Why Do So Many Websites Hide Their Company’s Identity?

Why Do So Many Websites Hide Their Company’s Identity?

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I It’s typical for designers to roll their eyes when their clients ask to make the logo bigger. The designer’s resistance is justified if the main goal of the piece is to win a design award. Minimizing logos and brand messages do in fact...
How Much of Your Website Content is Invisible to Readers?

How Much of Your Website Content is Invisible to Readers?

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I Throughout my college years, I was fascinated by subjects like Communication Theory, Visual Perception and Classical Rhetoric. These days, I’m fascinated by  how those principles apply to someone who’s just landed on a website. But most...
Don’t Welcome Me to Your Website

Don’t Welcome Me to Your Website

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I Here’s a “Bottom 10 List” of things that seemed like a good idea at the time … but may have ended up hurting your site’s effectiveness. So what can we do about these web worst practices? Read on. 1. Don’t ‘welcome’ me to your...
I Am a Designer And I Have Sinned

I Am a Designer And I Have Sinned

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I It’s true. I look back with cringing regret at some of the things I did when first starting out as an advertising designer. Then, as you’ll see, I began seeing things from the audience’s point-of-view, rather than just from a...
The Hidden Potential of Frequently Asked Questions

The Hidden Potential of Frequently Asked Questions

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I What queries do you hear most often from new and prospective buyers? Perhaps you already have a FAQ page on your website. Let’s take a closer look at how you can further leverage the Q&A approach to turn questioners into paying...
The Dirty Little Secret of the Web Design Industry

The Dirty Little Secret of the Web Design Industry

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I Have you reinvented yourself lately? Over the course of my career, I’ve done the reinvention thing a number of times. Though I mostly do website writing now, I started out as a print designer, taking a train into New York City for night...
What Is Your Customer’s “Most Important Thing”?

What Is Your Customer’s “Most Important Thing”?

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I    Did you know you have a super power? It’s your ability to make decisions that affect your own life. Sure, there are lots of things we can’t control. Yet every day, we find ourselves with the power, and the responsibility, to make all...
3 Common Web Design Practices that Really Don’t Make Sense

3 Common Web Design Practices that Really Don’t Make Sense

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I Humans have a tendency to do things ‘the old way’ simply because it feels comfortable and familiar. In business website design, though, that dynamic may be making the process unnecessarily difficult for web clients, web designers, and...
What You Really Should Know About Web Images

What You Really Should Know About Web Images

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I When your eyes land on a web page, what do they see? Well, two things: writing, and images. I’ve been a web writer for decades, speaking and writing about the topic for almost as long. So naturally in today’s post I’ll be talking about...
Then the Panel Discussion Went Off the Rails

Then the Panel Discussion Went Off the Rails

B Y   T O M   T O R T O R I C I Note from Tom: Like today’s Virtual Conferences, the ‘Imaginary Conference’ I’ve organized is Covid-safe. It all just plays out in my head, and even I don’t know what will happen . . .   Moderator  Hi, everybody; glad you could...