Marketing can be used to achieve many objectives. A website can inform you about a company’s new products, a commercial makes you feel good about an organization supporting the fight against cancer, and an advertisement shows you the benefits of one product over one of its competitors. However, there is one thing that each of those tools – websites, commercials, ads – must do first. They must get your attention.

A website can’t teach you anything if you quickly decide it’s not worth your time and go back to surfing YouTube. A commercial that is muted while you’re making a snack can’t change your opinion about anything, and if you flip right past the magazine ads to read the celebrity gossip all you’re comparing is who has the crazier lifestyle.

So I ask you, what types of marketing tricks make you sit up and take notice? Is it the witty or clever ads that make you think? Commercials that tug at your heartstrings? Or the ones that are just plain funny? At a time when everyone and everything wants your attention, what convinces you to actually give it?

Yesterday I decided to treat myself to one of my favorite things, Cold Stone ice cream. As I stepped through the door and into the delicious aroma that can only be associated with an ice cream shop I was greeted by two, presumably high school aged, boys. Our first minute together went a little like this:

- “Welcome to Cold Stone!”
- “Thank you. How are you?”
- “I’m good, thanks,” said the scruffy-haired blonde.
- “Well,” quietly corrected the brunette with glasses.
- “Huh?” piped the scruffy hair, looking confused.
- “You say well. I’m well, not good,” explained the glasses.
- The scruffy hair looks even more confused.
- “Right?” the glasses asked, turning back to me.

Two faces stared at me. One face was saying, “What a moron. Can you back me up here, please?” The second was saying, “Seriously? What is this nerd talking about?” Neither expression was even remotely close to, “What flavor of amazingly delicious ice cream would you like to enjoy today?” Clearly I was going to have to sing for my supper, or in this case ice cream. Thankfully this was an easy song. (In middle school I was not-so-lovingly nicknamed The Grammar Police.)

Later, as I enjoyed my Cake Batter with brownie and sprinkles, I started thinking about the many mistakes in grammar and word choice that I hear all the time. ‘It’s’ is used to combine ‘it’ and ‘is,’ while the possessive form is actually ‘its.’ ‘Irregardless’ is not actually a word, and there definitely is a difference between ‘affect’ and ‘effect.’ But how did we get this way? And does it really matter, or is my aversion to incorrect grammar just a personal pet peeve caused by spending so much time with words?

So I ask you, what is your opinion on the importance of proper grammar? Are there situations in which it is ok, or even dare I say better, to use what is grammatically incorrect? And are we poorly educated, or just lazy?

Responsive Web Design is a relatively new technique which involves providing a number of site layouts adapted to various screen widths, and then serving those layouts accordingly thanks to the use of CSS3 Media Queries.

In non geek terms: It’s code that checks your browser size and adjusts the layout accordingly, ensuring that whether you visit the web using a widescreen iMac or a tiny mobile device, the design will be optimized to ensure you get the most out of your web viewing experience.

Visit http://lessframework.com/ for an example of how this works; just take your web browser and make it smaller by dragging it’s corner and watch the layout change based on the browser size. Pretty cool huh? Sites like CCN.com, target.com, and ESPN.com are already implementing this technology.

And what does this mean for you? Accessibility, accessibility, accessibility! Need I say more?

How involved are you in controlling the content on your website?

Unless you have been under a rock for the last few years then you already know that the best way to get your website listed on search engines is to have content that not only pertains to your keywords, but also to update that content regularly so people will come to your site often and hopefully use those posts in their social media and sites. Since this is an important component of Search Engine Optimization it should be high on your list to add new exciting new content to your site. Whether you do this yourself or delegate it to someone in your organization, at some point the words must arrive on your actual site and to do this you either engage an external company to update it for you or use a Content Management System to allow you to do it. Depending on the nature of the CMS this can be a headache or a seamless experience. WordPress has been the leading CMS system for some time, however there are others as well as custom solutions developed by various hosting companies that allow you to handle updates to your site.

How do you perform this? Which CMS do you or your company use? Do you even have a website? If not you should contact us at Willow to help you set one up!