Work smarter with contractors

Organisations that work with contractors have to learn how to work with us

E-learning vs E-working

Remote vs on site This will be a short post today just pointing out a hypocrisy that was made apparent to me recently when I responded to an advert for e-learning contractors at a well-know university. I emailed the project leader to ask about remote working, as I am not located near the university but…

The importance of contact

When potential customers visit your website and decide to fill in your contact form and click “submit”, they are taking a leap of faith. They have given you something of themselves and trust you to give something back in the form of information or, at the very least, acknowledgment. They are alone in the wilderness…

6 ways to treat job candidates humanely

How humane is your recruitment process from the candidate’s perspective?   Caveats It is true that this post is not about either web strategy or online learning, but I’ve recently heard the sad tale of a friend’s quest to find new employment, and memories of my own experiences with the recruitment process from both sides…

Social Media Revolution

Can businesses afford to ignore social media? Credit: Socialnomics

The Four Factors of a Website

Planning and building a website is about much more than lining up hosting and technical assistance. There are four interacting factors that affect the success of a website, which should all be acknowledged and addressed in its planning, designing, implementation and ongoing maintenance. Site The website itself is just one of four factors and includes…

15 Common E-Commerce Design Mistakes

I want to call your attention to an excellent blog post, 15 Common Mistakes in E-Commerce Design, which describes the most egregious and irritating problems customers frequently find when trying to do online shopping.  These mistakes are easily avoided as long as you know about them.  They are (in summary): A lack of detailed product…

Five Common Myths About Websites for New Businesses

1. If we build it, they will come. New businesses should get excited about the idea of creating a website for the potential that site gives them to reach the world and interact with it, but the misconception many have is that a website automatically means new customers. The biggest disappointment I see with new…

The importance of Usability

Usability is the word for “making products and systems easier to use and matching them more closely to user needs and requirements” (UsabilityNet). A whole industry has grown devoted to usability, user interface (UI) and the user experience (UX) of computer applications and environments.  User surveys, focus groups and even experiments that map the way…

Responding to Criticism of Your Site

I’ve just been reading  How To Respond Effectively To Design Criticism by Andrew Follett. It’s intended for designers in the first instance, but much of the advice should be considered by anyone who has a stake in a website (owner, designer, marketing folks, etc). The main point is to get and make good use of…