Make Your Small Business Web Site Work: Easy Answers to Content, Navigation, and Design [Hardcover]

John Heartfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

Although it may seem like everyone has a website these days, this in not 100 percent true. Small companies with and without websites struggle with 2 main design issues: What should be on my website and how do I organize and build a website that will be effective for my business?

This book provides answers to these questions and specifically addresses the fact that although a website is not for every company, it can be a cost-effective tool for small companies who do not have a big marketing budget or large distribution networks. This book will help small companies sculpt their content and build navigation systems that meet their specific needs and maximize the site?s potential.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Heartfield is an international consultant specializing in Information Architecture and Web Development. Formerly, he was a professor at both the Stern School of Business, NYU, and the Interactive Telecommunication Program, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, where he taught several courses involving the Web and multimedia programming and design. He also writes fiction and songs. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Rockport Publishers (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592530532
• ISBN-13: 978-1592530533
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,105,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After receiving a summa cum laude computer science degree from Queens College, John was asked to teach there. He taught seven computers in three required senior-level courses.

At the same time, he founded and his first digital small business, F1 Associates, specializing in database management for small businesses.

John Heartfield began his career providing digital multimedia for businesses when when he founded Electric Curtain Inc., Multimedia Programming and Design, a cutting-edge New York Internet and CD-ROM firm in the heart of Soho, New York, in 1995.

One month earlier, he'd received his Masters Degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. ITP was rated as "One of America's Top Five Digital Media and Marketing Schools" by Advertising Age in 2008.

Upon graduating from ITP, he was honored with an award from the Tisch School of the Arts "for pioneering work in interactive media."

Shortly after receiving his Masters, Red Burns, chairwoman of ITP, asked John to begin teaching courses in multimedia programming at the Interactive Telecommunications Program.

In its first year, Electric Curtain was chosen by Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (the Japanese equivalent of AT&T) to build one of the first modules of their interactive learning system, CALAT. John traveled to Tokyo and had to share highly technical concepts through an interpreter with NTT engineers.

Partially due to the enormously successfully NTT project, John was again flown to Tokyo along with Red Burns and Vibeke Sorenson (UCLA). This time as a guest of Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI), the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the Multimedia Association of Japan to inaugurate a major Tokyo multimedia facility, Time 24.

John brings his experience and passion for four disciplines to eCurtain Media:

* User Interface Design

Although he designed the entire user interface for NikonUSA (Nikon Camera's Corporate Portal and many of its related websites), John's true passion is helping small businesses succeed.

* Author

He wrote "Make Your Small Business Website Work, Easy Answers to Content, Navigation, and Design," published by Rockport Publishers.

* Multimedia Programmer

He was the creative and programming director for one of the first digital multimedia magazines, published on CD ROM in 1995. . Dan O'Sullivan, tenured professor at ITP, wrote of John Heartfield, "He used his own fractal algorithms to program a graphic winter wonderland, complete with pine trees and falling snow, using only the programming language C. He is that rare combination of brilliant intellect and engaging, friendly personality." John spent countless hours in the studio programming for Nick West's groundbreaking multimedia broadcast, YORB.

* Teacher

He has designed and taught more than twenty-five courses in multimedia programming, focusing on Actionscript for Flash, the Internet's most popular multimedia presentation tool, at New York University, The College of New Jersey, The New School, The City University of New York, Queens College, et al. It gives John enormous satisfaction to make difficult technical concepts understandable to both students new to Internet technology and small business owners.

Soon John, along with career counseling expert, Alex Freund, will be presenting a live, multimedia seminar designed to teach job seekers how to interview for positions in all types of businesses.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly helpful, May 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Make Your Small Business Web Site Work: Easy Answers to Content, Navigation, and Design (Hardcover)

Mr. Heartfield's broad fund of knowledge regarding this subject and his easy-to-read writing style made this book not only useful, but an enjoyable read. Lots of great ideas regarding structuring my website. Big bang for the buck. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars As the owner ofa small web design & development business, I recommend this book..., January 27, 2010

By 

S. McGarity - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Make Your Small Business Web Site Work: Easy Answers to Content, Navigation, and Design (Hardcover)

As the owner of a small web design & development business, I certainly can recommend "Make Your Small Business Website Work." I think it's great on a number of levels: It's permeable by both the small business owner with little previous understanding of web fundamentals as well as a relevant, gentle re-articulation of important principles for the more seasoned web designer/developers of the world.

This book is incredibly well-structured (love the web-like navigation on every page) and revolves around providing real world critiques of existing sites within the headings of Planning, Organizing, and Presenting. Each critique includes screenshots, interviews with often both design team and client, as well as superb little sidebars that pithily summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the site in question. From larger e-commerce concerns like Fresh Direct to smaller more personal promotional sites, this book really does provide a conversational, common sense overview of the knowledge one needs to establish a dialog with a designer or development team. It gives the reader a strong set of tools to embark on creating a successful site of their own

5.0 out of 5 stars Make Your Small Business WEb Site Work, June 2, 2009

By 

Alex Freund "Career Coach" (Princeton, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Make Your Small Business Web Site Work: Easy Answers to Content, Navigation, and Design (Hardcover)

Make Your Small Business Web Site Work: Easy Answers to Content, Navigation, and Design
Who does not want to have a website nowadays? Especially if you are a small business and your income depends on it. In fact, anybody who has a small business and does not have a website loses credibility. It is like having a store without a shingle telling the world what you do. Small business owners who invested in their website lose appetite in keeping it up (perhaps because of its failure and continuous negative reinforcement). Luckily, John Heartfield put together this book Make Your Small Business Website Work to provide the logic necessary to make your investment grow. The book is very well organized and written in a simple, friendly and easy to grasp language. It is colorful and full of examples showing the old and new design. He has vast experience from having worked for major company's website and you are the beneficiary of that. If you own a small business and your website's performance disappoints you, perhaps you should read this book to learn what the issues are and how to fix it.