Design Choices Can Cripple a Website

admit, it’s a provocative headline. But it’s true.

However compelling the message, however great the copy, however strong the sales argument . . . the way a page is designed will have a dramatic impact on conversion rates, for better or for worse.

Before I go any further, I want you to look at three versions of the same offer page:

I know, they won’t win any design awards. They weren’t intended to. But they are functional and familiar. A reader going to any one of these pages will be able to quickly figure out what the message is, and what they are being asked to do.

SEO For The Big Three

Ranking your website highly on one of the “big three” search engines (Google, Yahoo or MSN) is a daunting task let alone ranking your website highly on all three. Three engines, three algorithms, three different sets of rules - and yet there are websites out there that have first page rankings across them all – how do they do it?

While all of the major search engines use different algorithms the end goal of all three is the same: to provide the searcher with the most relevant results available. It is this one common thread that makes it possible for an SEO to rank a website highly across all the major engines. While there are a variety of factors at play and an even wider variation in the weight each of these factors are given – the possible variations that can produce relevant results are limited.

The 2 Most Common Mistakes When Writing With Keywords

It really gets my blood pressure up. SEO copywriting has begun to get a poor reputation all due to carelessness. How so? Because too many people claim to know what they are doing. In reality, they simply shove keywords into copy without any concern for how the copy flows. Copy that sounds mechanical or stiff is a sure sign that an amateur writer has had his/her hands in things.

When you write SEO copy, you should take the time to find out what works and what doesn't. There are 2 mistakes almost every amateur search engine copywriter makes. Let's take a look at each one.

Men, Women and Shopping Online

Every savvy retailer knows that the differences between men and women extend right down to the way they shop. Knowing this, e-commerce consulting firm Resource Interactive conducted research to explore a related question: do men and women shop differently online, too?

The answer, perhaps surprising no one, is a resounding 'yes.' The firm's research, conducted with the help of comScore Networks, tracked 326,000 purchases over four quarters and included hundreds of hours of one-on-one interviews with male and female shoppers.

The research focuses on what e-tailers need to be aware of to simultaneously reach male and female shoppers. It answers the question: Given the different online shopping styles of men and women, how can online merchants set up their sites to maximize sales from both genders?

Magic Gopher
Think of a number, any number. Magic Gopher will indirectly guess what it is. Unbelievable. Amazing.
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/games/magic-gopher-central.swf

Heartmath
Decoding the intelligence of the heart. The Institute of HeartMath is an innovative non profit organization dedicated to helping people find balance between their mind and heart in life's activities. Their work is focused in two main areas, research and education. Interesting research on emotional physiology and heart-brain interactions, clinical studies, and research on the physiology of learning and performance identified the specific physiological state that underlies optimal learning and performance. The trick is to learn to bring the heart and brain into synchronization, which is key to achieving new levels of communication, performance, and vitality. This has led to the development of learning programs and to help adults transform stress, anxiety and anger.
http://www.heartmath.org/index-hm.html

Aromaweb
Aromatherapy: aromatherapy - noun - Is the use of volatile plant oils, including essential oils, for psychological and physical well-being. The word was coined by Gattefosse' a french chemist working in his family perfumier business, who became facinated by finding that lavender was able to heal a severe burn on his hand. Massage is the most popular expression of Aromatherapy, but oils can be used in diffusers or just dropped into a bath. A morning bath with Rose oil is very uplifting. Genuine Rose oil cost a fortune because it takes 1 ton of rose petals to extract 300g of essential oil. You can often buy some nice rose blends that won’t cost too much. A lovely site on the subject is AromaWeb which offers over 250 pages of aromatherapy and essential oil articles, essential oil profiles, recipes, a Business directory, some book descriptions, free ecards, and links.
http://www.aromaweb.com/default.asp

AcceleRun 1.3 Free
A very nice Windows application that will run through your installed programs, hundreds of installed programs within 2 seconds, to indicate what you have on hand, allowing you to access it quickly. There is no need for long menus and you do not need to remember complex combinations of keys. All that is needed is to know some letters which are part of the name of the program, web site, document or folder and it will be located in seconds. A neatly designed mechanism which takes a minimum memory usage. and a program uninstall facility. Windows2000, WinXP English. Freeware, with a more sophisticated pro version available for purchase.
Freeware, found at:
http://www.svarsoft.com/accelerun.html