When it comes to website copywriting, design and development, simple is always better.

It makes it easier for online visitors to:

• Answer basic questions, starting with “Am I at the right place?”
• Absorb and digest key messages
• Fulfill a desired course of action, e.g. subscribe, purchase, etc.

All of the above promote satisfied needs, happy customers, and a healthy bottom line.

So why are so many websites so complex? The fact is “simple” is difficult to achieve.

Consider the wise words of historic French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint Exupery: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

While he was reflecting on the development of airplanes long before anyone heard of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, his logic fully applies to the Web.

Why Simple is Difficult

Conceptualizing and developing a simple, user-friendly website can be challenging for many reasons, from strains on time and resources to conflicting motives and objectives.

Web designers and copywriters are often pressed to churn out creations at a moment’s notice. But, whether manipulating words, images or code, it takes knowledge, experience and time to plan and develop appealing, functional and simple websites.

Good web writers invest a high percentage of time determining key messages before hammering away at the keyboard. Likewise, experienced web designers study their clients’ needs and sketch out ideas before hitting the computer.

Simple isn’t Stupid

There’s a vast difference between communicating simply and communicating poorly.

Simple website content promotes effective communications. It is easily processed, understood and connects with readers. Poor communications – whether caused by inferior writing or flawed designs – rarely hits the mark.

People are often surprised to learn web writers at Webcopyplus aim to deliver web content at a grade-eight level. Clients and students alike ask: “Won’t this offend your audience?” Many people fail to realize that most reputable national newspapers are also written at this level. Even TIME magazine, which is by and large deemed sophisticated, is written at a grade-ten level.

While there are exceptions, most targeted online audiences have varied expertise in both the Internet and subject matter. An expert can endure simplicity, but a novice might not be able to identify with or comprehend complex information.

Invest in Simple

To promote your website’s readability, scanability and usability, ensure your web designer and web writer take extra time and effort to scrap any useless elements, from extra fonts to extra syllables.

Effective web content isn’t about flashy graphics and fancy words. It’s about communicating key messages and getting tasks completed.

Simple connects.

5. Invest in Sea Monkeys

For less than $20 you can raise your social status and credibility, and finally be able to conduct team brainstorming sessions. You can even name the cute critters to expand your design firm and justify higher rates.

4. Feel the Music

Find a wind instrument, sit cross-legged at your doorway and play Star Wars over and over again, until you see the light, or you collect enough change to get your caffeine fix.

3. Call on Nature

Get back to earth tones using Austin Powers’ teeth as your website’s colour palette. Select from a full range of tobacco yellows and decomposed browns.

2. Get into Character

With your deepest voice, answer the phone matter-of-factly with nothing more than: “John Rambo.” Chances are, after an awkward moment of silence, you’ll be engaged in some thought-provoking conversations with your prospect, client, or mom.

1. Crank the Led

Web design can require a level of intimacy. So, to set the mood, take a cue from the 1982 classic film Fast Times at Ridgemont High: “When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.”

For the seventh straight month, the market share for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer declined, according to Net Applications.

In January 2009, Internet Explorer commanded a 67.6% market share down from 75.5% in January 2008 and down from over 90% in January 2005.

The biggest gainer over the last twelve months was Firefox, which commanded a 21.5% share in January 2009, up from 17.0% a year earlier.

During December, Firefox exceeded a 20% share for a full month, which was a first.  Mozilla’s CEO, John Lilly, gave credit to the Mozilla community:

“Reaching 20 per cent worldwide market share is a significant milestone for Firefox and Mozilla. It’s a huge achievement by the global Mozilla community, one that just a few years ago most would have considered impossible. The open web is more vibrant than ever, and the thousands of Mozilla contributors around the world have played a major role in making it that way.”

Rounding out the top five in market share was Apple’s Safari (8.3%), Google’s Chrome (1.1%) and Opera (0.7%). The top five browsers accounted for 99.2% of all web browsing.

New stats by Internet traffic measurement firm comScore indicate the total global number of Internet users surpassed one billion in December.

According to comScore, nearly 416 million people from Asia Pacific are plugged in, comprising an astonishing 41% of users worldwide. Europe ranked second with about 283 million users, and North America placed third with 185 million users.

comScore’s CEO, Magid Abraham, calls the millstone “a significant landmark.” The report counted only Internet users 15 years or older who logged on from home or work PCs. Exclusion of the growing population who access the web via personal devices could be an indication that Internet use is even greater than we suspect.

“The second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that,” suggested Magid.

Personalized Internet marketing equals profits. Online shoppers are drawn to ads that relate to them, according to a new study released by ChoiceStream.

Up to 58% of frequent web shoppers are more likely to click on a customer-centric ad, and the more they spend online—the more interested they are in personalization.

Results from a webinar panel survey released by ChoiceStream last year indicate approximately 90% of ecommerce professionals believe personalization can increase sales, This information gives business owners a compelling reason to rethink their online content.

Google is preparing to launch a service that could make desktop computers a thing of the past, reports The Guardian.

The Google Drive, or ‘GDrive’, slated to be launched later this year, will enable users to access their personal files and operating systems from Google’s servers via the internet.

“The PC would be a simpler, cheaper device acting as a portal to the web, perhaps via an adaptation of Google’s operating system for mobile phones, Android,” reported David Smith, The Guardian’s Technology Correspondent. “Users would think of their computer as software rather than hardware.”

Critics are concerned about Google’s increasing power, considering its reach and access to vast personal information. A hacker’s dream? Others worry about having all their eggs in one basket, in the event of server crashes or Internet downtime.

Call Google the best thing since sliced bread, or a monster to be feared, this appears to be the direction the Internet is headed. Clever? Definitely. Wise? Time will tell.

Read the full article here: Google plans to make PCs history.

I officially no longer know anyone without a social networking account. Even if the page has fallen into disuse, much to the chagrin of their virtual harem, it’s out there lurking in the bowels of cyberspace.

My Space and Facebook have taken the world by storm. What people don’t always realize is that social media can be used to drive traffic to your business website.

Post articles about your work, build a community around your project, and always remember to include plenty of links to your site.

Sign up to as many social networking sites as possible to push business to your site—after all, it’s free.

A team of researchers from China are predicting the Internet will double in size every 5.32 years. If this proves to be true, Microsoft and Google aren’t battling for the Internet – they’re battling for the world.

Read Internet Growth Follows Moore’s Law Too.

China’s population of Internet users grew 42% in 2008. The country now boasts nearly 300 million users. According to China’s Internet Network Information Center, the number has doubled since 2006.

China has overtaken the US as the number one user of the World Wide Web. Its national average for Internet penetration is 22.6% compared to a global average of 21.9%.

According to BDA, a Chinese research and consulting firm, the quality of content, advertising, and e-commerce is better in the US. However, E-commerce is expected to grow incrementally in China—the numbers represent tremendous marketing opportunities.

Whether you’re a small business owner, web designer or consumer, this is an opportunity Canadians should embrace.

Starting in 2009 any Canadian over the age of 18 can annually put up to $5,000 in a tax free saving account (TFSA). Income earned by the TFSA is non-taxable, but you won’t get a tax refund on the amount invested like an RRSP contribution.

Your TFSA can hold the same things as an RRSP: cash, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), term deposits, mutual funds, government and corporate bonds, stocks traded on public exchanges, and shares of some small business corporations.

Conveniently coinciding with the economic downturn, most people feel the TFSA represents a great way to save money, particularly if filled with high tax investments. However, critics cite that with the marginal interest rates, not much money will be saved for the average household.