Telling your story engages people, as opposed to selling to them. If you are interested in your potential clients, you are open to learning from them, what they’re thinking, what they might want from a business like yours.

I’ll tell you a quick story about the web. A few years ago, looking to take a vacation down at the Florida Keys, somewhere I’d not been, I did what most of us do these days. I went online.
Someone had suggested a nice town – Marathon, so I searched for inns, b&b’s etc. in Marathon, Fla.

Narrowing it down went like this:
If they didn’t have a website at all, they weren’t even considered.
Then it was really judging from the websites and the impressions they gave. You can imagine the variety.
So we sorted through according to personal taste and what we were looking for.

The Power of Design

This is where the importance of how your website is designed comes in.

What we found was a site that brought us in with tropical colors, and just the right photos and information that had us booking a room shortly after finding the site.

When we got there, the feeling we got was exactly as we expected, and the owners were as gracious as they had been on the phone.

The Power of Design

It has been said  – you can’t tell a book by it’s cover – and maybe you can’t – always.

BUT,

What is it that compels you to open the book, or even to pull it off the shelf to begin with?

The nature –
and purpose of design
is to bring the viewer in to the story you are telling, whether it is an object you are selling, a piece of information, or an actual story to be read and savored.

When you think of the book of Alice in Wonderland, what comes to mind, visually? I can instantly picture the white rabbit checking his watch, and the bottles with their “drink me” labels, and of course my just saying the words, “Cheshire cat” will recall that somewhat creepy, ever-observant cat with the big grin, perched on a limb.

There are 2 modes of design at work here. As you read, you are simultaneously creating an environment in your mind that the story is narrating. The other are those lovely delicate black and white drawings done so long ago, so powerful, they come to mind at just the thought.

The POWER of Design is where it can bring you.

The POWER of Design on the Web is what it compels you to do.

The design of your site is crucial because it’s in those first seconds (seconds!) that the decision is made to leave to stay.

So, choose your colors and design (and designer, actually) wisely, because your goal is not to get people to your site, but to get them past those initial moments so that you can ENGAGE them.

That’s the power of design.

Creating a Clear Path

Take it for granted?

It’s nice that we can take it for granted now.

Information

the information you were LOOKING for…

Is it clear and obvious?

… or are you leading them down a long path?

Your Design should:

• Make a clear statement at first glance

• Let your visitors know that they’ve come to the right place

• Make all paths clear!

  - Make it easy for visitors to get around

  - Make it enjoyable to explore.

  — they’ll stay and look further

• Tell them what to do! (ask?)

  — Comment on my blog!!!

• Thank them for the visit
  —– implicit or explicit
  

Be Yourself.

Be Beautiful,

Cutting Edge,

Rauchy,

Just stay true to your school! (message, etc.)

This is the purpose of design.

It should tell you something, take you somewhere, and move you.

Interactive Website Planner!

Work with this:

I’ve made an interactive website planner for you to work with online.

Interactive ~ Here’s how it works:
When you first see it, you’ll get the main idea. Your website is information that you get to by clicking through (as opposed to page-turning). Therefore the organizational piece of this is very important. You want to make a website that makes sense, information is where people would logically expect it to be.

So, we devise a hierarchy ~ like chapters in a book.

And things can fall into place.

Try this web planner. It’s easy and fun. You can move the pieces around until it starts to look like the site you had in mind.

Enjoy!
Margie

Lightening Striking Again!

I had this all set in my mind, but when I opened up the page to write, these 3 words (accompanied by music of course) from an old song (Frankie Vallie?) popped into my head, somehow replacing the Eric Clapton toon that’s been playing on those new phone ads. I can even picyure where i was the summer I first heard it.

Memory

It’s a funny thing. So much more I could say here, but I’m going to stick to the topic at hand:
Making your website memorable
What does it take?

Let’s start with originality and authenticity, which if thought of in a certain way, are more or less the same thing. Think of this before you start to plan you site, and the path will feel a lot more clear.

Lightening Striking – Again
and again, and again.

Visceral Connection & your Website

Connection

The key to any creative endeavor.
Whether you’re making an incredible meal, a pencil drawing, or describing a precious moment shared with a friend, it’s the connection that you’re making at the time of the telling, sharing, giving, that makes it sing.

So, your endeavor, whether it’s a specialty law practice or a decorative furniture painter, needs to be showed off as such.

In the online world, this is where the communication happens, where the connection begins.
And, the connection is what matters.

The connection is all that matters.

Just one example, (out of possibly millions) to start:

A few years ago, (more than a few, actually) looking online for an interesting place to stay for a little get-away in southern florida, I picked a general location and went online. There were lists of b & b’s in the area. The ones without websites were out. I was already online. If a potential vacation spot couldn’t at least show me a few pictures, or give a description, or show some signs of life other than a phone number,… there were all of the others who would.
Back to the story,…
I first winnowed it out by the ones that had sites, and then clicked quickly through and eliminated the ones whose sites told me nothing, or looked somehow terrible, and I was left with maybe 3 or 4. Easy. I looked at these and the one that was just what we were looking for became obvious.
To jump ahead just a bit, I called, made the connection I had anticipated with the owner and we had a memorable trip.

Not always so smooth and easy of course, but you get the point.
These people put it out there clearly who they were and what kind of experience to expect.

Clarity,…

Connection,..

and that’s what it’s all about!