Period Three Blog

Aug202009

Game changer on Facebook

Posted by Gene in Social Web

Gary Vaynerchuck gives us a sneak peek at some Facebook functionality that they are testing that big users like him get to preview before the rest of us. By the way, if you don’t know who Gary is yet, check him out, a lot of what he says is simple stuff but it’s really good to hear.

Looks like Facebook is going to make the social timeline more public, allowing you to interact with other users who you may not be friends with. Not sure how that’ll work, most likely it’ll get released for groups and pages first - where it makes the most sense. The ability to look at other people (who you don’t follow) and review their posts and comments then choose to follow/engage with them has long been Twitter’s advantage over Facebook. It’ll be really interesting to see how all this actually comes out.

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Aug172009

SEO Self Defense Tips

Posted by Gene in Search Engine Marketing

I’ve been asked about the SEO presentation I gave at May’s RefreshColumbia meeting, the post is available on that site as well, there’s some other cool stuff to learn from there as well, so make sure and check it out when you have time. So in the video above at about 45:20 in you can catch me on there. Jay kicks off the meeting with some really neat design pointers and there’s two other talks as a bonus that are truly informational and worth the time if you have it. I’ve linked up my slides after the jump as well. Enjoy…
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Jul232009

Your email address and blacklists

Posted by Gene in Email Marketing

Something I get asked a lot, since we have two email messaging products (swiftpress.com and our enterprise version of swiftpress) is: I’m sending emails to my list but they aren’t being delivered. Deliver-ability from your email messaging system provider is one thing, with swiftpress we have pretty good deliver-ability but it’s not just on our end of the server. It comes down to your domain name’s email history too.

What are DNS blacklists and blocklists? According to blacklistmonitor.com:

A dns blacklist or blocklist is a database containing known internet addresses (or IPs) used by individuals or companies sending spam. Various ISP’s and bandwidth providers subscribe to these DNS blacklist databases to filter out spam sent across their network or to their subscribers.

I won’t go into what you should do to keep off of a blacklist or maybe even how you got on one, that’s for another post, but for now let’s assume you just want to check.

Step 1 Find out what your IP address is:
You can do this by going to network-tools.com or dnsstuff.com and running a “Ping” look up by copying and pasting in your domain name.

Step 2 check the blacklists:
Now head on over to a couple of the blacklist services and check to see if you’re on there.

SpamCop
SpamHaus
Delivery Watch
MXToolBox
DNS Stuff
EmailReach
RepCheck
Blacklistedip
Blacklist.ie
Blacklist Check

If you see your IP show up in any of these lists, chances are you’ve been sending emails to honeypot email addresses. That is email addresses that are setup specifically for the purpose of catching you sending unsolicited emails. It’s a trap…

You then will need to petition the blacklist organization to get off of said list, if that fails we can then get involved to start tracking down specific ISPs that are blocking your email delivery and try to negotiate a way to get your messaging through. All in all, it’s a hard road to travel down. If you even suspect your list isn’t 100% quality you need to talk to us about it before you use it, I promise we won’t yell at you. We can help keep you out of trouble and it’s much easier to do that before you send, once you’ve sent to a suspect list you can’t take it back.

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Jun112009

Tumblr

Posted by Gene in Social Web, Blogging

We have several clients that we have setup blogs for over the past few months and we normally (almost always) use Wordpress. We’ll setup an installed version of Wordpress next to their website and pull in their post feed onto their main homepage or some sub section via RSS. We’ve done this with Twitter RSS feeds as well. I don’t really want to get into a Tumblr vs. Wordpress discussion, i’ve read them and honestly it’s not really comparing apples to apples.

Tumblr is possibly one of the easiest ways you can run your own blog on the internet, and it’s FREE. In their own words:

Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors, to your theme’s HTML. Even use your own domain name.

Tumblr really is a blogging engine at heart, but it’s more like a purist cross between a blog and Twitter. It really shines if you are looking to make short/quick posts, post pictures or video files. The thing is it’s not as intimidating as a full featured blog, the system gets out of the way because it’s so simple and you don’t have to worry about all the moving parts. You can just focus on what you’re posting and get on with your life.
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Jun042009

Award for Best Web Usability

Posted by Gene in Period Three News

The WebHostingSearch.com has given Period Three the Award for Best Web Usability for the month of June. In their own words:

In the name of Web 2.0 we at WebHostingSearch.com are now handing out an award to one site each month that stands out from its competitors. The award is for Best Web Design with particular focus on great usability and accessibility. 21st century web design is so much more than color schemes, flashy banners and glossy buttons. Few understand the importance of usability and accessibility in web design so what better reason than to reward the ones who do.

Thank you Eva and all the rest of the team at WebHostingSearch.com we do truly appreciate it!

BTW: WebHostingSearch.com is really a great resource for web hosting service information, the site has reviews on all the major hosting providers as well as articles and video tutorials on hosting applications.

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May262009

Holy crap J.J. Abrams’ Ted Talk

Posted by Gene in Storytelling

I know i’ve posted a few Ted talks, you’re probably like “dude, enough with the Ted posts”. Seriously listen to what J.J. Abrams has to say, he’s quite possibly this decade’s master storyteller.

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May192009

Top 5 things users want in your website

Posted by Gene in Design, Usability

Here is another great blog post talking about what users look for in your website, be it copy or design. This one is from Patrick Neeman on usabilitycounts.com.

Users want the message to be clear
Users want context to see if they fit
Users want consistency
Users want to be heard without having to shout
Users don’t want the shiny (unless it’s in context)
Users want to be guided (without being guided)

This is all about giving the user what they ~~want~~ expect and not what you the designer or developer think is a cool feature or the way you think it should be done. I’ve had the privilege of taking part in a good amount of real user studies on website’s i’ve worked on in the past, every time it is an eye opening experience and I learn something new about how people use the things I design. I couldn’t recommend more doing a simple usability test on something you are working on. Do it right now, go grab a friend put them behind the site you’re working on ask them to complete a task that is one of the main things the website is supposed to do and watch. Simple as that!

My absolute favorite part of Patrick’s post is this:

What does work are sites are are intuitive enough and forward thinking enough to provide a path for the user to go. The elements of user experience should be defined enough so the site acts the way the user thinks it should act i.e. the user shouldn’t have to learn it, especially for consumer facing sites. It’s about predictive user experience.

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May142009

Episode 17 - UMS Podcast

Posted by Gene in Design, Web Development

This week we talk about two ‘green’ web companies, Studio 7 Designs and EnviraMedia.

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May132009

The Seven Deadly Sins of Website Copy

Posted by Gene in Marketing, Email Marketing

This is a great article from Michel Fortin, that covers what he sees as the 7 deadly sins of website copy writing (really any marketing project copy falls under these 7 items). I agree with what he’s saying overall. Think about these things as you are pulling your next projects copy together and i’m sure you’ll be a success.

1. They fail to connect.
2. They lack a compelling offer.
3. They lack reasons why.
4. They lack scarcity.
5. They lack proof.
6. They lack a clear call to action.
7. The lack good copy.

Particularly I like #6, I scream about this a lot to clients and I say it over and over again. The further boil this down Michel says:

Focus on the “power of one.” That is:
One message
One audience
One outcome

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May062009

Ten Things I Have Learned: Milton Glaser

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

The link to this short essay by legendary designer/illustrator Milton Glaser seems to be making the rounds again, at least i’m seeing some tweets about it. Here’s the quick synopsis, it’s good for all of us I think:

01. YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client.

02. IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age.

03. SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
There is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.

04. PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
Professionalism does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. So professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.

05. LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. ‘Just enough is more.’

06. STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
But the point is that anybody who is in this for the long haul has to decide how to respond to change in the zeitgeist. What is it that people now expect that they formerly didn’t want? And how to respond to that desire in a way that doesn’t change your sense of integrity and purpose.

07. HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
I am convinced that if someone was to yell at me from across the street my brain could be affected and my life might changed. That is why your mother always said, ‘Don’t hang out with those bad kids.’ Mama was right. Thought changes our life and our behaviour. I also believe that drawing works in the same way. I am a great advocate of drawing, not in order to become an illustrator, but because I believe drawing changes the brain in the same way as the search to create the right note changes the brain of a violinist. Drawing also makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to what you are looking at, which is not so easy.

08. DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know what to compromise. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad – the client, the audience and you.

09. ON AGING.
Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter.’ ‘It doesn’t matter that what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life.

10. TELL THE TRUTH.
‘Do no harm’ is an admonition to doctors concerning their relationship to their patients, not to their fellow practitioners or the drug companies. If we were licensed, telling the truth might become more central to what we do.

Make sure and read the whole thing if you can.

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