Archive for March, 2009

Web accessibility refers to the ease with which people can access all of the content on your website. Accessibility is often thought of in relation to disabilities such as blindness, deafness, ADD and ADHD, color blindness, etc. However accessibility is important to all users of your site, if you would like to engage them, inform them, encourage them to purchase products, etc.

Until recently there were guidelines for accessibility such as Section 508 Information Technology Accessibility Standards and W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines but no testing sites, which makes it hard for web designers to easily improve their sites, based on the feedback provided by testing sites.

The University of Illinois has just launched the Illinois Functional Web Accessibility Evaluator 1.0 (FAE), a testing site that addresses this need. Web designers and developers can register for free accounts which allows us to test whole sites, not just single pages. Highly recommended!

I recently wrote this factsheet for a prospective Adwords client and thought it worth sharing with folks who haven’t yet used Adwords. There’s much more to Adwords, it’s a wonderfully complex system. So, see this as a teaser, and feel free to ask questions!

What is Google Adwords, anyway?

Google Adwords refers primarily to advertising placed into search results pages (there’s more, beyond the scope of this post).

Searchers input a string of words (called keywords, in Adwords terminology) for which they want information. Google search returns a list of web pages that are relevant to the searcher’s keywords, called organic search results, and text ads, called Adwords ads, using an auction system based on relevancy to decide the order of the ads on the page or pages.

Therefore, for your Google Adwords ad to be listed high on the first page of search results, you must have developed a highly relevant ad, using some or all of the steps listed below.

How to create winning Adwords campaigns

1. Determine the goals of your Adwords campaigns, such as:
   Better visibility on search pages and Google maps, build credibilltiy as experts in particular areas, increase traffic to your website, drive new customers/clients to contact you/buy from you.
2. Develop lists of keywords that customers/clients might use to find you when searching.
3. Optimize your website to be more search engine friendly (seo). This may include adding the specific keywords that customers/clients use to find similar pages in Google search, adding subheads including keywords, adding meta-keywords, etc.
4. Decide on the topics of your ad campaigns. Create ads using relevant keywords. Create alternate ads for split testing, to continually improve the relevancy of your ads.
5. Decide on initial maximum amount you are willing to spend per click per keyword. We usually begin low, and receive feedback from Google on how much you will need to spend to move your ad onto the first page of results and up the page.
6. Decide on initial maximum budget per day for each campaign and overall. Google will recommend higher budget based on overall number of clicks per campaign. We’ll review the campaign with you and discuss changing budget during the year.
7. Depending on your goals and your website, develop landing pages (specific to particular campaigns), or add forms to pages already relevant to the ads created in the Adword campaigns.
8. Review the process and start again from the beginning, always testing results as we progress.

There’s more complexity to the process, as I mentioned at the beginning, but this should give you a good overview of what Adwords is all about, and why you might want to try it.

I just bought my first Kindle book (it was actually two-for-one), after downloading the Kindle for iPhone free app from Amazon. Super easy to install, the syncing with Amazon was a dream. It took only moments before I could read what I’d just bought.

I wanted to include a photo with this article, but my iPhone is enclosed in a clear plastic case including screen protector, so every photo I try comes out very blurry, so you’ll just have to take my word for this, or try it yourself. If you want to see some photos, take a look at Kindle for iPhone Walkthrough

The type is very clear and easy to read, the controls simple and easy-to-use. I envision this replacing a carry-along novel on Metro rides (it takes me a half hour to an hour to get anywhere), while waiting for people to show up for meetings, etc.

But for me, it’s mostly a wonderful way to read myself to sleep at night. Much lighter than a book, much easier to hold than a Kindle (and no extra expense since I already own an iPhone). No need to keep the lights on, it functions as its own booklight. Just gotta stay up long enough to turn it off (and should keep it plugged in while reading if you can).

The only negative I’ve found so far is that it doesn’t seem to want to rotate to a landscape format. I like the default type size (you can make it smaller or larger very easily), but I don’t like that the text is justified at that size, so I’d prefer to tilt it for a wider screen width.

Yes, there are questions about the cost of the books ($9.95 for recent titles), but I was able to find a two-for-one novel series I hadn’t yet read, so that’s $5.00 per book. And I don’t have to buy the Kindle. I predict that this will add to Amazon’s bottom line, since many iPhone users won’t want a Kindle but won’t mind buying the same books for their iPhone.