By Emily Raij, Maupin House

 In October of 2008, I offered a round-up here of tips and strategies for redesigning your company website since Maupin House was in the process of doing just that. Well, almost a year later, we are finally launching our new website. It doesn’t necessarily have to take that long, but after some design drama, we decided to slow down and take the time to get exactly what we wanted. Looking back at the checklist I offered, I can say we followed our own rules but also learned a few things along the way.

 Layout: In addition to a clean, uncluttered site that makes good use of space, the following should be clearly communicated on your Website: your company name/logo, what you do, the goal of your site (sales), a user/customer testimonial, and the features of your site. One suggested layout is to put your goal in the upper left corner, your company name/logo centered and close to the top of the page, the customer quote and what you do below the logo, and features on the left sidebar. Drop-down menus help prevent a content “dump” and long lists while keeping features organized.

What we learned: Even after we thought we had the new design down, we saw it still needed some tightening up, so we got rid of unnecessary clutter like photos and extra space in our masthead, made sure our logo and message were visible at the top of our homepage, and de-cluttered our dropdown menus.

Content: What should those “features” be?

E-commerce: If you’re selling something, it should be easy to access the retail portion of your site. Customers should also be able to view their shopping cart and log into their account quickly.

Contact information: This can be a listing or a Web form users can submit that offers a drop-down menu of choices (questions or comments, submit a product review, sign up for e-newsletter, submit a product idea, request a catalog, book an author/trainer, etc.).

What we learned: Customers have to be able to contact your company easily and get what they want. So, we added a “Connect with Us” box in the top right corner that includes links to our blog, conference schedule, author guidelines, specials, upcoming products, and social-networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and LinkedIn). Right above that box are big, clear buttons to contact us, view your shopping cart or account, learn more about our company, and get questions about ordering/shipping and returns answered.

 Flair: Don’t overdo it, but consider one or two snazzy features like a rotating banner, widget, or Flash component.

What we learned: A blogroll widget and a media box for podcasts and videos were what we wanted to highlight. Since both of those features take up some space, they need to be on opposite sides of the page. And they still need to mesh with the rest of the site’s design. We kept the look of the media box simple but still made it easy to make a selection with brief titles and clear thumbnails for all videos. A pop-up player keeps customers on our site but makes it easy to exit the video and continue browsing.

 Free stuff: Consider putting all your free downloads on one page in addition to individual product pages. Keep the freebies organized by category or media type (podcasts, videos, PDFs).

What we learned: Our website designer made it easy for us to add downloads from our new products by having the list automatically generate. Features like this that prevent you from having to constantly update several pages every time you add a new product are invaluable. We also decided to include a “press room,” where we announce awards, include downloads of all our press releases, and offer fliers on how to book our authors for speaking engagements.

Following a plan helps ensure you’ll be happy with your redesigned website, but be flexible and expect to change things throughout the process. Our new site goes live November 5^th, so please check it out and offer feedback through this blog or www.maupinhouse.com. And, of course, feel free to share your website tips as well!

On October 24, 2009, President Barack Obama gave his weekly address that had a much needed focus on small business. In his address entitled “Working with Small Business to Drive Recovery,” Obama discussed the important role small business plays on the safe recovery of the economy. He mentioned that “small businesses have always been the engine of our economy, creating 65 percent of all new jobs over the last decade and a half and they must be at the forefront of our recovery.”

In that same week, Obama also met with small business owners to get their reactions to his proposals that involve: increasing caps for Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, giving community banks better access to tarp funding and giving small businesses affordable healthcare options. In a recent video clip, MSNBC.com mentions Obama’s recent meeting with small business owners and talks with SBA Administrator Karen Mills about her efforts to spearhead Obama’s lending proposals forward.

Let NSSEA know your thoughts!

As states compete for $5 million in school reform grant money, President Barack Obama is using the Race to the Top Fund” as bait to persuade states to rewrite education laws and to work effectively with unions to create change within schools.

The “Race to the Top Fund” is a program that provides competitive grants to states in an effort to encourage and reward them for creating conditions for education innovation and reform. These conditions are described in the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” and they include: making substantial gains in student achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates, and ensuring that students are prepared for success in college and careers.

Obama visited Wisconsin November 4, 2009, a day before Wisconsin lawmakers get ready to vote to lift a ban on using student test scores to judge teacher performance. States such as Wisconsin are ready to change laws to increase their chances of receiving a piece of the $5 million in school reform grant money. Nine other states have taken a similar approach in order to be in the running for the grant money.

Read more and for more information about the “Race to the Top Fund,” visit: http://www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html.

An article in Reuters reports that U.S. retailers are expected to post positive October sales numbers this week. The positive numbers are a welcomed change from the numbers reported in October 2008, after the financial market collapsed and numbers fell 4.1 percent. Well-known retailers are also expected to post positive sales numbers.

According the article, many of the top-retail chains will report same-store sales results on Thursday. The overall retail industry is expected to report an overall 1.2 percent rise in sales this month. Retailers are also hopeful that consumers will spend more money in stores and stimulate the economy even further.

Read the article “Good October Retail Sales Numbers Predicted” and let NSSEA know your thoughts!

A new report released on October 29, 2009 by the nonprofit group Project Tomorrow and Blackboard Inc., finds that parents, students and some teachers are greatly dissatisfied with the technology skills students are learning in school.

The report finds that about only one-third of parents and 40 percent of grades 6 through 12 students feel that schools are doing a good job of teaching and implementing technology in the classroom. According to the report, more than half of school principals and administrators thought that they were doing a good job of preparing students for using 21st-century technology.  The contrast between the two figures reveals that there is a large disconnect between how parents, school principals and administrators feel about the way technology is taught in the classroom. 

The report also discovers that parents feel that teachers are not receiving the proper training to implement new technology in the classroom and they also feel that teachers do not have adequate access to new technology such as: interactive whiteboards, computer projection devices, laptops for students, tablet PCs, online textbooks, organizational tools, games, mobile devices and other technology-based organizational tools. The report focuses on the parents’ perspective of technology use in the classroom, but it gives great insight into what information parents want their children learning and what products they want their children using.

The data from the report comes from a new analysis of Project Tomorrow’s 2008 Speak Up project. The analysis was a collection of data from over 335,000 K-12 students, parents, and educators about online education and 21st-century learning in the U.S.

For more information about“Learning in the 21st Century: Parents’ Perspectives, Parents’ Priorities,” visit: http://www.blackboard.com/Solutions-by-Market/K-12/Learn-for-K12/Leadership-Views/Education-in-the-21st-Century.aspx.

 Let NSSEA know your thoughts!

Small business owners are facing massive credit restrictions from their banks, according to an article in Reuters.com. Businesses are dealing with banks terminating business credit lines, cutting home equity lines, and putting a stop to credit line leniency. What is a small business to do? Many small business owners feel that banks are still very afraid of taking lending risks with small companies and they feel that banks are pulling back from giving small companies access to much needed credit lines.

The article also mentions that the President of the National Small Business Association (NSBA) warns that if credit does not become available soon, American entrepreneurs will not have the money to expand their businesses and ultimately fall by the wayside. Especially since many small companies use lines of credit to pay employee salaries.

In “Recession Realties,” an article published in the Nov/Dec issue of Essentials, which will hit mailboxes in mid-November, Richard Caudle, president of Rock ’N Learn, admits having to use a line of credit for the first time because of the decline in the economy. Well, how about you? Have you dipped into your line of credit to help absorb costs at your company? Also, has your bank decreased or eliminated your line of credit all together? Let NSSEA know your thoughts.

MSNBC.com featured a video on October 16, 2009 about a new study showing that many businesses are optimistic about the retail industry, but others wonder whether that optimism will last throughout the holiday season.

According to the video, Morgan Stanley sees signs of “sustained modest growth” and Deloitte is predicting a pick up in spending based on an increase in consumer clash flow because of things like a lower tax burden and a decline in the unemployment rate.

 Take a look at the video and let NSSEA know your thoughts!

In October 2009, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released a statement of policy referring to the testing and certification of lead content in children’s products. The commission provided a guidance to answer some questions many are having about the new changes to the lead content limits created in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). 

The CPSC clarifies that products designed or intended primarily for children 12 years old and younger also known as “children’s products,” cannot contain more than 300 parts per million (ppm) of lead in any attainable or accessible part. The CPSC refers to the 300 (ppm) as the “lead content limit.” The commission also wanted to make clear that the “new lead content limit” should not be confused with its 90 (ppm) limit on lead in paint that is used on certain furniture and children’s toys. 

In the statement, the CPSC replies to these four questions:

1. What does the lead content law require?
2. How and when must children’s products be tested and certified to the 300 (ppm) lead content limit?
3. What is a children’s product that must be tested for lead content?
4. Must all children’s products be tested and certified for lead content?

 Take a look at the CPSC’s recent statement about testing and certification of lead content in children’s toys and let NSSEA know your thoughts!

There are a lot of new technologies for K-12 students with special needs and the eSchool News article, “How to be a Leader with Assistive Technology” by Meris Stansbury, discusses ways educators can use assistive technology to help special needs students learn. The article also mentions a variety of different assistive technology products for K-12 students with special needs. It mentions that some of these products are everyday items that are already found in the classroom such as: communication notebooks that can be created from using a composition or spiral notebook. Read the article and let NSSEA know your thoughts.

How to be a Leader with Assistive Technology
By Meris Stansbury

Finding the right assistive technology (AT) to help students with special needs can be a daunting task — but two leading AT trainers say the simplest tools often are best.

During an Oct. 21 webinar hosted by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), titled “The Building Blocks of a Successful Assistive Technology Team,” Sally Norton-Darr and Chris Bugaj, both AT trainers for Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools, offered their expert advice on how to evaluate assistive technology products for use in schools.

The good news for educators: Their most commonly recommended solutions are technologies that already can be found in most classrooms.

The pair said their experience with AT training started 10 years ago, when an “AT team” was a just a volunteer assignment.

“If you wanted to know more about AT and … find a way of implementing helpful strategies and tools, it was on a volunteer basis,” explained Bugaj, who also hosts the “A.T.TIPScast”–a podcast covering the implementation of assistive technology in public schools. Read more. 

On October 22, 2009, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan delivered a speech about teacher preparation that many say was a wake-up call for those in education. Duncan mentions in his speech “that many if not most of the nation’s 1,450 schools, colleges, and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom.”

Duncan discusses three major challenges in education that make the need to improve teacher preparation programs more important than ever. He mentions that the education that Americans received in the past just will no longer be acceptable and that every child should be receiving the same quality education, although many are not. He also mentions that the dropout rate for high school students is too high and that “nearly 30 percent of our students today drop out or fail to complete high school on time—that is 1.2 million kids a year. Barely 60 percent of African-American and Latino students graduate on time—and in many cities, half or more of low-income teens drop out of school.”

For more information about Duncan’s speech, visit: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2009/10/10222009.html and let NSSEA know your thoughts.