Posts Tagged ‘Seth Godin’

The Search for Bananas: Building Better Websites, PART ONE

By Rick Sloboda

In his 2002 book, The Big Red Fez, marketing author, Seth Godin, critiqued selected websites, commenting on how they helped or hindered their visitors. He likened the website visitor to a monkey looking for a banana. If the banana is too hard to find, then the monkey will go elsewhere. Today, are websites making it easier to find the banana or is the furry guy starving?

Godin’s Principles of Website Design and Today’s Websites

From Godin’s critique, we can derive some guiding principles for website design. Here is a brief description and thoughts on how websites today measure up:

Use technology to convey information, not obstruct it.

In his book, Godin described a company home page that comprised a list of technological requirements for viewing. If visitors didn’t have the right browser version or software plug-in, they couldn’t view the site. They needed to either download the required software or, more likely, try somewhere else.

Thankfully, we see fewer home pages like that today, but it is still common for sites to require specific software plug-ins. Website elements built in Flash or saved as PDFs still require visitors to have the appropriate software to view them.

This continues to be a challenge for website developers. Website visitors use a vast array of different hardware and software. Building a website that works for all possible combinations is time consuming and costly. For most companies, deciding how inclusive to make a site comes down to an analysis of risk and return on investment.

Limit each web page to one objective.

Godin argued that if a web page offers too many objectives, you risk alienating visitors. Instead of building one page to meet the objectives of all visitors, he recommends building different pages that cater to different needs.

Today, it is still standard practice to build one home page to handle multiple objectives. This practice might be partially a result of search engine preference for flat site architecture. It is also easier to manage and brand one domain name than several. However, aside from home pages, there has been a definite movement to build web pages specific to different markets. For example, Toyota segments its site into pages for prospective car buyers and pages for Toyota car owners. Webcopyplus also segments web copy solutions for designers and businesses.

Website segmentation reflects the influence of marketing on website development. Eight years ago, technology and engineers dominated website development. Today, companies apply fundamental marketing principles and target audiences’ needs and feedback to website design.

Stay tuned for PART TWO of The Search for Bananas: Building Better Websites on Monday.

Rick Sloboda is a Senior Web Copywriter at Webcopyplus, which helps designers and businesses boost online traffic, leads and sales with optimized web content. Clients range from independent retailers to some of the world’s largest service providers, including AT&T (formerly Cingular), Quest Diagnostics and Scotia Bank. Rick advocates clear, concise and objective website content that promotes readability and usability, and conducts web content studies with organizations in Europe and the U.S., including Yale University. He speaks frequently at web-related forums and seminars, including Small Business BC, Content Convergence & Integration, SUCCESS and HRMA. Rick also serves as a consultant to various organizations, such as the Web Development Advisory Committee at Vancouver, B.C.’s Langara College.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized, Technology on February 25th, 2011

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Put your best blog forward

“Your website is the front door, your blog is the board room table.”

If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between a website and a blog, this analogy from Daniel Patricio of bizlaunch.ca’s Small Biz Blog at should help clear things up.

It’s a common misconception that a blog is just another corporate website. It’s not. A blog is the conversation you have with your peers after you’ve stepped away from the website.

Patricio continues:

“The role of the website is often a destination where visitors can quickly learn about the products, people and services behind a company; however, that only serves to answer the ‘Who and What’ of the marketing mix. The blog is where people go when they say, ‘Yes, I’ve read your marketing copy but what [do] you guys really do?’”

In other words, you don’t want to use a blog to regurgitate your press releases and annual reports – that’s the job of your website. Instead, you want to use your blog as a virtual boardroom table where you can reach out to your prospects and customers on a personal level, listen, share ideas, offer expertise and build relationships.

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In Who’s There? Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web,  Seth puts it this way:

“…blogging especially, is social. Not antiseptic or anonymous or corporate. This means that the writing skills you and your organization have honed aren’t going to help you much.”

In other words:

“Your business blog is to traditional communication what casual Fridays are to the suit.”

Keep in mind none of this suggests your blog’s content should be anything but professional. It simply means you ought to loosen the tie. A lot.

Seth sums things up:

“Blogs work when they are based on:

1. Candor
2. Urgency
3. Timeliness
4. Pithiness
5. Controversy

And:

“If you can’t be at least four of the five things listed above, please don’t bother. People have a choice … and nobody is going to read your blog, link to your blog or quote your blog unless there’s something in it for them.”

Ouch. But so true.

Think otherwise? Leave us a link to your blog, tell us what it’s about and what it’s doing (or not) for your business.

Posted by Lynnette in Marketing on December 2nd, 2009

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To the goal-setters go the spoils

One set of numbers from STAPLES Canada’s latest Small Business National Quarterly Index is particularly intriguing (at least to me): the results on challenges facing small businesses. Why? Because in spite of the newfound optimism evident throughout the rest of the survey, these figures haven’t budged much at all.

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When you think about it, though, the consistency in responses makes sense. Because, whether or not we’re in a recession, entrepreneurs are always trying to find new clients, generate leads, reduce costs, manage cash flow and hire qualified new employees. They’re all simply goals of any living, breathing business.

As the recession winds down, there are a couple of other challenges you may want to consider too – goals that may not be top of mind but are, in many ways, just as important:

  • Take stock. Review and adjust your product lines and customer bases to prepare for the shifting competitive landscape.
  • Go digital already. Diversify your customer base by leveraging the internet and electronic media for purchasing, marketing and selling your products.
  • Experiment. Do your homework and don’t be afraid to “forego the familiar and embrace the risks that can lead to higher rewards.”

Which reminds me of some goal-related words of wisdom from the inimitable Seth Godin:

“The thing about goals is that living without them is a lot more fun, in the short run. It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact… those people have goals.”

What challenges do you see for your business? What goals are you setting to meet them?

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized, Growing Your Biz on November 17th, 2009

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