Happy holidays!

-Paste

If you have an emergency during that time, though, just shoot us an e-mail – we’ll do our best to get you taken care of as quickly as we can.

Happy Holidays!

- Paste

If you have an emergency during the break, just shoot us an e-mail – we’ll do our best to get you taken care of as quickly as we can.

Happy Holidays!

- Paste

Content is Still as Important as it Ever Was
Just because the design changes from screen to screen doesn’t mean what’s being said on them is any less important. The user being able to view the website comfortably is only the first step in retention. After they realize the site will work on their tablet or mobile (which people come to expect anyway these days), they get down to the nitty gritty – the content. Information is the whole reason they’re there in the first place, right? That hasn’t changed.

Content Has to Adapt, Too!
As the screen shrinks, the less the user sees. Which means the words they do see have to be strategically placed, and incredibly purposeful. Your headline has to have more punch. Your intro has to get the point across quickly and effectively. When you only have a small amount of space to prove yourself, every character counts. So obviously this changes the way you plan the content for your site. Or at least it should. I’m not saying to write inverted pyramid style, but you might think through the first couple paragraphs on each of your pages more than you would if you knew you had the entire desktop to make your case.

Eliminate Wordiness
Here at Paste, we’re all about including only what is necessary, and leaving out the fluff. Organizing content for a responsive site might help you do the same thing. If you’re okay with content being so far down on a page that nobody gets to it on a smaller screen size, do you even need it?

As fast as technology evolves, the world is still catching up with the absolute best way to do a responsive site. In fact, a lot of what’s being done right now involves taking existing sites and responsifying them. This process is different than creating responsively from scratch – but the foundation for creating a website is still the same. Plan the content well, and the rest will have a much easier time falling into place.

http://layervault.tumblr.com/post/52226746701/the-launch-is-dead

Obviously we just had a major relaunch, so it’s fresh on my mind. While iteration is a huge part of of software development, it’s not all of it. The web has enabled developers to zero in on fixes, and release code on a daily basis rather than boxed gold masters as Kelly so accurately described. It’s a fantastic way to work.

But we came to a time when we were quite literally trapped inside our own platform. There was not a smart way for us to make the design responsive. There wasn’t a clear way to add the new features we wanted without them feeling “stapled on.” So we set about something more ambitious. We rethought the layout and organization of the application.

Maybe we could have subtly tweaked our way from there to here. I can’t imagine it, and it would have take 5x as long.

At one point Kelly says:

“If you’re at the helm of a young company preparing for a launch, don’t. Roll out what you have today to the appropriate users.”

Kelly goes on to talk about PR value, and its being a short-sighted goal.

We’re small; we rarely get any media attention. So it’s great for our team morale to have people talk about us and to us. We all had a blast yesterday, and that’s nothing that moving a button 5px could ever aggregate to. Either in publicity or in love for your job.

Not to mention, the hundreds of new users we got yesterday. Momentum is a funny thing. It picks up speed the more you get. It’s really hard to develop that gently rolling up and down small hills.

Anyway. LayerVault seems great. And I don’t know Kelly. But there is definitely more than one way to run a company. So for any of you feeling like you should reevaluate your launch plans: Since Kelly worked some great movie references in to her article, did you also stop drinking Merlot after watching Sideways?

I don’t think that means we should quit working our tails off to create the best web app or website just because something similar has been done before. I do think it means, though, that we should not feel defeated because we’re working with ideas that existed before us.

We knew we were reinventing the wheel to some extent when Jumpchart was born. Fact: there are other website organization tools out there. Same thing with Staction and Paprika. But we felt we could do it better. We didn’t look at wheel reinvention as a negative. Instead, we recognized how important it is in the grand scheme of things. Versions are what get us to the best.

I mean think about it. Writers don’t publish an unfinished book. Architects don’t let tenants move in before the building is done. Hundreds of logos are sketched before a winner is chosen. There are steps to finishing a project, and many versions are created along the way.

Sixty years from now when we’re all old and wrinkly, there could be a revolutionized way of organizing website content that works for virtually everyone. And that’s great – it truly is.

All we hope is that Jumpchart somehow played a small part in its existence.

I’ll admit, I’m bitter about my recent experience with my cable company, but it’s opened my eyes. For years at my house we’ve been putting up with crap like intermittent service during big games, a stubborn DVR box that works only when the stars are perfectly aligned, missed recordings because of “unknown technical difficulties” and only the rarest of opportunities to talk to a real human being when we need help. Not to mentioned we get absolutely zero monetary refunds to cover our emotional damages from getting so worked up. When we finally called to find out how we can get more for our money (and threaten to take it elsewhere), we were not-so-politely told deals like that are stubbornly reserved for new customers only. I didn’t feel so much shocked as I did betrayed.

I Would Like Some Cheese with My Whine, Please.

Alright, I’m just going to say it. What about me?

I’ve paid for their service for years, and even sent them business a couple times. I trusted them to give me the best quality possible, and haven’t cancelled our account when they’ve fallen short on their promises. And then when I so desperately need them to come through for me, they made me feel like I was two inches tall and not worth their time. #bigcompanyfail

It got me thinking how different big brand loyalty is from small brand loyalty. As part of Paste, I thought about how we try to make the most out of our users’ brand loyalty. Since we’re such a small company, we have every opportunity in the world to make each experience a positive one. Of course, it’s ideal that our users never get frustrated enough to contact us complaining, but if they do we want them to feel like their problem is the only one on our plate.

We’ve Done a Few Things Right.

I must say how awesome our users are. There are lots of reasons they e-mail us, but they’re almost always sure to give us feedback of both the positive and constructive variety.

This, for example:

“I adore Jumpchart and found it very useful indeed. I downgraded because I am a designer by trade and am not often involved in the IA of a site. If I need it again in the future however, I will definitely re-upgrade. I have also recommended Jumpchart to associates.

A couple of things that would make the tools more useful to me personally would be to have the ability to:

+ Add a header and footer to each page (with things like a search bar and registration sign-up elements)
+ Associate a design comp with each page

I hope this feedback is helpful and thanks very much for the wonderful service!”

(Full disclosure: When this user e-mailed us, we were in the middle of launching our newest features, which included design mockups, so she didn’t know about the goodness headed her way.)

That support e-mail validates for me that we’re doing something right in the brand loyalty department. That this user would come back to us instead of searching for something else speaks volumes toward the success our attention to customer service has seen. And I think as a big company you’re just not able to give each customer the attention they need to feel special. It’s one of the benefits of being the small guys.

But how did we do it?

We’ve made absolutely certain to respond quickly to all support inquiries. We do everything in our power to go above and beyond when answering questions about how a feature works. We’ve showered our users with gifts of free space, free memberships, and even some of these to show our appreciation for feedback and loyalty. But the most important thing to me is that we didn’t discriminate who we gave what to based on how long they’ve been a customer, or how much they’ve used our products.

We love our new customers, but we have our older customers to thank for being where we are today.

It’s a crucial (and largely underrated) part of writing website content: the call to action.

What’s the Point?
When users visit your site, they’re either looking for something specific (which is why you make your navigation incredibly user-friendly- so they can get in and get out.) or they’re interested in learning more about your company/product. Either way, what they don’t want is to reach the end of a page and think “Okay, what do I do now?”

Calls to action help increase conversions on your end, but they also make the visitor feel more confident about getting what they want out of your site. For example, let’s say you have a website for your party planning business. The visitor just read a page about the most important steps of party planning. You need to make it easy for them to take the next step. Give them a reason to spend a few more minutes on your site by guiding them through the process of learning, and then taking action. It’s as simple as including a sentence like this to your page. “Interested in how we can help plan your party? Schedule a consultation here!” Then link to your contact page which clearly provides the information they’ll need to get a hold of you, or link directly to the online form where they can submit their information and wait for you to get a hold of them. Easy, easy easy.

Internal and External Calls to Action.
There are ways to track what your users are doing online through various forms of analytics. That being said, you can vary your call to action. Maybe you want the visitor to simply click to the next page to read more about the topic. Or maybe your goal is persuade them to fill out an online quote form.

I like to distinguish these by whether or not the action taken will happen internally (read more!) or extend outside the site (Fill out this form for more information. We’ll be in touch soon!). If your site is content heavy, it’s beneficial to have these tidbits infused throughout the content on each page.

Working a Call to Action into Your Site.
There are a million and a half tips out there telling you how to write a strongly worded, effective call to action that will get visitors to drop what they’re doing and buy your product. But you know as well as I do that a call to action can be much more than persuading someone to buy something. The “Action” can in fact be anything. It can be big and loud, or it can be subtle and helpful. Both can be good choices depending on the context! First and foremost, you have to decide exactly what you want your visitors to do.

The Action, and How to Implement it.
Here are some examples of how to put into action the action you want your uses to take.
Action: Call the office for more information
Make it Happen: Link to the contact page, and/or list the phone number right there in the text.
Example: “Talk to an expert today!” “Call us!” “For more information, please call or e-mail us.”

Action: Fill out the contact form so someone can get in touch with you.
Make it Happen:  Link right to the form. Make it as easy as possible for the user.
Example: “Fill out the form below for more information- we’ll be in touch soon!”

Action: Schedule an appointment
Make it Happen: Link to the page where the user can either schedule online, or call someone direct to get it set up.
Example: “To schedule an appointment, give us a call or fill out the form here.”

Action: Read more
Make it Happen: Post a compelling snippet of the content on one page, and include a link to the rest of the content via a “Read more” link.
Example: “Read the rest of the story here.”

A good call to action can generate measurable ROI one way or another, so working it into your website is not only easy, but necessary.

I have a deep appreciation for group communication. People working together, touching base frequently, actively collaborating and working toward the best possible result. There’s nothing negative about that.

I just think there are ways to go about it that don’t require half a day’s attention. Frequent e-mails showing progress, phone calls to touch base, and some occasional face time is nice! And I like to think our clients agree. After all, once we’ve determined we’re all on the same page, don’t they want us spending more time working on their project than talking about it?

It’s always nice to find other people who think like we do, and Trent Walton does. He shares our belief that it’s more about the overall experience we create for our users, rather than the bits and pieces we use to get there. Although we strain immensely over all of those bits, and pour tirelessly over each of the pieces, what brings us the most joy is someone telling us “your work really helped me today.”

And that is what we strive for, because the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts.