Archive for Gerry McGovern

Gerry McGovern

Showing 72 items

  • Enhancing the Credibility of Your Web Content
    Establishing credibility quickly is key to success on the Web. Three ways to do just that. Apr 2, 2003
  • The Web's Hippie Period Is Over
    It was good to experiment and explore, but that wild ride is over. Time to organize your content. Mar 19, 2003
  • Building Successful Brands on the Web
    Online branding: Forget everything you learned from print and TV. Feb 26, 2003
  • How to Demonstrate Your Intranet Delivers Value
    Assessing the value of your intranet (or justifying a budget to build one). Jan 29, 2003
  • Measure the Value of Your Content
    What's your content worth? Why use content over other communication channels? Dec 23, 2002
  • It Comes Down to the Words
    Words are your site's most precious asset -- or worst liability. Nov 6, 2002
  • Demystifying Content Management
    Content management is a bubbling vat of hyperbole. It's time for some simple language. Oct 9, 2002
  • A Class in Classification
    If you work with information, you probably need to brush up your classification skills. Sep 11, 2002
  • Your Site Needs a Schedule
    Why sticking to a schedule is good for you, your readers, and business in general. Aug 14, 2002
  • Iterative Design Can Be Lazy Design
    You're in charge of a large Web site. Need help to make it better? Develop a common set of design standards, so your site will be easier and more cost-effective to manage. Jul 17, 2002
  • Seven Skills You Need to Manage Your Web Site
    Whether you manage an intranet or an e-commerce Web site, these are the seven skills you need to master. Jun 19, 2002
  • Why Someone Should Be in Charge of Your Web Site
    Organic growth is great when it comes to vegetables and fruits, not when it comes to your Web site. May 22, 2002
  • Design for the Stupid
    People can be stupid. Designers who don't take this into account aren't any smarter. Apr 24, 2002
  • Your Web Site Should Have an Opinion
    Facts are important. But which facts are more important than others? Your Web site should let people know. Mar 27, 2002
  • Designing Web Navigation: Traffic Light, Not Neon Light
    Save the bells and whistle for something else. Here's how to make Web navigation clear, functional, and useable. Mar 7, 2002
  • Simple English on the Web
    Our age is cursed with complexity. We yearn for simplicity. Our language has been invaded by an unruly mob of new words and terms. There has never been a greater need to write clear, simple English. Feb 21, 2002
  • You Are What You Type
    If you're not checking spelling and grammar on your outgoing emails, you may be making an impression that's at odds with your goals. Feb 7, 2002
  • Web Design Basics
    Some people design Web sites that often actively discourage the fundamental activity the Web was designed for. And what is that? Reading. Jan 24, 2002
  • What to Expect From 2002
    What surprises does the year ahead hold for Internet marketers? Gerry has some ideas. Jan 10, 2002
  • Information Architecture Versus Graphic Design
    Graphic design supports information architecture -- notthe other way around. Here's why. Dec 27, 2001
  • What the Broadband Meltdown Tells Us
    Marketers can learn important lessons from the spectacular demise of Excite@Home. Dec 13, 2001
  • Web Classification Is Essential
    Before you build your Web site, take some time to do the upfront chores that'll ensure you'll have a firm foundation. Nov 29, 2001
  • How Free Content Has Damaged the Content Industry
    The idea that content is cheap and easy to produce is pervading our society, but this misguided mindset is sure to result in a major shakeout. Nov 8, 2001
  • Humans Beat Technology Every Time
    The more information is out there, the more critical it is that a human gets involved with a Web site's content. Oct 25, 2001
  • Fast-Downloading, Information-Rich Web Sites
    When people come to a Web site, they are invariably looking for information. They don't want to hang around. They don't want to be left waiting. The best Web site is the one that gets them to the right content in the fastest time. Sep 27, 2001
  • The Information Society Is Alive and Well
    The PC is like a big elephant trying to wiggle its way through a tiny pipe. It has all this potential for power that can't be tapped without a broadband-based Internet. And although consumers don't want bigger elephants, they still want more information. Sep 13, 2001
  • Broken Links and Poor Information Architecture Design
    Links are an essential infrastructure allowing Web content to be navigable. Without links, you might as well pile all the billions of documents on the Web into one huge container. Link management is therefore an important part of running a Web site. Aug 30, 2001
  • Waiting for Broadband
    On the surface, broadband use is undergoing healthy growth. But the broadband industry is in turmoil. And the average household isn't about to fork out the extra cash. The reality is that broadband access for the masses is at least five years away. Aug 16, 2001
  • Get Your Facts Straight
    Fact checking ensures that the appropriate corrections are made, but it is a difficult and time-consuming process. Even in traditional publishing, it is often not properly done. Gerry offers some tips on how to do it right. Aug 2, 2001
  • Content: Time Saved Versus Time Spent
    We are now in the middle of a transition, and everything that has to do with content is changing. It's a period in which the focus will be on the value of content and how to make a profit from delivering that value to the reader. Jul 19, 2001
  • The Text Revolution
    Words are back, and we've all got them. The Text Generation is all around us. Billions of text messages are being sent over mobile phones and in online chats. Young people took to words and created a new craze. How could words become so cool? Jul 5, 2001
  • Content Is Not a Technology Issue
    The wrong people are in charge of too many content projects. Content is not a technology problem. Content is about people. And people who understand content are enthused by the content itself, not the technology that is used to deliver it. Jun 21, 2001
  • The Web's Credibility Problem
    The Web's credibility problem is widespread and growing. At the heart of the problem is the myth that industry can police itself. But remember the buzz years? Many of us took turns inflating the Internet bubble... Jun 7, 2001
  • Creating Content Collaboratively
    The Internet has initiated a new age of collaboration for creating content. What factors encourage collaborative content? When does collaborative writing work best? And how can people collaborate better? Join Gerry for a few minutes and find out. May 24, 2001
  • Web Navigation Design Principles: Part 5
    No matter how good the navigation design, there will always be people who get confused, especially on large Web sites. Here's how to help your site users find what they want. May 17, 2001
  • Web Navigation Design Principles: Part 4
    It's important to follow Web conventions when designing your site so people won't be confused. Here is a selection of the navigation and classification conventions used on the Web. May 10, 2001
  • Web Navigation Design Principles: Part 3
    The third fundamental principle in Web navigation design is to provide context and to be consistent. Gerry tells you how to accomplish this and why it's important. May 3, 2001
  • Web Navigation Design Principles: Part 2
    The second fundamental principle of Web design is to let readers know where they are, where they've been, and where they're going. Gerry tells you how to accomplish this and why it's important. Apr 26, 2001
  • Web Navigation Design Principles: Part 1
    The fundamental principle of navigation design is that you should design for the reader -- the person who uses the Web site. Here's how to do just that by offering fast download times and multiple paths. Apr 19, 2001
  • Making Your Site Feedback-Friendly
    Customer feedback is critical to your business, and it's harder to achieve online versus offline. The first step is to make people aware that you value what they think. Gerry offers tips for getting the feedback you need. Apr 12, 2001
  • Boring Is Beautiful
    Consumers want simplicity, speed, and convenience. They come to your site to find information. Make life easy for them, and they'll thank you with their business. Apr 5, 2001
  • What Is Design?
    Has design gone wrong on the Web? Young designers believe the hype that style is all that matters. Gerry believes Web design should be centered around content. Some call it information architecture. Mar 29, 2001
  • Web Branding for Dummies
    Are cool technology and poor design killing the Web? Many of our readers don't think so, and they think Gerry doesn't understand branding. Here's Gerry's response to the Web-branding clueless among us. Mar 22, 2001
  • The Web for Dummies
    Designers envision cool graphics and complicated technology on Web pages. But the Web is more like a library, newspaper, or directory -- it needs a simple and functional design. Cool technology and design are killing the Web. Mar 15, 2001
  • Content: Can We Measure the Cost Versus the Benefits?
    Knowledge capital consists of a company's intellectual resources and its written content. A key challenge is to measure the cost versus the benefits of the content we create. Mar 8, 2001
  • Don't Believe What You Read
    Is today's Internet damaging the integrity of content? There's some great stuff, sure. However, it's vastly outweighed by badly written, out-of-date, inaccurate, and sometimes deliberately misleading content. Mar 1, 2001
  • Who's Spending Your Time?
    With its right hand, technology promises you products that are faster, better, and cheaper. With its left hand, it steals your time. In the new economy, time is your most valuable resource. Feb 22, 2001
  • Age of the Information-Literate
    We've just witnessed the emergence of the information- literate -- hands at the keyboard and eyes on the screen. They shift the present and shape the future. The Internet is their tool of choice. Feb 15, 2001
  • Get Ready to Pay for Content
    On the Web, we live a great illusion. We have become drunk on free content, believing that the party will never end. Well, the party's over, and here's why. Feb 8, 2001
  • More Fundamentals for a Quality Search
    How can standards improve an advanced search and your search results presentation? Gerry offers more fundamental advice. Jan 25, 2001
  • The Fundamentals of Quality Search
    The better you structure and classify your content as you create it, the easier it is to design an effective search process. A few simple guidelines can help. Jan 18, 2001
  • Back to Basics
    As the wild funding spree runs dry, marketers are going back to basics. Find out why. Jan 11, 2001
  • Complexity: The Curse of the Digital Age
    In a world where change and complexity are forced upon us at every turn, people yearn for simplicity. People are tired of technology that's overcomplicated, poorly designed, and full of bugs. Jan 4, 2001
  • Why XML Is Important
    Extensible markup language (XML), an evolution of hypertext markup language (HTML), brings in vital new standards for how we organize our content. Find out why we need new standards. Dec 14, 2000
  • The New Economy Grows Old
    The new economy is suffering some growing pains. The dot- com revolution has hit the inflexible iceberg of reality, and stock options have become like deck chairs on the "Titanic." Is the party over? Dec 7, 2000
  • Information Overload: Challenge of the Future
    What are the challenges of an information society? Technology companies say it's all about bandwidth, fast computers, and cheap Internet access. But the real problem is information overload. Nov 30, 2000
  • Do Television Networks Control the Internet?
    Working hand in hand with the Internet, television networks are exerting more and more control on our lives. Rather than being the voice of "new media," the Internet is a means by which "old media" exerts an even greater lock on its audience. Nov 23, 2000
  • Common Standards
    The recent U.S. presidential election is the perfect argument for why we need common standards like XML. It's a critical challenge because technology is merely an enabler, but you need consensus and cooperation for it to work. Nov 15, 2000
  • Promoting Content
    It's not enough to create content anymore -- you've got to get out there and promote it. Gerry tells you the many ways in which to promote your content to your customers as well as to your staff. Nov 2, 2000
  • Generating Content
    Quality content is a lot more expensive to create than most people realize. Maintaining a quality web site is also more expensive than many think. Reducing content costs while maintaining quality is a difficult balancing act. The viability of many web sites may come down to how well they can manage content costs. Gerry gives you a number of alternative web content generation strategies to explore. Oct 19, 2000
  • Laying out Web Content
    There are only so many ways to properly lay out content, whether in a newspaper or on the web, but there are two, sometimes conflicting, objectives you should follow. The primary objective is to provide the most readable environment for the content possible. The next objective is to present the content with style, so that it is pleasing to the eye, and, thus, the reader will enjoy reading it. Here are some rules for laying out web content. Sep 28, 2000
  • Navigating a Web Site
    One of the most difficult problems in web site design is navigation. When you say "web site design," a lot of people immediately think of graphics, of visual design. The core design challenges for a web site revolve around information, not visuals. Gerry outlines the purpose of navigation and then lists a variety of navigation approaches that can make your web site as easy to navigate as possible. Sep 21, 2000
  • Rewarding Knowledge Workers
    The Internet is the workhorse of the Information Age, the steam engine of digital progress. Suddenly, we are all knowledge workers, rising in the morning and heading out to a bright future of lifelong learning. We embrace the new ideologies of cooperation and sharing, of moving the information about. It's genuinely exciting. Sep 13, 2000
  • Internet Content Is Invaluable
    Quality content is invaluable to those of us who use the Internet. The day's not far off when people will be willing to pay for high-quality content, content that teaches them, entertains them, helps them do their jobs better. Until that time, though, what steps can an organization take to obtain low-cost, high-quality content AND derive revenue from it? Gerry's got some avenues for you to explore. Sep 7, 2000
  • Internet Content Isn't Profitable
    Something is wrong. Everyone agrees that content is central to the success of a web site. Yet pure content/media companies are having a really difficult time making any profit. Those that do not have traditional offline publications are racking up huge losses. Many are going bankrupt. The Internet was supposed to offer great promise. So why hasn't this happened? Aug 31, 2000
  • Clutter Versus Clicking in Web Design
    The central concern of current web design is saving time. Online readers belong to the time-starved generation, and any design that wastes their time risks losing them. The traditional theory of web and hypertext design says that you should give a reader no more than five to seven links to choose from and that the reader should not have to scroll down. But the reality is that the most successful web sites almost universally break the rules. Jul 19, 2000
  • Unsexy and Unstoppable
    Steve Case's driving vision has been to make things as simple as possible for AOL users. Twenty million Americans later, only a few begrudgers would doubt the correctness of his vision. AOL triumphed because it fundamentally understands the customer. The Internet is a place where people come to find out things and find company. Those of us who seek to serve the customer should carefully learn the lessons that AOL can teach us. Jan 26, 2000
  • To Link Or Not To Link
    Jean-Pierre Bazinet has a Movie-List web site that links to almost 1000 movie trailers. Sounds good for movie fans and movie studios alike, right? But the studio had Bazinet remove all links from trailers belonging to Universal Pictures. They didn't like those deep links. Is every link a good one? McGovern likes linking. But as with much else in life, not every link is a good one. Oct 18, 1999
  • Get Real Before It's Too Late
    There's more to commerce than you think. The Internet has been sold as this wonderful commerce medium where you can sell to a worldwide audience at greatly reduced costs. Sound too good to be true? Well, it is. People over-rate the Internet as a commerce medium while vastly under-rating the costs of carrying out commerce in an online environment. McGovern warns that unless ecommerce gets real, customer service will be its Achilles heel. Jul 30, 1999
  • The Web And TV
    The Web and the TV are different. We view television for a performance. We interact with the web for information flow. The web is like a library. The TV is like a stage. One can compliment the other. If the web is to fully embrace its promise, we need to plan a comprehensive information infrastructure. Right now, the web needs flash marketers and advertising executives like a hole in the head. It needs librarians and information specialists like never before. Jun 21, 1999
  • Owning The Future
    On the Internet, whoever owns the relationship with the customer owns the future. The Internet allows us to know our customers better, and just as importantly, for our customers to know us better, too. May 27, 1999
  • Do Online Shopping Malls Work?
    When the web mall craze fizzled about three years ago, the malls were closed, and the resulting wisdom was that Internet malls don't work. Very faulty wisdom, very faulty thinking, says Gerry McGovern. Apr 19, 1999

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