Internet Marketing Voodoo recently posted this fascinating interview with Dr. Jim Bower, CEO of Whyville, a virtual online community for kids.

The podcast is entitled, “Advertising in Virtual Communities,” but it’s less about advertising and more about how kids learn and the nature of virtual worlds. But there’s brand talk, too: The discussion around what Toyota is doing inside Whyville is terrific brain food for any marketer thinking about how to create a meaningful presence in a virtual world.

Takeaway for marketers: It’s not about a new place to slap a banner ad, it’s about enhancing an online experience.

A coupla weeks ago, I blogged about Jakob Nielsen’s list of top priorities for Web site redesign. Priority number one was create an email newsletter.

But if you’re going to address priority number one, do not do it like Sara Ramirez.

I joined her mailing list after seeing her as the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. She was brilliant, and the Tony Award voters agreed. Now she’s on Grey’s Anatomy, one of the hottest shows on television.

What the heck is she thinking? Or, rather, not her but the person who is supposed to be looking after her reputation online.

See that graphic up there? That’s a screen shot of Sara’s email newsletter. Bad header image. Utterly horrible background (is that Hal from 2001?). Black type against a horrible background that renders the text unreadable. The worst MySpace pages are better than this.

Did anyone look at this mess before clicking the “send” button?

Well, at least this much can be said: The newsletter echoes the design of her Web site. But that’s another kettle of albatross.

Takeaway for marketers: If you’re sending someone an email, at least make sure that it can be read. And if this comes as a revelation to you, then what the heck are you doing in the online marketing world in the first place? Egads.

Jakob Nielsen just posted this new Alertbox article that details “10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities” for your Web site.

I’ve been telling people for years that a newsletter is one of the most powerful online marketing tools there is; I’m glad to see Nielsen call it out as the number-one redesign priority.

Takeaway for marketers: Nielsen tends to be extremely conservative where design is concerned, but there’s a lot of valuable wisdom in here. If you’re considering a site redesign project, this one is required reading.

This article from Catalog Success reads like it could have been written in 1999, but it repeats a point that perhaps rings truer today than ever before:

“Branding begins before the first page of your site loads. Does a visitor have to wait too long for your flash animations to load?”

Yes, broadband is in wide use. Yes, computers are getting faster. Yes, companies want to look snazzy. But none of that excuses Flash abuse. Jakob Nielsen’s October 2000 article on Flash still has a lot of truth in it.

Takeaway for marketers: Your Web site is there to service customers, who want their information now. If Flash means they get their information later, it’s not good. As with so many things in life, so it is with Flash: Very often, less is more.

Capitalizing on a big news event, that is. In this case, start with a company called HeadBlade that makes razors for shaving one’s head. Then there’s that Britney Spears thing. Then there’s this clip on YouTube by HeadBlade, which is also on thieir site, featuring a bunch of athletes from something called Fit Expo trying to emulate David Letterman.

Takeaway for marketers: In the wake of the Anna Nicole Smith tragedy, does making fun of another seriously disturbed celebrity seem like smart product positioning? Nah, I don’t think so, either.