This is a much watch for anyone interested in starting an online business.
It elaborates on something I’ve been saying for years – you don’t need an idea that will create the next big thing, you just need decent idea that will attract a few people. The point is not to focus on an idea that will create a billion dollar business, but rather come up with a plan that will create a million dollar business or even a $100,000 a year business.
(via ryankuder.com)
Over the weekend Limon Salon’s website went live. This is a website that we put together for the salon’s owner and our friend, Carlos Letelier.
Carlos’ idea for the salon is that it won’t only be a hair salon, but a hub for San Jose artists. The salon will sell music by local bands and also serve up paintings by local artists. Essentially, it’ll be a hang out where you can also get a great hair cut.
When creating the site we really thought about scalability. How will this site look when the salon employs 10 stylists, showcases 20 bands, and sells art by 15 artists (for example)? Well, it’ll look great. The only issue is since they only have 2 stylists, 1 artist and 1 band - the site looks incomplete. That was a trade off we needed to make and in our experience will feel that it will pay off in the long run and it’ll save lots of money for salon in maintenance costs.
We gave Carlos a site he’ll be able to use for years and that has already been getting praise from his colleagues and we had a great time putting it together for him.
According to Jakob Nielsen web users read at most 28% during an average visit to a single web page. What does that mean? Lose the dummy text and as far as the text you do keep – get to the point.
Whenever I write copy for the web I imagine that the user will read the first line of any block of text, if I’m lucky. This is a good practice for me since it forces me to write quick and concise text.
Especially tighten up text on pages where the user isn’t expecting to do a lot of reading. If a user is visiting a blog, they’re prepared to do some reading, but if they’re on a corporate website – they’re just trying to get what they came for and leave. Presenting a large amount of text to the user isn’t going to make them believe they can accomplish their goal and they may leave your site entirely.
Here are a few tips for writing for the web:
The conclusion is first
Don’t make users read 5 paragraphs of text to finally discover what it is you’re talking about. They simply wont do it.
Short and sweet
Try to explain everything in the most concise manner. If you’re trying to get the user to learn more about your company’s enterprise solutions don’t say, “Find out more about what Acme Company can offer your enterprise now!” simply put, “Learn more about our enterprise solutions.” It’s straight to the short and straight to the point. This exercise will also help your site feel less cluttered.
Don’t use lingo specific to your field
Even if you believe people mostly in the same field will view your site, don’t use company jargon. While you may know what “SMB” means – the customer who was told on his first day of work to purchase your Small & Medium Business package may not.
More tips and information on writing for the web:
http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/
For a few months now Hrag Chanchanian and I have been throwing around ideas as to how we’re going to take over the world and today we launched heavybig.com and took the first step towards global domination.
Since the late 90’s we’ve been working together to create a better internet. 7 months ago we started working for two web companies that receive millions and millions of hits per month and we realized that it was our time to make our digital footprint on the web.
Like I said, we only took the first steps today. We’re starting down a long path and while we’re aggressively seeking out new opportunities we’re staying focused on our long term goal (of taking over the world).
I’m excited. I can’t wait to dive into a project with someone as dedicated as myself and I don’t believe there’s a better person for the job than Hrag.
Visit HeavyBig:
http://www.heavybig.com
Follow HeavyBig on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/heavybig