Hiring the Internet » Programming

4 Strategies to Spin a Better Web(inar)

Mikey Rox — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:18:14 +0000

It’s taken a couple years, but the webinar has finally taken off. How do we know? Have a look at our inbox – it’s full of invitations for this, that and the other one.

While we don’t have time to attend every session (we’re too busy blogging), we’ve seen plenty of marketing-based sessions to offer our opinion on the oft-overlooked dos and don’ts.

1. Presentation is nine-tenths of the law

They say that presentation is everything. We’re not as melodramatic as ‘they’ are, but presentation does account for the majority of good, for lack of a better word, presentations. If you’re using the PowerPoint or Keynote programs, opt for clean graphics and clear, concise bullet points while forgoing distracting and miscellaneous elements and information. If you find that some content isn’t serving a specific purpose – that it’s just there for show – delete it. Additionally, be sure that the written content is accurate and expertly edited. People are probably paying for the session, and they deserve their money’s worth.

2. Bam! Kick it up a notch

Live video via web cam or digital video camera will give attendees a better sense of who you are as the presenter. They can physically see you, so they’ll naturally be more engaged versus if they had to stare at a slide show for an hour. Also consider offering a whiteboard with annotation, which will allow you and/or the attendees to highlight or mark items on the slides. If note taking is indeed the best way to retain information, an interactive whiteboard is the perfect fit for your webinar.

3. Put them in coach – they’re ready to play

Ever been yapped at for an hour? We have, and it’s not our favorite pastime. Open up the lines of communication during your webinar by using text chat for live Q-and-A sessions, limited to those connected to the meeting. Text chat can be public – allowing all participants to see the messages – or private, between two participants. Polls and surveys are another engagement opportunity, allowing the presenter to direct questions with multiple-choice answers to the audience.

4. Tick-tock goes to clock

We know you like to hear yourself speak – but you might be the only one. As a rule, a webinar is best when it’s brief. But you don’t want to shorten it so much that you fail to convey anything useful to your audience. Longer than an hour, however, and you’ll lose ’em for sure. There’s never a perfect length – attention spans vary – so shoot for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes. Most pros can handle your self-praising humor for at least as long as it takes to watch an episode of Mad Men.

Have you recently hosted or attended a webinar? Do you have an opinion on techniques to adopt or avoid? Let us know in the comments section.

Pop, Pop, PhizzPop

Mikey Rox — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:56:41 +0000

Microsoft has had more misses than hits lately – problem-plagued Vista; the slow release of Surface; those Jerry Seinfeld commercials – but just because the comp-tech corporation is down doesn’t mean it’s out.

Last year, Microsoft launched PhizzPop, a site that allows companies that build Web 2.0-enhanced software to exchange ideas, network, browse job postings, and engage in a host of other related activities. Not limited to its gallery of forward-thinking Web practices, the site is also a forum for online conversation about the future of Internet design.

Three main sections comprise the site: Design, to discover techniques and explore how user experience is defining the Web of tomorrow; Build, to learn about top developers who are reinventing the Web and to get ahead of taxing technical issues and new technologies; and Grow, to make the most of your time and technology, and to drive success with current clients and attract new ones. In addition, there are several other components to note, including the PhizzPop Design Challenge, which “pits top interactive, Web and design agencies against one another to push the limits of technology and creativity in a battle royale.” Sounds serious! Check out the latest winner here.

Although PhizzPop has been active for a while – to very little fanfare – we thought the site was worth highlighting if only for its devotion to the notion that even the most creative and innovative marketers can use a little inspiration.

SEO Tip: Start From the Drawing Board

joannavisibleshops — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:00:28 +0000

One common mistake of online marketing is that the “SEO Experts” and “SEO Specialists” are brought in too late into the process. Instead of thinking of search engine optimization as something you tweak, how about considering it as something you build? What about the SEO Architects?

And who would the SEO Architects be? They would be your own web developers.

Much of the focus in SEO advice has been on copy. Surely enough, website content is an important part of grabbing search engines’ attention. Keyword density, for example, is a factor search engine spiders use to determine a site’s relevance.

But SEO considerations should be made from the onset! Start off with a good domain name, one with prized keywords, if you can manage it. And besides the usual stuff you think about to optimize your site (such as keyword-rich headings and keyword-linked text) take care with your meta-titles and meta keywords. They also hint to spiders about the specific subject matter of your pages.

Check out our classic posts on this subject: Code Matters and Website Accessibility Checklist.

Website Accessibility Checklists

visibleshops — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:14:37 +0000

What is website accessibility all about, you ask? Simply put, it is constructing your site in such a way that visitors with disabilities can access your web content. What happens when someone using a screen reader encounters that mind-blowing graphical banner that your designer created? Is there an awkward pause, or does your page handle the situation gracefully and keep the conversation going?

The checklists below offer a set of standards and best practices that will put you well on your way to ensuring that your site’s content is available to as wide an audience as possible. As an added bonus, making your site accessible helps improve SEO as well as the experience of users with mobile devices.

Accessibility Checklists:

A Basic Checklist

W3C- An Authoritative List

Sec. 508 Checklist- It’s actually law in some cases

Usage statistics and IE7 auto update

jimbvs — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:17:26 +0000

The w3c browser usage statistics from Jan. are in. No big changes from previous months, but look for IE6 usage to start shifting over to IE7 in the coming months as Microsoft is scheduled to start including upgrades to IE7 as part of their auto update on Feb.12.

Jan. 08 Browser Statistics:

Firefox	IE6	IE7	Safari	IE5	Opera	Mozilla
37.2%	32.0%	21.2%	1.9%	1.5%	1.4%	1.3%

Preventing search engines from indexing parts of your site

jimbvs — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:04:09 +0000

When it comes to search engines, most of the time the question is “how do I make my site more visible?” Occasionally however the opposite need arises. Whether it be out of date content archived on the server, or new drafts that you’re not ready for the world to see, the question becomes “how do I keep search engines from indexing certain parts of my site?” Fortunately, there is an easy solution… use a robots.txt file. This text file, when placed in the root of your site, will tell search engines which pages or directories not to index.

It is important to note that although robots.txt will work for search engines that play by the rules, it is not fool proof. Nefarious robots, like those used for email address harvesting for example may ignore your robots.txt file. Furthermore, robots.txt does not actually hide pages, it just helps prevent them from being indexed. If you have sensitive information on your site that you don’t want anyone to see you’re better off keeping it offline, or implementing some form of password protection.

For technical specifics on creating and using a robots.txt file, visit http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html

No related posts.

Browser Usage Statistics

jimbvs — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:50:00 +0000

Here are some of the latest statistics from the W3C that should be taken into consideration when designing and building your next site.

Firefox continues it’s steady rise in popularity as IE6 slowly declines. Look for IE7 usage to continue to rise as more new computers are shipped with it pre-installed with Vista.

Browser Usage:
IE6 37.3%
Firefox 34.0%
IE7 19.7%
IE5 1.5%

Screen Resolution:
80% of viewers are using a screen size with 1024×768 resolution or higher. Good news for those who have been waiting patiently to break out of the constraints of skinny 800×600 layouts.

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

Code Matters

jimbvs — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 21:38:30 +0000

Ever wonder how the search engines “see” your site? There’s a quick way for all of you Firefox users to get a rough idea. Try disabling style sheets. View-> Page Style-> No Style. (Unfortunately IE doesn’t provide a similar easy means of disabling style sheets.)

What do you see? Does your website still make sense? Is your company name and tag line still prominent and easy to spot, or is it now cloaked in 12 point Times anonymity like everything else on the page? Do you see a bunch of great looking images with elegant typography describing the products and services you’re trying to draw attention to? I hate to break it to you, but the search engines don’t.

SEO starts with good code. Make sure your programmer builds your pages using standards compliant, semantic markup. Semantic markup is essentially a fancy way of saying “use HTML’s built-in heading code to indicate a heading, not the built in paragraph code.” It sounds like common sense (well, to us it does anyway) but you’d be surprised how often web designers get caught up in creating eye candy and overlook this essential best practice.

If you’re feeling brave and want to to know more about this stuff, be able to impress your Internet marketing folk, and generally have a great handle on where your site needs to be to get results, take a look at these resources on semantic (and standards compliant) markup and SEO coding best practices:

http://www.456bereastreet.com/lab/developing_with_web_standards/full/
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/seo_and_your_web_site/