This is one of the best marketing articles I’ve read in a long time. Very specific and actionable suggestions from LeadsBridge:
How We Bootstrapped Our Startup to 1M$ in 12 Months (And You Can Too).
This is an excellent article that anyone involved in software should understand: What non-technical entrepreneurs need to know about UX and UI
As you know, I’ve been on a journey to understand UX (which wasn’t even a thing, afaik, back when JibberJobber started). My earliest designers were much more consumed with how corners curved and what colors were where (which is UI) than with how to get more signups, users, and upgrades (which is more UX).
When I hired Udi, who is now full-time with another company in San Fransisco, he said the mockups he would send me would be in black and white (and gray)… that his focus wasn’t on colors, rather on prompting the user to do the next thing. And more importantly, get them to do the next right thing.
After years of working with “designers” who only knew UI, it was refreshing and awesome to work with someone who was interested in my business goals.
Check out Ben’s great article here.
Here’s an excellent write-up about how Twitter could be more awesome:
How Twitter could be 10X bigger, 100X more profitable, and 1000X more awesome
Elements from this could apply to many businesses… very cool stuff.
This is a blog post to read a few times, and learn from. I don’t think you can read it just once:
A couple of years ago I blogged about a “brilliant About Us page“… I recently found another one that is just awesome. This is from Canvas, which provides software (learning management system, or LMS) for schools. Josh Coates is the guy who sold his startup to EMC for $76M, and he’s running canvas now. Check out the Canvas (aka, instructure) Our Team page.
It looks fun and playful, right?
If you mouse over each person’s image, it changes from the playful image (Steve’s playfulness is his clothes, which you’ll have to go to the page to see) to a serious corporate image. But it defaults to the playful one. Isn’t that cool?
and
Great job Canvas peeps!
I recently set up my newest project, VideoGameClass.com, where I’ll be teaching people how to make video games using GameSalad. The class is going to be super-cool.
While setting up the blog I do a few things:
I didn’t know how to do the last part, but my developer just emailed me telling me how:
Now, on the main menu, you have an option titled Blog, and this is where the Posts go.
Easy, eh?
We started developing JibberJobber in March of 2006.
That wasn’t too long ago, but a LOT has changed in the world of the internet since then. Our first design (UI/UX) was fine, although we had a list a mile long of improvements and enhancements. We focused a lot more on processes and features than on making it look pretty.
Later, I got a message from someone that said the design was outdated (read: not keeping up with popular websites), and although he liked the functionality, he couldn’t “trust” us with his credit card for an upgrade because the design didn’t instill trust.
Isn’t that interesting?
So, we began to look much more seriously at the UI with the idea that we wanted people to TRUST us. They needed to feel confident that we were still around, and still making improvements. Changes (and keeping up) with UI would, I guess, help that.
In 2012 we did a big new redesign (I blogged about it here). Within days someone completely new to JibberJobber wrote and complained that the design looked too old, perhaps something from the 1990s.
You seriously can’t please everyone.
I’ve had graphics artists and layout people sign up, while in job search, and within 20 minutes delete their account saying they didn’t like the design. I hated that. I wished they would have said “man! Change this! Change the color! Change something!” instead of just “don’t like UI.” I know, I know, it’s not their responsibility to say what to do, but if one of them emailed and said:
“I love the tool, but the design could use a lot of work. I have a lot of suggestions… here are five of them. Feel free to incorporate those, and if you are interested in a consultation, let me know. I do this professionally and would love to help JibberJobber’s look match it’s awesome functionality.”
See what I did there? First, the person didn’t whine and stomp off like a little kid who didn’t get what they wanted, second, they offered specific solutions, and third, let me know that they were bought in and wanted to be a part of the team (even if just a contractor).
I would have absolutely had that conversation, and would have most likely hired them for the next step, to see if they could really walk the talk.
But I got never got that email. Not once.
Design is hard. I feel like we’ve been focusing on it a lot this year, and it’s frustrating to watch other sites with design crews go crazy and essentially define what great design is supposed to look like. But this article by Greg Story really helped ease that frustration: And They All Look Just the Same. At the very end he says ” It does nobody any good to have a web that all looks the same. Be mindful of the user’s needs and business requirements, but for the sake of success, go a different route. ” Read the whole article, it is excellent.
I’m not saying we don’t want to have a better visual experience. We do, and are working on it, and will continue to work on it. But I don’t think I’m going to fret about not keeping up with Twitter’s, LinkedIn’s and Facebook’s UI, when really what my best users and customers need and want is better UX – the experience, the functionality, the tools, the reports, etc. Yes, UI will be a part of that, and we’re aware of doing better there, but no longer can I waste time worrying about “keeping up.”
What do you think?
I have read this once or twice and wanted to close the page…. and move on. But I can’t. I keep re-reading certain lines. Thinking about how this applies to the JibberJobber user experience.
Godin is a genius. And this article needs to be reread regularly: Seth Godin on What Marketers Are Getting Wrong
When you interact with someone, do they feel special? Check out this AWESOME shipping confirmation from Woodworkers Source. I’m going to include the text here in case the original blog post goes down:
I think I can adapt this for my JibberJobber upgrades, and I’m thinking a job seeker could adapt it for people he communicates with (within reason).
I found a good blog post about branding, even personal branding, for entrepreneurs, on the Adhere Creative blog: Entrepreneurs: Crafting Your Personal Brand
If I were coaching you I would say to focus on what the author talks about in #3 and #4, which is to become the teacher/instructor. When you do that you are THE EXPERT. Unless you do a really bad job. Otherwise, you will be seen and known as the expert, guru, etc.
Everyone can do this… you should have enough expertise in your field to teach or mentor someone else.
If you can get gigs to speak at conferences, it is as if the conference is endorsing your expertise.
One other thing that I would strongly recommend is to write a book. I had NO idea that I writing the first (well, second) book on LinkedIn would propel my brand, and my business and my career, like it did. I thought it would be a one-time thing with a week or month of hoopla, but here we are, seven years later, and I still get value because of that book I wrote.