Great Headline, Anyone?
“I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie, there is no system, the universe is indifferent.” -Don Draper, Mad Men.
Writing for the web is, as most people know by now, completely different than writing for other mediums. There are things like the structure and length of the paragraph, the use of bullet points, and the sheer amount of content that isn’t quite the same online as a piece you might see in a newspaper. One aspect of writing holds the same level of importance across the board, though, and that is a headline. While a visitor might be indifferent when they reach a site, once they get there it’s up to us to impress. We dazzle with design, and they stay a minute longer to poke around a bit. Then they start actually reading the content, and that’s where we want to hook them.
It'll Take Time. A Lot of Time.
There’s a great link on Daring Fireball about SEO. It’s a nice opinionated article about how SEO is bunk, -but there’s another bit that makes it worth reading. At the end of the article is the secret to web marketing. Print it our and pin it up somewhere.
“Make something great. Tell people about it. Do it again.
That’s it. Make something you believe in. Make it beautiful, confident, and real. Sweat every detail. If it’s not getting traffic, maybe it wasn’t good enough. Try again.
Then tell people about it. Start with your friends. Send them a personal note – not an automated blast from a spam cannon. Post it to your Twitter feed, email list, personal blog. (Don’t have those things? Start them.) Tell people who give a shit – not strangers. Tell them why it matters to you. Find the places where your community congregates online and participate. Connect with them like a person, not a corporation. Engage. Be real.
Then do it again. And again. You’ll build a reputation for doing good work, meaning what you say, and building trust.
It’ll take time. A lot of time. But it works. And it’s the only thing that does.”
Read the rest here: http://powazek.com/posts/2090
Embrace the Ownership Mentality.
“The owners mentality is difficult to describe. You either have it or you don’t (although you can learn to have it).”
- Chris Tingom, www.brainfuel.tv
Of course your graphic designers love to design, and your programmers love to develop, your copywriter loves to write, and your AE (hopefully) loves client communication! But do they all have the ownership mentality? It’s undervalued, and it’s what gives smaller studios an exceptional capability to stand up against those larger agencies. It’s not just one person taking the lead with this thought process- it’s everyone taking every fire drill seriously and going to extremes to make sure their end of the job is taken care of- all to satisfy the needs of the client.
Pride in getting something right should absolutely be the enjoyment of the owner of a small studio, but every owner would want to share that with his/her employees- everyone who touches the project and everyone who doesn’t
Entermotion
in Fundamentals, Ownership Mentality
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When 99% Accuracy Isn't Good Enough.
The design industry is competitive, there’s no doubt about that. There’s always someone else who wants to do it better, quicker, cheaper, or any combination of the three. You’ve got to constantly evaluate your workflow, and adjust it so that you’ve got the best combination.
You can do things right 28 days out of the month, but when one of those remaining days doesn’t go as planned, there’s a chance you could be fighting so you don’t compromise the quality, effectiveness or bottom line of a job done on your watch. So, what happens when that inevitable mistake makes its way to the surface of your carefully managed workflow?
My Client's Taste Was Tacky...
If you’re sticking around to see if we call out a specific client for having bad taste, go ahead and quit reading. The real answer is that many of our clients suffer from temporary, or permanent lack of taste in design.
To be more honest, most of them on that list would not argue. If they were fantastic designers, they wouldn’t need us. If they could art direct, they would attempt to do so. But, after this purposefully tacky intro, we have something uplifting to say; your taste is relevant, and it’s important even if it’s not what insiders would consider “good.”
Entermotion
in Clients, Sharing, random influences
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