Business

Web technology advances harmful to business?

Nik — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:51:00 -0500

Use of so-called “Web 2.0” web development techniques by businesses could be foolhardy, according to usability guru Jakob Nielsen.

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen warns against believing all the Web 2.0 hype when designing with the end-user in mind. While some 2.0 features can help, the majority of sites should focus on mastering the 1.0 aspects that users know and love.

Sneaky marketing - crackdown

Nik — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:43:14 -0400

Recently introduced legislation in the UK now means that a whole swathe of “sneaky” internet marketing practises are now outlawed.

Susan at Hallam Communications posted this article about the new laws, citing that:

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations bans 31 unfair commercial practices designed to protect consumers from misleading, aggressive or unfair practices.

In particular, the legislation outlaws any marketing that is in fact a disguised commercial message.

SEO techniques no longer recommended in 2008

Nik — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:44:47 -0500

It’s no surprise that Google and friends “move the goalposts” quite frequently to keep a rein on certain search engine optimisation techniques. What is considered a perfectly legitimate way of getting web traffic one month, may be a complete no-no the next.

So it’s important to keep on top of which techniques are still going to help, and even more so, which ones could be harming your site’s progress. Last year, several ways of gaining traffic – some, years old – were crushed.

Get an accessible website and reap the benefits

Nik — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:55:23 -0500

In this recent article from CMSWire, web accessibility is highlighted with an emphasis on business, as they summarise a white paper by Squiz.

Squiz suggest: “businesses of all sizes neglect standard web accessibility standards, and thus lose out on all kinds of business opportunities. [Full article]

Protecting your Drupal site with security updates

Nik — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:23:00 -0500

I’ve read a scare story recently concerning a blogger having his site overtaken by hackers. It’s not the first one I’ve come across either. If you’re using a third party web development agency, then I suggest you have a word with them and make sure you’re “protected”.

ICANN halts domain tasting - domain buyers rejoice!

Nik — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:36:14 -0500

Only recently, I posted an article warning of the practise of domain tasting. Today, I’m happy to report that due to the large amount of news that this particular registrar’s activities generated on the internet, this is now coming to a close.

ICANN is the organisation that looks after all the rules and regulations concerning domain names and the practises surrounding them. They met recently and unanimously voted to end the practise of domain tasting.

How to avoid potential domain name theft

Nik — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:56:50 -0500

I just found a thread over at SitePoint that is worth mentioning, regarding a domain company that’s doing something that has long bothered me in the industry – “domain tasting.” What’s that…?

Certain domain name vendors provide a facility to search for available domains on their websites. Unfortunately, there exists a mechanism referred to as domain tasting, which allows anyone to register a domain for a period of up to five days to see if it’s right for them.

Google Checkout stays free for longer

Nik — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:10:59 -0500

Google today announced that they will be extending the grace period of their Checkout program, which was launched last year as a direct competitor to Paypal. TechCrunch
has more details.

Shoppers waking up to web marketing tactics

Nik — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:52:42 -0500

Web shoppers are now much more clued up to how marketing is impacting them on the web, according to CMSWire.

A large multinational found that every time it added a â€œhero shotâ€ – that perfect, smiling face-to a Web page, the number of customers who left the page immediately after arriving shot up. Once the hero shot was removed customers stayed on the page much longer.

How to Write a Business Website Brief

Nik — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:29:43 -0500

Some clients in the past have turned up at our offices with a few hastily scribbled notes on a scrap of paper. A few of these think that this will easily turn into an exhaustive document, explaining everything a prospective web development team will need in order to build them the site of their dreams.

Clearly, this is rarely the case in all but the smallest of websites. So, here’s a few pointers for those wondering how to approach a developer with all the required information, in the form of a website brief.

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