Usually I don’t post two items around the same topic so close together, but I didn’t see this coming either. Today LinkedIN launched a facelift to the popular business networking site. The new design has a cleaner flow and appearance and a much more simplified navigational system.

The homepage (assuming you sign-in) contains all the content of the previous iteration but they also have made advertising a more prominent aspect of the site. In the top right corner there is now a commercial which certainly grabs my attention much more. LinkedIN did a nice job implementing this commercial for the following reasons:

• The audio is off by default. This is something that ESPN, NFL and many other sites should learn from. My primary reason for going to the site is to network, which requires me to read. I’m A.D.D enough and I appreciate that LinkedIN recognizes that the commercial can still work minus the audio. Thank you!
• 2. It doesn’t loop. It runs for X seconds and then stops. A new commercial doesn’t load, it doesn’t repeat and it doesn’t blink and flash at me. Again, thank you!

LinkedIN has also added modules to the homepage, which are akin to most portal sites. The modules let me select and customize content for my homepage which is most relevant to me. Given these latest improvements I’ll be sure to spend more time in LinkedIN.

A few days ago LinkedIN announced the release of http://m.linkedin.com for mobile devices / iPhone support. This isn’t a huge announcement but for those of us who are religious users of LinkedIN it’s a welcomed announcement.

The iPhone version is not as feature rich as the main LinkedIN Web site but it still has the essential tools you need to be effective in networking. Personally, I like the ability to quickly add new contacts and this version allows me to do just that. If I attend a networking event I’m able to quickly add and accept new invitations. If you are an LinkedIN user I suggest you check out the announcement.

I have stumbled upon two apps for my Mac that I could potentially use all the time. It could also be something that I use for a week because it’s something new to play with and then let go of it if I realize they are not necessary to use. But, the two cool things I have found are called Fluid and Think. Two of them are supposed to help you out with your productivity and they are free.

Fluid

Fluid, is an app for Mac that lets you grab a URL from pages you frequently visit, such as Google Docs, Facebook, and Gmail, and turn each one into a separate desktop application that you can add to your dock for easy access. The proces is supposed to help you deal with tabs and treat everything as your desktop application. I find this so far helpful because I haved added Google Docs where I write my thougths and blogs and I don’t have to worry about closing tabs in a browser and losing information.

Think

Think is an app also for Mac that helps you keep focus on a single applicaton by dimming out the rest. I find it that I do not use this application if I’m multitasking between emails, web browsing, and my calendars. But,when I am concentrating on just design, then I use Think and it really does help me with just concentrating on one thing at a time. Receiving emails can sometimes be distracting so I keep my Mail on my laptop screen and I design on the big screen.
Withouth Think, my head always turns the minute I realize that a new message popped into my mailbox. With Think, Mail app is illuminated on my laptop screen but gives me enough visibility so I can glance at times to see if I have receieved any messages from clients.

Okay, I think we can all agree that the star-burst is one of those awesomely bad design elements that like to frequent those cheesy catalogs with the words “Buy now!” “Sale!” or “Free!” Plus to make matters worse this poor design element is made with blinding primary yellow and red colors to grab the attention of the unsuspecting victim- I mean… customer.

However bad it is, I would like to take a stand for the misguided and abused star-burst. I think that this design element can be resurrected in a blaze of glory, just as long as it is used correctly. Recently I have been seeing some beautiful designs that are vernacular in nature. Usually the star-burst works best as a knock-out negative shape. The best I have seen have used some lighter blues so that this aggressive element can blend and add to the design, but not overwhelm it.

As an added note, the star-burst should not be confused with the lens-flare. That, I’m afraid, has always been poorly used and is dead in my book. Sorry, but I don’t think this cheesy “design element” will ever come back (or ever was) in style.

I’ve heard many search engine marketing specialist / experts give blanket recommendations to check Google AdWords once or more a day to make sure your ads are performing to their highest potential. Personally, I feel it’s misleading to give advice like this to the general AdWords audience. Unless you are managing a high transaction volume Web site or are in a highly competitve market for keywords then there really isn’t a compelling reason to check AdWords more then once a week. I suspect, but I have zero data other then intuition to believe that the bulk of AdWords users are small businesses with low-transaction sites. Sure, if your business is ecommerce related or receives a high level of transactions per day then the advice to check daily makes sense.

Here is my general guideline to maintaining Google AdWords. This is assuming that you’ve been running AdWords for more then a few months:

Check once or more a day if:

• Your margins on product sales are tight
• Your geographic scope extends to the National or Global level
• Your site is receiving over 30 orders a day under $50 an order or 5 orders a day over $50. Side note: We have a client who receives 1-3 orders a day over $2k per order and that site is only checked once a week.

Check once per week if:

• You are doing any ecommerce sales
• If you are using Adwords to generate leads

Check it a few times per month if:

• You are interested in shear traffic
• If you aren’t interested in tracking ROI in AdWords

I’m sure there are those who would debate these numbers but I think they provide a more accurate guideline then telling the AdWords user base to check their accounts daily.