BlogmyQuery – BMQ

The default viewport settings – the size and scale of the viewport – in Mobile Safari/Safari for iOS are optimised for websites with a width of 980 pixels. This means that if you use a fluid/elastic layout or media queries to make your layout adaptable, Safari on iOS doesn’t take advantage of the flexibility that offers but shows the site zoomed out as if it had a fixed width.

Another issue with Safari on iOS is how text size is handled when you change orientation from portrait to landscape on your iPhone/iPod/iPad. The default behaviour is to increase text size instead of using the extra available width to display more of the site.

As a developer you can affect both of these issues (or features if you prefer to call them that).

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Posted in CSS, Usability, iOS.

A few months ago I posted a tip on how to Minimise file size with the YUI Compressor TextMate Bundle. The idea is to get minifying of CSS and JavaScript files into your workflow even if your server or CMS isn’t setup to do it automatically for you.

It works well, but I recently ran into a YUI Compressor bug that had me scratching my head for quite some time. Some of my media queries simply weren’t working. I checked the Media Queries specification, read various tutorials and examples from around the Web, and despite my syntax being correct some things just wouldn’t work.

Incredibly frustrating, but I found out what the problem was and how to fix it.

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Posted in CSS, Coding.

As you take on more clients it becomes increasingly difficult to keep accurate track of costs and the hours you should be billing for.  Keeping poor records will ultimately start to cost you money, thankfully there are a great selection of tools available to help.

There are more to benefits to these apps than just staying organized. Some of these apps enable small businesses to take the kind of control of their finance that was once just the preserve of big businesses with dedicated accounting departments.

Below we’ve compiled a list showcasing what we believe are the best 20 invoicing tools for web designers/developers in no particular order. However a word of warning’ be sure to choose your app with caution, once you have started using one it can be difficult to migrate if you later encounter limitations. Always sign up to free trials where available and compare a few alternatives before making a decision.

Billing Boss

Billing Boss allows anyone from freelancers to a small businesses to quickly and efficiently bill clients with an unlimited number of invoices. This app lets you add as many clients as you need to your database and help you stay organized by instantly saving and cataloging you invoices.  Billing Boss seamlessly integrates with Paypal so you can reach clients worldwide with its great support for multiple currencies.

Simple Invoices

Simple Invoices, a static web-based invoicing application that allows itself to be installed on a web-sever or a Windows PC. It can also be hosted by one of the following service providers as well.

LessAccounting

Not only can you invoice but you can easily keep track all of your business expenses with LessAccounting. You can put organize your expenses into categories, add notes and even upload a pictures of your receipts for each expense.

FreshBooks

Streamline your business with recurring invoices. Set up auto-billing to automatically charge your client’s credit card. Quickly and easily invoice clients in any currency. Create your invoice, select your currency and you’re done.

Blinksale

Blinksale is a great looking web application that has a powerful feature set. Blinksale has a quaint option that allows you to send invoices via snail-mail, whatever that is!  You can also customize your invoices by uploading your very own logo or if you have some time on you hands design your own invoices with CSS.

Billing Manager by Intuit

Billing Manager is a web-based invoicing solution that lets you create invoices, send professional estimates, and helps you get paid online.

In addition to online invoicing and estimates, Billing Manager lets you send PDFs of your invoices, send reminders to your customers, process eChecks, accept all major credit cards online and choose currencies.

Simply Invoices

SimplyInvoices integrates seamlessly with Basecamp so you can easily invoice clients the exact amount of time you have spent on a project..

Cashboard

Quickly invoice for time logged against a project, materials, or other goods. Create invoices for your projects with one mouse click, or set up recurring invoices to bill your customers automatically.

Bill My Clients

BillMyClients is a hassle-free way for businesses to quickly & easily create and print invoices and bills online. It makes it a breeze to send those same invoices via e-mail and the United States Postal Service – all without leaving your desk.

The Invoice Machine

The Invoice Machine takes a new clever approach to online invoicing. It’s beautiful and simple-to-use interface makes producing professional looking invoices a very pleasant experience. Create new invoices in a snap. Set options like currency, taxes, shipping, discounts, language, notes and more.

InvoTrak

Invotrak is a full-featured online invoicing and timesheet tracking application that can save you time and money. It’s also includes many of the features you need to speed up your billing tasks.

BillingOrchard

BillingOrchard provides enterprise electronic billing solutions through a simple, secure interface, supported by top notch service and priced for small businesses.

Invoice Journal

Use the client list to enter your customers into the Invoice Journal system and easily retrieve them later when you need them. When its time to create a new invoice simply type your clients name, company name or email address and Invoice Journal will show you which clients match your criteria.

Browse, sort and search all of you invoices quickly and seamlessly. Since there are no limits or restrictions on the invoices you create there is never a need to delete or archive invoices.

SmartInvoice

Smart Invoice is an easy to use, full featured, web based billing and time tracking system designed specifically for small businesses, freelancers, and other independent contractors. Use the recurring billing feature to send regular invoices to clients automatically – no extra effort required.

MarketCircle

Billings powerful application for the Mac features with stylish designs so you can send elegant invoices right out of the box. Choose from any of the customizable templates, or create your own with the built-in WYSIWYG designer. Either way you’ll send polished professional invoices in seconds. Billings also has a fantastic looking iPhone App.

InvoicePlace

Manage your billing and quotes from the office, home or on the road. Create invoices and quotes for any type of product or service. Use Invoiceplace no matter what you sell be it paint, jumping castles, hardware supplies, or cell phones.

Time 59

Time59 is web-based software that let’s you track billable time and expenses, create and e-mail invoices, and record payments. Time59 keeps everything perfectly organized. Critical details and totals are instantly available. Time59 on your mobile device is included FREE with your account.

PaySimple

With PaySimple billing and receiving payments is safe for you and your customers, all information is securely stored with 256-bit encryption and SSL protection.

ProfitTrain

With ProfitTrain you’ll easily be able to keep contact information up to date, store reoccurring services and products, send estimates and export to spreadsheet for more exotic totaling.

Harvest

Harvest lets you and your staff track time and send invoices from one integrated application. Use Harvest’s visual reports to see the distribution of your company’s resources at a glance. Create an online invoice and easily bill your client. Get paid faster by collecting online payments from your clients instantly and securely via the web.

Do you know of any other invoicing tools that work great for designers/developers? or have any good or bad experiences with any of these apps?  Please contribute and share with us what you’ve found.

Quality product descriptions can transform e-commerce conversion rates — it’s common to see increases of 30-100%. As well as converting more visitors, search traffic increases drastically when unique copy is written for each product. Most online retailers use manufacturers’ copy or rely solely on images to sell products. They then use inadequate copy elsewhere on their site and fail to achieve a consistent tone to persuade their audience. This creates a compelling opportunity for savvy retailers — by writing quality e-commerce copy you will create a unique competitive advantage.

Essentially, your copy must achieve two goals:

1. Establish trust and
2. Convince visitors that your product is right for them.

Potential customers cannot see or touch the product since it’s not physically there in front of them. This is why it’s important that your copy anticipates the needs of your visitors while convincing them that your company can be trusted to provide excellent products. Persuasion and creating trust are difficult things to do with words alone; yet, they are still achievable.

You must establish the right tone, a mix between informative and engaging, while showcasing your product’s usability, practicality and benefits. If the copy on your website makes sense, it follows that your products and services will meet your customers’ needs. In this article, we’ll discuss some techniques that will hopefully help you learn how to sell more products and create distinctive, appealing copy.

Formatting

E-commerce websites should usually opt for a combination of bullets and paragraph form. When 79% scan the page versus read word-for-word, bullets effectively communicate key product details and benefits. Paragraphs add color and texture to your products, eliciting a deeper emotional response.

Running Warehouse uses both bullet points and a short paragraph to describe the product. Notice that a paragraph format is used for a general description, which in this case required more than a few words for its explanation. Quick facts about the product are listed in bullets, allowing the customer to gather information quicker than in paragraph form.

Basics of Good E-Commerce Copywriting

To keep your writing as simple and readable as possible, think about these rules while you write and proofread your copy.

Avoid long sentences

Long sentences are usually difficult to digest and therefore inappropriate for persuading your audience. To shorten sentences, avoid pointless modifiers and break up independent clauses into two separate sentences. Avoid wordy phrases such as “for the purpose of� when “for� will do, and refrain from peppering your copy with too many adjectives and adverbs.

Avoid jargon and clichés

Achieve clarity. Clichés are cheesy, unoriginal and usually only distract your readers. Using jargon that visitors may not know will result in confusion. If someone doesn’t understand something about your product, he or she certainly won’t take the risk to buy it. Remember the only goal of your website is to convince visitors to buy your product, so leave out extraneous, flowery language that won’t help customers decide.

Speak simply

Your writing should be easily understood. There’s no reason to use complex words in product descriptions. You are going for simplicity, not trying to impress your readers with your vocabulary. Using large words will either sound like you’re trying too hard or lead to confusion.

Active voice

Write in active voice. This means you should lead with the noun that is doing the action. Active voice is clearer and makes it easier to persuade your visitors to buy your products.

Apple provides a good example of clear and crisp copy. On their MacBook Pro product page, they make sure technical product features are easily understood. Their processors “boost performance up to 50%� and the aluminum enclosure is “thin, light and durable.�

Avoid Common Mistakes

Many mistakes are easy to make but simple to avoid. Make sure your website always achieves its potential by avoiding these common mistakes.

Nothing to say

The most common mistake is to have no copy on product pages. Without copy, you lose a vital mode of expressing your product and building trust. The lift in conversion rates and search traffic are always palpable.

Inconsistent tone

It’s common for someone to write homepage copy and it’s another thing to write product descriptions, for example. With different writers and no defined tone of voice, this tends to lead to inconsistency. Your homepage, FAQs and “About”-page should all be written with the same tone. This is also imperative in the checkout pages and in error messages deployed on your site.

Exaggeration

Don’t exaggerate in order to make the product more desirable; this will cost your website authenticity and trust. Always use logically coherent arguments when explaining the benefits and applications of your product. It’s OK to exaggerate the emotional response to a product, but not the product itself. Even if you increase sales through misrepresentation, chargebacks, returns and negative reviews will eradicate any gains.

Ignore convention

With wording on buttons and links, it can be tempting to get creative but this is unlikely to be a good idea. Consumers have inbuilt notions of how to shop from their collective experience across thousands of websites. Stick with “contact us”, “add to basket” and factual, descriptive anchor text to link to product pages. From the experiments I’ve seen, the result is either indistinguishable or negative when creative wording is employed.

Forget to localize

Everyone has heard an example of translation gone wrong. Pepsi’s slogan “come alive with the Pepsi generation� became “Pepsi brings back your ancestors from the grave� to a Chinese audience. Without cultural sensitivity, copy fails.

American and British consumers have different expectations yet are often presented with the same copy. British people view American advertising as too aggressive, or at least that’s the conventional wisdom. So, some retailers believe American copy should be decaffeinated for a British audience. If you are unable to write different copy for different cultures speaking the same language, write copy that is compatible for everyone. Many retailers fail to even consider localization when writing their copy.

Establish Trust

One of the most important things your website needs to do is establish trust. Customers are wary to spend money and risk not receiving what they expect in return.

Flawless copy

The first way to establish trust is the most obvious; that is, to have flawless copy. Grammar and spelling mistakes make you look careless and incompetent. If you can’t put the time into flawless copy, visitors won’t invest time and money into your products.

State the obvious

Be clear when explaining payment, shipping and return processes — do not be afraid to state the obvious. If a customer is uncertain about any of these details they won’t buy your product. It’s that simple. Customers do not want to waste time on wondering whether payment and shipping will be carried out in accordance to their expectations. Keep things straight and clear: actual shipping costs and payment conditions shouldn’t be displayed in tiny font sizes nor be clarified using extra asterisks or footnotes. It doesn’t really elicit trust which you are actually aiming for with your customers.

A Forrester study showed that 20% of people have abandoned a purchase because shipping costs were unclear, so make sure your terms are easily understandable even when they are not a selling point. Free shipping has such profoundly positive results that it’s almost always worth apportioning the costs elsewhere and having minimum order requirements where necessary. For a more detailed look, read the article How the Offer of ‘Free Shipping’ Affects On-line Shopping.

For one company that wants their policies easily understood, check out Zappos. The shoe retailer won’t let you get far without discovering their return and shipping policies. For Zappos, this approach serves two purposes:

1. Ensuring visitors understand their policies, creating trust and confidence and
2. Communicating unique selling points of shopping with Zappos, including their 24/7 customer service and free 365 day return policy.

Make sure any error messages are clear and to the point. Simply explain what the problem is and what they need to do to fix it.

Above and Beyond the Basics

Your copy needs to strike the right balance in tone between informative and engaging. To do this, good sales copy will explain details about the product and will explain why each detail matters to the customer.

For example, the product description for this Under Armour HeatGear work-out shirt describes in bullet points what each characteristic of the shirt means to someone who is using it. Under Armour doesn’t just say the product has a “new ergonomic fit” because what does that mean? Instead it says, “new ergonomic fit adds to an overall comfort by reducing abrasion in high impact areas.” Ergonomic fit probably won’t convince someone to buy this shirt, but overall comfort and reducing abrasion will.

It’s important to keep product descriptions straightforward and primarily informative. This doesn’t mean your copy should be boring; it should be positive and inspiring, which will draw readers in. But be careful about how enthusiastic your copy sounds. You want to pique visitors’ interest, but you don’t want to overwhelm them. Make sure informative facts about your products and company are sprinkled throughout.

Dyson, which makes vacuums, achieves this well on their homepage, which briefly describes a few of their products and what makes them special in comparison to other vacuums. You can see how they weave the informative in with the creative: “Other machines are still designed to need replacement bags, belts and filters. Over five years, the maintenance costs are up to $267. With Dyson vacuums there are no bags, belts or filters to buy. So they don’t cost a dime to maintain.” Combining informative and engaging copy will keep visitors on your site and convince them to buy your product. Also, notice the vivid and strong product images on the page. They strongly support the copy, providing a very detailed, useful and attractive impression to the customers.

Source: OfficeMax Customer Reviews at Bizrate

During the research phase, copywriters should read reviews written by your customers and your competitors’ customers. This can be a great way to travel into the mind of your target audience.

Copywriters should work with marketers, developers and designers to increase conversion rates by performing split and multivariate testing. It’s possible to do this for free using Google Website Optimizer. On a large website, this may seem like an untenable task but there are ways to do this efficiently:

• Start with the highest selling products moving in descending order,
• Test the pages all visitors experience — checkout, FAQ, delivery,
• Template copy — perform tests on the copy appearing on all product pages.

SEO: Outranking the Competition

To achieve the most from your e-commerce copy, SEO should be intertwined into the structure of your website with each page having target keywords.

Homepage: Widget Shop and Widgets
Category pages: Wooden Widgets and Metal Widgets
Brand pages: Peter’s Widgets and Sally’s Widgets
Product pages: Peter’s Blue XX1 Widget and Sally’s Red YY2 Widget

Do not use manufacturer’s copy. Individual category, brand and product pages should have unique text. Work with your copywriter to craft a message around each page.

If you have affiliates, provide them with alternative copy or change your own. Through giving them alternative copy, both you and your affiliates can rank for different keyword combinations.

Keyword research and SEO copywriting is a sophisticated process and it can be difficult to find copywriters able to do the task. Look for someone who understands the interrelationship between a keyword’s competitiveness, revenue potential and its relevancy to your website. A skilled SEO copywriter will know how to incorporate primary and ancillary keywords into your copy without destroying your message or credibility. It’s common to have a copywriter work from an SEO’s keyword research rather than have them perform keyword research themselves.

Summary

Most e-commerce websites have no copy on product pages. Alternatively, they have manufacturers’ copy that doesn’t match their tone of voice and that Google considers duplicate content. That’s why the right e-commerce copywriting strategy makes a big difference — it’s possible to increase search traffic by over 50% and conversion rates by over 30% on most websites.

Create a unique tone of voice that matches your brand and that’s persuasive to your audience. Whatever your tone, though, simplicity and readability are vital. It’s important to build trust. You should be informative and creative, explaining to your audience what makes you and your products special. From testing conversion rates to incorporating SEO, there’s also a scientific element to e-commerce copywriting. But, ultimately, the best copy comes from the most persuasive ideas.

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© Craig Anderson for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: copywriting, e-commerce

For a lot of people across the globe, christmas is the most awaited time of the year. It’s a fun and frolic time of the year — all the way from christmas to new year celebrations! Although it’s a Christian celebration, it’s celebrated with full zest within Non-Christian communities.

We know that some of you must be too grossed out in giving a final shape to your ongoing projects and may not have the time to make a wallpaper of your own. Keeping this in mind, we have collected some really beautiful and aspiring christmas wallpapers to give you the warmth of christmas and the cosiness of winters! All wallpapers are available: in various sizes. Merry Chrsitmas!

Christmas Still Life

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Christmas Ornament 3

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024, 1280×960, 1600×1200

Christmas Snowman Wallpaper

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1280×720, 1920×1080

Christmas Plant

Sizes available: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200

Snowy Ladybug

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

+HalloThanksmas II+

Size available: 1600×1200

Red Christmas Ball

Sizes available: 1280×800, 1440×900 1680×1050

Merry Christmas

Sizes available: 1024×768, 800×600, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1920×1200

Melting Snowman wallpaper

Size available: 1920×1080

Cwismas

Size available: 1920×1200

Snow flakes wallpapers

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024, 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050

Magic Christmas Wallpaper

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050,1280×720

Santa kids wallpapers

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024, 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 852×480, 1280×720, 1366×768, 1920×1080

Merry Christmas

Sizes available: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Christmas Nature 05 wallpaper

Size available: 800×600

Christmas Balls

Sizes available: 800×600, 1024×768

Merry Christmas drawing Wallpaper

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1920×1440, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600, 1280×720, 1920×1080

Disney christmas

Size available: 1024×768

Christmas Tree and Fireplace wallpaper

Size available: 1024×768

Yeti’s World

Size available: 1280×800

Merry Christmas Wallpaper

Sizes available: 1024×768, 800×600, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1920×1200

Merry Christmas.

Size available: 1280×1024

Happy Three Snowmen Wallpaper

Sizes available: iPod, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1024×600, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1280×720, 1366×768, 1920×1080

Red Christmas Ball and White Rose

Sizes available: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Christmas Village and Bear wallpaper

Size available: 1920×1440

Blue Christmas Balls

Sizes available: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Witches5 in Winter

Size available: 1920×1080

Pokemon Christmas

Size available: 2600×1839

We Wish You a Merry xmas wallpaper

Size available: 1920×1214

Christmas gifts Wallpaper

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050

Christmas Snowman and Santa

Sizes available: 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Christmas

Size available: 1600×1200

World of Warcraft

Sizes available: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960

Lightbox

Size available: 1600×1200

Snowman Christmas Wallpaper

Sizes available: iPod, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1024×600, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1280×720, 1366×768, 1920×1080

Christmas Gift – Snowman Toys

Sizes available: 1440×900, 1680×1050

Frozen Christmas Mac wallpaper

Size available: 1280×1024

Santa’s Parcel Service

Size available: 1920×1200

Christmas Tux

Sizes available: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200

..::: MErry ChristMas :::…

Size available: 1600×1200

Christmas Wallpaper

Size available: 1024×768

Kitty Santa wallpaper

Size available: 1024×768

Christmas Bauble HD Wallpaper

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Manga Noel

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1024×1024, 800×600, Iphone

Where Snowflakes Are Born

Sizes available: 1024×600 1280×800 1366×768 1440×900 1600×900 1680×1050 1920×1080 1920×1200 2560×1440 2560×1600

New Fresh Year

Sizes available: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1024×1024, 800×600, Iphone

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