At what point are you prepared for visitors to access (and effectively use) your Web site?

It’s very common for companies to think about their navigation from the top; making sure that you have something that looks nice and at the same time covers all possible pages in a section. However, if you think the job stops there then your site architecture is only half complete.

Your site should carry a navigation structure that allows your visitors easy access to any piece of content both within the section they’re viewing and the main navigation of the site as well.

One very popular and forgotten scenario is that your very popular page of content (four levels down in your site) is linked in a search engine and attracts a large number of clicks. This is great news! People want your content. Fantastic!

Unfortunately, you forgot to give them links to other content in that section, or even a link to levels above the one they’re visiting.

Proper navigation includes all possible access points. Sometimes this seems like an impossible task, but that’s only because it isn’t addressed during the layout and design of the site / application you’re assigned to manage.

Check your statistics and review them with management. Proper navigation is one that is updated each and every time you add or remove a page of content or functionality.

To test whether or not your site has user-friendly navigation, do a quick search in your favorite search engine and click on something you know is deeper in the site than the home page. Try to get as deep as possible based on the results and then work your way around the content.

We encourage the partnership between IT and Marketing (Creative) services. We believe that it’s one of the best ways to ensure success on your projects.

When a company chooses to start a project in a vaccuum, it usually stays in one. That’s not because of a lack of excitement or talented resources, and it doesn’t matter if the project started in IT or in Marketing.

Our advice: be inclusive and transparent. Here are 5 things to help you deliver a successful project (and you may even be on time and under budget!):

• Brainstorm together. When Marketing and IT are working on a project, they brainstorm. Everyone wants the same thing: deliver something exciting and useful as quickly and effectively as possible. Make sure you get the right people in the room to brainstorm ideas so that the hurdles/challenges are met immediately and discussed (and yes, even brought to compromise).
• Keep it positive. Everyone knows that it’s actually easier to point out the negative than to create the positive. This includes both sides. Try to remember the original excitement or passion you have about the ideas and the project.
• Own it. You know that the project isn’t “your” project. After all, you’re just there to hook the script to the database, or create the PSD that gets cut up by the front-end dude/dudette. Maybe so, but you know the saying: if you’re going to be a garbage collector, be the best darned garbage collector out there.
• Communicate. How many times does a project break down with a lack of communication? Every time. Do what you can to keep people in the loop. Stop blind cc’ing people and just plain cc them. If there’s an issue, don’t be afraid to bring it up. Communication doesn’t take a lot of time, but it does take tact. Remember to be concientious in both your original and follow-through.
• Share the wealth. You didn’t do this project on your own, but if you don’t remember the people who helped you then don’t count on them the next time. Whether your in the big, happy Marketing presentation or going out for a drink after a long project, invite each other or let senior management know who was involved. Give credit where credit is due. Ask managers to verify the list of people included in the project and make sure you personally say thank you to your staff before you give them the next item on the to-do list.

Seems like common sense, and yet so many projects find their way to jeopardy because we forget to stop and pay attention to these 5 tips. Write down these 5 tips and take a look at them every once in a while. Good luck on your next project!

The commercial extraveganza that was XLI could be summarized as effective, but not genius.

In particular, the Doritos ads were not as good as the hype. Don’t get me wrong, here, they were definitely cute, but they didn’t leave an impression one way or the other.

We’d have to hand a couple kudos to CareerBuilder if we were giving any. They pick a theme and go with it, regardless of where that theme takes them. The one that created a chuckle in the client’s office was “They’re looking for seminar volunteers!”

The winner this year is Coca-Cola. The Grand Theft Auto “Bizarro-style” was absolutely spot on and amazing in both concept and execution. We were highly impressed with the very subtle details and we actually had to review it three times thanks to the magic of Tivo.

We respect the amount of businesses that launched their success based on a couple million bucks (GoDaddy.com, Monster.com, etc…), but we do think that like anything else related to the boom/bust, those days are long gone and are now back in the hands of the mega-advertisers.

Yes. There will be smaller companies using future “Big Games” (we’re not allowed to use the actual name of this contest for fear of being asked to - once again - remove it from the site). But we do believe that long gone are the days of “spending it all on the ad to make it happen”.

It’s lightening in a bottle for the right company. It’s a waste of 2 milliion for the wrong one.