Brian J Anderson – Page 2 – Web Content, Strategy & Blogging

Uncommon Sense about Web Content

A recent introduction to online marketer Ken Wells turned into a captivating telephone interview on Web content. After some thinking and a bit of research, I decided our discussion was good educational material and worth publishing. I’ve added some background info and a few insights to round it out.

” width=”229″ height=”72″>Ken is president of The Leads Hub and he’s been involved in online marketing for about 10 years. His company offers a full range of digital marketing services to small and medium businesses in the Richmond Hill, Newmarket and Vaughan areas.

Digital Marketers: “They’re on the endangered list. There’s far fewer of them this year than last. Why? “So-called search engine optimization “experts” have realized that Google’s updates have more to do with social proof and especially content.”

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Thinking: Art Imitates Idea Generation

Staring out from a friend’s balcony last winter, I got to thinking about the splendor of the evening sky even if its colours were dusky dark gray bleeding to even murkier depths.

With its successive vertical layers, the encroaching night’s sky reminded me of artist Mark Rothko’s abstract paintings. In many of them, he layered both contrasting and complementary colours to form visually arresting effects.

Like all painters, he created his own hues (variety of colours) on his pallet and required them in volume. I mention that because it increases one’s appreciation of his work and demonstrates a point yet to be made.

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Thinking: What do Birds Have To With Ideas?

Looking up last week, above the streets, people and traffic, I saw something I’ve never seen before – and twice in 1 day: large groups of birds perched on telephone and hydro wires taking in the world below. Could it be they were exchanging ideas?

This ‘beak meeting’ was of pigeons, which I’ve never seen in groups of more than 20 or 30; even then, they’ve always been in dining mode. That day saw roughly 200 of them out of my hearing range, but likely chatting among themselves.

Had I not looked up, I wouldn’t have seen them. Later, that reminded me of how limited perspectives can impede problem solving.

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My First Shopify Experience: Usability Suggestions

The Shopify e-commerce platform is a vast and multi-faceted one. Its architecture addresses all aspects of a business conducted online and no detail is overlooked; however, there were Usability shortcomings which made my experience less than satisfying.

With the intention of making a great product better, I’ve conducted a brief analysis of the tools, processes and screens which slowed my progress.

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My First Shopify Store: Lessons Learned

Creating and writing my first Shopify e-commerce store was an intriguing and challenging exercise. With new experiences come new lessons and preferably, advances in thinking. Mindfulness and perseverance are allies in such situations.

This is a 2-part article. Next week, I’ll make suggestions (with screen shots and text re-writes) as to how the Shopify e-commerce platform, its Usability and overall presentation could be improved.

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Digital Marketing: Advantages & Challenges

Up until the mid to late-2000s, traditional marketing methods still directed the promotional affairs of business.

These included: direct mail and area mail drops to neighborhoods, trade shows, press releases, advertorials in newspapers, telemarketing, newspapers themselves and so on.

In the majority of cases, it wasn’t possible to track responses accurately so formulas and generally accepted guesstimates developed.

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