Three Reasons You Need to Convince Newbies They Need a Website

Written by James - 33 Comments

We recently started a side project working with people who have never had a website, a blog, or anything that requires more than opening an email – and sometimes they can’t even do that.
They’re all small business owners.
When I spoke with them about their business, they all had one common question: “Why is having a [...]

Drive-by Shooting Special: Denver Motorcycle Lawyer

Written by James - 10 Comments

“I could never live here.” James squinted into the bright sun as he strapped on his helmet, sitting deep on the black rental motorbike between his legs. He’d be glad to get out of the airport parking lot. Denver International was a far cry from the woods of back home.
“Ready. And hey, thanks for arranging [...]

Drive-By Shooting Special: Melani Ward

Written by James - 6 Comments

James watched as Harry hitched a tattered leather bag to his bike and revved up the engine. For the last time, he headed off into the sunset. What a character. Man, they’d trashed and torched their share of sites, and done some hits they could be darned proud of.
Now James stood in the doorway, the [...]

Drive-By Shooting Sunday Special: Adventures of a Barefoot Geek

Written by James - 9 Comments

“Ow.” He picked his foot up and grimaced. “Ow-… Look, this is not good. Never again, man. Ow.”
“Quit complaining.” James lifted his feet and placed them carefully on the gravel, wincing a bit. “It’s job hazards. Gotta do what we gotta do.” The sun was blindingly bright, and James pulled his grey sweatshirt hood over [...]

Drive-By Shooting Special: Cheryl’s Casual Contemplations

Written by James - 13 Comments

James squinted at the figure on the tiny video screen. The man seemed confused, wandering at the side of the building for a minute before staring straight up into the closed-circuit camera that watched his every move. He put one hand to his ear as if to scratch it, deftly balancing two pizza boxes in [...]

Your Clutter is Killing Your Customers

Written by Harry - 50 Comments

Nobody likes cluttered sites. You may not know what makes a cluttered site, but your customers definitely know when they’re trying to navigate one. There are flashing ads that give them a headache, tons of links with vague titles, social media ad-ins overwhelming the site, and a sidebar longer than the Encyclopedia Britannica.
And in all [...]

How to Create a Great Tutorial on Anything at All

Written by Harry - 19 Comments

This week I was on a mission. I needed information—and fast.
Ok, maybe not life or death fast. More like finish-this-project-before-the-deadline fast. It probably would have been possible to figure out the gaps in my knowledge by trial and error, but I didn’t have time to waste.
So I asked for help.
There’s always someone who knows the [...]

Are You Leading People Down a Slippery Path?

Written by Harry - 16 Comments

Pick a site, any site. What’s the first thing you notice? What draws your attention right away? Where do your eyes land?
What do they do then? Do your eyes flow over the page? Do they follow a specific path, flicking to the left, then skimming over to the right and maybe down the page? Do [...]

How Far Should You Take Your Creativity?

Written by Harry - 30 Comments

Creative people always try to think out of the box and look for the next brilliant idea. We want to create something so unique and incredibly outstanding that it makes the rest of the world pay attention.
But how far is too far? How much can you stretch the boundaries of convention? Where is the point [...]

Drive-By Shooting Special: Pick Nick’s Brains

Written by James - 20 Comments

“I am never doing this again,” James hissed, exaggerating his tip-toeing just in case a floorboard creaked and set off the noise again.
“You volunteered,” Harry said from the sofa where he’d been leafing through a magazine.
“SHHH!!!” The waving hand said it all. “You’ll wake her up! Goddamned little-…”
“James.” The disapproving look on Harry’s face said [...]

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