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Why are they so successful when their website looks like crap?

Posted by Alison on Feb 1, 2012 in Blog, Web Design | 6 comments

You’ve thought it. I’ve thought it. Websites that capture the spirit of 1994. Hideous graphics. Hellish stock photos of women yelling at laptops. And yet…the customers don’t seem to care! They’re pouring in! What’s wrong with the world? Indeed, I met someone the other day who was asking, well really, what’s the point of paying for nice design? What’s the ROI of design, when I can see plenty of basic, unlovely websites that seem to be doing just fine? It’s true. Some horrible-looking websites do very well. Why? Let us analyse. 1. They...

Website as glass window: Ideas for compelling content

Posted by Alison on Jan 30, 2012 in Blog, Content Strategy, Web Design | 4 comments

Much of our best work is private. One of my guilty pleasures is to stroll around the local terraced streets at dusk, around the time that people put a light on, but haven’t yet closed their curtains. Each lighted window is like a diorama, a box briefly displaying the inhabitants living their lives – watching TV, playing the violin, rocking the baby, in an environment that could be anything from Arts and Crafts to Zen Minimalism. It’s a lovely glimpse of real lives. (I don’t think I’m a voyeur, really) And that brings me to an important website function. As a...

How to choose a WordPress theme: 7 questions

Posted by Alison on Jan 19, 2012 in Blog, Web Design | 4 comments

I do love WordPress. I see many businesses, especially small ones, constructing their sites with WordPress.* I also see people who can spend hours of their life getting tangled in the back end, when they thought they were using some simple DIY blogging tool. Well, it can be. Until blind ambition takes over, and you decide to implement that fancy new site scheme at 2 pm and at 11 pm you’re still there. Swearing. So here is my guide to choosing a good theme that will work for you and not take over your waking hours. Seven questions to ask yourself. 1. What’s your skill level with...

To you and your voice. (Happy New Year)

Posted by Alison on Dec 31, 2011 in Web Design | 3 comments

My dad’s New Year (ok, Hogmanay) tradition was to clean the house from top to bottom, and then make lentil soup. I think the theory was that if you enter the New Year with your house in order and your soup on the stove, you have as good a beginning as you can have. (The other part of his tradition was a laser-guided trip to the wee off-licence round the corner, where he bought industrial quantities of Tennent’s Lager, Whyte and Mackay whiskey, and ginger ale. And several teeny bottles of Ball’s Advocaat and Babycham. There’s my Celtic Twilight history. Ah well. ...

Website to Wonderful, 6: Embrace Diversity

Posted by Alison on Dec 16, 2011 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

I recently bought my first Mac. There are many things to love (OMG, the screen). And there are some decidedly different things to get your head around. In an average day, I’ll work on the iMac with its massive screen, and then look at stuff on the desktop PC or laptop PC with widescreen monitor in the evening. It’s…interesting. Here’s what I’m noticing about my website viewing experience. 1. Text always looks better on the Mac Fonts that look perfectly acceptable on the Mac may look like wobbly spider poo on the PC. Fonts that look a bit iffy on the Mac look...

Website to Wonderful, 5: Are you losing your customer at the checkout?

Posted by Alison on Dec 5, 2011 in How To, Usability, Web Design | 0 comments

My son’s worst shopping moment with me took place last Christmas. We were out shopping in the January sales, and I went into WH Smith (a newsagent) to buy a few things. They had some brand new self-service checkouts. I ignored them (hate them with a passion) and queued up to pay a real live person. Then one of the sales staff wandered up and pointed out the self-serve checkouts. I said I didn’t want to use them. He said they were really easy to use if I would just try. We had a little stand-off. A little voice in my ear started going ‘Nooo please Mum nooo, don’t make a...

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Manifesto

Some of us find it quite simple to put our real organisations and authentic selves online.

Others - well, let's just say that some of us can't bear to look at our own websites.

My mission is to help you transform your online presence so that other people understand and appreciate what you really have to offer. So that you can achieve what you want - whether that's better engagement, more readers, or more sales.

Recent Posts

• Why are they so successful when their website looks like crap?
• Website as glass window: Ideas for compelling content
• How to choose a WordPress theme: 7 questions
• To you and your voice. (Happy New Year)
• Website to Wonderful, 6: Embrace Diversity

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