We're very proud to announce the new and improved whitehouse.gov! Some of you may have already heard about our special visitor last month, or have seen the photo. Well, once we showed him samples of our work, he was quick to sign a contract. Something about needing to spend some stimulus money.

Hello!
Welcome to the April edition of our free email newsletter, the Maestro Monthly, created and published by Web Maestro, Inc.. And yes, the above announcement is not quite true. But if you think we're the only company to pull fast ones in April, you haven't seen some of Google's efforts. The intent of this newsletter is to bring you news and updates on Web Maestro services, local business news, as well as general Web news relating to small businesses.

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Some of the most common website mistakes

by Nathan Lyle

Your website is, of course, very important to you. So feeling strongly about it is understandable. But I've noticed over the years that people are all to often blinded by their feelings, insisting upon their websites being built or acting in ways that are actually counterproductive. Here are three no-no's.

#1 - All external links opening in new browser windows

When displaying a link to another website in your content, you can set the code to pop open a new browser window for displaying the linked website, keeping yoru website in the current window, beneath the new window. (Or, in some browsers, in a new tab.) People generally want to do this to "keep visitors on the website"... but there are some significant drawbacks.

Opening the link in a new window or tab is not what the typical website visitor expects to happen, and being unexpected can turn others off. Most people who want a link opened in a new window know how to do this quickly on their own. Most visitors expect that clicking on a link will open the new website in the same window. You should want to provide a good user experience on your website, so expectations do matter.

If someone is not aware they are in a new window or tab, they may wonder why their back button is broken all of a sudden. If they realize it's not a technical issue with their computer, they may then notice that the website they're viewing is trying to trick them into sticking around. People usually don't react well to that. My advice to clients has always been that if the link is important to be including, you shouldn't worry about the results of including it. On top of that, if your website provides good information, visitors will remember that and come back over and over.

#2 - Movies have soundtracks, your website should not

No matter how much you like that song, it doesn't belong playing in the background for your website visitors. Beside the likely copyright issue, there are usability reasons to avoid doing this. Your visitors are likely not expecting it. If they're at work browsing instead of working, or using the computer in the same room where they just got their infant to sleep after hours of struggling... if your website blares out unexpected noise (no matter how catchy it is) you will annoy your visitor. If you must include music, it should be optional and within the visitor's control of when and how loud to play.

#3 - If you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing

(With thanks to Greta Berg at Company B Graphics for the perfect phrasing for this common problem.) Many people make this mistake... they put down a paragraph of text, and then start making this word bold, that word italic, that sentence red, the other sentence in slightly larger type, all for the sake of making sure a point is not lost. However, if you're not careful you will cause more confusion than clarity. Instead of thinking of how to embellish something to call attention to it, think in terms of simplifying the overall presentation. You can take a large piece of blank paper and put one small word on it, and it will call all the attention to itself it needs by the lack of clutter around it.

Want to read more articles? Read previously published articles on our website's article archive.

Discovery Search—Results when you're not "looking"

by Tom Dolaskie

Back in September of 2009, I kicked out a short blog post about Discovery Search. Fast forward two seasons of snow and I'm still focused on what this all means; primarily because it is constantly evolving. I'm most intrigued by the impact on satellite communities; tourist or seasonal regions and small business owners.

A handful of evolutions have taken place with Discovery Search. In larger markets, Foursquare, Facebook Places and Yelp have all carved out reputations for real time user generated feedback or engagement of small businesses. An "I'm here" or "this place is terrible; one star" announcement can now have direct impact on a businesses image. This user contributed information has a very quick turn around time on future clients. A negative Yelp review could very well be read moments after posting. Go to Yelp, read about the businesses in your town.

Staying more focused on our smaller communities, it's a fair statement that hyper-social applications such as Foursquare may dilute in our market. They also don't seem to work too well for a traveling demographic with an average size social network. (How many Foursquare amigos randomly travel to Copper Harbor to mountain-bike and check in at a bar, only to find their friends there...)

However, more static applications such as Yelp and even Facebook's "Check In" have a greater impact on sustained, localized user feedback. For example, two years ago Yelp reviews were uncommon on Upper Peninsula businesses. Now, there are thousands of Yelp reviews on the region's business community. With their focus and constant improvement of their Mobile App, it is a safe bet that user input will only increase.

Discovery Search is simple: We tell the Web what we want via profile data, mobile applications, or other user generated input. When we have profile presets that tell a platform, "I like really good beer," we've just made ourselves a target for the next Brew Pub that has taken the initiative to promote themselves via Mobile Platforms.

I understand that this may seem a bit clunky, trying to figure out how to engage a target market constantly on the go and unaware that your business exists. But make no mistake, brand new developments like Ditto and Google's +1 Button are dialing in the functionality of Discovery Search. By adding Social Feedback into Discovery Search, the science of knowing what you want before you know it's nearby is gaining creepy-level precision.

Miscellaneous Maestro Minutiae

We're still working on a new design for this newsletter, but keep getting sidetracked with new client projects. (Not really a complaint, just an update in case you've been wondering.)

That's it for now, thanks for reading! Please feel free to let me know what you find useful or what you'd like to see us cover in future issues.

Sincerely,
Nathan Lyle

Website: www.webmaestro.biz
Email: nathan@webmaestro.biz
Blog: www.webmaestro.biz/blog

Notable Quotes

"Paying attention to simple little things that most men neglect makes a few men rich."
 ~ Henry Ford

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."
 ~ Charles Darwin