Monthly Archives: November 2013

1 Can Mice Solve Problems?

What better topic than the question: can mice solve problems?

Here’s an extract from an argument I had with my niece. She is much cleverer than I am but this time I  believe I am right.

The original heading for this post was to be:

Solvitur Ambulando

This is Latin and it means to solve a problem by walking.  There are several ways to understand this.  You could say it means you need to start working on a problem to solve it.  Get started and solve it on the hoof.  There is some truth in this, we can easily spend too much time thinking when to get started will actually solve the problem.

However, the point I really want to make is much simpler.  Got a problem?  Go for a walk!  It’s partly about taking a break, simply thinking about something else will help.  Also, I think there is something in the rhythm of walking that helps.  If you’re stuck designing a website, or anything else, a good walk will often result in a solution to your problem.

Anyway, can you help with my argument with my niece?  Watch this video and then comment on the dialogue below:

My niece: “That is one badass, determined, hungry mouse. One can only admire it’s persistence.”

Me:  ” I like the bit where it stops, gives up, wanders off and then works out how to do it. Solvitur ambulando!”

My niece:  “I reckon it just got lucky, that, or it needed to regain it’s strength.”

Me: “Why do you think mice can’t solve problems?”

My niece: “Not saying that exactly. It’s just that that particular mouse didn’t look very thoughtful at any point.”

Me: ” It solved the problem! is it supposed to sit down with its fist on its forehead?”

My niece: “Luck. Sheer and utter luck.”

What do you think?

7 How to Help the Right People Find Your Site

Remember it’s not just about getting traffic to your site, it needs to be the right traffic.  There are several ways you can help the right people find your site.  You need to understand these approaches; their strengths and weaknesses and how to optimise them.  In this post, I’ll review several approaches and then add detail in future posts.

Direct Entry

This is where people type your url into their browser.  It can be very important, particularly for local websites.  You can publicise your site through posters, leaflets or business cards.

Search Engines

If you type the name of your business or website into a search engine, does it come top of the list or at least on the first page?  Ideally it should but if it does, all it means is you have a distinctive name.  No-one will find you by this route unless they’ve already heard of you!

It is more challenging to find the keywords people are likely to use for which you will be in the top 10, that is the first page that comes up.  But if you do appear on a page searched for by hundreds or thousands of people, you might see a significant increase in traffic to your site.

Back-links

If you place a link on your site to another site, it is for them a back-link.  The immediate advantage of receiving a back-link is increased traffic to your site from the site that links to yours.  There are lots of reasons why another site might back-link to yours.  Ideally, you want your back-links to be relevant to your site.

Back-links don’t only bring more visitors to your site, they also attract search engines.  Once you have a few back-links, search engines will find your site and you may begin to appear in searches people make for certain keywords.

So, a blog might review your site or product.  Or a site might represent a common interest and have links to lots of sites like yours.  Or else someone who shares your market might include your site as a link because your service or product complements theirs.

Sometimes you might also want a link to a site that links to yours.  If two sites link to each other, this is known as a reciprocal link.  The advantage is increased traffic to both sites.  However, a mild disadvantage is that search engines don’t count it as a link.  Remember that you need some back-links that are not reciprocal!

Email Lists

Email lists can help people find your site although they are usually used to return people to your site when you want to alert them to new content or a new offer.  They can bring new visitors to your site but they normally do it indirectly.  If you tell your list of some new development on your site, your recipients will sometimes forward it.

Social Media

There are various ways of linking between your website and your social media.  If you have a lot of followers on Twitter, for example, it is worth exploring how you can encourage them to visit your site.

Pay-Per-Click

We’ve all be irritated by a Google search where you click on the first link on the results page and discover it’s an advert. Close inspection of the results page shows the adverts have a very pale pink background.  Grrr …

I’m not a fan of adverts but they can increase traffic to your site.  The big advantage of ads is they show you where there is a market.  Broadly if there’s lots of competition, this is a market where you too might make money.

Don’t forget you pay for ads.  Normally I would use other methods before I tried pay-per-click.

Do comment and share how you encourage people to visit your site, especially if its something I’ve missed!  If there are any approaches about which you would like more information, adding a comment will influence how soon I post about it.

6 Donations: Your Situation

Over the next 6 posts, I shall introduce guidelines for making a case for your charity online.  They build on my post “How to Draw Down Donations”, which summarises the six steps towards making a case for donations. So, when appealing for donations your situation is paramount.

Why charities?  Well, in the UK charitable status is one way organisations demonstrate accountability.  If you’re seeking donations, you need to consider registering as a charity.

Making a case for donations is one approach to generating income online and it might not be right one for your organisation.  My aim is to help you work out your ideal approach.  If you choose to explore donations further you will need professional help.  I may be able to help you find the expertise you need.

Presenting Your Situation

Anyway, on your website the first thing you need to present is your situation and why you need financial help.  Whatever your cause, here are a few things you can consider when presenting your case online:

1. An account of your cause is likely to be on the first page your visitor encounters.  This is often called a landing page and it should be designed as your visitors’ first encounter with your site.  First impressions are important and the page will need to be search engine optimised.  I shall explain these terms in future posts.
2. You may need more than one landing page.  Depending upon the nature of your cause, you may need to present it in different ways for different audiences.  So, a charity supporting research into cancer might appeal to people who have cancer, people bereaved because of cancer, people interested in research into cancer, medical professionals and so on.  Each of these may need to arrive at a different landing page.  They will have access to the same site but they need to know the site is for them.
3. Stories are immensely powerful and you may find you need a different story on each landing page.  Getting this right is important.
4. Broadly there are two types of story.  You may want to tell a story about your cause so, continuing with my example, it might be a story about someone’s battle with cancer or about a research project.  The other type of story is about your organisation.  Why this charity started, the issues and problems it has faced.  Don’t underestimate the value of the second type.  Often people value insight into what’s behind the scenes and it is likely to build trust with your site visitors.  Sometimes these two stories can be combined.
5. Be clear about the overall purpose of your charity and what it does for the target visitors to this particular landing page.  You don’t need lots of statistics and evidence at this stage.
6. Every page should have one clear action step for its reader.  They read the story, what do you want them to do next?  Most likely to read on by clicking through to another page.  You can lead your visitors through a series of pages that will eventually arrive at your target action step.  I shall show you how to test your website about its effectiveness in moving visitors to the point when they must choose to take your desired action (or not).
7. But what is your target action step?  Are you going to rely on visitors spending enough time on your site to persuade them to donate?  Or do you see more value in building a long-term relationship?  So for a major crisis in the news, you might ask for a donation on the landing page with a small amount of copy.  Otherwise, you may wish to build a long-term relationship with people who will donate several times.  These two are not mutually exclusive.  Someone who donates to a crisis appeal may also make a good long-term supporter.  If you are seeking long-term support, the best way is through email lists, something else I’ll discuss in more detail later.

Have you used landing pages, and action steps on your site?  If you already have a landing page, I offer a free review here.  Or write a comment about your thoughts or experience.

3 Traditional Site Structure

We’re all familiar with the layout of a traditional website.  When we ask someone to design a site for us we have expectations based upon the layout we’ve seen thousands of times.

So, there is a Home page with a brilliant graphic on it, perhaps a few extra pages on various themes depending on the purpose of the site, perhaps in a drop-down menu and then there will be an About page, a Contact page and possibly a few other odds and ends.

Not all sites share this structure.  There two reasons why we think most websites follow this layout.

• We don’t see the entire layout of a site.  If we enter the site through its Home page, we assume everyone enters the site in the same way.  We see the pages in the main navigation and assume they make up the entire site.  It’s similar to the reason people tend to overestimate the amount of built up areas in Britain.  People estimate way over 8 or 9% because we usually don’t experience the deep rural areas.  Roads and railways connect settlements and so we mostly see the built up places they connect.
• The other reason we don’t see websites in their entirety is because we don’t expect them to be functional.  We expect pages to be static, simply displaying information.  We don’t expect websites to drive businesses although that is what many websites do.

In this Structure category, I shall explore what makes a good website, the pages it needs and good practice for page layout.  These first few posts are an overview of some basic site structures.  Later on I shall look at various aspects in more depth.  Next Tuesday, the hidden life of websites!

Do you have a favourite site structure?  Why do you use it?  What are its advantages and disadvantages?  Share your experiences in a comment.

2 Burngreave New Deal for Communities: A Case Study

Burngreave New Deal for Communities (BNDC) is a case study, to support my point in an earlier post about control.

Background Information

New Deal for Communities (NDC) was a national programme, founded in 1998. It provided financial support to 39 of the most disadvantaged areas in the UK, over a 10 year period.  They staggered the start dates somewhat and hence the 2010 final evaluation. I think this slightly pre-dates the closing of the ones with a later start-up.  Today NDC is long gone and largely forgotten, at least in the national debate.  I shall use the national evaluation in later posts to structure my argument.

Burngreave NDC ran from 2001 until 2011 and so was one of the later ones.  During the early years, I was involves as an active member of the Burngreave Community Action Forum (BCAF).  Then from 2003, I was not involved for some years because of an appointment to a demanding national post, based in Manchester.

Then around 2009, I rejoined the Board towards the end of its active life, until BNDC wound up in 2011.

Here is an extract from the executive summary of the final report.  It addresses NDC as a national programme:

Between 1999-2000 and 2007-08, the 39 NDC partnerships spent a total of £1.71bn on some 6,900 projects or interventions. A further £730m was levered in from other public, private and voluntary sector sources. They have developed, with partner agencies, a range of interventions, designed to support locally developed strategies that encompass the three place-related outcomes of crime and community safety, community and housing and the physical environment, and the three people-related outcome areas of health, education and worklessness.

Brief Evaluation

Burngreave it seems came third in terms of meeting the programme objectives, so don’t forget this when I criticise the programme.  At the time, the revenue spend of the programme in Burngreave improved the quality of life for many residents.  The question is whether these successes have been sustainable beyond the end of the programme.

This leads to my first comment.  The date of final assessment for the national programme is March 2010.  I have not so far found any more recent evaluation.  In May 2010, a new national government formed and the two parties in the coalition have shown no interest in New Deal.  An evaluation now, just three years later, might produce a very different picture.  Certainly by 2020, it will be interesting to ask whether New Deal had any lasting impact at all.

In my next post, I’ll outline my overall criticism of New Deal and then in future posts pick up some specific issues from the final evaluation.

Have you had any experience of NDC?  If so, what do you believe the impact has been on your neighbourhood today, three years down the road?