Archives April, 2010
Recently, I read an article promoting five of the “best” autoblogging plugins for WordPress. I normally don’t write response type posts, but I just felt that I had to chime in and offer my two cents on this one!
For those who don’t know what autoblogging is, it’s basically exactly what it sounds like – having the content on your blog generated automatically. This may sound like an incredible and liberating innovation to the uninitiated. After all, this blogging thing is a tough gig. Who wouldn’t want to free up a few extra hours by minimizing the time you spend preparing your content?
Don’t be deceived, though. Autoblogging sucks. It sucks for the blogger. It sucks for the reader. It most certainly sucks for people whose work is being ripped off. Basically, you should simply avoid it altogether. Here are 5 good reasons why.
The ecommerce marketplace is a very competitive one and a rival site is never more than a click away. If you want to attract and retain customers, you need to make sure that your site is as usable as possible.
You could be selling the best products in the world, at unbelievably low prices, but if shoppers can’t find them or get confused along the way, you’re never going to reach your full potential in terms of sales.
Improving usability is all about making the buying process on your site as quick and easy as possible. The smallest of changes can have the most dramatic effect on conversion rates. The 10 steps explored below will all help to improve both sales and customer satisfaction. It’s not necessarily a case of employing all 10 of these steps on your site- some smaller merchants will find this nearly impossible.
Pick the ones that you think will work best for you and don’t be afraid to try something new.
The registration process should entail simplicity, great usability and a high-level of accessibility. With numerous sites wanting to focus on how attractive and eye-catching their sign-up forms are, they seem to “forget” one principle; how the user interacts with the registration form. Below we’ve included a showcase of inspiration that solely focuses on one simple yet entirely effective characteristic, enhancing the registration and check out process using steps-left.
Enhancing Your Registration Process
Incorporating steps-left into the registration process has been around for quite some time. Their purpose is mainly to guide and inform the user as to what’s to come in following steps. It’s a clever way to make the process much easier, and in return you’ll yield higher conversion rates. A few years ago there were a number of websites who where already incorporating this method into their sign-up forms. The only problem with these were that most of them allowed you to choose which step you wanted to complete at your leisure. This meant you could skip in-between steps which caused the user to become confused and discouraged.
As of recent, the ones you’re able to come across don’t allow this type of functionality, but offer more because they “have” less. A few good accessibility tips for implementing steps-left would be to make sure the titles are large enough to read with minimal trouble, if you use graphics and colors make sure they’re not overdone, and try to either use numbers (i.e. step 1, step 2, etc..) or a small image to define the step. You can also strictly use typography as well. As long as the users focus is predominately geared towards the sign-up form, it’ll help the process.
The days of WordPress being used solely as a blogging platform are over. Wordpress has powered some of the coolest sites on the internet, and this post is an example of 40 great ones.
I design wordpress blogs for a living, so I am always on the lookout to see what others are doing in my line of work – and I’m impressed daily. This post covers designs ranging from the awesome minimalism that we love here on SpyreStudios, portfolio designs, blog designs, showcase sites and full blown content driven sites. As you can see from the sites below, Wordpress gives you the ability to create just about any type of site you’d like – and do it with awesome style!
Effectively conveying any form of information to your clients is not only good practice, but it is vital. If you’re not equipped with the right communicative skills, then you’re more likely to loose clients rather then gain them. Whether it’s you or your client that takes the first step in communicating, you need to understand that this is the beginning of a relationship.
Like any relationship, if you don’t convey your thoughts and feelings (likes/dislikes) the right way, then the relationship will eventually die out. Same goes for you and your client.
Within this article we have taken the time to dissect a variety of tips that will help you convey information to your clients the right way. Let us know which practices work best for you!
Movie posters, just like the movies themselves, have changed dramatically over the past seventy years. This post showcases a selection of advertising posters of some of the most well-known and greatest animated full length productions/movies known to man.
From Walt Disney’s first ever production (and still one of the most popular) ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs‘ back in 1937, to classics such as ‘Snoopy, Come Home!‘ in the early 1970′s, and of course the modern day whoppers such as ‘How To Train Your Dragon‘ released earlier this year. There’s something here for everyone, whether you’re an avid animation movie fan, an occasional viewer, or a graphic/media designer in search for some inspiration using trends ranging from 1937 to 2010 – that’s a lot of generations!
We love discussions here at SpyreStudios, so please make use of the comments section below by letting the other readers know what poster in this showcase is your favorite and why – do you prefer posters that were designed back in the mid twentieth century, or those that are completely computer generated in the modern twenty-first century? Let us know!
