Monday, April 06, 2009

Subscriber Questions/New ClayPals and Jewelry Auction

Good morning, friends. I've been receiving some very nice emails from subscribers thanking me for the continuing series of tips regarding the biggest mistakes businesses make with their web sites. Please do send me links to your site and I'll let you know what I think!

A few people asked about other design tools I recommend for improving textual layout for headlines and such. About a year ago, Max Rylski released a product called Killer Text. I wrote about it briefly in my newsletter.

It is a collection of professionally designed PhotoShop Action Scripts and Styles. You type in the text you want to use, and then apply a style. Instantly, your text becomes "killer text" and pops off the page with brilliant color treatments. It is very easy to use and works with Adobe PhotoShop or Photo Elements. You can learn more about it here and see examples of the text you can easily create with this set of tools:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/killertext2.htm


I also recommend another offering of Max's called Super Easy DIY Graphics which is a collection of professionally designed graphic elements which you can customize.

http://www.graphicsassistance.com/supereasydiygraphics.htm

The key thing to learn in all of this is moderation. Less is usually more, and it is easy to overdo it. I have seen pages where every other word is either bold, italics, underlined, a different font, a different color or highlighted or even different sizes. This does not help you. It hinders you.

Likewise, it is critical to make sure that the graphical header at the top of your site does something to explain the nature of your product or service. It should be visually compelling and intrigue the visitor to lean in and look down to read your initial sales pitch. We'll talk more about sales copy in the future. For now, focus on look and feel.

Another great exercise is to search Google for your top ten competitors in your own backyard or niche. Then start scoring them for their design and compare them to your own. The light bulbs should start going off and giving you ideas on how to either simplify or fix your site.

OK, some of you have been kind enough to ask how you can help send Alex to D.C. this summer. This week we've extended our fund raising to include new Easter ClayPals Alex has designed and my wife is auctioning off some custom jewelry she created.

Alex's newest ClayPals may be found here:

http://www.claypals.net

The story about her nomination to go to D.C. by her school may be found here:

http://www.schneiderman.net/alex

My wife's custom designed jewelry creations may be found on eBay, but one of the pieces is already being bid on. If you like her work please act fast. All monies generated through the sales of ClayPals and my wife's jewelry creations are going towards Alex's D.C. trip in August.

Smoky Quartz Earrings

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=170318274224

Pink Coral Earrings

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=170318275539

Pink Coral Bracelet

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=170318276217

Pink Coral Necklace

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=170318277143

Turquoise Earrings

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=170318539017

Onyx Earrings

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=170318540676

Onyx Bracelet

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=170318543110

Thanks for your support,

Steven

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