It’s had a phenomenal reception with Mashable, Swiss Miss and Lifehacker blogging about it. In just two weeks we’ve gained over 4000 followers and had some 16,000 visits to the website.

Tamahome Jenkins kindly wrote,

“If I wasn’t already on Twitter, I’d probably sign up for a Twitter account just to play this…”

How it works

Everyday Artwiculate randomly selects a word – today’s is “oeuvre“.

To play, people just use today’s word in context in one of their tweets. Tweets then appear on the website where visitors can vote if they think it is a good use. At the end of each day we announce the winner.

Artwiculate is a collaboration between Johnston North and the clever people at Atto.

Do stop by artwiculate.com or follow @artwiculate on Twitter and join in the fun.

Typography

Andy Clarke highlighted that typography, often an afterthought, needs more attention in design.

Microformats

Drew McLellan discussed microformats which are growing in popularity. Google is taking an interest so they could have a significant impact on search engine optimisation.

Copywriting

The Web Standardistas emphasised the importance of copywriting in design and usability. Writing for the web is hard but turns a good website into a great website.

Call to action

Lee Munroe talked about how every page on your website needs a clear call to action.

Collaboration

Morgan McKeagney wisely said that truly great websites are created when designers, developers and usability experts work together.

Designing in the browser

Andy Clarke controversially suggested that designers should skip Photoshop and create concepts directly in the browser.

In support of this amazing challenge we were invited to help create eddieizrunning.com – a Twitter / Google Maps / Twitpic mashup where you can follow Eddie on his journey.

eddieizrunning.com is a joint venture withSteve Jones (concept + app) and Lee Ellis (animation). We provided some server-side expertise.

It’s a work in progress but hopefully it will help raise a few extra pounds for Sport Relief.

TBN is a group of businesses seeking to use their skills and experience to make an impact in some of the most needy areas of the world. Since starting in March 2003 TBN members have been responsible for creating over 13,000 jobs across 60 projects in 22 countries. The goal is to create one million jobs!

We’re looking forward to being involved in this worthwhile and exciting venture!

ReportBox is a website that enables primary schools and teachers to write their annual reports. It was designed and built in consultation with teachers and is full of clever features to make writing reports quicker and easier.

We’ve already had some great feedback and the website was recently featured on Web Designer Depot, FeedMyApp, KillerStartups, CSS Based and eHub.

Find out more by reading our case study or visiting the website – http://www.reportbox.com.

Here’s some reflections on how Twitter has improved my business in the first month.

1. It’s a lot easier than blogging – filling 140 characters is a lot less intimidating than writing a full blog post. This means I’m posting more.
2. It’s encouraged me to be better at promoting what I’m doing.
3. I’m more aware of what my clients are up to (@juicyinfo, @jobsacuk, @foyvance).
4. I’ve been able to reconnect with some old friends (@_raff, @jamieneely).
5. It’s becoming easier to follow the latest web development news and links.
6. I’ve made a lot of new contacts
7. It’s the ultimate in ‘opt-in’ marketing. Only those interested in hearing about Johnston North need follow me.

Digging deeper, Richard Griffiths from Eclipse has an interesting piece “Twitter – Distraction or Delight?” which is worth a read. Also check out some further thoughts on Twitter from Liz Lawley and Tavia Grant – or enjoy Jon Stewart’s take.

Twitter can certainly be a distraction to work but I’ve been impressed with it so far as a business tool. It’s had a positive effect on both my networking and marketing.

I would encourage anyone to give it a go. It’s been both useful and fun.

Oh and thanks to everyone who is following me!

Time and time again I see websites left alone once they’ve been launched. It’s understandable but there’s a lot more to be gained from treating your new site as an ongoing project.

Here’s six things you can do to ensure your new website remains an effective and useful tool for your organisation.

1. Let Google know

The majority of web users start their search on Google so you should make sure Google knows your website exists.

The easiest way is to visit their Add your URL page and submit your website’s address.

A much better a option is to create a sitemap to submit to Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.com. This helps them create a more accurate listing for your website and ensures the search engines are kept it up-to-date.

Ask your technical team to look into sitemaps – they are easy to create. For websites using WordPress I recommend the Google Sitemap Generator plugin.

It can take a while for search engines to start listing your website so it’s worth doing sooner rather than later.

2. Announce your website

Tap your existing network to spread the word. Consider sending an email to clients, partners and friends announcing your website – here’s the one I sent

Exchange links with other websites and encourage blog owners to write articles about your organisation. Visits to johnstonnorth.com jumped when it was kindly featured on Smashing Magazine and cssmania.

3. Promote your website

Advertising online is a quick and cost effective way of generating traffic to your website. Google Adwords is one of the best places to start. Adwords allows you to advertise on the right-hand side of Google’s search results, amongst other places.

If you opt for Adwords don’t just sponsor the obvious keywords – they tend to be expensive and less effective. It’s better to strive for quality over quantity of visitors. For example, I don’t sponsor “web design” instead I pay for adverts against very specific phases that cost a lot less but I know that people searching for them are more likely to be looking for the services I offer.

4. Keep adding content

Copywriting is hard and there are no shortcuts. Regular visitors and Google love fresh content. A stale website will soon lose its rank on search engines. Keep your content succinct and readable. Jakob Nielsen’s guide to writing for the web is a great place to learn more.

Adding a blog to your website is a good way of creating a space for new content. It also provides a useful way to engage with visitors.

Tweaking existing content is also important to make sure it stays on message and up-to-date with changes in your organisation.

5. Understand your visitors

You can learn a lot from your visitors but you need to be able to see what they’re doing on your website. Google Analytics is a free service from Google which provides excellent intelligence about your visitors.

I also use Mint to capture statistics about visitors to johnstonnorth.com. It costs $30 but provides real-time information about visitors.

Both can tell you

• which pages your visitors are looking at
• how long visitors are spending on your website
• which websites your visitors are coming from
• where your visitors are located

Mint requires a some technical know-how to setup but Google Analytics is very easy to install.

Studying the information generated by Mint or Google can help you identify where to target your efforts. For example, if you’re getting lots of traffic from a particular country you might consider creating a page targeted for those visitors to help convert them into customers.

If you’re running a blog pay attention to the comments visitors are leaving. Be sure to respond courteously and listen to their feedback.

6. Start thinking about the next phase

Your website should continue to grow and change to stay in step with your organisation. Making larger changes to your website can take time so plan ahead. Start talking to your development team now about where your website needs to be in 6 months, a year and beyond.

In conclusion…

There’s plenty to do but don’t feel overwhelmed. Regularly spending 10-15 minutes keeping your website fresh and relevant will help sustain it as an effective, powerful tool. In fact, from an search engine optimisation perspective, it is better to be making small, frequent updates than a lot of changes all at once.

In summary, your organisation is constantly changing – your website should be no different!

If you need any help or advice getting the most out of your website do not hesitate to get in touch.

Alison has blogged about our interview and you can watch it in full at jobs.ac.uk.

We discussed the research recently completed by Johnston North for jobs.ac.uk and chatted through some of the key lessons learnt.

The article covers 10 excellent tips for creating an attractive and effective online portfolio. Johnston North was highlighted in step 6 – “Contact” where the Lee stresses the importance of making it easy for visitors to get in touch:

“Stuart Johnston offers clear contact details throughout his website but also provides an easy-to-use contact form.”

Smashing Magazine is one of the foremost blogs showcasing the best of the web. It is currently ranked as the 9th most popular blog on Technorati. It is a privilege to be included in their latest article.

The 73-page report reviews 50 UK university websites assessing them for usability, accessibility, credibility and findability. It contains over 30 recommendations on how to improve the effectiveness of recruitment websites.

The report was written with HR professionals in mind and includes helpful tips on how to liaise with technical teams to make improvements.

Paul Stephenson, Director of HR and Commercial Services, University of Warwick said:

“This report is a welcome tool for anyone looking to develop their website. If colleagues implement just a small proportion of the recommendations then I think the standard of online recruitment in HE will be substantially improved.”

You can read more about our involvement in our jobs.ac.uk case study.