Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Feb 5, 2010

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Using information to make design decisions is something that should be practiced more in the web design community. In this case, a little data has provided a significant argument against a common blog design practice. What else could we be doing wrong or could we improve? – The more I know, the less I need: Thoughts on web design (Brian Cray)

Brian has been iteratively redesigning his blog/website for the past few months – trying something out and then taking a look at the data to see how it’s working. His current design is very clean (and I have a todo list to clean up my own) – very usable (and maybe a slight bit boring).

I think usability is very important to design – but it needs to also be balanced with what looks good. What the eye finds appealing isn’t always the same as what is easiest to use, but eye appeal has a lot to do with how we “feel” about a site and that can play a powerful part in reuse/repurchase/revisit/etc. In Brian’s blog, I really like his layout on his portfolio page – because the images on the right really look nice with the text on the left. On the other pages, the text doesn’t feel like it takes up enough of the page (although I wouldn’t want it to take up the whole thing either) – and the small width means more scrolling for reading. That said, this is a great experiment, I’ve learned some things from Brian’s findings and I applaud Brian for working towards improved usability.

Thanks to recent developments in mobile software and hardware, you can now accept credit card payments via a swipe on your cellphone. As this technology spreads, it could mean big changes for small businesses, traveling merchants, part-time vendors, or boutique owners. – How To Accept Credit Card Payments On Your iPhone (Business Insider)

Being able to accept credit card payments from a phone could be huge for merchants & business people who aren’t near a computer. Besides allowing current merchants to sell from anywhere, I think it will allow new business models as different types of services & products are developed to take advantage of the “mobile” consumer.

Part of the problem is that a social media policy is a misnomer. Your company should have social media policies. It’s not just making rules for who can blog and say they work for you. It’s more than just telling employees what they can and cannot do on company computers. Here’s a list of some social media policies you should consider – What Every Company Should Know About Social Media Policy (Social Media Explorer)

Not only should your company have social media policies, they need to be constantly updated as social media and how people use it evolves. Ideally these policies should be worked in to more general policies and employee handbooks as well. Employees shouldn’t have to wonder about what’s acceptable. But these policies should also be reasonable and should look at legitimate business uses too. Just outlawing everything is just horrible business strategy.

Survey respondents were asked what metrics they are using to measure marketing effectiveness. Statistical analysis shows that there is a strong correlation between focus on brand reputation and likelihood to be shifting marketing budget from traditional to digital channels. – Attempts to boost reputation drive budgets online (eConsultancy)

An increase in digital marketing spend isn’t really news. Trends have been pointing that way for awhile. I’m pleased to see companies realize that they need to join the online conversation to help with their brand reputation. We’ll see if they’re using the budgets to broadcast for their brand or to actually have productive conversations with their customers.

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