last job
when the industry was down 35 percent
MY NUMBERS WERE UP 35 PERCENT
How I Roll
In graphic design, there are very few facts, only opinions, so when discussing certain aspects of page creation with my team, I stick to:
• data gleaned from the user
Your customer is your best source of information
• long-established principles
From Tschichold to Tufte
• expert opinion
Nielsen, Krug, Tognazzinni, Garrett, to name a few
• past experience
Sometimes success is avoiding colossal failure
Numbers Pointing Steadily Up
When I arrived at InterActive Financial one day after the U.S. lost to the Czech Republic in the 2006 World Cup, it had eight Web sites producing at least one lead per month. When I left, that number was at 53. In rough numbers (because it's a seasonal business) I improved Web-generated leads 60 percent in 3 1/2 years.
Responsibilities: Little Bit Of Everything
Football fans might remember Pittsburgh's Kordell Stewart, a quarterback/wide receiver/running back/punter
who combined so many skills he was nicknamed "Slash" by Steelers announcer Myron Cope.
Roger that! In pretty much every IT job I've ever held, I've been the unofficial ghostwriter
or editor, unofficial art director / project manager, or whatever. To use a military
analogy, I'm never the lieutenant -- I'm the staff sergeant holding things down.
Officially, my title was SEO developer. Unofficially, I always fill roles as
meeded. Hey, nobody here knows how to write a requirements doc or
a project plan? No sweat. I got it. Press release? Done a million of them.
Marcom copy? I'm on it. I may be too versatile for my own good, but
at smaller-sized companies, my versatility is a huge asset.
Shout outs: the people who make you better
On more than one occasion I've received what I consider a great
compliment: I make the people I work with better. I like hearing
that because it works both ways; lots of people I've worked with
have made me better, and I thank them more than they will ever
know. Learn something every day (and thanks again fellas).