Putting Content First: SEO and Advanced CSS

I’ve just posted a new article on the Brook Group site about using advanced CSS as an SEO technique.

Designing the User Experience

There’s a new article about User Experience Design on the Brook Group site.  You’ll find helpful information for designing Web sites and Web applications based on standard user interface and experience design best practices.

Funny Video From My Trip to New York

I was recently in New York City with my niece and though it has nothing to do with Web design, I had to share this.  I’m having trouble with my plug-ins so I can’t get the video to appear on the blog, but I’ve included a link to it. 

Crazy Subway Man Video

Watch my niece’s face as she’s interrupted telling a joke.  And listen closely for the really creepy part.

Josiah Cole’s 19 Things Not to Do When Building a Web Site

Check out this great article on 19 Things Not to Do When Building a Web Site.  It has some great tips for Web developers.  I like his witty approach, too.

Where to Put Your Keywords for Effective Search Engine Optimization

I know this is plastered all over the Web, but I had a friend ask me about this recently, so I’m going to post it again.  There are many important places to put your targeted keywords when designing a Web page.  Here’s the list:

1. Title tag
2. Headings and subheadings (h1, h2, etc.)
3. ALT tags
4. Keyword meta data
5. Description
6. Navigation
7. URL
8. Anchor text links (including the title tag)
9. Bold or italic tags
10. Content, top, middle and bottom

Your keywords should be sprinkled throughout these areas in order to rank highly in the SERPs.  For an example of a well-optimized page, visit our Customer Experience Design page on the Brook Group site.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 and the Brook Group Newsletter

Some of you may have noticed that you haven’t received a Brook Group newsletter in a few months.  Beside the fact that I’ve been very busy with client work, it also has to do with the dreaded new Microsoft Outlook 2007.  Microsoft, for some undisclosed reason, decided to replace Internet Explorer as the default HTML email client with the limited Microsoft Word.  This means that once beautiful HTML emails now look terrible, broken in the archaeic word processor.  Here is just a sample of the hinderances designers now face when creating emails:

• no support for background images (HTML or CSS)
• no support for forms
• no support for Flash, or other plugins
• no support for CSS floats
• no support for replacing bullets with images in unordered lists
• no support for CSS positioning
• no support for animated GIFs

The Brook Group newsletter was designed with the latest CSS technology and now it’s completely incompatible with Outlook 2007.  Whatever possessed Microsoft to take such a large step back I just don’t know, but I know that it’s a nightmare for designers everywhere.

So stay tuned for the newsletter.  We’re simplifying it to work in Word, which means positioning with tables and other bad coding.  There’s nothing more frustrating than regressing technology.

Brook Group Logos in “The Secret Life of Logos”

Three of our logos were featured in The Secret Life of Logos. It’s a great book that shows the development of logos by a multitude a desginers. I encourage you to check it out!

These are the three that were chosen for inclusion:

Another Article on Creating Landing Pages

I found this great article on creating landing pages that convert that complements my most recent article, Customer Acquisition Through Custom Landing Pages. It’s by a ClickZ expert and it offers some more insight into the subject of landing pages.

Kara Brook Quoted as Branding Expert in the Baltimore Sun

An article in today’s Baltimore Sun (or PDF, 200KB) quoted our CEO, Kara Brook. The article discusses Legg mason’s new brand strategy. With the Citigroup deal finalized and the plan to build a new home, Legg Mason is embarking on a dramatic brand indentity shift. When the Baltimore Sun decided to cover this story, they typed “corporate branding strategies” into Google and found Brook Group. (Proof that our SEO efforts work!!)

For those of you who don’t know, we’re not just a Web firm. We started out as an indentity design shop and moved to the Web in its earliest stages. We continue to do branding for our clients. Our projects include C SPAN, the National Healthcare Campaign and David S. Brown Enterprises.

Customer Acquisition Through Custom Landing Pages

I have a new article up on the Brook Group site called Customer Acquisition Through Custom Landing Pages.  It’s all about creating custom landing pages for your Internet marketing campaigns.  You can listen to the podcast, too.  Let me know if you find it helpful!