Day 86 - Ten Typography Tips

1. Don't be trendy.
2. Don't use too many fonts.
3. Choose different typefaces that work together.
4. Don't forget about serifs.
5. Be consistent.
6. Create a hierarchy.
7. Legibility is important across all devices, sizes, and experiences.
8. Don't crowd the typography.
9. Create equal 'Perceived' space between letters.
10. Less is more.

Day 84 - Five Copywriting Tips

1. When you're editing copy read it out loud.
2. Make links clear and relevant.  Make sure your links make it absolutely clear what will happen on click.
3. Do more research. The best copywriters are determined researchers.
4. Make it scannable and visually appealing. People scan pages quickly so get to the point.
5. Refine your headline.  People read headlines more than they do body copy.  If the headline draws them in they might read further.

Day 71 - Tip Toolbox - AIDA Formula for Content Marketing

If you create copy and content you should know this classic formula that's been used by advertisers and marketers for decades.  This framework is used for all media whether it's advertising, emails, websites, radio, etc.

see AIDA

1. Attention: Get their attention.
2. Interest: Keep them interested with interesting facts.
3. Desire: Make them really want to buy it.
4. Action: Get them to take the action you want.

Add the AIDA formula to your toolbox!

Day 66 - 'Sign In' vs. 'Log In'

This isn't written in stone but as a rule of thumb use "Sign up" & "Log in".  The second word is lower case unless your capitalizing all the words on all your buttons.  "Log in" is the verb form while "login" is a noun.  If it's an action use the verb form.  Also use "Log out".

Day 64 - 10 Call to Action Tips

A "call to action" (CTA) is an instruction to the user that prompts an immediate response such as "Sign Up Now" or "Create an Account".

1. The human mind expects the call to action. It's part of the logical progression of a landing page.
2. Design your page in a logical flow that creates anticipation for your call to action.
3. Make your call to action obvious.
4. Avoid overkill to action.
5. The call to action should be simple. Make it concise and compelling.
6. Clearly offer value to the user for taking action.
7. Tantalize with curiosity (but again, see number 6 above and always offer value).
8. Have your call to action reinforce a psychological sense for reward.
9. Use color to emphasize your call to action.
10. Have one main call to action per task.

Day 61 - 10 Content Strategy Tips of the Day

1. Put yourself in the user's shoes and always keep them top of mind.
2. Speak in the customer's voice and language.
3. Don't use jargon your customers won't understand.
4. Segment your audiences for targeted messaging.
5. Focus on helping people.
6. Look for examples of effective microcopy. Microcopy is instructional text such as field labels, button names, error messaging, and confirmations.
7. Plan a content audit.
8. Use metadata for SEO, taxonomy, and accessibility.
9. Have calls to action.
10. Be goal oriented in your copy.

Day 45 - 3 Content Strategy Rules of Thumb

1. Identify your objectives.
2. Think and write like your audience.
3. Be SEO friendly.

Day 7 - Improve Your Content Strategy

1)  Put yourself into your user's mindset and create your users personas.  Creating user-focused content that's based on your customer's personas will prevent you from making great content that doesn't resonate with your users.

2)  Ask these questions about your content:

• Will it answer all their questions on the topic?
• Will any of the content frustrate your users?
• What do I expect my users to get out of this content?
• What will the call to action be as a result of this content?

3)  People quickly scan and make snap judgements.  Don't clutter.

4)  Content is not only text. It's also video, imagery, social interactions, and the metadata that underlies it all.

5)  Your content should be valuable, useful, desirable, accessible, credible, findable, and usable.