from Digett

Last week, I may have served up a little bait-and-switch with the first installment of this series. Some of you may have come looking for information on when to break email best practices and, instead, got a heaping handful of how we're changing our newsletter. That's all well and good, but how does that help you? This week, I'm making good on the title.

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In fact, this whole topic was inspired by this post at MarketingProfs about ignoring best practices, and I simply let my habit of using proximity to introduce a story get the better of me. After re-reading that post, however, I'm wondering if we can't come up with better examples. Why? Because four of the five came from well-known, well-established brands/individuals—namely, Oversight.com, Chris Brogan, Apple, and Publishers' Clearing House. Those tend to inspire deep loyalty or, in Brogan's case, some weird form of hero worship.

In short, they ignore best practices in their emails because they can. Granted, we can get into a chicken/egg argument about what came first, but let's instead focus on other best practices that you might be able to bystep—or modify, in the following cases. (I'm sure some will argue with my choices here, so if that's the case, feel free to chime in on the discussion.)

Circular permission reminders

Sometimes, in our efforts to ensure exact legal compliance (and just seem like good people), we needlessly remind people why they're talking with us. This results in an incomprehensible message such as "You're receiving this email because you signed up to receive this email." And here you thought you were ordering a Snuggie.

I'm not saying all permission reminders are bad; they can help cut down on spam complaints, particularly if you don't send frequent campaigns. That said, make them meaningful.

Sending often/rarely/never/all the darned time

Many email marketers obsess over finding the key frequency for their campaigns. Problem is, they often turn exclusively to what researchers and well-intentioned industry pundits say, rather than what their readers say. Ultimately, your subscribers will let you know what the sweet spot is. Or, you can always try something like this.

In addition, don't be afraid to experiment, though common sense tells you to err on the side of caution. If you're sending out a regular newsletter piece, try the occasional one-off campaign. Conversely, if your fragmented messages are going nowhere, try consolidating. Just make sure you're matching your tactics and your organization's goals.

Segments, segments everywhere

This one may get me a stern talkin'-to from Mark about metrics and campaign insights, but danger is my middle name. My point here is that segmenting your subscriber list to absurd lows only will result in more work and less return. It may be interesting to note that a green-eyed, hearing-impaired Alaskan with gray hair (dyed brown) and a preference for 18th-century French literature is on your list, but he probably doesn't need a campaign tailored just to him. As with permission reminders, make segments meaningful.

Incessant testing

Your focus should be on well-designed/-implemented testing procedures and techniques, not asserting some form of campaign hypochondria. What we're beginning to see is that organizations are focusing more and more time/effort on testing and less and less time on content, which is the marketing equivalent of determining a cow's diet by examining its chips, rather than the pasture.

True, I have a vested interest in issuing pleas for better content strategy and production, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. Shifting never-ending amounts of time and effort toward testing only ensures that you'll be the first person to know when your subscribers leave your list due to sheer boredom. Find the right balance; produce good, effective content and test how your readers consume it.

Did I miss any? Am I off my rocker here? Let me know.

I used to be among the the group of internet users who didn't understand the importance of selecting a web browser. At the time, I was entirely dedicated to Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer ... 6. My transition in 2007 to Mac and Safari came from necessity. I was enrolled in a Digital Art class and every machine in the lab ran OS X. I wasn't particularly concerned I had to use Safari, but I noticed IE's absence.

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Later, at my first job out of school, web developers on my team jokingly scolded me for continuing to use Internet Explorer. When I asked for explanations, it seemed they could never back it up. When I asked what browser I should use instead, they resoundingly answered Firefox.

Now, in my current role as a Drupal developer at Digett, I know first hand why browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are superior, especially to any browser that is outdated.

What is a Browser?

The best definition of a web browser I've come across is straight from the Official Google Blog. Jason Toff explains, "A web browser is a program on your computer that allows you to visit websites. You get to your web browser by clicking on its icon." Hopefully, at least one the following icons will look familiar:

Toff continues, "The web browser is the most important piece of software on your computer because every webpage runs through it. A faster web browser means that you'll save time on every webpage you open."

Why Browsers Matter Modern browsers work and look better

The web is evolving, and the technologies that control how websites perform are changing, too. Javascript, jQuery, and Flash are prevalant in modern web design. Certain browsers are better equipped to handle these programming languages. In fact, IE6 has difficulty outputting javascript altogether. The browser is working overtime, meaning your browsing quality is reduced.

Text is also rendered differently across browsers. If you have bad vision, I encourage you to download a different browser than the one you're using and compare the same website side by side. Chances are, you'll notice one browser produces a smoother, easier-to-read text.

Outdated browsers hinder web standards advancement

Most internet users don't know that professional internet agencies and web developers undergo a rigorous process called "Browser Testing" every time a site is launched. At Digett, we browser test for 8-10 browsers, including FF3 for Mac, FF3 for PC, FF3 for Mac, FF2 for PC, IE8, IE7, IE6, Safari, Chrome for Mac, and Chrome for PC. This process can take anywhere from 8-40 hours, depending on the scope of the project.

The craziest thing about browser testing is that, generally, testing for every browser except IE7 and IE6 usually takes around one third of the time it takes to complete the entire process. This means that if a site requires a total of 24 hours for browser testing, 16 of those hours will be spent on IE7 and IE6, mostly because they are degraded and don't comply with current web standards.

Some browsers are faster and more secure

Page load time, image load time, history load time, CSS rendering, and script handling also vary across browsers. Sometimes a slow-loading webpage is more than just your internet connection.

And any time you encounter problems with your machine's security, it's a red flag! If you're not updating your browser each and every time you are prompted to do so, you are missing vital security patches, putting your computer at risk.

Add-ons

If you've ever wanted to boost your productivity on the web, or just make browsing a more enjoyable experience, you should look into the different types of add-ons different browsers offer. An extensible browser is important to me, because many of the extensions I use on a daily basis, such as Firebug, increase my job efficiency.

Five Signs You Need a New Browser

1. Your browser keeps crashing.
2. Your machine is contracting viruses.
3. Web pages look a bit "off" or do not perform as expected.
4. Most sites are slow to load.
5. You are using IE6!

My career ambitions led me to take interest in web browsers, and if not for that, I suppose I'd still, unknowingly and contentedly, be using an outdated version of IE6. I wonder what it might take to make an average internet user (who typically doesn't know what a web browser is) equally aware ...

If you don't know already, find out what browser you're using, and please upgrade if necessary!

Suscribers to our awe-inspiring, world-renowned email newsletter may have noticed that I've been making some changes lately. Indeed, I've been tinkering with and testing this tool since assuming control and production, though I'd venture to say most of the changes have been subtle. The most-recent alteration, however, was somewhat significant.

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For the most part, our newsletter has featured the best practice of teasing individual blog posts. It makes sense, on the surface; hook 'em with a quick header, a witty sentence or two describing the post, and link to your blog. Example A, on the right, followed that model. Please note AMac's excellent choice of art.

Our reinvigorated emphasis on publishing, however, has given me more material from more authors, and I wanted to see if I could successfully showcase their words while maintaining or increasing click rates on our newsletters. The best way to accomplish this, I figured, was to use the post's given headline and copy along with a byline listing the author.

Example B, also on the right, shows the result. This turned March's newsletter into a bit of a "Try-before-you-buy" kind of tool, as I was able to fit in at least two paragraphs on each post. I feel this brought a level of personalization that our newsletter has lacked. Additionally, it was a relatively significant time-saver for me, as I was spared from having to write all-new headers and teasers for each post.

On the other hand, there are some drawbacks to this approach. For one, it puts me (and our readers) at the mercy of our blog; I believe our posts are always informative and useful, but different authors means different writing styles, ledes, headlines, and more. Not all posts will work with this format. Moreover, space considerations may keep us from highlighting as many posts as we wish.

Early test results confirm: change is good

My time considerations aside, what matters is how our readers respond to any format change; so far, I'm pleased with the numbers. First off, I should note that I tested the two formats on a subset of our subscriber base using the handy A/B testing tool provided by CampaignMonitor, our email campaign service of choice. That allowed me to test our traditional format against the new one, and the latter got more link clicks. Check one for change.

Almost two weeks from the campaign send, the aggregate numbers also looked promising. Historically, our click rates have varied between 15-45 percent, and it's been challenging to identify causal relationships. Still, the last few months have been in the low 20s, so seeing the new format push that number to almost 30% was pleasing. Certainly, click rates aren't our only goal—not even a big one, necessarily—but they are a part of multivariate and multilevel testing.

The end game, as Mark has said, is about gaining insight. And we're willing to go against best practices if it means providing our customers greater value while increasing our conversion rate. But it's not all about us, and it's not just about writing more/less or changing a teaser format. Check back shortly, as we'll cover some other email best practices that may not be best for you.

I've been working on a quantitative content audit of the Digett site for a little while now, and I recently reached that golden spot in the sun where I realized I had cataloged all our blog content (until Valarie's latest post, that is). Something immediately hit me: We really haven't published all that much. That's not good.

Over the last five years, we've posted 240 entries to the Digett blog—that breaks down to 48 per year or four per month. Those aren't necessarily impressive numbers for a digital marketing firm that urges its clients to focus on fresh content; we can't let our business get in the way of our business.<!--break--> As a result, we've been focusing on changes that will ensure better output.

There are any number of reasons to boost ongoing content creation: thought leadership, SEO juice, the pleasure of writing about your passions (or wolf shirts), etc. There aren't any real reasons to avoid it, though "I don't have the time" seems to be popular. That being the case, here are four simple ways you can turn the tide and resume publishing as you should:

Put someone in charge of content governance

Call him/her a managing editor, content strategist, publishing poobah—this person simply needs both the authority to compel and the responsibility for action. The point, of course, is to give some measure of credence to your intent. In turn, that person needs to set and properly communicate expectations to contributors.

Create an environment that supports publishing

This goes beyond having a robust content management system (CMS), well-articulated style rules, and an established review process—though those certainly help. What I'm talking about is the institutional support or inspiration your contributors will need to get the job done.

In many organizations, calls for contributions may be met with variations of "I'm not a good writer" or "I don't know what to write about." Neither of these have to be significant barriers. For one, while your staffers may not be writing experts, they likely will be subject matter experts, for which there is a pressing need online. As for topics, prime the pump by suggesting ideas and engaging them one-on-one in their given areas of expertise.

Assemble and enforce an editorial calendar

A publishing workflow without well-articulated deadlines is like a voucher from Braniff Airways—thoughtful, but useless. Make your calendar challenging, and ensure everyone is familiar with how it affects them. And since it occasionally pays to be Captain Obvious, put the calendar where everyone sees it. Outta sight, outta mind.

Don't lean too much on technology

A good CMS is often sold as being a publishing solution, more than a tool; while that really represents a marketer's never-ending search for a better buzzword, I'm starting to frown upon its use, largely because it creates false impressions. Truth is, a CMS is no substitution for a proper editorial strategy and workflow.

Being part of a web provider, I could ramble on about this, but it's summarized well at the end of this piece in defense of the CMS:

"Review your editorial strategy and processes. Create a workflow that
works for your organization. Make sure your CMS supports that workflow."

"Support" is the key word there. Similarly, all the above techniques are meant to encourage a better workflow, not just prod or nag your organization into producing more. If there's anything the web doesn't need, it's more uninspired and useless content.

Liquid Frameworks, of the newly Digett-created liquidframeworks.com, came to Digett to redesign their former website with two main goals in mind:

1. They wanted their new site to be as impressive visually as their work is technically.
2. Their new site also needed to provide prospective clients a more complete picture of all their products, approaches, and services to present Liquid Frameworks as a professional, highly evolved, multi-faceted solutions provider for businesses.

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Modern, eye-catching design

We're not embarrassed to admit that our first design concept for the home page fell flat. It was crisp and clean, sure, but it wasn't exactly what Liquid Frameworks was looking for. During their initial feedback session, they told us something we love to hear: they wanted something bolder.

Since reworking design and incorporating client requests is part of any iterative design process, and because we had, admittedly, skewed a little conservatively with the first design, we were excited for an opportunity to do something a little less traditional in our second round of mock-ups.

Spurred on by eloquent feedback from the Liquid Frameworks team after every design update, we were able to deliver a design that lends itself better to the personality of Liquid Frameworks and which will help them stand out from their competitors.

Reflection of range of expertise

We used the home page to better represent Liquid Frameworks' breadth of work. Their previous website primarily highlighted their FieldPro product offering, which, unfortunately, meant that all their other offerings were underrepresented. Today, their home page more fairly showcases their true range of expertise in SharePoint and .Net development, as well as other corporate development systems.

By showing their three main expertise categories in sliding javascript elements, we also were able to maximize use of page real estate as well as give the page some subtle movement and encourage user engagement.

Highlight thought leadership

When Liquid Frameworks moved away from the singular focus on FieldPro on their website, it gave them the opportunity to showcase their thought leadership across expertise and industry.

On the home page and on selected sidebars throughout the site, users can view and download whitepapers relevant to designated solutions and services as assigned by Liquid Frameworks through Drupal. Whitepapers give concrete examples of how Liquid Frameworks is solving problems for busineses with their software development and products. They also serve as a lead generation tool, as users must provide a name and email address before they have download access.

Whitepapers have a sense of formality to them, though, that isn't always the appropriate outlet for all thought leadership. For discussions about tackling typical business problems and Liquid Frameworks' technologies, methodologies, and approaches, they take to their blog. Eventually, Liquid Frameworks hopes to have each of their developers contributing about their everyday work challenges and solutions.

It all comes together

By detailing the kinds of business problems they are able to solve and presenting an equal emphasis on their solutions, services, and their approaches to them, Liquid Frameworks new website will automatically set them apart as a business solutions leader.

Our biggest barrier to change is not technology, but our entrenched way of thinking about a given circumstance.

This holds true even for me, as I am reminded of my early days as a programmer. We were cutting edge, my colleagues and I, building powerful applications that would—once installed on a user's personal computer—talk to centralized servers where a thoughtfully designed database waited to return requested data.<!--break--> The technology, known as client-server, marked a revolution in computing and the decline of the mainframe.

Then came the Internet. As much as I wanted to "get it," I first struggled to understand how it worked. I was so comfortable in my client-server world, building my Visual Basic applications and deploying my SQL Server databases. Intellectually, it was difficult to get my head around this notion that I could open up a browser and actually run a program that sat on a server a thousand miles or more away.

I also failed to grasp why web-based architecture was such a leap forward. I couldn't see that by moving the guts of an application from a user's desktop to a web server and serving up the same capabilities through the context of a web browser, businesses could accelerate release cycles and slash costs. So I put it off learning more about it as long as I could.

These days, the web provides us with resources that I never dreamed we would live to see. At Digett:

• Our very capable phone system is a hosted solution by Aptela. We talk to our prospects and customers using a headset and computer. The party on the other end doesn't know that we might actually be working at the coffee shop while they're talking to us.
• We've moved all of our document, spreadsheet, and presentation editing and storage to "the cloud" using Google Docs.
• We have now done away entirely with our internal file server, opting instead for another cloud solution called JungleDisk.

Each one of these moves has reduced cost and risk while improving the experience associated with their use.

Powerful stuff, this Internet! And to think that I—normally an early adopter—resisted this new paradigm. But as I look around, I see business after business still stuck in a similar rut, refusing to try to understand how and why emerging paradigms are so important. I can look no further than San Antonio to see, for example, that local ad agencies' failure to embrace digital marketing has effectively handicapped that industry in this small town.

I speak to prospects and customers every day who refuse to believe that social media has any role to play in their own marketing strategies. And even many so-called "savvy" marketing execs think their jobs on the digital front are done once they've deployed a good-looking website, when the real work of building a successful digital marketing program has just started.

Little has changed more in business during the past five years than the way successful companies reach out to and engage prospects and customers. If you don't understand this shift, it's okay. But it's not okay to continue to bury your head in the sand.

Take steps toward building an insights-driven integrated marketing strategy. Learn the significance of words like authenticity, transparency, and conversation as they relate to marketing. Wrap your arms around the notion that if you can't measure it, you can't improve it. Get help where you need it. You won't change everything overnight, but if you start now, you'll likely avoid the disaster of being left behind.

I'm a bit of a book addict, to my wife's chagrin; like wire hangers in an empty closet, books tend to multiply in my home. Moreover, I almost never get rid of any of them, and my ad-hoc organization schemes have failed to bring any semblance of order to my little library.

Online content tends to suffer from the same morass of proliferation and fragmentation, and the situation is only getting worse. Ten years ago, your business had a static website and a stray directory profile; today, it's a dynamic, CMS-based site with multiple blogs, a YouTube channel, Twitter account, Facebook page, and [insert online-flavor-of-the-month] presence.

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We all need a meaningful and well-assembled content strategy—the what, why, who, and how of what we publish. But first we need to get a handle on what's already out there. Thus, the first big (and, in many cases, the most painful) step is to conduct a quantitative audit* of your existing content. Yes, that means what you think it means. Stop groaning.

A content audit is not an option

Nor is it fun, but trying to plan out your future content without knowing what you've already published is putting the cart before the horse. If that's not specific enough, consider the following:

• You'll learn about what may or may not need to be added, as an audit can help you avoid repeating or, even worse, contradicting yourself. That super-awesome, fantabolously comprehensive blog series you're planning on widget uses will seem darned silly if it was already done three years ago.
• You'll gain a bit of clarity about what needs to be removed, if it comes to that. This will help your site avoid "Milk Dud" status—delicious on the outside, disgusting on the inside. (My apologies to fans of the candy.)

A content audit isn't that hard

Granted, it can take a while, but it's not intellectually challenging. I won't cover the mechanics here, especially as there are several ways one can go about the process, but it typically requires only a spreadsheet and a good chunk of time. The upside is that once you've done the initial inventory, adding content (and you definitely should do this) after a redesign/redevelopment effort or strategy implementation is a breeze.

Still not convinced? Let's go back to my library issues. If you ask me what books I have and what they cover, I can give you only some broad topics and a few titles. If you ask me where a specific book is, I'll probably snort and laugh.

Those kinds of answers/reactions are not suitable when people approach or ask about your digital content.

* Some content strategists prefer to use "audit" only in reference to a qualitative dissection of content; they prefer "inventory" for this type of operation. I like the former because it sounds invasive and painful.

As I write this, my normally sharp vision is blurry and my fingers aren't dancing nimbly around the keyboard. The reason is quite simple: Two weeks ago, my wife and I welcomed a baby boy into our lives. One of the more aggravating side effects of having a newborn in the house, it turns out, is possessing a cure for insomnia—sheer exhaustion—that cannot be used.

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See Exhibit A, to your right, for evidence of my mental and physical states. Normally, I'm slightly less pale and much, much more robust in figure. It took only two weeks of late-night diaper changes and feedings to reduce me to that; it's almost gotten to the point where I'm not allowed to meet with clients.

Still, I've determined that the hardest part of my new role as a parent is the sheer magnitude of change I must endure. I don't mean the happy-happy-joy-joy-parent type of change; I mean the "What do I do with the kid when I have to go to the restroom?" type. That also encompasses things like:

• How can I run errands in the three-hour-long window between feedings?
• How are you supposed to put clothes on something that squirms so much?
• What does that noise mean? Do I want to know?

The list is endless, it seems, but you learn to adapt to present conditions and plan as best you can for the future, answers to the above questions notwithstanding. Similarly, you must adapt to changing career and business conditions, something I've also experienced since coming to Digett.

Your mission must evolve

Not in the Darwinist sense, though some gills would be useful. I came on board at Digett for a number of reasons (I can wear jogging pants to work, folks), and my title is Marketing Strategist. Explaining that, however, has remained a challenge; there's no line-item definition for that role, and it's only complicated by the fact that what I do has changed since I arrived.

That being the case, we're redefining some things here to represent a workflow reality, make better use of skills, and, possibly, position ourselves toward the front of an emerging field. It's exciting, even if gills aren't involved. I'm not yet in a position to provide more details, but they're forthcoming.

Your message must evolve

This change can be even more painful and confusing, and we'd know. Since our 2001 founding, Digett has always staked a position as an all-purpose, general-services firm. True, we initially targeted select industries (it's DIGital Marketing for Entertainment, Travel, and Tourism, everyone), but our practice has been to serve most any field.

In today's economic climate, however, a generalist position is an uncertain one, so we're working on sharpening Digett's offerings, target, and message. Again, I'm short on details, but we'll eventually roll them out.

Avoiding change isn't an option

Interestingly, of the three changes I mentioned above, many would rank them in descending order with respect to acceptance. That is, you must accept being a parent, you should accept a career change, and you might accept a business change. Truth is, none of those are options.

With all three, things will get messy. You'll stretch yourself thin, you'll wonder what you're doing, and you'll likely question the whole thing. In the end, however, you'll like what you get. Don't let a little redefinition scare you.

Based on what I've seen and heard in any number of articles and podcasts recently, 2010 is shaping up to be the year of metrics. Metrics are a lens through which we gauge how we're doing. Perhaps the most fundamental metric is known as profit, or what's left after we subtract the cost of delivering our products and services from the revenue we collected.<!--break-->

In the digital space, metrics answer questions such as:

• How many people are visiting my website?

• What percentage of website visitors used Keyword X to find my website?

• How many new Fans did my Facebook page attract during last week's promotion?

• What percentage of email recipients opened my recent email campaign, and, of those, how many clicked on the embedded link to go to the sales page on my website?

There is nothing wrong with wanting to know the answers to these questions, but they don't give us the insight we need to change our businesses for the better. I'd like to propose we take things a step further and make 2010 the Year of Insight.

Insight is the intelligence through which we make decisions that improve our businesses. What happens, then, when we improve our questions?

• How much did my website's traffic grow from January 2009 to January 2010?

• Which keywords—relevant to my business—have shown the greatest gains in search volume over the past month?

• What percentage growth in my Facebook page Fan base did I see from last week's promotion compared to the previous promotion?

• How do email campaign click-throughs compare between version A and version B of my campaign?

By modifying our questions slightly we begin peeling layers that reveal more interesting data. Some might even declare our job as web marketers done if our objective is to give our clients meaningful metrics. But like the answers from the first set of questions, these answers fall short of providing actionable insights.

Remember, insights help us improve our businesses. To gain insight, metrics must ultimately be connected to higher business goals and objectives. In my business, that means doing things like closing more customers, improving the lifetime value of clients, or improving the efficiency of the firm's delivery process.

The number of unique visits to my website may be important, but only when combined with an understanding of who those visitors are and how they might ultimately help me achieve my business goals and objectives. I will gladly trade you, for example, 100,000 visits per month of low-quality traffic for 100 monthly visits from highly qualified prospects. Even then, those visits are important to me only if I'm moving a meaningful percentage of those prospects through the sales funnel and converting them into customers.

Are metrics important? Absolutely they are. Without good metrics, I can't get the data I need to gain insight. Good metrics, though, are often elusive. They are simply not available in too many situations because insight is often not considered in the planning and execution stages of marketing. To get good metrics, one must measure the right things, and the only surefire way to do that is to be clear up front about what insights may be valuable when you begin planning your next move.

While no two websites are exactly alike, the process of creating those unique websites is actually fairly routine. Every website Digett delivers goes through a a series of phases to ensure consistency and quality of the end product.

Not every step is appropriate for every project or client. We frequently abbreviate certain steps, since not every item is appropriate for every case. At the onset of a project, we'll do our best to determine what's needed and will define a project timeline to adhere to throughout the site-creation process. Assuming time and budget allows, though, a typical full-fledged project goes through each of the following steps: Discovery, Design, Production, Training.

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Discovery

The first phase of any project centers around planning for and defining what will happen in the later steps. During Discovery, we'll listen to a client and ask questions to identify all that the website will need and do. As a starting point, we'll ask clients to complete a series of questionnaires.

Complete and Analyze Questionnaires

We use the Client Intake Form to develop a communication plan for the project. The answers to our Project Survey give us a starting point for discussion about the website's goals, audience, and measurements of success. Thirdly, the Drupal Questionnaire helps us to configure some of Drupal's basic settings according to the project's needs.

Develop Information Architecture

A site's Information Architecture (IA) determines a website's information heirarchy. Where does a user want to go? Where does the client want users to go? A good IA will develop a logical organization of the site's menu and pages that ensures ease of navigability and user-friendliness.

Digett's Information Architect will develop an IA to present and review with the client. Based on the client's response, we'll finalize the IA or continue working together to perfect it.

Outline Content or Create Wireframes

After determining an IA, it can be important to more specifically decide what content will go where. This might manifest itself as a document outlining what text needs to be written or it may be better represented in a wireframe format.

Think of wireframes as the bare bones or skeleton of a website. They are used to identify the elements that need to be on a page and the amount of importance each item deserves in relation to the other elements. Wirefames don't address the placement or appearance of elements on a page, though; that will happen during the Design phase.

Provide Project Specifications

Finally, the last part of Discovery is providing some documentation of the project's requirements, as identified through the discovery process. Requirements documentation, or a specifications document, will record what Digett and the client have agreed to in terms of scope, the features included, the workflow of those features, and any other details and decisions made during the review of IA and wireframes.

Design

Once the groundwork has been laid, a designer will use the IA, wireframes, and any other information from Discovery to mock up, or comp, a look and feel for the website. Typically, we work iteratively with the client, showing designs and getting feedback frequently to ensure the best use of budget and to make sure that the design moves in a direction that the client approves of.

For most websites, we'll mock-up the home page, a basic interior page, and then any other interior pages that may require some kind of special visual treatment. A staff page, for example, may need a special design so that there's a plan for the placement of staff photos and email addresses.

Once all designs have been finalized and approved, the coding can begin.

Production

The Production phase consists of two main parts: the development of functionality and theming to make the site look like the approved design.

Configuration and Functionality

Functionality addresses the things that a site does: how a form sends an email, how an image is uploaded, and what happens to it once it is. During this part of the process, content type and views are configured, decisions are made about what contributed modules to use, and any javascript or php needed to make the site function will be written.

Theming

Theming is the customization of a site's look and feel to match the approved design. It's the wrapping of HTML and CSS around the functional elements already in place.

After the appearance of a site is pixel-perfect in a single browser, (typically, we finish Firefox 3 first), we'll then test the appearance of the site in all the other major web browsers to ensure that the site offers a consistent experience for all users.

Training

The most powerful part of building sites with a content management system (Drupal, in our case) is that the capability to make changes lies directly in the client's hands. That's why it's so important to us that every client has a strong understanding of how their site works, how they can make changes, and how scalable it is for the future.

A typical training session includes an overview of the site and all its features to familiarize the client with everything it does. After that, we'll review the administrative interface to teach how to add to and update the site.

Following training, we ask clients to reivew the site, use it, and report anything we might have missed during our testing. If there are any issues, we fix them, and return to the client again for their final reivew and approval.

Launch

Once a site is complete and the client is comfortable using it, the only thing left to do is share it with the world. Once DNS records are changed to point the domain at the new site's server, it can take moments or up to 48 hours for the change to process. Soon, though, the site will be accessible by all and the fruits of the collaborative site building effort will be live.

One of the more important decisions to be made when designing your website is choosing color. Color plays in integral role in the impact your site has on visitors. To be sure to make a positive impact, consider learning a bit about the psychology of color.

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For example, the color blue is most popular, and has few negative connotations worldwide. Knowing a little about how people perceive color can go a long way toward designing a successful website. Let's take a look at a few sites I've designed, the colors I chose, and why.

McMillin Homes

Yellow communicates warmth and satisfaction and is the happiest of colors. I coupled this with the cheerful nature of orange to design McMillinHomes.com. The goal was to create an inviting sense of comfort as you would feel in your own home. In contrast, I used a powerful blue to draw attention to important page elements.

Boerne Wild West Day

The color brown is all about nature, as it is the color of our earth. It wasn't a tough decision to go brown when I started designing BoerneWildWestDay.com. Brown was the first color that came to mind when thinking wild west—wood, leather, and dirt. Brown also can be associated with conservancy, which is what the Wild West Day is about, in part—conserving our past.

ADKF

Green is the second most popular color. I chose a dark green when designing ADKF.com, because there's no better color to represent an accounting firm than a color Americans associate with wealth and safety. This design also has a great deal of white, which establishes a sense of truth and transparency.

 

Again, color plays an important role in how your website communicates to the user. Choose colors that are closely associated with your brand and the message you want to convey. Think about how you want your visitors to feel as soon as they arrive and what colors can get them there quickly. Making this connection is crucial to an effective design. Choose carefully and wisely.

In this industry, we hear a lot of snarky talk about traditional media and how practitioners "just don't get it." From my vantage point, the same could be said for engagement practitioners; if anything, their condescension comes with a great deal of irony.

Still, there are good points to be made about the viability of pouring resources into traditional, "interruption" marketing techniques, particularly as consumers tune out and the still-rough economy promotes the online shift. But where to start?<!--break--> The following illustration highlights (and grossly simplifies) the problem:

Moving from Interruption to Engagement

The best reason for going digital—namely, that you can better measure results—should appeal to even the most stodgy print and tv adherent. Now, I'm not going to tell you to dump all your traditional media and invest everything in a spiffy new Web 5.0 website, 30 social media profiles, and the latest Internet thingamajob. We take our role as consultants/strategists seriously enough to recommend cave drawings if they'll best fit your market.

Besides, traditional media can work alongside engagement media under the right conditions, helping to move your customers through the sales funnel. Instead of just blaring your message out to unknown/barely known persons and waiting for sales figures to nudge upward, you can get involved in the process of soliciting feedback and facilitating consumer decisions. For example:

• A+ Widgets has always advertised in print, but this year they put in a suggestion that readers go to their Facebook Fan Page, where fans get a 20%-off coupon. Not only does A+ mine good CRM data and establish an ongoing rapport with fans, they can track sales back through the funnel through the coupons.
• A consumer sees the latest A+ Widget print ad, but wants more information and heads to Twitter to ask around. Thankfully, A+ Widget has an active account, and they quickly address the consumer's concerns (and find out where he learned about the company's products). The consumer is referred to the website, where he submits contact information in order to download a PDF of "1,001 Fantastic Uses for our Widgets."
• A+ Widgets uses its latest TV commercial to promote its YouTube Group. Group members are asked to upload a video showcasing an innovative way of using an A+ Widget, and each member will get to vote on the best. The winner is showcased in the next TV commercial.

Those aren't revolutionary ideas, but they all have a leg up on traditional-only campaigns in customer involvement and relationship-building. Moreover, they aren't terribly complex nor held at the mercy of expensive, confusing tools—though, as we've pointed out, the playing field isn't quite as equal as we'd all like.

Ultimately, the real benefit is measurability. When it comes down to it, determining the effectiveness of old-school interruption campaigns is a crapshoot. Tying together your traditional and engagement tools, however, provides real insights that help you improve.

Want more details on insights? Check out Mark's piece, "Metrics are good. Insight is better."

Website projects can be overwhelming for the uninitiated, but they don't have to be.

When engaging a development firm, the two parties are agreeing to work together to create a finished web product in a certain amount of time for a certain budget. There's a lot of interdependency to deliver all those things as expected, and it can be easy for things to go wrong.

With so many moving parts, what can you do to help keep your web project on track?

1. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

There are basic pieces of information that every web developer or development team worth their salt will need to know before a project can really hit the ground running. Planning ahead about what the website should be and do will go a long way toward a smooth kick off.

Here are a few typical questions we ask before any design or development can begin:

• What is the site's address (URL)?
• What is the purpose or primary goal of the website?
• How will the site's success be measured?
• What is the site's primary audience?
• Should visitors be allowed to comment on any content?
• Can visitors register for accounts?
• Where should emails from the site be sent?
• Are there any existing logos or branding materials that need to be considered when designing this website?
• What are must-have features?

Having answers to those general, but important, questions can save time up front. Be prepared to discuss the project vision or any ideas with your development team, then work together to decide how to best reach those goals given timeline and budget.

2. Determine Decision-Makers

Before the project starts, know who will have input and final say on important project decisions. Keep those people involved from the beginning and throughout the whole process.

It's a huge time and budget waste to work on a design effort with a client for weeks and then head back to the drawing board when it's discovered the company president doesn't like green. If Joe President needs to provide input, have him there on Day One to say if certain colors are no-no's.

Having all decision-makers in the loop at all times reduces the likelihood of having to repeat or re-do work because the development team hears its instructions from the most important sources.

Caveat: Too many decision-makers can slow a project down, too. Decision-by-committee can be slow and laborious, because it's so difficult to please all parties completely. Try to walk the tightrope of involving everyone you need without also involving everyone.

3. Develop a Communication Plan

If something changes mid-way, or even might change mid-way, however minor, keep your web friends in the loop; they should return the favor. It's good for all parties to be apprised of anything that could be a game-changer or affect the schedule.

If it's not clear already, know how to get a hold of your project manager or main contact. In turn, make sure they know the best way to get in touch with the project's decision-makers. Should all decision-makers be carbon copied on emails? Is there one person who should always be contacted first? Does she prefer phone or email communication?

4. Define Project Scope

It can be tempting to want to sneak in a small feature here, a new detail there, but all those changes can add up and derail a timeline or budget.

Determine with the development team what is and isn't part of the project's scope. Every firm or developer may do this differently. In some cases, this might be a list of must-haves before the project will be considered complete. In other cases, it might be a list of priorities in the order in which they should be addressed as budget allows.

Whatever is agreed upon, hold developers accountable for the work they've promised to complete. At the same time, know that adding to or changing scope mid-way through a project may knock things off track or require agreeing to adjust project scope to make things fit.

5. Hold Yourself Accountable

If the project can't move forward until copy is delivered or design is approved, don't be the reason that the design or build-out stalls or gets knocked off schedule. Deliver materials and approval to the development team as soon as possible or according to the dates decided on ahead of time.

6. Expect Some Bumps

There is no perfect project. Even with the greatest forethought, synergy, and communication, don't be surprised if there's a speed bump or two along the way. Be prepared to have a certain amount of flexibility on any web project; with solid groundwork in place, problems can be managed effectively and have a minimal impact on the end result.

Not all site designs are easy; some, you have to work for. And by some, I mean all of them.

Recently, I had to work out a problem with a site showcasing logos on a black background. The problem was the logo files I had were JPEGs of each on a white background. Laying out these white rectangle logos on the black background just wasn't working for me—not a good look. So I came up with a Photoshop method to cut the logos away from their white backgrounds, thus making them usable on any color background. I assure you this method works better and more often than other traditional isolation techniques, magic wand included.<!--break-->

Here's how I do it

1) Open the logo file in Photoshop and create a Duplicate Layer.

2) Desaturate the duplicate layer.

3) 'Select all' of the duplicate layer and Copy it to your clipboard. Make sure to then Deselect, this is important.

4) Next, add a Layer Mask to the duplicate layer. Choose 'Reveal All.'

5) Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on the Layer Mask Thumbnail. This will allow you paste right into the layer mask itself. Paste from your clipboard. Deselect.

6) Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on the Layer Mask Thumbnail, which will select all white pixels. Invert your selection so that you've got just the logo pixels selected.

7) Next, drop down to your original layer by clicking on the layer's thumbnail, making it your active layer.

8) Make a new Layer via Copy and you've isolated the logo.

9) This method may produce some logos with unwanted transparency, in which case you should duplicate the isolated logo 2 or 3 times, until it appears opaque. Then, merge these duplicate layers into one, solid, isolated logo.

In the End

That should do the trick. Using layer masks is an effective and efficient method to isolate logos from white backgrounds for use on any other background color. Here are some examples of logos created using this method, the the Boerne Wild West Day site.

The New Year's Diet has become a staple resolution for many—not us, of course, but other people—and for good cause. In the course of a busy week, our thoughts of eating well and exercising quickly devolve into a maelstrom of fast food, microwave dinners, and "quality" time in front of our televisions. It's rarely intentional—it just ... happens.

Unfortunately, the same is true in web marketing. Part of that is conditioning by those in my own industry; in our efforts to better demonstrate the value of our services, we've been telling our clients that their websites can do anything and everything. Our clients, likewise, begin requesting more and more capability be added to their sites. The result is feature (or scope) creep, and it produces web projects that are unrealistic and, in most cases, unsuccessful.

Properly defining scope is a great way to help keep a web project on track, but the hard part is determining the boundaries. Thankfully, 2009 showed us that simple, focused websites are the trend, if not the user preference, so there are plenty of examples for one to consider when reimagining their own web presence. Likewise, consider the following when determining scope:

Focus on tasks, not vision

As a strategist, I know how difficult it can be to see the trees for the forest. Your users, however, are far more focused; people come to your site to do something, not debate your organization's soul in perpetuity. If you put yourself in their shoes, you better understand how limiting your site's features and capabilities can provide a more efficient and, ultimately, more satisfying experience.

Let your users determine direction

It's hard to give up control, but consider how well it's worked for others. For example, Twitter routinely integrates features or enhancements that were first suggested or created by users. Granted, you shouldn't implement every change that comes into the suggestion box, but paying attention to how your visitors use your site and spotting trends can help you keep scope in check while providing users what they want.

Avoid trends and fads

This one can be tricky, particularly if you're giving your users a role in site direction. Still, you should always question the long-term value and ROI of any given site feature. It may seem really cool to have an integrated Nahuatl translation for your site copy, for instance, but it's not very useful—unless your market includes the Aztec, of course.

Build on the right foundation

One of the reasons we prefer Drupal is because it's almost infinitely extensible; adding features to a Drupal-based site is, in many cases, as easy as one could hope for. If you're working within an extensible platform, you reduce the likelihood that added features will cripple site performance or require major redevelopment costs.

As I write, the clock has yet to chime midnight on December 31; however, all indications are that 2009 was the Year of Facebook, for both personal and business communication. The five-year-old social network has become a behemoth of users and capital, and marketers like myself have been forced to spend hours wading through silly farm games and virtual Yankee Candle giveaways to better understand how the service may be used by our clients.<!--break-->

What's truly annoying is that it's a never-ending process, as Facebook changes crucial parts of its service often, and sometimes with little notice. This reinforces the often-overlooked fact that digital marketing is not a set-and-forget process; you have to stay on top of things. A little tweak from Facebook or a nudge from Twitter could call for a serious reevaluation of your marketing plans.

Just take a look at what we had to deal with this year on Facebook:

Terms of Service Changes

In February, Facebook changed its TOS to stipulate that it had an ongoing, perpetual license for any content uploaded to the site, provided that the profile remained active. Strangely, the site's owners seemed surprised when users appeared upset about the idea of being controlled by digital overlords.

Most of the concern came from average users, and rightfully so, but this switch could have had a profound effect on businesses. Imagine having to deal with FB's use of an expired promotion, trademark, or copyright. If you think the folks in charge there would be too smart to do something like that, you might not be aware that Facebook's founder just recently became old enough to qualify for adult car insurance rates.

By the way, Facebook reverted to the previous TOS after the outcry.

The End of Easy, Free Promotions

Few people seemed to notice when Facebook decided to radically change its rules regarding how businesses can administer promotions through their fan pages. We did, seeing as how we were in the middle of establishing a client's FB presence, and we detailed our thoughts here.

In short, the new rules make it very difficult for organizations to run Facebook promotions, and they've forced a number of businesses back to the drawing board to rethink their plans.

Fan Page Ownership Issues

Granted, these didn't just happen in 2009; as so many businesses and organizations rushed this year to establish fan pages, we believe the problem became acute. What problem? You can't change ownership of a Facebook page. If you let an ex-employee or former marketing partner create your fan page, it's still theirs.

Why Facebook hasn't addressed this issue is a bit confusing. Until they do, we have a solution that will help you maintain ownership of your Facebook page.

What can you do to maintain a viable, fresh Facebook presence?

Stay alert, for one; it's already been announced that major changes are coming to fan pages. Facebook is selective about what they publicize, and it sometimes takes a while for information to disseminate. Moreover, be flexible; changes may come in the middle of a campaign.

Finally, keep in mind that Facebook—like each social network—is only one tool that can be part of a larger digital marketing strategy. If any of the above changes or scenarios would have proven disastrous to your marketing efforts, you may have too many eggs in Facebook's basket. There's always Twitter, you know ...

A family friend recently launched a new website for his company and asked me to take a look at the finished product. It's beautiful and professional; it sets the right tone for his customers and makes it easy to contact the company for more information.

It's not going to perform well in search engines, though. One quick look at the source code—the "stuff" that Google sees—let me know.<!--break-->

What Search Engines See

The problem, in this particular case, is that his site has been built in Flash, which means, essentially, the website consists of one webpage (www.example.com) with a Flash movie clip embedded on it. It's the movie clip that lets you move through the site and gives the appearance of new "pages" but, in reality, the user never navigates away from www.example.com.

In a nutshell, on his site, all Google sees is the code embedding the movie file. It looks something like this:

Compare that to this sample HTML that's been optimized for search engines:

Both code snippets may seem jumbled and foreign to the untrained, but I'm betting you could interpret that the second page talks about tires, and search engines will be able to figure that out as well.

This doesn't mean that Flash sites are bad, or even that they doom your search engine performance. Google has made some strides towards the ability to index content contained within Flash files. It's not quite there yet, but it's progress. There are also methods that we've implemented that give search engines HTML content to index on Flash sites.

That's not the real story here, though. The story is about how companies arrive at predicaments like this in the first place.

Plan SEO from the Beginning

How many sites are being launched each day (mistakenly) without consideration for how they will perform in search engine results?

A site can have perfect code and stunning design, but if search engines haven't been considered during its development, it's not living up to its full potential or giving you a maximum return on investment.

Do not—I repeat, do not—build a new website without planning how you'll address search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM).

Digett builds sites using Drupal, our content management system of choice, and that alone provides our clients with a solid starting foundation for SEO. At the most basic level, Drupal empowers its users to easily add and update content to their sites. (All things considered equal, Google will rank a more recently updated page above an older one.) Through contributed modules, like Meta Tags, for example, clients can also add meta descriptions, saturated with good keywords, to nearly every piece of content on their sites.

Some companies address their SEO as simply as that—with good site architecture and strong content. We also assist others that prefer to develop strategies centered around paid campaigns to increase their appearance on search results pages.

No matter the method that's right for you, decide on an SEO plan before your site is built. Tools like Drupal can give you a leg up, but the best way to make sure your site is beautiful, functional, and well-performing in search engines is to plan from the start.

I used to think "inspiration" was for people with no "imagination." I thought people who were inspired all the time were just too cool for school; you know the type—talking on a bluetooth headset while jogging to Jamba Juice at 5 a.m. So, I would say, let them have their inspiration, and I'll stick to going it alone, just me and my imagination.

But over the past year or so, I've realized that I need both to make it work. Creative minds can't avoid inspiration and can't do without it. Here's a simile for you: creativity is like a car. It can only go so far on the gas that's in the tank before you have to refill the tank. Creative minds need to be consistently inspired in order to grow, and I think it's better to seek out inspiration rather than wait for it to find you.

Inspiration can truly be found anywhere—in a song, a movie, a conversation. There's a line in a Dwight Yoakam song that says, "Today I had another bout with sorrow." When I hear it, I'm inspired to take a picture. I ask myself, "What does a 'bout with sorrow' look like?" and the creative Jamba Juice starts to flow.

Another great source of inspiration is the world wide web. There are a ton of great online resources to get you fired up about your next project or creative endeavor. I'll share with you some of my favorites:

PSDTuts

A showcase of some really good Photoshop tutorials and, so often, a source of beautiful work, like this roundup of good typography.

Best Web Gallery

A collection of quality web designs, often where I go to get started thinking about one of my own designs.

Smashing Magazine

An online magazine that consistently delivers trends in web design and development. We were recently featured in the Smashing Magazine for Beautifully Textured Web Designs. Twelve from the top, Boerne Wild West Day.

Ads of the World

A showcase of some of the most creative advertising in the world. Really smart stuff.

Logo Pond

A gallery of logos from around the globe, some better than others, and some even for sale!

Beautiful Life

An online magazine dedicated to all things design. Check out these strange rings.

Dave Hill Photography

I'm a photography enthusiast, and this guy is at the top of my list. Nobody knows how he achieves his look, but it's unmistakable.

Inspiration is all around us, and we need it to reach and surpass our potential. Take some time to gather what inspires you. Actively seeking sources of inspiration can open your mind to new possibilities and take your own creativity to new heights.

Drupal themers are like cooks. We use common components (contributed modules) as a starting point for successful websites. Cooks also use common components—tried and true ingredients (salt, pepper, garlic, onions, etc.)—as the base for delicious recipes. The fruits of our labors are robust and flavorful. But somewhere in this busy world, saving time has taken priority. We have decided pre-made is better.

Last week I watched an Aquia webinar on Drupal theming. After a year of using contributed themes like Zen, Clean, and Foundation as cornerstones for each new site launch, I was exposed to the beauty and simplicity of "Homemade Theming"—building a Drupal theme from scratch.

For the Drupal-ers out there, this might sound like a horrible idea. I think the cause for the skepticism comes from the equation of the words homemade and scratch with long, tiresome, and tedious. I felt those same suspicions. Homemade might translate to long, tiresome, and tedious for cooks, but not for themers! In fact, it's just the opposite. When it comes to themes, "homemade" doesn't mean harder.

Advantages of Building a Drupal Theme from Scratch

When building a Drupal theme from scratch, you control every aspect of the HTML and CSS. You control the site's regions, its available variables, and how the entire site is assembled. Content defines design. The most important advantage of a homemade Drupal theme is this: The themer is in control of the theme. When using a contributed theme, you work around the pre-packaged code and the theme controls you.

How to Build a Drupal 6 Theme from Scratch

In the spirit of "cooking up a homemade Drupal theme," here's Digett's 5-ingredient, 5-step recipe for a perfectly delicious, homemade Drupal theme:

Ingredients

• 1 or more finalized Photoshop comp(s)
• 1 index.html file full of static code, void of php
• (At least) 1 .css file corresponding to the index.html file
• 1 .info file with a specified name, core, and engine
• 1 Drupal installation

Preparation

1. Create your theme directory
   For the sake of this tutorial, let's assume the name of your theme is "recipe." In your Drupal installation, create a directory named "recipe" (using all lower-case letters) in the sites/all/themes folder. This is where the files for your theme will reside.

2. Photoshop comps to HTML/CSS
   The first thing a themer needs to begin making a homemade Drupal theme is a set of finalized design comps. Don't even worry about syncing it with Drupal yet. Build your index file in plain old HTML, just the way you would have circa 1998, but with regards to current standards compliancy and XHTML. :) You'll want to include an external CSS stylesheet in this step as well.

   Once your HTML/CSS is in place, you're golden. This becomes the basis for your theme, not Zen, Genesis, Blueprint, or any of the other popular contributed themes.

3. Structure the .INFO file
   Inside the same "recipe" directory, create a file called recipe.info. Three keys are required: name, core, and engine. I'm including a very basic example of how this file should be structured:
   name = Recipe Theme Example
   core = 6.x
   engine = phptemplate

   Be sure to call your stylesheet using

   stylesheets[all] = style.css

   Refer to this additional information regarding the structure of the .info file if you have questions.

1. Migrate and modify the index.html file and your stylesheet(s)
   Move your existing index.html and stylesheet(s) into the "recipe" theme directory. Rename index.html to page.tpl.php.

   Inside every Drupal installation, there's a default page.tpl.php template. It's located in the modules/system directory. I recommend plugging in snippets of code from this file to your theme's new page.tpl.php file. Where there's static content, replace it with php tags from the system's default page.tpl.php template.

2. Enable your theme
   Now, when you navigate to your Drupal installation theme page (admin/build/themes) you'll see your new, custom theme available for enabling. Enable it and set it as the default theme. Continue on working with regions, blocks, panels, and views as though using a contributed theme.

Why the Homemade Approach Works

If this is your first time building a homemade theme, this may not seem like a time-saver, but believe me, it is. The real time-saver kicks in when you're just swapping out php variables with old, static HTML instead of trying to re-work existing an existing HTML structure to fit your content.

You can also choose to browser test before modifying the index.html file, reducing extraneous time spent testing after site-build.

Helpful Theming Modules

• Drupal for Firebug
• Skinr
• Devel

I encourage you to make your own homemade theme from scratch. Why be the frozen dinners of the world when you can be foie gras?!

If you have questions regarding "Homemade Theming" please contact me directly. I'll be happy to discuss this topic further. Good luck! -Kathryn