Moving from idea to implementation

In a month, 3by400 receives at least three or four calls from people who have the "best idea for a new web site". About 1% of them really do have a great idea for a site. The rest, unfortunately, failed to Google their thought before running headlong to web site design. That 1% is worth the others...so how do you decide if your concept is truly a great new entrepreneurial idea?

How do you determine what is "fair"? I grew up in a time when not everyone got a trophy, grades were not assigned on a sliding scale, and no one bailed out businesses who couldn't figure out how to stay in business. That makes me sound really old, but I'm under 50. Two pieces of fresh news today lead me to believe that facts are becoming less and less important. First, I had to shake my head at a Business Insider "news" story that totally missed reporting on the new Google Conversion API because they were too busy complaining about the...

For a while now, any website that receives funding from the federal government has had to conform to guidelines that make the website accessibile to the disabled. The buzzword here is Section 508, after its location in the US legal code. There's a small but lucrative sub-practice of web design that helps site owners pass muster in this area. But the net may be widening. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, activists are pushing for a wider interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They argue that all e-commerce websites have to be 508-compliant. So far,...

One of our favorite things about redesigning a site is not only what happens on the outside, but on the inside as well. Refacing or restyling a site so that it appears different to the viewer can spike enthusiasm and renew site interest. Adding new tools for customers or that allow you to make your internal processes more efficient can spike your profit!  These facts are what make us continue to promote ourselves as middle of the road. Think that's not very complimentary? In our experience, there are two basic types of web design teams found in smaller firms--those focused on...

Most business owners know that a print ad is only as valuable as the circulation of the publication, and a radio ad is only as valuable as the station’s listenership. But somehow these same people think that just having a website is sufficient. A website is only as valuable as the number of interested parties viewing it. Today we’ll take a look at some ways to get more people to view your website, making it more valuable to your business.

First, ask “what group of people do I want to serve with my website?” Is it prospects, existing customers, wholesale customers, retail customers? Are they male, female, married, single, 18 years old, 35 years old? Where do they live? If you’re a traditional retailer, just think about the faces of your best customers.