Geotargeting With Google Webmaster Tools

Use Webmaster Tools to set geotargeting if it's not given by the TLD. E.g www.europe-for-australians.com.

Writing for the Web

Get rid of half the words on each page,
then get rid of half of what’s left
– Krug’s third law of usability

"Happy Talk Must Die" - Steve Krug, "Don't Let Me Think"

Some good resources for writing on the web and copywriting:

Charlie Morris http://wdvl.internet.com/Internet/Writing/
Jacob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/
Daniel Will-Harris http://www.efuse.com/Design/web_writing_basics.html

Copyblogger, Copywriting 101: http://www.copyblogger.com/copywriting-101/

Also see William Strunk, Jr. (Classic from 1918 http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk5.html

Content with your content - Copywriting for websites

View more documents from Anne Macindoe.

Video interviews with Uncle Bob aka Robert C. Martin

Software guru Robert C. Martin has some really interesting views on being a software professional and TDD: A developer that is not testing his code is like a doctor that doesn't wash his hands before examining the patient.

http://www.programutvikling.no/podkast

10 UI Design Patterns You Should Be Paying Attention To

A great article from Smashing Magazine on some of the most useful UI design patterns

1. Lazy Registration: Allow user to check out the site before requiring registration-
2. Progressive Disclosure: Show what's relevant now, hide details and reveal when requested.
3. Forgiving Format: Allow different input formats, like ZIP or Address in the same input field.
4. Clear Primary Actions: Emphasize the primary action (e.g "Save") and de-emphasize the secondary (e.g Cancel).
5. Breadcrumbs: Show the path to the current information (e.g Shop > Laptops > Toshiba).
6. Account Registration: Improve user experience by letting users register, only neccessary information.
7. Required Field Marker: Clearly label required fields.
8. Steps Left: Clearly show current steps in a registration sequence.
9. Subscription Plans: When a product or service is provided, give different options to the user. Highlight what you want to sell.
10. Hover Controls: Hide tools until objects are hovered (e.g show Edit button when an editable list is hovered).

Full article: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/23/10-ui-design-patterns-you-should-be-paying-attention-to/

Improve Your Adsense Revenue

Todd Fratzel shows how he doubled his AdSense revenue using the simple concepts less is more, size matters and positioning.

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/06/20/simple-changes-doubled-my-adsense-revenue/

Custom Font Size in AdSense

From the Google AdSense Blog (June 17th 2009):

We're now happy to announce the launch of a [-] feature you've been asking for -- the ability to change the font size of the text in your ad units. You can now select from small, medium, and large font sizes for ad units [-] ... the actual font size will vary for each format size, font face, and user-specific settings such as browsers and operating systems.

http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/06/font-size-matters.html

WebmasterWorld discussion: Font Size Mania

Econsultancy.com: Cool and usable

I stumbled upon an article at Econsultancy.com today, and immediately enjoyed the design and usability on their site:

http://econsultancy.com/blog/081-a-10-point-checklist-for-landing-page-design

• Main menu opacity looks good
• Balloons.. cool header
• Tweet this: Promoted social bookmark, highly visible
• Not just tags - also topics and sectors (main site categories)
• Related content
• HTML / formatting in comments
• Nice footer. Notice search and extra footer with copyright / privacy policy
• "Popular" box: Tags, authors, sectors, topics
• Author info with Twitter and LinkedIn links
• Content: Pyramid - main point early, then details (conversion intent)
• Content: List - advises divided into short points, easy to scan