Defining Your Specific Value Proposition

In the Heuristic we are using:

C = 4m + 3v + 2(i-f) – 2a

Wherein:

C = Probability of conversion
m = Motivation of user (when)
v = Clarity of the value proposition
i = Incentive to take action
f = Friction elements of process
a = Anxiety about entering information

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This article is the first in a series of articles to help readers use some of the best practices for Direct Online Marketing Design.

Small businesses delving into online marketing often take for granted how important design is to an overall online marketing campaign.  If you are going to succeed you’ll need to tackle the sometimes daunting world of online marketing, from email to websites to social media, it is the fastest growing advertising channel.

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Seen also on the iContact Blog

In this post, I will use Twitter as a microcosm, or case study, for how to separate your personal and professional identity online, and how this applies to corporate communications and marketing of one’s business. View Full Portfolio Piece

This is my Pro’s and Con’s List that I made up for my company when choosing a CMS/Wiki – we eventually went with my recommendation of Backpack from 37signals.com which I and the company really like.
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This took me awhile to work out- I understand the majority of CSS – but when you are working with id’s and classes generated by WordPress something can become a little tricky.
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This is a pretty funny and informative article on reading online from www.slate.com

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A post from my friend and co-worker Ben – thanks Ben!

Are you getting bored with Illustrator? Pen tool giving you a cramp? Still trying to find a use for those warp tools? Let’s face it, you can only do so much with the tool set that Adobe has provided us… But what if there was a way to make your own tools and filters in Illustrator? Well congratulations, your about to find out how.

Scriptographer is a FREE plugin for Adobe Illustrator. It basically makes Illustrator open-source. When you download and install the plugin, you’ll notice some new things in the illustrator interface. There will be two new tools at the bottom of your tools pallet. These tools are like a blank slate just waiting for you to tell them what to do. Use the Scriptographer window (Window/Scriptographer/Main) to attach a Javascript file to the tools.. And oiala! You’ve got some new tools to play with.
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This is a great Primer on simple ways to improve your Organic SEO tool that are free to use
Marketing Sherpa again has come on through…. with a great article…..
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I am noticing a common practice among my favorite designers, and this is certainly true of myself. When I first started designing with a computer (in the interest of full discloser I was so un technical that when I was ordering the computer via phone I told the sales rep that I did not need anything on the machine except photoshop – or maybe I might have said can I get a photoshop computer.

Anyway to make along story short – I started designing in photoshop – really it was not designing it was adding filters to photos and then adding text…. then I finally spent my first check from a logo design that turned me into (technically at least) professional designer on Illustrator 5. One I understood what I could do and learn the basics – illustrator was my life for the next 3 to 4 years. Now I have returned to photoshop and use illustrator for cool shapes and logo design – and certain types of other work – but my favorite program is photoshop again – does anyone else have a similar story?

OpenType® is a modern font format developed by Adobe® and Microsoft® to provide users with an accessible and advanced typographic toolset. OpenType improves on PostScript and TrueType just as the DVD trumped the video cassette. When deciding what format to choose, using the latest technology simply makes sense, but let’s dig a bit deeper and explore the ways OpenType makes life easier for typographers and graphic designers.

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