Web Content, Design, & Promotion

Important update for web marketers

Thank you for visiting Roger C. Parker's Web, Content, and Publishing Blog.

I have consolidated all of my articles and events notifications at my Published & Profitable blog.

At my Published & Proifitable blog, where you'll find over 1,000 posts about web marketing, social media, content marketing, and reviews of important websites.

If you're interested in writing a brand-building book, be sure to explore the hundreds of articles, checklists, worksheets, and author interviews in the member area of my www.PublishedandProfitable.com website.

Thank you for your visit!

Roger C. Parker

 

The next step in user-friendly home buying navigation

Most database driven real estate websites share a fatal flaw: you can select homes to view by neighborhood, street, or Zip Code. This is fine, but is best suited to those who already know an area. It doesn't help out of stater's who want to view listings by landmarks such as a bend in a road, a cross street, or proximity to a public park.

As a result, with most sites, you don't really know what kind of environment a home is situated in. So you have to fly blind, and you waste a lot of time in the process.

For a better alternative, visit www.windemere.com, a large and expanding Northwest firm. Their new PropertyPoint interactive map permits you to visually drill down on maps of increasing detail. Homes display in each map are identified by numbered flags, which correspond to listings in an adjacent text box. At a glance, without leaving the map view, you can check the home's price and number of bedrooms, and baths.

Only after you have pre-qualified a home, do you actually access the listing sheet. This saves you hours of wasted time.

Check our Windemere's enhanced navigation, then visit your own site. Is it as easy to navigate?

Where do web sites go to die?

Are websites forever, or does it make sense to "kill" them when they're past their prime?

This problem is especially relevant when the original site still has validity from the creative or emotional point of view.

It takes courage to cut life support from a  popular site, But Dan Pink, whose Free Agent Nation website was the right site at the right time, had the courage to take what remaining traffic there is and use the original site as a pointer, or redirect, to his latest site.

Dan's Free Agent Nation remains one of my favorite and most often given away books, but--even more--I respect Dan's strategy of focusing all his resources on his current project.

Profit from a focused and simple approach to website design

Many websites are hopelessly cluttered and overly complex. When I encounter a cluttered website, my first instinct is to flee.

So is my second instinct, and my third instinct.

That's why I was so taken with the simple and effective layout found at www.advertraining.com.
The gray background might not be my first choice, but I certainly appreciate the high-impact simplicity and the ease of locating information.

On the inside pages, text columns are appropriately scaled, and surrounded by white space.

Lots of lessons here!

One-page website that works

Talk about focus! This web site consists of just a single page, but focuses entirely on generating leads for e-mail follow-up.

Simple site focuses on visitor sign-ups

Larry Chase's Web Digest for Marketers leads to one of the Internet's largest and most popular e-mail newsletters.

Although the contents of the site links to thousands of URL's, when you visit the site, you'll find it startlingly simple. The emphasis "above the fold" is on maximizing "visitor-to-subscriber" conversions.

Only when you scroll down lower on the page, do you see links to the site's extensive resources. (But, by this time, you're probably already signed-up!)

Excellent example of small site success

If you liked last week's Guerrilla Marketing Association teleconference focusing on simple, focused websites, you'll appreciate the simplity and straightforward commuinications style exhibited by Roger Wood's new website. Here

Roger's site's design combines visual impact with a focus on immediately telling you what Roger Woods does and how you can learn more. The large microphone provides a visual memory hook for his services, and his picture is friendly and welcoming.

Best of all, in just one paragraph, you find out what benefits Roger Woods offers. (If you want to learn more, the large links on the left are there to help you.)

Feel free to e-mail me if you have a favorite simple and focused web site you'd like to share with others!