Design / Usability

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Free Blogs vs. Hosting Your Own Blog: Pros and Cons
 In this article, social media expert Lorrie Thomas explains how to make the decision of hosting a blog on your own domain or using a free blogging service.  She discusses the pros and cons of each option to help you make the best choice for your organization. Jul 6, 2010

What Your Web Designer Needs to Know about Your Business with Sandra Niehaus (4:10)
In this video interview, conversion expert Sandra Niehaus discusses vital elements that your website designer needs to understand about your business -- your business goal, your audience, and the goal of the particular element the designer is assigned to. Jul 6, 2010

Can You Pass this Short Quiz on Being Persuasive?
In this article conversion expert Todd Follansbee provides a 5-question quick quiz to see how well you understand key persuasion principles. Then he explains each of the answers, citing psychological research regarding principles that motivate people to act. He concludes each explanation with how it applies to your website design and approach. Jun 29, 2010

5 Ways to Power Up the Appeal of Your Web Content
In this article web context expert Nick Usborne offers helpful tips that can help the topics of your new webpages be perceived as much more attractive. This is the smart way to leverage your time -- and some you haven't thought of yourself! Jun 22, 2010

How Your Graphic Designer Can Hurt Your Conversion Rate, with Tim Ash (7:05)
In this sometime crazy video interview -- subtitled "Shoot our graphic designer in the head to improve conversions" --  landing page conversion expert Tim Ash explains how graphic designers often get in the way of the conversion on a landing page project. He offers three suggestions to help designers learn how to submit their creativity so that they can work with the conversion process to maximize sales. Jun 8, 2010

How to Conduct a Simple User Test with Jakob Nielsen (7:12)
In this video interview, usability pioneer Jakob Nielsen explains how to conduct a simple user test. He explains how just five user tests can yield a great deal of insight and offers tips on how to conduct such a usability test. Then he share pros and cons about the online tool UserTesting.com Jun 1, 2010

How to Get More Views for Your On-Site Video
In this article, usability and conversion expert Todd Follansbee explains six best practices that will help videos on your set be viewed more often. He also shows examples of poor ways to encourage visitor participation. May 25, 2010

How Mobile Marketing Can Help Small Businesses with Jakob Nielsen (8:14)
In this video interview, usability pioneer Jakob Nielsen discusses how marketing to mobile devices is a very fast growing marketing, which has now come into its own, with even greater growth projected. Any local business can benefit from mobile site optimization. May 11, 2010

Programs I Use on My Website. Part 2. Content Management Systems (CMS)
In this article Dr. Wilson discusses various Content Management Systems (CMS) that can be used as the underlying software for modern websites. He recommends CMS Builder and Site Build It!, and offers additional comments on WordPress and Joomla. May 4, 2010

Programs I Use on My Website. Part 1. Basics
This article is the first in a series of articles in which Dr. Ralph Wilson, editor of Web Marketing Today, describes the various programs that run his four websites. In the article he discusses web design programs, server side includes (SSIs), CSS, JavaScript Programs, and search programs. Apr 27, 2010