Ads Are Here To Stay: Planning For Ad Placement

Site advertisements can interfere with content and disrupt layout. Yet they are most often part of website requirements, forcing IAs to come up with strategies for incorportating them. Is there a graceful way to handle ads online?

Kirtland, Alex. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Design>Web Design>Marketing>E Commerce

An Alternative to Banner Ads

Banner ads are not a particularly useful way of getting people to 'click', but inserting a plain vanilla link just might be.

Baker, Adam. Merges.net (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Usability

A Bad Site: Martha Stewart Gets "Vasperized"

Even public relations web sites must be user-centered in design and content. Narcissistic, arrogant PR sites are counter-productive in the digital age of transparency, fault-admission, and altruism via shared information. Find out why Martha Talks is a web site failure from a usability and ethics point of view.

Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2004). Articles>Web Design>Public Relations>Marketing

Be Open to Closed-Loop Marketing

Though it's sometimes tough to implement, making marketers feel as if they're going in circles, closed-loop marketing can help you adjust marketing campaigns to deliver highly targeted content and advertising.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing

Brand Experience in User Experience Design

As user experience professionals, we have the opportunity to work more closely with brand and marketing specialists to clearly articulate the brand perception we want to elicit from our customers. Brand perception is, in part, an expectation on the part of a customer regarding future interactions with a company and its products and services. To achieve our desired brand perception, we must consistently represent and deliver the brand values we have led customers to expect.

Baty, Steve. UXmatters (2006). Design>Web Design>User Experience>Marketing

Branding Copy and Web Sites: A Bad Fit

The trouble with using text as a branding tool on web pages is that it gets in the way of what visitors are looking for. Visitors want and expect text to be useful and information. They are in 'active' and 'engaged' mode. They are searching. They want something. Text that isn't useful is disappointing.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Marketing

Build Up Links to Your Website

Link building is an essential part of any online marketing strategy. Learn how to in this article.

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Search Engine Optimization

Business-Centred Design

In traditional user-centred design, focus is on users’ needs and their use of the product, while marketing is left to the marketing department. On the web, usability and marketing go hand in hand. Whether commercial or not, a web site has to meet the need of its users and at the same time convince them to take action, for the objectives behind the site to be meet.

Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2003). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Usability

Choosing The Right Strategy For Your Online Business: Pay for Inclusion versus Pay per Click

How to determine the ROI for Pay for Inclusion and Pay per Click marketing strategies.

Zwicky, Richard. Metamend (2004). Design>Web Design>Marketing

Clicks that Stick: Retargeting Users that Leave Your Site

98 percent of Internet shoppers leave ecommerce sites without buying. That is why Internet-savvy marketers are starting to use retargeting technology to pursuing customers who have left their website and recapture lost sales.

Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2007). Articles>Web Design>Marketing

Clickthru Is Evil II

Ten years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the web. Five years ago, advertisers started discovering it. Now they are poised to wreck it. Double-Click’s poison cookie has Alan Herrell foaming at the mouth as he explains why Clickthru is Evil.

Herrell, Alan. List Apart, A (2000). Articles>Web Design>Marketing

Color Design for the Web

Did you know that a site visitor forms his or her first impression about your site within the first nine seconds of a visit? Making sure your color scheme is in contour with your site's content and visitors, is very important. You want the color scheme to enhance your site and it's content, not distract or confuse your users. Color gives users cues as to your site's navigation, grouping of content, importance, relationships, etc. For this reason, color is an essential element of Web site design. Most of the people relate to color similarly online and offline. Visitors to your site, whether they know it or not, respond to colors and other visual elements on your web site on a psychological level. An intrigued (and non-confused) site visitor is more likely to engage in the goal of your site -- whether it is meant to inform, entertain, or to sell goods or services.

Singh, Vaishali. CoolHomePages.com (2000). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Color

Content for Tourism and Hospitality Sites

My worst experiences with hospitality sites have been to do with vague location, online timetables, poor follow-up communication, and out of date information. I have wasted days as a result, which I hate.

McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>Writing

Creating a Sales Page That Converts

Anyone can put up a web page, but putting one up that actually sells requires some skill. Discover exactly what you need to do!

Beckert, Loren. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Usability

CRM: A Way of Thinking About Customers

Marketers have many ways to influence customers' purchasing behavior and decisions. They start with advertising aimed at acquiring new customers and continue through sales and customer service that generate repeat orders. Until recently, it was normal for many of these functions to be performed by a company's different departments, which did not act as a unified team.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Marketing>CRM

The Devil His Due

The online adult industry leads the B2C marketplace. On the web's ghost-town Main Street, populated with derelict online storefronts, the Porn Saloon is still open and still doing good business (though not as good as before). Given that success in our culture is associated with making money, the online adult industry is showing the rest of the industry a possible path to online success. Designers, developers, and site owners can learn from the porn industry. Not from its generally ridiculous branding and graphics, but rather from its affiliate programs, technology, and customer service.

Jacobson, Bob. List Apart, A (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing

Do Web Enhancements Pay Off?

It's commonly thought that investing in loyalty-building features such as personalization is a sure-fire way to increase profits. This is because it costs less to keep a customer than to attract one in the first place. However, a deeper look into the economic value of Web site enhancements might have you changing your priorities.

Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing

Don't Submit Your Website to Any Search Engines

Submitting your website to every search engine is an incredibly time-consuming process. There are hundreds and hundreds of them out there - no doubt, you've come across the companies who'll submit your website to 1000 search engines for you. Search engine professionals know that the vast majority of these search engines have a very low usage rate and will drive hardly any traffic your way. In fact, it's only a handful of search engines that drive the majority of traffic from search engines to websites.

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Search

For Good Media Relations, Treat Reporters Like Customers

Know their needs, advertise your products, give good service, offer specials, educate and keep in touch.

Writing that Works (2003). Design>Web Design>Marketing

The Future Belongs to the Trusted Few

Find out how to avoid sneaky marketing practices that users can see through. Instead, provide honest and useful content and watch the number of repeat site visitors soar.

Usborne, Nick. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Marketing

Give Your Testimonials More Credibility

I think that the people who give the testimonials do so for the additional exposure they receive for their own names, sites and businesses. I also think they do some mutual back-scratching, and hype each other's products and services. In other words, the testimonials are just additional sales text. They have no credibility as outside, third-party endorsements.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Writing>Web Design>Marketing

In-Text Ads Swap Clutter for Context

The prevalence of online banners and text ads have made all but the most annoying online ads nearly transparent to online users. To stand out from the crowd, some marketers are turning to a simple, relevant and transparent advertising format: the text link.

Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2007). Articles>Web Design>Marketing

Inconspicuous Consumption: Lessons for Web Design from Mall and Retail Design

While many scour the web for new ideas on web design, others are looking elsewhere.

Carliner, Saul. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Marketing

International Marketing for the Internet: The Power of Virtual Shopping

Linda, an American living abroad in a country with limited merchandise, orders online for books, contact lenses, and smoked ham. Her Dutch husband buys from www.amazon.com and www.ebay.com because U.S.-based retail web sites offer a wide range of goods at a cheaper price than their adopted country, including lower import duties and lower shipping costs from U.S.-based cargo carriers.

Lopez, Joselito T. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>International

Internet Advertising and the Law

The Internet is a new marketing frontier where the rules and regulations are rapidly evolving. Governments throughout the world aim to redress this imbalance by providing protection to their citizens through laws and regulations which control the use of advertising.

Hudson, Roger. Usability.com.au (1999). Articles>Web Design>Legal>Marketing