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August 2008

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There are 2 types of graphics on your membership site that you need to pay particular attention to.
The first is the image that goes with the teaser text. The second are the visuals you include in the article.
Why separate them into different categories?
The image you choose that will accompany the teaser text is a thumbnail. [...]

Consistent sizing for graphic images is one of the least expensive ways site owners can improve the appearance of their membership sites. The easiest way to achieve consistent sizing is to use Adobe Photoshop’s “Actions” feature. Actions are similar to macros in that you can create, and name, a sequence of commands that you [...]

Learn how to use design to add value to white papers and other membership site promotions and information products when Michael Stelzner, author of Writing White Papers, interviews me Wednesday, February 13. The topic of Michael’s teleseminar is Mastering White Paper Layout and Design: How Layout Improves the Perceived Value of a White Paper. Membership [...]

I’m surprised that membership site owners don’t take better advantage of online slide shows, like many sites use to control the progressive display of information. An example of what I’m talking about is slide show design and execution like that found on Fast Company’s Best Business Books of 2006. The online slide show technique is [...]

As a MAC user, Camtasia is THE program I really miss on the PC.
Sure there are MAC software that will do screen recording (SnapZ Pro, iShowU, and Screen Mimic come to mind). But these pale in comparison to the power of Camtasia!
The only way to use a screen recorder on a MAC from TechSmith [...]

While on the Guerrilla Marketing Association call on Wednesday, one of the questions Roger asked was how I got into website design.
Originally, I never planned on it. I didn’t really like web design (gasp!)
I hated it because I could never really tell what others were seeing when they looked at my site. In print, more [...]

One of the most important things to keep in mind when dealing with your website is typeface selection. On the web, your type choice is limited to the font that is available on your audience’s computer.
For this reason, you should always limit your choice to the typeface that is most readily available on computers [...]

As I wrote the previous post, I flashed back to a presentation at an AWAI copywriting bootcamp presented by direct marketing legend Herschel Gordon Lewis. He cited studies that proved the effectiveness of numbers over words–regardless of what grammarians might think.
Compare the following phrases:

“features 6 world-class experts who instruct you on the various activities involved”
“features [...]

Fellow for Dummies… best-selling author Dan Gookin is offering a concise and helpful free guide of interest to membership site owners who weren’t brought up speaking HTML code.
It’s a free, 26-page, Blogger’s Guide to HTML that you can download for free here.

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.membershipsiteplanner.com%2F2007%2F10%2Fhelp-for-the-html-challenged%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Help+for+the+HTML+challenged’;
[...]

Membership site owners should resist the temptation to view site graphics from an aesthetic, or “image,” point of view.
Instead, the appropriateness of your site’s graphics should be determined by functionality, i.e., “How effectively does each graphic communicate the message I’m trying to get across?”
If a graphic doesn’t reinforce your site’s core message, philosophy or [...]