It’s hard to understand why some business owners still think that implementing “exit popups” on their website actually benefit their readers in some way. Think of it this way: A customer enters your shop and has a look around. More »
Our customers are largely technologically unsophisticated as this video shows: Less that 8% of users who were interviewed on this occasion knew what a browser was. As website designers and builders, it’s worth remembering this when we talk to normal people who often have no idea what our industry jargon means. More »
A few weeks back, I asked a good friend of mine about how he thought his business website was working for him in the couple of years since he had it built. “As useless as tits on a bull”, he replied. More »
It’s disappointing to see an increase of these new “trendy” search boxes on websites. You know, search boxes which don’t have a submit button at all, leaving the customer to work out for themselves that they actually need to press the “enter” key to make the bloody things work. More »
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been getting a steady stream of proposals from various “entrepreneurs” who want to advertise their stuff on this website. More »
The folks over at Imperva have recently conducted a detailed analysis of a truckload of weak and compromised passwords. The report found the following to be the most popular choices: 123456 12345 123456789 password iloveyou princess rockyou 1234567 12345678 abc123 nicole daniel babygirl monkey jessica lovely michael ashley 654321 qwerty The most interesting thing is just how little things have changed in the last twenty years. More »
Amazon has spent a good number of years building their brand. They apparently pride themselves on providing great service, and apart from some idiotic policy decisions, they probably haven’t lost too many customers. More »
Is a blog without comments still a blog? I guess it depends on who you ask. While most blogs have comments enabled, there are some very prominent bloggers who don’t offer this feature to their readers. More »
Around ten months ago, I talked about the effectiveness of the project honeypot blacklisting system on this website. Recently, they reached the very significant milestone of receiving their 1 billionth spam message. More »
Now I know why brand new laptop computers have become so cheap over the last couple of years. And it’s not due to any technological advancements. It’s due to huge amount of software crapware which the major hardware vendors, and their partners, bundle on the machines before they ship them out. More »
After wrestling for some years with one of the worst browsers ever made, I’m no longer prepared to support IE6 in any way, shape or form. The time has come to say goodbye to the long hours, stylesheet hacks and workarounds so that websites look and work as intended. More »
Corporate mission statements don’t have to be dumb. They don’t have to consist of warm, fuzzy but meaningless promises. Here’s how to create real mission statements that make sense to real people. More »
I recently got spammed by Vixtel, a new startup in the VOIP arena, whose “incredible offer” seemed to indiscriminately extend to anybody who loves a good bargain: From: Vixtel <sales@vixtel.com.au> To: xxx@lutrov. More »
In the service industry, negotiating a price with a client can sometimes be a little delicate: Has this ever happened to you or anyone you know? More »
As a website owner, are you focusing on the customer or on yourself? Today, I discovered a free analysis tool to test the effectiveness of your website. More »
A recent survey on Smartblog shows that 75% of small businesses still don’t use social media for marketing. What were the reasons? 35.23% don’t know how they might use social media. 28.18% aren’t sure where to start. 23.04% don’t feel they have the time. 13. More »
Around a week ago, I got spammed by a dodgy outfit called Logistetica, who claim to “re-design web sites and create new ones”. Even though they used Lyris Listmanager to spruke their wares, they made the careless mistake of targeting common business-related mailbox names. From: “Logistetica” <info@logistetica. More »
Like probably most of my competitors, I get unsolicited offers of cheap software development “services” on a regular basis. But this recent email stood out like a sore thumb. And not because of typos and grammatical inadequacies either: From: Babita Tiwari <babita@otssolutions. More »
Website design is still very much a cottage industry right around the world and Australia is certainly no exception. Looking at the Melbourne market alone, there are over 1000 businesses listed under “internet & web services” in the Yellow Pages online directory, which shows that it’s quite a saturated market. More »
Ayelet Noff, over at Blonde 2.0, makes some very good points on the typical misconceptions that exist about social media. More »