Newfangled Reading List: SEND
Starting today, the next book well be reading together is SEND: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, which I reviewed briefly here, and more in-depth here.
Weve read and recommend several other books as a team here at Newfangled, including these:
> Dont Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
> Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
Web School
Hello and welcome to my new blog!
I am one of the newest members of the Newfangled team and Im pleased to be here. I came to this company after working in interactive media for a daily North Carolina newspaper. Basically, I was in charge of online content as the online editor (including audio, video, photos, forums, email blasts, user content, etc). Now Ive made the jump to online structure.
My blog will highlight fun functions of the world wide web and hopefully any questions you may have about the Internet. Feel free to leave comments and questions.
Id like to start out with passing along a site that has helped me tremendously in my first month here at Newfangled. W3 School is a resource full of web-building tutorials to help you master basic HTML and XHTML, advanced XML, SQL, databases and other multimedia tricks.
Each lesson guides you through the process of writing the code on your own. It starts out with tutorials allowing you to try coding along side provided examples. Be sure to practice now because a quiz pops up at the end to test your new knowledge. W3 also gives its students outside references that may help further expand coding skills. If you want to get your web diploma, try taking the exam after successfully going through each lesson and quiz. Good luck!
Your Meta Data
When our clients are working with their sites content, one of the most frequent questions asked of our Project Managers is how to enter the meta data for a page. In fact, I overheard Jason answering this very question the other day and thought he did a great job explaining all the issues. We call this a Code Green internally. Great job, Jason!
Weve set up our CMS to make this a very easy step and to empower our clients to be able to optimize their content for search engines without embarking upon a lengthy and expensive search engine optimization consultation relationship (something we dont really offer, anyway) unless its absolutely necessary.
In the image below, youll see the basic edit screen for this particular blog post. Ive captured an image specifically of the contents of the Meta Data tab in order to explain the fields and make a few basic suggestions as to how to think about each one. (For more in-depth coverage of these issues, please read Erics two Web Smart newsletters on thee subject, How to Do SEO and How to Do SEO, Part 2. Otherwise, read on...)
Meta Title
The meta title is the primary information that a search engine will look at when indexing and valuing the authority or relevance of a web page. It will appear at the top left of your browser for the page currently being viewed, and as the linked title in a search result snippet. In the case of this blog post, the meta title is Creating an Effective Meta Title and Description. The meta title should be different from the page title (Your Meta Data for this post) and should be the main subject of the pages content, or its “thesis statement.” In creating a meta title, you should consider other factors as well, such as specific industry jargon, the effectiveness of competitors meta titles, location (for local businesses) and the likelihood that a phrase might actually be queried in a search engine. Also, your company name or domain name is not necessary to duplicate and include in the meta title. The meta title is helpful for identifying the subject of a page using terms that a person who does not yet know about that page might search for.
Meta Description
The meta description is another way in which to identify the subject of a page. However, the content of the meta description field will be evaluated by the search engine and used to populate the text of the result snippet when that page turns up in a list of search results. If the description field is duplicate content, empty or otherwise deemed irrelevant, the search engine will likely extract content from the page itself to populate the search result snippet. Since this post has not been indexed by Google yet, Ive included a screenshot below of the search result for my query of strategic web partnership, which returns our site and uses the meta description Newfangled is a strategic web partner helping internet-savvy, mid-sized advertising agencies stay Web Smart, rather than pulling content from that page for the snippet. You can learn more about creating good meta descriptions from this SEOBook video.
Remember that the meta data is content too, but just not visible in the same way as your pages general content. However, it is very visible to search engines. To that point, here is a screenshot of the page source for Newfangled.com, which shows how the meta data appears to a search engine:
Meta Keywords
The meta keywords field was originally intended to be used to assemble any relevant keywords that should be associated by subject with a web page. However, in the early days of the web, the keywords field would often be used to associate as many possible keywords, regardless of relevance, with a page in order to force it to perform well in search engine search results. This was because the success of the pages search performance was being evaluated without regard to intent. Consequently, search engine algorithms have since been adapted to regard this data significantly less than before. It poses no harm to a web page to use this field, but it will not be the most effective tool for optimizing your content for search engines.
RotW: Designers Toolbox
Although there are far too many Website of the Week sites out there, Designers Toolbox has some other features that makes it worth bookmarking.
For print designers, the site has templates you can download for standard folder, envelope and DVD insert sizes. And for web designers, you can download standard form elements (pull downs, radio buttons, check boxes, etc.) for both Mac and PC. Designers Toolbox also has size charts for standard web banner ads.
On The Road Again
This time next week I will be on the road with my family heading west. Its our first extended trip together in an RV and well be recording the journey on our family travel blog. So the next time you have a few minutes to spare (like when youre on hold with tech support) come on over and see if Dad has driven the RV into a ditch yet.
5 Simple Ways to Send Better Emails
When I first picked up Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, I thought it would be a pretty light book telling me lots of obvious stuff I already knew. After all, I send emails all day every day, and have been for a long time. However, I was easily proven wrong. While SEND is a quick and relatively light read, it contains lots of helpful information which I have already put in to practice. Here are five of the main ideas that Ill be sure to keep in mind for my emails from now on:
1. Seniority and to: Order
This may not be an issue for you or the people you work with. In fact, before reading this in SEND, I never even considered it. However, my feeling is that when it comes to email etiquette, youre better off being safe than sorry. Essentially, Shipley and Schwalbes point is that when assembling your To list of multiple recipients, put the names in order of seniority, if that applies. This is one of those tiny details that you may overlook, but someone else may not.
2. Good Subject Lines
This is a pretty simple point to get, especially if you do much with email on hand-held devices (like your Blackberry). Keep your subject simple and on point. If the content of your email has nothing to do with the original subject line of the email string youre still in, go ahead and change it. However, if you use Gmail, keep in mind that the subject line is what Google uses to string emails together in a conversation, so you may have other reasons to maintain a particular subject.
Because we send so many emails, both internally and to our clients, I like to use an internal tag when sending emails to Newfangled people that are not related to particular projects. This way, a busy Project Manager can quickly identify my email and prioritize it among the many others from our clients. One of these subject lines might look like this, Internal: Project Manager Meeting Rescheduled. Likewise, I might tag an email related to a particular project like this, client.com: Go Live Schedule.
3. To Cc or Not to Cc
The Cc field can be a shield, or it can be a sword, so use it with care. Because Cc stands for carbon copy, the intent was to use this field to include a recipient who may not need to follow up directly on the emails questions or requests, but needs to be kept informed of the information.
Using the Cc field can send strong messages, too. If an email conversation with a client gets tense, but you know that you are following the proper protocol, you might Cc your superior on your response. This shield approach will communicate to your recipient that youre done playing games and are confident that your superior will back you up if needed. If you do this, be sure youre in the right. On the other hand, if your email is accusatory or corrective toward your recipient and you Cc someone else, you clearly have your sword drawn. Be sure youre ready for battle.
Lastly, I think its polite to inform your recipient that you are Ccing someone else, and why. If the Cced address is foreign to your recipient, they could immediately be on the defensive even if the dont need to be. In my example below, notice that if I didnt let Ralph know why I was Ccing Mark, he might get defensive and assume it was a passive aggressive way of complaining about the schedule being off.
Cc: Mark
From: Chris
Re: site.com: Go Live Schedule
Ralph,
It looks like were finally ready to go live. Im glad we took the time to do a more detailed QA rather than rushing to meet the original deadline. Thanks for your flexibility during these last steps. Once Ive reviewed with our developer, Ill be in touch with you with specific dates for going live.
Im Ccing Mark on this just to keep him in the loop. Hell be excited to know that the project is wrapping up.
Chris
4. There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we dont know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we dont know we dont know.
Donald Rumsfeld was given a hard time for this quote, but hes actually right. In fact, one of Erics favorite quotes (The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. ) points out that we often assume we know things that we dont, or that others know things that they dont. Its good to know that there are things you dont know- thanks, Rummy!
This problem runs rampant in email, so never assume that the recipient of your message will know what youre talking about. Unfortunately, writing a huge email with lots of back-story wont necessarily do the trick either. Because people tend to get so much email now, thorough reading of long emails is not a guarantee. This means that your job is even tougher. Youll need to make sure that your email as comprehensive as needed but also as succinct as possible. Simple tricks like making sure that major points, instructions, or questions have their own line will make it easier for your recipients to pay attention and follow up. Also, if you are sending the email to multiple recipients, try highlighting particular information for them. Below is an example. Notice how I didnt just launch in to my questions without providing some context (the new employees).
From: Chris
Re: Internal: New Project Manager Assistants
Hi All,
Our two new Project Manager Assistants, Bettina and Steve, will begin training soon. Ive added lots of new info to the wiki in anticipation of their training, so feel free to browse through it and make any changes you think are needed.
Mark: Are both Bettina and Steve starting on Monday?
Mitch: If its ok with you, I think the empty space next to you would work best for Steve. Just dont push him around too much ;-)
Chris
5. Oh no you didnt! Not in My Inbox!
Do you ever get emails forwarded to you that include days, weeks or even months of communication that the sender expects you to sort out in order to respond appropriately? Shipley and Schwalbe correctly point out that when this happens, the sender is essentially taking work from their desk and putting it on yours. Dont let senders make you do a ton of work they should have done before emailing you! An appropriate response to an email like this might be as follows in the example below. Notice how I politely bounced that work right back.
From: Chris
Re: Fwd: Months of Discussion About That Thing We Want You To Do
Hi Eddie,
Thanks for forwarding along the conversation between you, Bill, and Sam. Could you summarize the action items for us in a separate email so that I can get you quotes and schedule them accordingly?
Thanks,
Chris
Tell Me Your Problems
One of the things Ive noticed about receiving design feedback from clients is that they frequently offer solutions (make the text blue) instead of explaining what their problems, or concerns, are with the design (Im having a hard time reading the text).
If you surveyed 100 designers and asked them to name one thing they would like their clients to understand it would likely be: designers love to help clients solve their problems. This may be hard to believe, especially if a client recently had a bad experience with some prima donna designer who believes their work should be accepted without question.
Simply telling the designer make the text blue doesnt allow them to solve a problem. However, if the client says, the text is hard to read or the site colors seem too dark the designer can work with the client to come up with a solution. This is far more productive than simply providing a bulleted list of solutions and having the designer scratch their heads trying to figure out what the clients intentions were.
At Newfangled, we provide the client with a Website Profile questionnaire at the beginning of the project to help them think through some of the aspects of their website that would not be necessarily be obvious to them. Then, when the first round of design is presented, well provide some rationale (why we think this design is appropriate and the thought process behind it) and some prompting questions to help the client review the design and provide useful feedback.
Things we ask clients to keep in mind as they review our website designs:
Overall Look & Feel - which design best reflects your organization? Color Pallete - does the use of color accurately represent your organization? (is it too warm, too cool, too neutral?) Content - does the design have a good balance of content and white space? Navigation - does the navigation seem intuitive and well placed? Images - are the images appropriate for your market area? Do they strike the right tone?If the designer can initiate an informative discussion between themselves and the client it will go a long way in helping the client be better engaged in the design process and help the designer come up with good solutions for the clients problems.
You’re Using RSS Now…Right?
I (Eric) have been writing our Web Smart newsletters, month in and month out, for over seven years. Which makes this month's newsletter a happy, yet sentimentally somber relief. This month Chris Butler, Newfangled's Vice President, will pick up where our March 2006 newsletter on RSS left off.
RSS is a powerful advance in Internet technology. It's a game changer. Yet, RSS is also one of the most underutilized Internet technologies. If you feel like the Internet is taking over and you just don't know how to catch up, RSS can help. And, if you don't feel that way you should look behind you; there's a rising tidal wave of Internet marketing that is threatening to capsize the traditional marketing boat. It's time to start bailing out that water rising around your ankles, and RSS is the best place to start.
Quick Book Review: Send
Ive just finished reading a small book called Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe. Ill probably write a larger post in the next several days about email in general in reflection on the book, but I wanted to just quickly post a recommendation. This book is a quick, but worthwhile, read.
Send contains plenty of interesting NYTimes-column-esque factoids that contextualize email in the larger history of business and personal correspondence, as well as provides some advice as to how to do a better job using email. I began reading Send with the idea that I had mastered email. After all, its what I spend the majority of my day doing. However, I quickly realized that there were many ways that I could improve. One of the large themes in the book is that senders often take for granted what information their email recipients will know. Consequently, the email itself ends up being quite inadequate and unhelpful to both sender and recipient. The authors recommend over an over again taking the extra time to ensure that an email is comprehensive and clear, rather than always prioritizing speed. Other topics they discuss include the anatomy of an email, different types of email (asking, answering, informing, thanking, apologizing, and connecting), emotional email, etc.
Heres a review of Send from the New York Times.
The authors have even set up a website for the book that includes a blog and some email horror stories.
RotW: Design for Color Blindness With Color Oracle
About eight percent of men are affected by some sort of color blindness. This is something to consider when developing the user interface of your site. There are several forms of color blindness but red-green blindness, is by far the most frequent form. Color Oracle is a free, system-level application that applies a filter to your screen to simulate the three most common types of red-green color-blindness.
One of the most critical components of a website affected by color blindness is the text link. Andy Rutledge has posted a great article on how to style your sites text links to make them more distinctive without having to resort to the hideous <blink> tag.