I’m happy the leaves are changing – it’s the perfect weather to ride my scooter to work.

I’m happy about the work we’re doing at Delphia Consulting across our 4 areas of expertise:

• HR & Payroll Solutions
• SEO & Internet Marketing
• Usability and Accessibility
• Web Design & Development

And I’m happy about Delphia’s new facebook fan page.

So happy in fact, that I’m giving away gift cards!

Starting on Monday, 10/18/2010, every business day I’m going to randomly select one fan from Delphia Consulting’s facebook fan page and send them a Starbucks gift card. I’ll do this through Friday 11/19/2010.

On Monday, 11/22/2010, I’ll randomly select one fan and send them a $100 Visa gift card! It will arrive just in time to use for Black Friday shopping!

That means I’m giving away 26 gift cards. The sooner you become a fan, the more chances you have to win. You can even forward this post to your friends and they could win too. All they have to do to enter is become a fan.

It doesn’t get any simpler, right? Become our fan on facebook and you could win. And I’ve got even more things in store in the future for our fans.  So why not “Like” us right now? And if you win, maybe you’ll be has happy as I am.

Good luck!

I try to connect with the audience, make eye contact, engage them when possible and might even tell some funny stories. It’s not as hard as it seems given how much “life experience” I have (translate – I’m a boomer) and how funny things always seem to happen to me (translate – I attract the most interesting people).

I’ve often been asked to deliver the same content as a webinar – either live or recorded. But webinars scare me. I feel I have trouble connecting with people when I can’t see or hear them. On the listener side of things, I usually find webinars to be quite dull. I either want to click through the slides myself (much faster than the speaker is going through them) or get bored watching screen upon screen of a software demonstration. 

That’s not always the case.

Check out this video from Ed Dale on how to use Twitter for business.

To see the part I’m fascinated with, start to look around 1:50. The content is engaging, which I know is a must. But I also really like how I can see his face throughout the entire presentation, how he can interact with the application (scrolling) and how it zooms in when he wants to show a detail on the screen (around 5:00).

Based on the background, I can see it’s done on a Mac. But when I’ve asked Dale what software he uses, I get no reply. I’ve visited the Mac store hoping they could instantly tell me how this was done, and even their evangelists had no clue. 

So, what sorcery is this that can produce a presentation like this?

Can I achieve the same result using a Microsoft Windows based machine? Can I do this “live” and share it as a webinar? And simultaneously record it for folks to play back in the future?

If I have to use a Mac, I might be ok with that – if I knew exactly what hardware/software I needed. Although our shop is entirely Windows based, so I would prefer to stay on that platform. And the software I would probably want to demonstrate runs on a Windows platform.

If you know how I can get to the end state of a live (and recorded) presentation that looks like Ed’s example, I really want to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Today’s Web, Web 2.0, reflects a paradigm shift in the way the internet is being used, from presenting information to sharing to collaborating and building a community of interest around information. Forester describes Web 2.0 as a set of technologies and applications that enable the efficient interaction between people, content and data. The interaction is what makes these technologies different. The interaction is usually referred to as social media – conversations facilitated by technology.

Check out this video from Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions showing the divorce between the “consumer” and the “advertiser.” Cute, huh?  I would like to hear from you.

• What are you doing to have a dialog with your prospects and clients?
• Are you engaging in the conversation or doing all the talking?

Social media is much like face-to-face conversations. Everyone talks and shares. Sometimes we don’t all agree. Some folks talk louder and more frequently than others. That give and take is what makes a conversation, either online or face-to-face. If you want to participate in social media, be ready and willing to take comments and reviews.

Social Media Is Only the Beginning

Social media is about starting a conversation. It’s about getting to know someone at 100,000 feet (or through 140 character bursts). In a way, it’s like meeting someone at a club. You chat a bit, over the noise of all the other conversations taking place, and decide if you want to pursue a deeper conversation. If the answer is “yes,” you go some place else. On the web, it means you take them “Home.” To your “Home page,” that is.

People might get to know you, or even like and start to trust you, from conversations in social media. But when it comes down to doing due diligence, they are going to turn to your website. That’s why your site needs to be the foundation of your online marketing strategy. It needs to be great, before you jump in to social media marketing.

The Goal: Drive Traffic to Your Site

Think about it. What if it works? What if you’re a hit at the club? What if you’re successful in driving traffic “Home?” If visitors get there and find a messy house with little or nothing to offer them, they’ll leave. With the ease of conversations facilitated by the web (i.e., social networking) they may start to tell others what a disastrous host you are. Those conversations, trapped in searchable cyber space, could cause damage that’s difficult to repair or overcome.

I learned how to host from my mother. Our house was usually clean, but when we knew company was coming over, well, she went all out! I remember having to dust the shelves flanking our television, covered with knickknacks collected over 30+ years. I remember putting out snacks we didn’t really care much for, knowing it’s what the company liked and wanted. It was about making them feel comfortable and putting our best foot forward.

Before you start tweeting and blogging, make sure you site is ready for the surge of traffic you might generate. Compare your site against the 10 Features of Great Website. Like my mom taught me, you have to clean the house before company arrives. Make sure your site is ready before you start inviting people “Home.”

Understand the Goals of the Site First

The best reviews assess a site against the organization’s goals and the needs of the site’s users. For example, an entertainment site is likely to have very different goals and users than a small business site. So, I like to begin every site review by first learning about the organization, its goals, the users and their goals. From there, we can do an expert review of the site. The checklist we use has more than 150 items we consider. Usability testing, like structured walkthroughs, can really nail what users expect of a site. Having said that, there are features I always look for when reviewing a site.

Features Every Website Should Have

1. Speed. Users are impatient. If a page doesn’t load quickly enough, they’ll move on. That means you need to be mindful of any plug-ins your page requires (e.g., Flash player). If users don’t have it, won’t install it or can’t install it, it could slow down the page or prevent it from loading correctly.
2. A visual design that enhances the user’s experience while reflecting your brand. A design that’s simple yet engaging, one that doesn’t dominate the content, is best. Remember, visitors are primarily coming for the content, not the design (unless you’re an entertainment site). However, if the visual design gives your users a negative first impression, they may leave before they really get to know you. The design must be consistent too, right down to the colors and fonts used on every page.
3. Easy to learn, intuitive, follows common web layout and navigation models. Users expect to find a site search box and a home button. They expect navigation along the top and/or on the left. They expect a logo to be a link back to the home page. A clean navigation built on a solid information architecture will help users learn their way around the site.
4. Efficient to use, with short paths to the most commonly sought after information. Don’t assume visitors are willing to hunt and dig for your content. While you might be interested enough to do that, they probably aren’t.
5. Information that is fresh, timely, accurate, unique, and, most importantly, answers your users’ questions. So, you have to know your users, understand their needs, and then be able to update the site frequently. Barriers to content entry make for a stale site, so it’s important to understand the technology and skills needed to maintain the site. Images need to be timely as well (watch for outdated clothing, dates, or seasonal appropriateness) and reflect the diversity of the user community you serve.
6. Information that’s written for the web. People don’t read on the web, they scan. So you need to make good use of headings and lists, remove unnecessary words, remove the marketing tone and use common words.
7. There are no errors anywhere. No broken links, no missing graphics, no typographical errors. Poorly written HTML might display fine in a browser but can stop search engine crawlers in their tracks. Missing ALT tags on images may go unnoticed to many, but create a site that’s not accessible to people using assistive technology. So, no errors, inside or out. Period.
8. Contact information is easy to find, now and later. Your contact information should be easy to find on every page, both on screen and in print, which means, all your pages must be printer friendly.
9. Meets your business needs as well as your user’s needs. The site exists for a business purpose. Whether it’s marketing, self-service capabilities or building online communities, the site must help your organization while serving the needs of its visitors.
10. Is validated with real users. It’s hard to put yourself in your users’ shoes. For some, it’s impossible. Don’t risk missing the mark by going with your best judgment. Validate your ideas, the design, your content, the navigation – everything – with real users. Some basic usability testing (or even an expert evaluation) can find problems you weren’t aware of and give you recommendations how to fix them. If the site doesn’t work with real users, it doesn’t work at all.

What Makes An Exceptional Website?

The difference between a good website and an exceptional one is the details. Polish matters. Leonardo da Vinci is quoted as saying “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” The same can hold true for your website. You can tweak and twiddle endlessly to get every detail perfect. Of course, there’s the law of diminishing returns and the value you’ll get from your investment of time. While we have to draw the line some place, if you want an exceptional site, consider your users in everything you do, focus on the details and validate what you’re doing. The result could more than a work of art. It could be a site that helps your organization achieve its goals while delighting your users.

What do you think? Would you add any features to the list? Disagree with ones I’ve listed? I welcome your comments.