For those who celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S. this week, I hope you enjoy a very happy holiday and some extra time off.

Last Tuesday’s Washington Post reported that the percentage of people in the U.S. who are hungry has reached its highest level since the data tracking began. And of course, there are millions more people around the world suffering. Those of us able to choose veg/raw/local/organic diets indeed have much to be thankful for this holiday season.

What are you grateful for this year? Here are some things that I’m especially thankful for regarding Inspired Raw Design:

Design Tools
I remember when I started with Boston Consulting Group after college as an analyst. When I developed a line chart a presentation, the graphics team created the image using tape with solid and dashed lines! I’ve written about not having followed my interest in design from when I was young, but sometimes I feel lucky that I waited until we had the amazing software that’s available now. Or can you imagine producing (e)books with a typewriter?
Continue reading Being Thankful – Food, Technology & You

Discover how good graphics can make the difference in convincing potential clients to buy. Part 1 of this article is available at http://inspiredraw.com/it-takes-more-than-pretty-pictures-to-get-sales-part-1/

The habit of detecting change.

So if you’re scanning the horizon and a blue tweeting bird pops in, you notice it right away. That blue tweeting bird is the equivalent of a graphic. A graphic puts instant brakes on the reader. The reader stops to examine the graphic. Suddenly you’ve slowed down the scanning, and they’re actually reading.

So yeah, let’s chuck a whole lot of graphics on the sales page, right?

Ha, ha, you know the answer already, don’t you?

Put in stock graphics like ‘globes’ or ‘two people in a suit shaking hands’ or some clip-art kind of graphic, and the reader will just sail right past your graphic. But put in a graphic that explains the concept, or a graphic that give information of your product and services, and you’ve got a winner.

But where do you find examples of such graphics on sales pages?

Continue reading It Takes More than Pretty Pictures to Get Sales (part 2)

Here’s an article from Website Magazine that I found especially helpful. Tracking traffic at your Website can be the first step toward getting better results for your business. This article tells you how to get started.

Article by Bryan Eisenberg

Just because Google Analytics is free, don’t let that mislead you into believing it is somehow disabled, cheap, or insufficient.

Big corporate websites or sites with complex selling structures might need a paid analytics solution like HitBox or Omniture but, for most of us, Google Analytics provides enough customer insight to stay busy for years.

The one thing that Google Analytics lacks, however, is human support. For this reason, many businesses just scratch the surface of its capabilities. Some are afraid to dig deeper and others are just downright confused by it.

The Basics

Tagging your site for Google Analytics should be a simple affair. Google simply requires that you include a snippet of code (tag) on any page you need to track. Google itself offers a simple set of instructions on how to do this on any type of site.

In fact, Google Analytics created Conversion University — a series of lessons on several Google Analytics related topics. It is fairly easy to understand and a good place to start if you have questions about the tool. You can find it at: http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/

Continue reading Tips for Better Google Analytics

My first issue of Website Magazine arrived recently and I was so excited that I couldn’t wait to share it with you!

I assumed it was a magazine about Web design. But it’s so much more. Subtitled “The Magazine for Website Success” it covers a variety of topics to help you get more clients and more income for your business.

Info You Can Use for an Effective Website

Here are some of the topics from the November issue:

State of the Affiliate Marketing Industry 2009.  The 2009 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report provided valuable insights for Web publishers and affiliate program managers. Shawn Collins discusses the highlights.

Selling Information Products.  Information defines the age we live in today. Discover how selling informational products might be your ticket to deeper consumer engagement and greater profits.

Playing the Competitive PPC Game.  Determine the appropriate strategy to optimize keywords, enhance performance and stay competitive on hotly contested keywords.

Ten Steps to Generate More Leads .  Lead generation requires work. Evaluate your website from new perspectives and highlight what needs to be done with these 10 essential steps.  As you can see, these are the kinds of topics that help you create a Website that moves people to action – not just one that looks pretty.

Although some of the information is geared for web developers or people with big businesses, in general, the articles were digestible and – most importantly – actionable for smaller businesses.

Improve Your Website and Your Business for Free
And, much of this valuable info is free! You can get a free digital or hardcopy subscription (hardcopy is free only in the U.S.). They ask you some qualifying questions; presumably to ensure they’re getting the readers they need to support advertising sales.

Looks like you can receive free quarterly issues or pay for a monthly subscription.   Based on what I’ve seen, I’m definitely going to consider the paid monthly option. You can also read many of the articles at the site at no charge.

In my next post, I’ll share one of the articles I particularly enjoyed on Google Analytics, so you can get a feel for the value of this info. But no need to wait. Check out the site at http://www.websitemagazine.com.

(Full disclosure that I receive $2 if you opt and qualify for the free print version. But I wrote this post before I even realized they had an affiliate program. I was just that eager to share this resource with you.)

If you receive this blog via email or RSS feed, you may have noted some funky formatting in the last couple of posts. I’m working with a new virtual assistant and for some reason, the posts are coming to you strangely, even though the entry looks great on the site itself.

I appreciate your patience while we work out the bugs!