The most sincere form of flattery: Useful & effective website ideas to make your own – Dave Collins – MicroConf Europe 2015 Talk Recap

The MicroConf Europe 2015 Talk Recaps can be found on the central “hub” page.

Website: softwarepromotions.com
Twitter: @thedavecollins

Dave published a shortened version of his talk here: The most sincere form of flattery: Useful & effective website ideas to make your own

Talk Recap

• “Good artists copy, great artists steal” – Picasso
• “The only art I’ll ever study is stuff I can steal from” – David Bowie
• We know our websites are important
  • But we settle for “Meh” – why is that?
  • Open your eyes to the design – beyond copy and popups and attention grabbers
• Get the originality for your website from copying!
  • Swipe file
  • Copy & Paste vs. Copy & Expand & Paste
• What’s the first thing a website does?
  • give a good first impression!
  • make clear what you DO!
  • make REALLY clear what you DO!
  • focus on the pain
• Why Do you do what you do?
  • Was offered a pay check with a substantially higher salary
  • SEO is kind of boring
  • Looked at our own website: “Does it communicate our why?”
  • never allow users to think “… What do I get now?”
  • Websites without email capture are a waste
• Who are you targeting?
  • adjust your language to your audience
  • Use Avatars
• Logos
  • no one cares about your logo
• Not getting stuck
  • Don’t leave your website visitors hanging
• Make it easy
  • forms need to be obvious, quick
  • reduce nav items where possible
• About what?
  • People like “About Us” pages with pictures of staff
• Balance
  • need to include what is important on website
  • we need to conform to standards
  • BUT: Stand out
• Nudges are good
  • the easier it is, the more likely people are going to use it
• Differentiation through identity
  • Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign
• Clarity beats Clever all the time
  • have obvious headlines

-Christoph