Comments on: Small Business Brochureware Websites Must Die! http://www.thinklikeauser.com/small-business-brochureware-websites-must-die/ how to create a professional, profitable business website Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:13:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Tweets that mention Small Business "Brochureware" Websites Must Die! | Think Like a User -- Topsy.com http://www.thinklikeauser.com/small-business-brochureware-websites-must-die/comment-page-1/#comment-296 Tweets that mention Small Business "Brochureware" Websites Must Die! | Think Like a User -- Topsy.com Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:05:17 +0000 http://www.thinklikeauser.com/?p=805#comment-296 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ravi Kumar, Colin Beale. Colin Beale said: Brochureware Websites Must Die - from @thinklikeauser http://ow.ly/MSiR - Does your company website design hurt your sales? [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ravi Kumar, Colin Beale. Colin Beale said: Brochureware Websites Must Die – from @thinklikeauser http://ow.ly/MSiR – Does your company website design hurt your sales? [...]

]]> By: Colette Mason http://www.thinklikeauser.com/small-business-brochureware-websites-must-die/comment-page-1/#comment-292 Colette Mason Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:11:03 +0000 http://www.thinklikeauser.com/?p=805#comment-292 Sony Vegas is a cheapo editing tool - I use it for my 2 minute reviews and it works well. I did try some free editors and converters but had a bit of grief with malware, so I decided to pay the $120 for Vegas in the end. If you put the vids on youtube, it helps with SEO :) so do that anyway, and embed the flash ones to your site. Bosses always want something now - I try and say, look it's been badly broken for ages, so another week to do some planning and get it right this time isn't going to hurt in the big scheme of things :) I would ditch that dated news as a priority - it's a massive crediblity killer. Quickest way to learn joomla is to try out the test data installation. The books I have checked in the bookshops are for older versions of joomla, and the menus/steps are a bit different, so if you're a techie, you can quickly learn from the sample data. Cheers, Colette Sony Vegas is a cheapo editing tool – I use it for my 2 minute reviews and it works well. I did try some free editors and converters but had a bit of grief with malware, so I decided to pay the $120 for Vegas in the end.

If you put the vids on youtube, it helps with SEO :) so do that anyway, and embed the flash ones to your site.

Bosses always want something now – I try and say, look it’s been badly broken for ages, so another week to do some planning and get it right this time isn’t going to hurt in the big scheme of things :)

I would ditch that dated news as a priority – it’s a massive crediblity killer.

Quickest way to learn joomla is to try out the test data installation. The books I have checked in the bookshops are for older versions of joomla, and the menus/steps are a bit different, so if you’re a techie, you can quickly learn from the sample data.

Cheers,

Colette

]]> By: Ian Kremer http://www.thinklikeauser.com/small-business-brochureware-websites-must-die/comment-page-1/#comment-291 Ian Kremer Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:55:55 +0000 http://www.thinklikeauser.com/?p=805#comment-291 Thanks a ton for the feedback! Just a few more things, if that is ok. My boss has told me, on many occasions, that we are an extremely niche market. We only have one competitor and they are not much competition. But the idea of Testimonials sounds great. I will make sure that ends up in the final website. Its hard to check traffic against the current site. It is at least 5 years out of date. (The top news story is about a new version that has not been the new version in over 4 years). But I am going to see about adding in a Google Analytics into the new site to help. I may have to end up being the usability guy at the company, but there are worst things that I could be doing. We have a pretty broad market actually. All over the US. We just finished a deal with a province in Canada as well as some in Ireland. Most of this has been over the phone or flying to meet in person. A modern website might alleviate a lot of that stress. We have a few dvds that we mail out to clients. I told my boss I would like to rip them and embed them, via flash, into the new site. Is Youtube still the best way to go with this? Or are there better alternatives for Professional video embedding? (cheep/free) I think Joomla sounds like the best option. Drupal's main issue is its steap learning curve, or so I have read. So Joomla might be a perfect step down, with plenty of usability still there. I have the same mindset. If you are going to do it, might as well do it right! The Boss just wants something.. and now. Though, I imagine, that is a common thing :) Thanks again -Ian Thanks a ton for the feedback! Just a few more things, if that is ok.

My boss has told me, on many occasions, that we are an extremely niche market. We only have one competitor and they are not much competition. But the idea of Testimonials sounds great. I will make sure that ends up in the final website.

Its hard to check traffic against the current site. It is at least 5 years out of date. (The top news story is about a new version that has not been the new version in over 4 years). But I am going to see about adding in a Google Analytics into the new site to help. I may have to end up being the usability guy at the company, but there are worst things that I could be doing.

We have a pretty broad market actually. All over the US. We just finished a deal with a province in Canada as well as some in Ireland. Most of this has been over the phone or flying to meet in person. A modern website might alleviate a lot of that stress.

We have a few dvds that we mail out to clients. I told my boss I would like to rip them and embed them, via flash, into the new site. Is Youtube still the best way to go with this? Or are there better alternatives for Professional video embedding? (cheep/free)

I think Joomla sounds like the best option. Drupal’s main issue is its steap learning curve, or so I have read. So Joomla might be a perfect step down, with plenty of usability still there.

I have the same mindset. If you are going to do it, might as well do it right! The Boss just wants something.. and now. Though, I imagine, that is a common thing :)

Thanks again

-Ian

]]>