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Dear Friends,
It's been an exciting,
productive winter for
Painted Pages and I want to share some of
our news with you.
I hope you find our newsletter helpful and
informative and I always
appreciate
feedback.
To share this with
your friends, please use the "Forward Email" link
at the
bottom.
Thanks and happy
spring!
Judith
| First Impressions - Homepage Considerations |
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Since 80% of visitors enter a website through
the homepage, the look, feel, layout
and content of your homepage can make or break
the success of your website and should be
carefully planned.
Consider:
- A homepage redesign - we can now design
for a wider display. Having more space to
play with when planning the layout of
your homepage means more features without
adding clutter. And, as an added bonus,
your site will have an
up-to-date look.
- A FLASH image. FLASH
is back, and
can be used strategically and tastefully to
attract the visitor's eye without detracting
from critical content.
- Swapping in new content as often as
possible (monthly is ideal). This not only
brings visitors back; you'll do better
with the Search Engines
- Reviewing and perhaps tweaking content.
The most
critical place in your
website to pack in those keywords is the
first couple of paragraphs on your homepage.
Yet another way to get Google to notice you.
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| Writing for the Web - Did you know? |
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Did you know that?
- 79% of users scan the page instead of
reading word-for-word
- Reading from computer screens is 25%
slower than from paper
- Web content should have 50% of the word
count of its paper equivalent
Do's and Don't's when writing for the web:
- Do: Use accessible language with a
vocabulary geared toward a general audience
Don't: Use slang, jargon or "marketese"
- Do: Use short direct sentences
Don't:
Sacrifice clarity for the sake of
cleverness
- Do: Remain genuine
Don't: Try to be
overly familiar, cute or silly
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| Going Green with Zero Waste Group |
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Painted Pages is designing and developing a
new website for Synergis - Zero Waste
Group, an award-winning designer and
implementer of customized commercial
and institutional recycling programs.
Founded in 1997 by Neil Cutler,
clients include Lockheed Martin, Pacific Gas
and Electric, and cities, school districts and
shopping centers in New York and California.
The
current website, which is outdated and does not
reflect their expanded services and new
branding, needs a complete redesign.
Our
goal: create an up-to-date, well-organized,
state-of-the-art website using a
visually engaging user interface that provides
clients and prospective clients with a
virtual brochure.
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| New Services / New People |
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Painted Pages now offers logo
design,
FLASH development, web content
writing
and editing, and e-newsletter
development
New consultants include a graphic designer
who developed her flair at FIT, a FLASH
developer with a background in film, a
professional writer and a programmer with database
expertise.
We also provide training in HTML and
CSS; in
Adobe products including Contribute (a
Content Management System), Dreamweaver and
Photoshop; and in Constant
Contact e-newsletter creation.
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Painted Pages Gives Back |
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Painted Pages has joined a team of volunteers
through the Taproot Foundation to design and
develop a new website for Girls Inc of NYC.
Taproot is an organization committed to pro
bono consulting. Girls Inc of NYC, a nonprofit,
helps
girls gain the knowledge and skills to
reach their full potential through a variety of
educational and inspirational
programs. The new website will be launched
in May.
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