March 15,
2006
In This Issue:
1. State-of-the-Art Web Design
2. In the News - AdWords demographics, Web friction
3. More News Headlines
4. This Week's Q&A - none
5. Wrapping It Up
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State-of-the-Art Web Design
No, it's not an advertisement for OWT's services.
I'm not that immodest! It's part of the Web Design
From Scratch web site, and it's one of the most
recent additions to my del.icio.us bookmarks.
Ben Hunt has gathered a dozen sites which he believes
(and I agree) represent what is typical of today's
best web designs. I don't think every design is
all that great, but we all have personal tastes
so you probably won't like them all, either. His
point isn't to show the best, just to show what's
typical in today's world of online design.
And what do the dozen sites have in common?
"Simple layout, 3D effects used sparingly,
soft background colors, strong color used sparingly,
cute icons used sparingly, plenty of whitespace,
nice big text."
You'll see all 12 right up front, but be sure
to read down the page for some more in-depth thoughts
on those common elements. And maybe you'll decide
it's worth a bookmark, too.
Web Design From Scratch: Current
Web Style
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In The News
AdWords adds demographics
If you use the "Site Targeting" feature
of Google's AdWords program, you now have the
ability to target your advertising to web sites
that attract a certain demographic. If this applies
to you, learn more about it in the AdWords
Help pages. If it doesn't apply to you, move
along.
Web friction
Nick Usborne, who's quickly becoming one of the
most-quoted authors in this newsletter, has written
an excellent article for A List Apart about converting
visitors into customers. The base premise echoes
what we say on the "Design" page of
OWTweb.com: Get out of the customer's way!
A List Apart: Flywheels,
Kinetic Energy, and Friction
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More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
Microsoft
takes on Yahoo, Google for web ad dollars
March 12, 2006 - Reuters
Social
networks as a marketing channel?
March 08, 2006 - eMarketer
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
This Week's Q&A
The question pool is empty at the moment......
(Have a question? Email questions@owtweb.com)
_________________
Wrapping it Up
Because mapping Earth just isn't enough, there's
now Google
Mars.
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
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