Most golfers will be familiar with the phrase 'Drive for show, putt for dough'.
In golf, sinking putts is more likely to win you big money than being able to hit a ball a long way.

I've tweaked the phrase and applied it to websites.
If you want a successful website remember, 'design for show, type for dough'.


The most common area of a website that is overlooked and in some cases completely ignored is website content - the written word - the copy. Naturally the design plays its part, but not as much as you may at first presume. Only when a website is underperforming does attention turn to the strength of the copy.

Successful websites will have powerful content and in every instance, it did not arrive there by accident. Understanding the power of the written word and putting it to good effect within your own website will have dramatic results.

I don't just mean the page content either, wherever and whenever text is used, consideration should be given to the effectiveness that the words you use will have. This includes menu names, text links, instructions in graphics and particularly 'call to actions'.

On arriving at your website, a visitor will start skim reading your website looking for what they want - at this stage they probably haven't even given your design much of a glance, they are still deciding whether you have what they want or whether it is would be best to move on. Well written copy will immediately grab their attention and then once it has, it will smoothly guide them through the process of performing the action that YOU want.

This may be to email, buy from your online shop or just to pick up the phone and call you. Not only will you have achieved your goal, but your website visitors will thank you for making it easy for them. Whatever it is that you want your website to achieve, take a look again with a fresh pair of eyes and see if the copy is doing it’s job well.

Never underestimate the power of the written word on your website.
Design for show, type for dough.

Research by BT reveals has found that small businesses are missing out on valuable online sales opportunities because they fail to maintain their websites properly.

Jerry Thompson of BT Business says: "Most small businesses understand that it is vital to have a website and are quick to get online, but unfortunately many websites are withering on the vine because customers cannot actually find them".
About 25% of retail spending this year - around 78 Billion - is predicted to come from online sales, but experts warn that firms must improve their websites significantly if they want to benefit from the growth in e-commerce.
One in six businesses has no facility for customers to buy goods through their website. More than 40% of sites have pages that contain missing or broken links and incredibly, only one in 3000 small firms utilises keywords even though this greatly increases the chances of search engines selecting their web sites.
Not surprisingly, one in ten small businesses rates their own site as very poor. Thompson concludes, "As well as taking basic measures to make their website more visible to search engines, firms should plan the content to ensure that it reflects the services or goods they offer."
The report backs up what we have found, many businesses are only paying lip service to their internet marketing, but this is probably because of the confusing nature of the whole topic. Worryingly, much of the advice we see being offered by "experts" is poor and in many cases "Search Engine Optimisation Specialists" are profiting because of the clients lack of understanding of the correct approach.

source or article; Daily Mail, April 5th 2009

Research by BT reveals has found that small businesses are missing out on valuable online sales opportunities because they fail to maintain their websites properly.

Jerry Thompson of BT Business says: "Most small businesses understand that it is vital to have a website and are quick to get online, but unfortunately many websites are withering on the vine because customers cannot actually find them".
About 25% of retail spending this year - around £78 Billion - is predicted to come from online sales but one in six businesses has no facility for customers to buy goods through their website.
More than 40% of sites have pages that contain missing or broken links and incredibly, only one in 3000 small firms utilises keywords even though this greatly increases the chances of search engines selecting their web sites.
Not surprisingly, one in ten small businesses rates their own site as very poor. Thompson concludes, "As well as taking basic measures to make their website more visible to search engines, firms should plan the content to ensure that it reflects the services or goods they offer."
The report backs up what we have found, many businesses are only paying lip service to their internet marketing, but this is probably because of the confusing nature of the whole topic. Worryingly, much of the advice we see being offered by "experts" is poor and in many cases "Search Engine Optimisation Specialists" are profiting because of the clients lack of understanding of the correct approach.

source or article; Daily Mail, April 5th 2009

Research has found that students who use the social networking website 'Facebook' perform worse academically. The report indicates that students that use facebook on a daily basis are underperforming by as much as a an entire grade in comparison to students who do not subscribe to the site - so being a user of Facebook could be the difference between getting an A or B.

About 83% of British 16 to 24 year olds are thought subscribe to 'social networking' sites which include, Facebook, Myspace and Bebo as a way of keeping in touch with friends. However, when a sample of Facebook users were questioned, 79% said that they believed that the time they spent on the site did not affect their work.
As you would expect, Facebook defended itself by saying that there was academic research to show the benefits of services like Facebook - although without any evidence from Facebook as to what these benefits were, can I hazard a guess that it was to seek assistance from friends when trying to answer tricky exam questions when revising which may have resulted in them getting a grade B when a grade C would have been their more likely acheivement!

It comes as no surprise to see that AOL has been voted the worst ever tech product of all time PC World (US).
It has certainly been a thorn in our side when it comes to emails.

Read more: AOL - voted the worst of all time