The basics of the C.R.A.P. principles are:

Contrast – Elements that aren’t supposed to be the same should be very different. Making the only slightly different confuses the eye and causes the reader to see a relationship that doesn’t exist. Using differing elements on a page draws the eyes to appropriately grouped elements and allows for proper scanning.

Repetition – Continuing formatting and styles for the entire document to create and maintain a cohesive feel.

Alignment – Everything on the page needs to be visually connected to something else, nothing should be out of place or distinct from all other design elements. Clean lines create peace.

Proximity – Proximity creates related meaning: elements that are related should be grouped together, whereas separate elements should have enough space in between to be easily distinguishable. Never underestimate the use of white space.

For more information and examples, visit:
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/blog/revive-the-crap-principles
http://thinkvitamin.com/design/how-crap-is-your-site-design/

A case in point, recently I read a Linked In recommendation from a client of ours who posted a reference for a former employee. When I first read it, my initial reaction was good for the former employee for getting the reference. But the reference included many tasks that were outside the scope of this person’s specific job requirements and abilities. In this case that employee was being lauded for his ability to do things that were done by other employees of the company. And because these employees did not interact directly with the client, they received no credit for the work they had done.

As I pondered, I thought that is really unfair. But unfair or not, that is the way things are. In our marketing efforts, we promote our President as the company spokesperson. And she does a fine job of promoting the company through her involvement in various organizations and community outreach programs. But she is not the company either. People who are the face of the company tend to get credit for the collective work of the employees of the company. Individual rewards are left to the company themselves to dole out to its employees. And this is the way it goes when a company serves it clients well. One or a handful of public facing employees get the lion’s share of the credit.

But what happens when things don’t go right? Then, all of a sudden the person who you deal with is no longer the company. You escalate your issues up the ladder. You demand resolution from the company. You expect the company to step in to make it right. No longer is the individual the center of your attention. That person who in a different situation gets all the credit now takes a backseat to the company’s infrastructure and policies and people. And the funny thing is that the person who gets all the credit when things go well, rarely gets all the blame when things do not go as planned. Why is that?

The reality is that we are humans. Employees are human. Companies are not. We can relate one to one with another human but we cannot relate one to one with a company. In most cases a company is not one. It is many. Doing different things to make sure the company can provide the products and services that warrant a customer’s praise and hopefully, loyalty.

Smart companies empower their employees to make decisions. The more power you give an employee the more human they become and the more a customer can relate to them and identify less with the company. However satisfying this is for the customer, it is a two-edged sword for the company. Empowering employees to keep customers happy is good for immediate business but it may lead to a false sense of security for the customer. In most cases they do not think “Wow! What a great company I am dealing with that cares so much about my well being they allow their employees to make decisions to keep me happy.” But that is really what is happening. What they think is: “Employee X is such a good employee that he goes the extra mile for his clients looking out for their best interests.” Employee X could not do any of these things without the proper company attitude, training and foresight to enable the employee to help in the first place.

When a valued, trusted, empowered employee leaves for whatever reason, customers can become very nervous, in many cases to the point of paranoia. I think that is because as companies, no matter how good we are, fail to communicate all the things the company does to ensure the relationship between the customer and the company remains strong.

In our case few clients know about our Project Management System, our support ticket application, our forum or even our blogs. Most do know how to get in touch with us during business hours on the phone. But many of the issues our clients experience are after normal business hours. So they use the tools they know. They email their primary contact. And then if that goes unanswered for any period of time they phone the next business day. This is a communication problem. A failure of the company to help the client understand all of the support functions it may have instigated to help the client in time of need.

In our case, the same company that has empowered an employee to take care of their clients spends thousands of dollars each year on additional support functions and personnel to monitor these tools – which were put in place not to make life more difficult for our customers but to enhance their relationship and to allow us to improve our ability to serve them better.

An email sent to an employee is read by that employee when s/he gets around to it. No one else has access to that private email. S/he then must decide what to do with it and whom to send the request to if they cannot resolve the issue. Frequently this will entail opening a support ticket on behalf of the customer and assigning the ticket to the appropriate support person to rectify the issue. This can cause delays. Particularly over a weekend or after hours when so many of our clients actually have time to work on their web strategies.

The following scenario is not uncommon: Saturday morning Client “A” gets up to work on their website, email marketing application or blog. They encounter an issue – whether it is a question or an application problem. The pick up the phone and call only to find no one answers. They leave a message to call them back. Then they email their primary contact. Now they are experiencing some frustration as the time they set aside to work on a task has to be put off until they get their question answered. The employee contact is not the company. S/he is an employee who may or may not feel the need to check email on the weekend or while they are away from the office. A couple of days may go by before the employee responds. In some cases, client A cannot even recall what they were working on that they had a question on and by the time we get back to them they no longer have time to work on the task they intended to work on.

So how does Net Solutions North America – the company respond? We have a Project Management System for back-and-forth communications on projects that have not yet gone live. We have a support ticket application that is monitored 24/7 where any number of experts for that particular issue may be assigned the task to respond. And we have a Forum.

Posting a support ticket vs. sending an email means that your problem is likely to be addressed faster. And the issue is captured so that we can monitor whether or not this issue is a problem that needs to be addressed with the application or training or both.
Our Forum can be read by not only NSNA employees but also by users of the Forum. Here you have a chance to review other people’s posts to see if anyone else has had this same issue and how it was resolved. If you do not find your issue you can post it and your chances of getting a response from either a NSNA employee or a knowledgeable user is greatly increased. If you are a visual learner, we have training videos that go over most of the basic functions of our application to answer most questions. And the Ultra IS application has built in Flash video that help users perform tasks that are not done frequently.

Using any or all of these tools will significantly help most of our customers to get quick responses to issues they encounter and will reduce the frustration level of setting time aside to work on a task only to have to set it aside because you cannot get your questions answered.

The point I am trying to make is that our customers are Net Solutions North America customers and not individual employee of Net Solutions customers. It is the company that will support them long after an employee may leave. We should cherish the friendships that employees of companies provide to us, but we should remain aware that it is the company that we actually have the business relationship with. It is the company that will help us solve our problems and resolve our issues. The company is the sum of all of the employees and not just the ones that deal with the public. The company can be rated good or bad based on how it empowers its employees to make decisions that are in its customer’s best interest. Companies are not bad or good. It is the management philosophy, policies and people in the companies that determine whether a company is worth doing business with. If you have had a bad experience with a company, we invite you to give us a try and see what a difference empowered employees and enlightened management can do when coupled with great products.

Dollar for dollar when you consider any other advertising money you spend, an effective website will return more on your investment, but you have to have a web strategy in order to achieve this return. We (NSNA) can help you develop and manage that strategy.

The web is the only marketing vehicle that does not cost you more for additional air time, or large content, or adding color. It is the only truly interactive marketing vehicle available and your existing and new prospects are using the web to do their initial research. You need to be visible on the web. Today a company without an effective website is similar to a guy that 10 years ago just scribbled his name and phone number on a scratch paper, because he thought business cards were too expensive. If he was not willing to invest in business cards then how serious is he about being in business, really?

The web is even more critical for small companies with limited marketing budgets than it is for large ones. You sell a technical product in a rapidly evolving marketplace that businesses do not purchase every day. As such, it is even more important that you been seen as “the source” for information on how to buy the products and services you sell.

{deleted proposal specific content} …yet there are few differentiators being discussed when I go to your website vs your competitor’s sites. There must be some compelling reason for me, as a business owner, to want to deal with you rather than a competitor. But I do not see that discussed anywhere on your site. There is nothing to help educate me about the changes in your market.

Take a look at your website… does it give me specific reasons why I should do business with you and not your competition? Is it up to date? Does it stand up against the 8 reasons why most websites fail?

Here are 10 tips we’ve picked up from attending a lot of shows, not only as vendors but participants as well. They may be basic but the best tips usually are pretty basic.

1. Set clear goals of what you want to achieve at the show. Do you expect to sell products, launch a new product or promotion, or possibly meet suppliers? You can set more than one goal but be clear and focused on what your participation will involve. In our business (selling web solutions) we don’t expect to sell a site on the spot. What we do look for is hot leads. At each trade show we attempt to identify 3 – 5 hot leads. We do this by gathering business cards from participants. When someone hands me their card, I quickly look for a web address. I then ask them one of two simple questions. If they don’t have a site listed on their card, I ask why? If they do have a site listed on their card, I ask them how happy they are with the performance of their website. Based on their response, I quickly note on the back of their card how “hot” they are. If they expressed some sort of displeasure or unsatisfaction with their website, I mark them as “hot” and follow up with them right after the show is over.

2. Find out everything you can about your space in advance. There’s nothing more frustrating than showing up to a show only to find that your booth is too big or too small to fit the space. Finding out the location of your booth in advance prevents you lugging around boxes and products in search of the right spot. Finding out everything that is included (table, table cloth, electricity, etc) in advance is a big time and headache saver.

3. Have everything you need, like extension cords; tape etc with you when you arrive to set up your booth. It prevents last minute searching for items needed to set up your booth which, if you’re in a strange town can quickly turn into a nightmare. We have a trade show box that stays with our booth that contains a hammer, thumb tacks, pens, rubber bands, notepads, band aids, extension cords, replacement light bulbs, tape, breath mints and much more in it. It has been used at every trade show we’ve been to and always comes in handy.

4. Make sure your display is appropriate for the group you are targeting. Who is your target market with your trade show display? Different audiences go to trade shows differently and have different needs.

5. Advertise in advance of the show. Let the public know that you are participating in a particular trade show. Invite your clients, customers, suppliers and be sure and give them your booth number. Advertise your attendance to the trade show on your website as well.

6. Stand out! Don’t just be another booth and vendor at the show – find something different and unique and use that to draw visitors to your booth. Arrange your booth strategically so that everything can be seen quickly by visitors. Put larger items in the rear and shorter items up front. A table runner on top of the table cloth is an effective way of making your table stand out. Be creative with your booth, include pictures if possible and be sure your company name and logo are more than obvious.

7. Should you give something away? Most people who attend trade shows are expecting some giveaways and food is always popular. Make sure you package your food in a way that allows you to have your company information on it. Gift Certificates for some of your services are another great Trade Show giveaway – there’s nothing better than getting a deal on your services. And when they redeem their certificate, they will learn how great your services are and come back for more. Offer a drawing for a prize that complements your business and appeals to everyone. Have visitors and guests sign a guestbook, fill out a form or drop their business card in a bowl. You can then use this information later to make a follow up contact. We gave away a Wii last year at a trade show and we were one of the most popular booths at the event! We collected over 300 business cards and have closed 7 deals from that show alone.

8. Arrive early enough to the trade show and make sure everything is set up correctly and that everything works. Wear comfortable clothing and shoes – you’re going to be on your feet!

9. During the show, never turn your back to the crowd and don’t sit down unless you’re having a conversation with a guest and you both are sitting. Stand in front of your booth, if possible, saying “Hi” to those that turn and look toward your or your booth. Have your elevator speech ready. More importantly, is being ready to listen to what your guests have to say, you may learn a lot about them and be able to fill a need that they have.

10. A portfolio or display of your work should be on hand for visitors to see. A digital photo frame is an excellent way of showing your work or placing a Power Point® presentation on a laptop – your visitors will find this visually appealing and it will draw their attention. Offering a brochure with your best work for them to take with them will serve as a reminder once the show is over.

These 10 basic steps to Trade Show exhibiting will make your booth stand out, draw visitors so you can gather their contact information, save you time, money and stress. The most important thing about a trade show is to have fun!

Sure there are more tests than you can shake a stick at, but give this one a shot.

• Is your facebook status updated?
• Have you tweeted today?
• Can you “Google” yourself?
• Can Ya “Digg” it?
• Viral means disease or success?

Chances are you if can answer one or more of those questions, you know a little something about social media. Which leads to the question, is their really such a thing as an un-googleable person? Furthermore, if and when there is…would you trust them?

Most business people today meet a new client, investor, partner, provider, etc. and as soon as they get back to their office they Google that person to see what more they can learn about that person. Often times they can find pieces of your history online, and learn more about you. Depending on your online profile, people can gather a positive or negative impression, but one thing they know for sure is that you are who you say you are.

How did you feel the last time you Googled someone and did not find anything about them? Did you trust them? Did you wonder what rock they just crawled out from under? I personally have more trust for a business that has a website, and a person who has an online profile. Both show me they are at least valid and not a fly by night company.

Welcome to 2010! The time is right for Social Media

So what if you are a business, and you do not have an online profile? What if you failed the Social Media test? Well there is still hope for you, but the time to act is now! The first thing I would suggest is getting a website, which will help validate your business. Many web development companies have low cost, entry level websites that can get you started. Typically by putting up a website, doing some basic search engine optimization, and populating your site with relevant, unique, high quality content, you can put your business on the map. Now when people search for your business name, or your online profile, your website will come up first, validating your business.

Once the website is up and running, you can evaluate if you need to branch even further by using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Each of those tools should be considered only once you have a successful website.

The time to act is now, make sure you are not the un-googleable man, women or business.

Social Media Self Test #2

How many of the Social Media Icons below can you identify? Furthermore, how many of them is your business listed on?

Most of the line items below have been pulled from other locations on the web. This post is designed to put all the nuggets of information we felt were valuable in one place. In some cases we took editorial liberty over the comment.

• With mass-market e-mail accounts, including MSN Hotmail, AOL! Email, Google GMail and Yahoo! Mail users share their e-mail domains (e.g., “@hotmail.com,” “@msn.com,” “@aol.com,” “@gmail,” “@comcast.com”, “@qwest.com”, “@verizon.com,” “@yahoo.com, ” etc.) with millions of other users, which makes it impossible to create a truly unique e-mail identity for you and/or your business.
• Users of Free email or ISP provided email are frequently being pestered with unwanted and intrusive on-page advertisements. Ad placement is one of the main reasons that these providers can offer their services for free.
• Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail users are more likely than most other e-mail users to be blitzed with electronic spam. And as a result have instigated strict adherence to Sender Frame Policy, Reverse Domain Name Server lookup and other means to attempt to identify legitimate email from spammers.
• Hotmail, Gmail, AOL and Yahoo! Mail networks are prone to attacks by phishers, pharmers, hackers, crackers and other cyber crooks who attempt to steal sensitive information or plant e-mail worms, Trojan Horses and other malware.
• Online merchants might refuse your order. Much Internet fraud – the vast majority, in fact is associated with mass-market e-mail accounts. Some merchants simply refuse to accept orders from users who attempt to order using any free accounts.
• There are a number of places that webmasters can go now to check to see if an email account is a free or legitimate email account.
• You might lose your account if you do not use it within a certain time. Sure, that is not a big deal if you use it only for casual, occasional contacts. But it is crucial if you used it to register at Web sites, for example. If there are problems with your account and your e-mail address is expired, you´re out of luck.
• Because users of Free Email accounts share their Internet domains with millions of other users across the Web, they run the risk of having their e-mail addresses accidentally blacklisted by recipients that decide to block entire domains from their inboxes, rather than just specific e-mail addresses. Such blanket blacklistings thus may hurt users that aren´t guilty of spamming or any other netiquette breaches.
• If your website application has forms or shopping cart or sends auto-responder messages, and you are not using domain based email to send those messages from an approved IP address of the website application server then you must have an appropriate SPF and rDNS record placed in your DNS.

Reasons to use Domain Based Email for your ProFusion Products Hosted Website:

1. Domain based email legitimizes your business correspondence.
2. ProFusion Hosted Email provides for correct rDNS and correctly configured SPF records.
3. If your email becomes undeliverable due to black-listing of your domain or IP address, we step in to attempt to rectify the problem.
4. There is only one place to call when you experience issues with website initiated or email based issues.
5. There is much less chance of finger-pointing. You have removed one vendor from the equation.
6. You have 24×7 access to your email from anywhere you have Internet access.
7. You can have some level of email archiving and back-up and restore of your webmail files.
8. You have ongoing configuration/monitoring of SPAM filters and individual control to further filter emails at the server level.
]]> http://www.snoitulosten.com/reasons-to-use-domain-based-email/feed/ 7 http://www.snoitulosten.com/ive-been-in-business-since-1432-bc-at-the-same-location-why-do-i-need-a-website/ http://www.snoitulosten.com/ive-been-in-business-since-1432-bc-at-the-same-location-why-do-i-need-a-website/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:39:51 +0000 Patrice http://www.snoitulosten.com/?p=125 I get asked questions like this all the time. The simple answer is: “Maybe you don’t.” If you are comfortable doing what you are doing and your business is meeting it’s growth projections, you may not. But, consider this; if you are not growing or you are tired of advertising that is becoming less and less productive and more and more expensive, then a website is your most effective least expensive marketing vehicle next to a business card.

Let’s face it. If you do not have a business card and a business phone today. How serious are you really, about being in business? A business card facilitates someone getting in touch with you after a meeting.

There is no substitute for just getting out and meeting the people. Face-to-face customer interaction has been and will always be the best way to win new clients. I still have business cards from people I have met at networking events from years ago. And I can remember what most of the people who gave me their cards look like and what the company does. And if I ever need their services I will call them.

But next to talking to people and handing them a way to contact you in the future, a website is by far the most effective marketing tool available. They are low cost. You can have a very effective, very attractive web sites today for less than the price of a soft drink and way less than the cost of a latte a day.

When was the last time your refreshment brought you any business? But your website can. And it will work tirelessly for you 24/7. Unlike any other marketing vehicle, you can tell someone everything that they need to know to learn how to buy what you sell with a website. Can’t do that on a 30 second spot on the radio or TV. Can’t afford to do it in a phone book or newspaper ad either. But whether you say a little or a lot, a website costs the same. So let your website tell volumes about what it is you do. Why you are better. How to buy what you sell. How to tell the difference between you and your competitors. And most importantly why you are the better value. Not the cheapest. People do not want the cheapest things they can buy. They want the best VALUE. If everything is the same then the way to differentiate is price. But rarely are all things the same. Not even with car dealers who sell exactly the same products with the same options in the same color. No two dealerships are the same. Price is not the only factor.

Next time, I’ll talk a bit about why educating your prospects about how to buy what you sell is so important. And why if you do it you will benefit thanks to the laws of reciprocity.

Till next time, good luck and prosperity.

]]> http://www.snoitulosten.com/ive-been-in-business-since-1432-bc-at-the-same-location-why-do-i-need-a-website/feed/ 0 http://www.snoitulosten.com/websites-401-launches-today/ http://www.snoitulosten.com/websites-401-launches-today/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:00:59 +0000 Patrice http://www.snoitulosten.com/?p=86 Only a couple more hours until we teach our first Websites 401 class. I am really looking forward to this class tonight as it will get real people working on our applications. We’ll be able to see just how easy they really are to use and get good feedback from the public. It is going to be a small group tonight, probably only 6 or 7 attendees but that will allow us to give more personal attention to everyone there. I’ll post again after the class with feedback on how it goes.

Signing out for now.

Patrice

]]> http://www.snoitulosten.com/websites-401-launches-today/feed/ 0 http://www.snoitulosten.com/a-favicon-shows-you-care/ http://www.snoitulosten.com/a-favicon-shows-you-care/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:40:06 +0000 Patrice http://www.snoitulosten.com/?p=62 A Favicon (short for “favorites icon”) is a small 16×16 square icon that displays to the left of your URL in the internet browser window. Favicons are an important part of branding your website. A Favicon helps visually identify your site to new and returning users, and contributes to a sophisticated, professional look. A Favicon will also make your page stand out in a cluttered “favorites” folder. Your logo used as a Favicon will quickly become synonymous with your product.

The Favicon feature was developed by Microsoft and became a part of Internet Explorer from version 5.0 onward. Other browsers quickly followed, and all modern browsers should support this feature. As you can see in the graphic below, visitors who use modern tabbed browsing see your Favicon in the tab. Every page, including sub-pages and blog entries, shows the Favicon in the address bar. Internet Explorer does automatically use a generic icon which to a savvy Websurfer can look a bit negligent such as a title bar that says “Page Title” if it is not replaced with your own image. With a distinctive Favicon, pages from your site will stand out easily from other sites.

Are you Ready to join the Favicon bandwagon? Enhance your site with a Favicon for $30! Contact us for this special price.

]]> http://www.snoitulosten.com/a-favicon-shows-you-care/feed/ 0 http://www.snoitulosten.com/social-networking/ http://www.snoitulosten.com/social-networking/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:18:57 +0000 Patrice http://www.snoitulosten.com/?p=46 Get out there and meet people!

Everyone knows the common saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. How many of you are taking advantage of the latter part?

Getting out and getting to know people in our community and those around us can be difficult for some, and come quite naturally for others. We all know someone who is best friends with their dry cleaner, their hair stylist, even the server at the restaurant they frequent. It is easy for them to strike up a conversation with just about anyone. They ask questions and are truly interested in what the other person has to say. They make them feel like the most important person at that moment. By the end of the meal, the server is often sitting at the table with them and they are enjoying a dessert on the house

For the rest of us, networking doesn’t come so easily. On a flight home, we put in earphones to avoid having to talk to the person next to us. We are polite to the service people we work with, but we don’t wonder or inquire about their lives. And, if we do, it is just to be courteous and the person answers back politely, “I am good”, end of conversation. If we are brave enough to attend a networking event, we find ourselves finding a friend and sticking to their side the entire time, or hiding out by the refreshments. We are afraid to just break in and start talking with a group or a stranger.

It’s time to get past those fears and start striking up conversations with everyone around us. We all know that everyone needs a website, so let’s start asking. You never know what the person you run into might need or their brother, friend, hair stylist, or dry cleaner.

It is important to really make a connection with who you are talking to. Ask about what they have going on, what they do, what in life worries them. Don’t only ask, but listen to their answer and try to relate to what might be happening in their life. People want to work with those they are comfortable with, those they can trust.

Before you know it, they will be asking about you and what you do for a living. Be ready for “You should take a look at my website, I think it needs some work” or “My web guy skipped town and I am stuck with a half finished project”. Those are the kind of conversations that turn into opportunities.

So concentrate on trying to break the ice with at least 10 new people this month. Try jotting down a few notes afterward to help you remember what you talked about. Some great places to network in our area are:

Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce
Whatcom Young Professionals
Whatcom Women in Business
Women’s Professional Network

Get out there and make some connections!

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