Has The World Gone Mad About Google?

I've been reading Aaron Goldman's blog posts in Search Insider over the past month and I have begun to wonder if the world has gone mad about Google.

In a sense, the answer is as resounding as any major victory can be. Google has a 72% market share of the U.S. Search Market and their world-wide share is pretty close to that percentage. Google is my personal search favorite for the same reasons it became so dominant. It displays the most relevant results. Additionally, it offers a religiously clean and uncluttered user interface and a cult-like devotion to preserving the clarity and purpose of the user's search experience. These are the strong, historic reasons for its amazing rise.

So, on the one hand the world is bonkers for Google. Yet, on the other hand maybe we still need a more competitive marketplace? Perhaps Bing will close the gap. Or, maybe Yahoo will continue to edge its way into capturing more market share. One thing is clear: they will have to do something significant and worthwhile in order to gain momentum.

As a marketing professional, with his own Agency, I'm very impressed with Google and am working on new Search business for a few of our current clients. It's very hard to say no and not recommend Google. They literally invented the current search marketplace. They are the innovator. The ones who wrote the proprietary algorithm which evaluates the number and quality of inbound links for every website they index. In essence their thinking was this: if a site truly has great content, then other high quality sites will have discovered it, and linked to it on behalf of their own audience. In a similar fashion, Google doesn't just take money from advertisers and throw up their sponsored listings on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Google pioneered in ranking paid search advertisers, not just on a CPC basis, but on the click through rate as well. They had the audacity to take the measure of their clients and reward them with a Quality Rating if they offered a high degree of relevancy (there's that word again) to the user's search, thereby keeping themselves aligned with the intentions and passions of the user.

Paying attention to Google is a little bit like watching Tiger Woods play golf. You almost hope he slips up and let's someone else capture a win. But you always come away impressed. He's so capable, dominating and likable at the same time. So it is with Google. They had the good sense to be altruistic, to give their employees great perks (such as free haircuts) and to stay rooted in the belief that the user experience was the holy grail of their company.

I'm neither here to praise Caesar (Google), nor bury him. I'm here to leverage his success on behalf of my clients, and my own business. What else would a thinking marketer want?

So just like Google, we're going to keep things simple with keyword strategies that remain clean and well set up. In Google this means keeping the Adwords groups well organized, with no overlapping keywords which might create analytical difficulties for evaluating results and managing bids. Though an entire campaign is based on semantics, that doesn't mean it's simple. Using online keyword search tools it's possible for a medium sized company to generate thousands of keywords and keyword phrases, which is problematic at best and potentially very expensive. Plus if you get off the ground in the wrong way on Google, you're account quality score will suffer. Studies have shown that it can be very difficult to get back on track after this kind of rocky beginning.

There are two things that keep me coming back to Google, and not just as a user. As an advertiser as well. With Google you see how important it is to think about the user mindset (called user intent). Google is successful in part because they allow advertisers to reach people when they're in a commercial mindset, an active shopping mode. To the extent this means actively shopping versus background fact-finding is moot. When people are using Google they're not just passively watching. They're actively engaged in looking for information. They might be ready to transact that moment. Just when you want them at your site. The second thing keeping me in the Google fold is the principle of simplicity. Everything they did is a reminder of the power of simplicity. They came of age during a time of cluttered portals. Google stood apart with its clean white page. Additionally, their call to action was center stage.

The important lesson is to make every call to action equally clear and clean whether it says buy now, or order online. And, keep the design environment clean and de-cluttered. Maintain a high degree of usability. That's always in style. Of course, that Google market share is also a good reason to keep your interest in them at a high level.

Has the world gone mad about Google?

Well of course it has. Now, what are you going to do about it?

Your Eyeball Is An Optical Tool

Through technology, we have adapted our eyes into optical tools that seek nuggets of information. Think for a moment what it means to scan content (as opposed to reading a novel). Your eye is searching for keywords, bulleted lists, highlighted phrases and links.

Because of this usability research now shows us how Web content should look:

• Concise subheads
• Highlighted keywords
• One core idea per paragraph
• Bulleted lists
• Succinct headlines, page titles and first paragraphs
• Lean copy (cut word count)
• Dark type on white (or on light background colors)

For direct marketers, much of this is old news. Yet, old school hard sell tactics or hype (often misused in print advertising and direct mail) is a very bad fit online. Users are busy people in control of their searches or verification of online credentials. They want hard facts and real information, not exaggeration or hype.

If you're an old school marketer, it's time to learn new ways. High quality graphics, good copy and outbound links show you know your stuff. Credibility goes up. People respond to the content because so many websites are driven by people who are trying to exploit or misinform.

Save money by writing your own Web copy? You may want to think again. Does it make sense to save money and lose sales? Or, at the very least, if your site has poor information architecture, convoluted copy or dense blocks of text, you are not doing your cause any favors.

As in everything else in marketing, it pays to put things into their proper place of importance.

What Is Creative Marketing (and Why Do I Need It?)

What is marketing (and why do I need it)?

Their reasons people ask us this question differ slightly. Perhaps they ran some ads once and never got any calls. Or the website they developed never generated any real interest. We have also noticed that some clients are uncomfortable with the hustling and hype they associate with marketing. Whatever the reason, the question needs to be answered.

Marketing is not just advertising and sales. It is the sum total of everything you may be doing to gain customers and keep them. It is a holistic process, because your product or service is deeply involved. Finding the prospects you'd like to work with, then taking the necessary steps to convert them into customers, offering services that benefit them, and then turning them into continued relationships. Hopefully, these relationships help you generate repeat business and referrals.

This broad definition also includes everything you may be doing to maintain these relationships, from sending holiday gift baskets, to making timely calls, playing a round of golf, and having a cup of coffee, or simply doing a great job in serving them with great products, and reminding them how much you care about their business.

All of these activities comprise your marketing process, whether you choose to call it that or not. So why do we need to be more formal in our response to this question? Peter Drucker puts it well: "Business has only two basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results. All the rest are costs."

He's says that marketing drives all revenue. That marketing is about clients: what they need, and what you need to be doing, to serve them.

The most wonderful guy in the world won't buy from you if he doesn't need your services. Conversely, the most difficult guy in the world may become your best customer. Though you may have something someone needs very much, if he dislikes you, or doesn't know who you are, he's not going to buy much of anything from you.

Marketing means matching products and services with the people who need them. Hopefully, people who work well with you, who don't mind if you make a good profit.


Why hire a marketing firm?

Let us list a few reasons:

1) To save money and attain higher ROI
Much of what you're currently doing may be a waste of time. That's the part where you save money. When you move on to more effective marketing communications techniques, you end up with more qualified prospects per dollar. Assuming your conversion rate is a good one, this means higher ROI.

2) to help you drive new results from new techniques
Let me endeavor to say this modestly: our team has experience we know will help. We are trained in marketing, and in strategy, as well as in the many techniques that you will see in our portfolio. That's why we use the term "creative marketing." There are so many new and exciting ways to engage customers. The Web is the fastest growing advertising medium in the world. We can help you make good use of it.

3) You gain an outside perspective on your business
It goes without saying, your product is the apple of your eye. That's great news. Now, let's convince someone to buy it. We look at your product with fresh eyes and help you focus on the most compelling message. The outside perspective we bring to the table is one of the best reasons to form a relationship with our firm.

4) We disciplined in focusing on what most matters to your business.
You are paid to focus on your customers and their immediate needs. Not the tedious and unbilled time it takes to handle your own direct marketing, web development, advertising or e-marketing. By outsourcing you can spend more time working with your customer and serving them. Isn't that the best use of your time?


By outsourcing all or a part of your creative marketing to RN Johnson Creative Marketing you free yourself and your staff to focus on your core business activity. Additionally, since you will be hiring us for what we do best, we can help you continually look for better ways to increase the results of your marketing.

How To Integrate Your Website Into A More Compelling Online Program

Generating new business online is essential for high growth companies. Yet, for those who haven't explored their online options until recently, there's still some good news: it’s not too late to reap new rewards online!

A vase majority of websites provide too little content and information architecture to be truly effective. Apart from offering an online capabilities brochure, much of the what can be found online fails to catch visitor interest, or provide sales or opportunities for new business.

Yet, having a effective online strategy means more than having a website. One of the most important questions you can ask is: how can you integrate your existing website into a larger strategy for moving the business forward online? Or perhaps it should be restated...

How to integrate your website into an online approach that builds better customer relationships?

Today, with big retailers and major companies leading the way, many smaller organizations think they're over-matched, and therefore avoid direct competition with the leaders. Think of the golf courses, local banks, manufacturing companies, distributors, arts organizations and other non-for-profit groups with cursory websites that lack any real depth or content.

However, the Internet offers so many important innovations for marketers that it may be essential for your business to leap into a more aggressive pursuit of Internet initiatives. As of 2007 the Internet has become the fastest growing advertising medium in the world.

• The internet has brought unprecedented change.
• Consumer generated media is all the rage. Consider the rise of Facebook, YouTube, wireless computing, blogs and Google's unbelievable run.
• Not to mention the long tail. Now we have the long tail of the Internet to consider.*
• Technology allows us to do things we could only dream.

Indeed, the internet is no passing fad. The "trend" has grown up, it's here to stay.

So, how are you going to develop better relationships? What are you going to do to strengthen your online marketing program?

First, start by thinking of your website as the base station for your online program. Here's three main areas to explore in strengthening the base and developing a more compelling online program:

1. Leverage the power of email newsletters;
2. Improve or fix your current website;
   
3. Develop more site traffic through online advertising and search engine marketing.

Note that we have put site traffic in third place. That's because we think the infrastructure of your online program should come first. As we'll see, there are many reasons to leverage the power of an email newsletter, or at least set the stage for this investment in your future plans.

Here’s a first principal: People don't develop relationships with websites.

Instead, they develop relationships with organizations that offer them something they want. This is often a monthly stream of tips, beneficial information, new ideas, coupons and other offers sent on a regular schedule of email newsletters.

According to Jacob Nielsen, an international authority on website usability, email newsletters provide the highest Return on Investment of any other site upgrade:

“Email newsletters let you maintain a relationship with your customers that lasts beyond their visits to your site. The newsletter is the perfect website companion because it answers a different user need: newsletters keep customers informed and in touch with the company; websites give customers detailed information and let them perform business transactions... If you don't have a newsletter, then publishing one is probably the single-highest ROI action you can take to improve your Internet presence. If you do have a newsletter, then improving it according to research findings will likely make it several times more valuable to your organization.” — Jacob Nielsen, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/high-roi.html

Forge a bond with your customers by publishing an email newsletter that follows the 80/20 rule: 80% or your content should focus on your customer and what she or he cares about (the news, tips or ideas that make them want to sign up). Then with the remaining 20%, you can focus on how your product or service will benefit them.

Put this rule into effect, and you'll do much better in keeping your target audience involved, interested and engaged in your monthly email newsletter. Plus, you'll do a better job of building improved relationships and customer loyalty.

Whether your content is developed as part of a website, blog, or email newsletter, you'll be well advised to search online for other channels, bloggers, sites and newsletters that tackle the same content. Try to develop a discerning eye for effective use of Internet tools.

Remember these three things:

1. Always be looking for fresh content. Publish as frequently as possible with new insights, ideas, and commentary.
2. Use effective keywords in your online publications and website.
3. Engage in search friendly design for your website and email newsletter.

You Better Start Swimming Or You'll Sink Like A Stone

... For the times they are a changing."

(This comes from the introduction of a recent speech I made to an audience of start up marketers at McHenry County College. It has a few seeds which I want to preserve for cultivation later on... gj)


"Remember the song? Driving my daughter to High School last week, she put the CD in the dashboard player. I smiled when I heard the song. "I didn't know you liked Bob Dylan," I said. She smiled. "Of course! Everyone likes Bob Dylan dad."

Then it hits me. It's 6:30 AM and I realize Bob Dylan is a very successful marketer. Indeed, we might listened and learn:

* Successful marketers know how to swim!
* They know what it takes.
* They have learned to kick hard while under water.


For start up marketers the truth of these lyrics couldn't be more succinct.

* You'd better start swimming, or else!
* Start ups must be on target with their product strategy.
* They have to know exactly what they want in planning, spending, and doing the right things.
* A start up company must be smart, or lucky (or both).
* The stats: one out of five make it.

Then there are the more grown up corporate realities on marketing: The average tenure of a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) is now less than two years; Ditto for the average agency relationship with clients; Most major metropolitan newspapers are scrambling to maintain their franchise (attempting to reinvent themselves online due to falling readership; And, few family firms survive past the first generation.

Better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone!

Here's more:

* The internet is now the fastest growing advertising medium in the world.
* This year brought new pressure on the up-front market. First time ever another medium has put pressure on TV spending.
* Consumer generated media is all the rage. Consider the rise of Blogs, Facebook, YouTube, wireless computing, and Google's unbelievable run.
* Not to mention the long tail (more on this later). Now we have the long tail of the internet to consider
* The internet has brought unprecedented change.
* Technology now allows us to do things we could only dream.

If there's a point that I want you to remember it's this: marketing is very serious business. It always has been serious. But it is even more so now. For the times they are a changing!

Sometimes I think clients often continue to react to marketing as if it is just fun and games. Big mistake. Great marketing is resolute. Great marketing is supported by strong data and analysis. It is the product of a well founded strategy executed with passion and intelligence.

When you "go to market" you're placing a substantial bet on the future.

Tonight we're going to talk about how to swim. How to go to market. What to worry about, etc. Yet, we're also going think about changing times."

How To Leverage The Positive Perceptions of Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are much more than mere "SPAM."

Growing evidence suggests that email users are bonding to their online subscriptions. Done well, with concise copy and compelling content, an email newsletter program can build better relationships with customers than any other single enhancement you can make to your current website.

According to The Nielsen Norman Group (NNG) Report on "Email Newsletter Usability," online subscribers can often experience very emotional and positive reactions to email newsletters (see http://www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/summary.html).

Indeed, this significant finding is good news for marketers who want to enhance their online relationships. The emotional attachment people feel with email newsletters can create a stronger bond between readers and companies. More so than anything a website can achieve. When users glance at a website, their immediate task or question reins supreme. Users want to get in and get out of a website "as quickly as possible."

Not so with Email newsletters, which "...feel personal because they arrive in users' inboxes and users have an ongoing relationship with them." In fact, according to the NNG report, the email inbox is "information central" for most of us, a special place where we check for personal messages and mail.

Here's a few points to remember when designing an email newsletter:

• Though people are emotionally attached to email newsletters, there's so much traffic, the stress of processing the mailbox continues to make them wary;
• Skimming is the "dominant mode" of dealing with a cluttered inbox. Over 69% of readers skim the contents rather than read each issue.
• Only 23% of email newsletters are read thoroughly.
• With so much to read, a rigorous edit is needed so readers can scan the contents. The writing style needs to support readers who will focus on a limited portion of the layout.
• Be relevant, address specific needs with work related news, professional tips or advice, events, prices, deadlines, sales, premiums, important dates, personal interests and hobbies (remember, this is a personal medium).
• Your attitude counts a great deal. An email newsletter that's a pain to use, unsubscribe from, or that comes in too frequently, can create real animosity. Never attempt to trap the user into accepting your email newsletter or keeping them from dropping out by making the unsubscribe link hard to find. It's far better to let them go and focus on building a quality permission based list.

How do you gain subscribers in a saturated market?

Your pitch to the reader should be made from a position of strength. Place your new Email Newsletter in its rightful place of importance and support it accordingly. Commit to a regular publishing schedule that's not too frequent. The emotional engagement of readers is a precious commodity, offering strong potential. Don't take it lightly.

• Your best prospect may be someone who is literally waiting to hear from you.
• Make his life a little bit easier, better, or more profitable.
• Let him know that your email newsletter will be easy to read and use.

Notes to a Copy writer on advertising

Dear Copywriter,

It’s never so easy.

Here’s a few thoughts.

1) Bernbach once said: touch the emotions of the reader and you’ll touch their soul, etc. (or words to this effect.).

2) Try removing any mention of the company or brand name from the appeal, concept or headline and work directly with the subject, thinking only of the reader. You did this very well in our last project. In this case, the reader will see the logo in its place. We don’t need to push their name. Unless of course, a very compelling headline extols something about the brand that’s newsworthy (we can do this, but I think it will miss the essence of the product and what it means to the customer).

3) Try to make a little bit of magic happen! We need to introduce this product in a new way.

4) Capture the reader’s attention with a fundamental truth, stated memorably. If we can link a selling angle (USP) through the copy or subhead or positioning, so much the better. But even without a USP, let’s try to capture the magic of the product and build readership for the message.

Here are a couple of quick headline ideas that might be promising (suggestions only, they need more work):

* A few samples followed up on this
* Then I got back to the overall theme

You have a few nice starts, like the less is more headline. But we need a bit more search, or creative push. We need a memorable twist, but not too cute or clever. As a journalist, report on what the product will do. But be more intimate in style. We’re trying to capture the interest of a reader by appealing directly to her desires and self interest. We’re trying to capture a fundamental truth or essence on the “uniqueness of relationship between the customer and the product.”

If you feel totally stifled, try writing a very personal letter to a friend. Show lots of enthusiasm for the product and how it will make her feel better, help her do more things, or improve her health. Don’t even think of mentioning the client. Just capture the story in the most compelling way. That letter is likely to produce a few lines of copy and headline. Maybe a strong headline.

Remember, it’s the emotions of the reader we want to touch.


Greg

How To Fix Your Website, And Stay Grounded

Fixing your website is easy, right?

But, how are you going to stay grounded when doing this?

It's tempting to say: "touch the edge of your computer's main frame!" But no, I'm not referring to static electricity. Instead I want to reinforce the importance of staying grounded in your thinking when you plan a website, or revise one that's currently online.

Most clients fall into distinct categories of web development:

1. Those who yearn for new applications, technology and dazzling effects;
2. And those who want a more effective business tool.

Now, you may think we prefer clients who want new applications and technology. Yet, our practice tends to attract more practical, grounded business people who are less focused on pyrotechnics or dynamic functionality. In fact, most of our customers don't feel very romantic about the internet. Instead, they want sound methodology and analysis to provide a more profitable return on their investment.

We're happy to comply with their needs. After all, it's their demand that drives our business.

However, this duality can present a curious dilemma: Despite the growth of new media, desire for new technology must be considered in light of a site plan that's based on the appropriate use of today's resources. Right now, the web is the fastest growing advertising medium in the world, out pacing television, newspapers, magazines, radio and other traditional media (which still lead in market share, but the gap is narrowing). Many leading marketers are seeking a competitive edge in user generated content, wireless computing, video blogs, social networking websites, behavioral targeting, and the continuing evolution in search engine marketing.

Yet, website developers and clients often confuse methods and goals in becoming deadlocked or compromised for the wrong reasons on site development priorities. The rush for new database functionality, online video or multimedia may seem promising. Yet, basic navigational problems, obscure page designs or difficult information architecture may be doing more harm than good. It is here that a well grounded viewpoint can help.

The grounded business person will move carefully with a well development plan based on improved usability, well designed and informative product pages, better writing, and a solid navigational scheme.

We know of one construction implement manufacturer who was so caught up in a protracted redevelopment process that they let their site languish unchanged while the redevelopment effort bogged down. They're intentions changed from basic makeover to a bigger project that could have been done in phases. The impact in lost business may never be fully realized or known.

At times the rush to be with it by making use of the latest web functionality, may lead you down the wrong path. High tech enthusiasm may send the wrong signal. Though your next website should reflect a timely image, it may be more profitable to revisit the basics first. In essence if you stay grounded, you may be better off.

Here's what current usability studies tell us to address as a first priority:

1. Fix the stuff that's broken. There's a good chance your language is drawn out and difficult to read online. Your photos may be too small or poorly lit. Try running a usability test of your current site with a small targeted group. You may be surprised to learn that the most important action items may not be high tech.
2. Consider this: people don't spend much time with the first visit to a website (they move on quickly if they don't find what they're looking for). Because of this its important to design each main topic page as a landing page for your site. In supporting deep link visitors you'll need to think critically about the content on all of these pages. It is crucial to the success of your site.
3. Check your navigation. Make sure it's consistent, well thought out and easy to use, with good descriptive text for labels and links. Each page title should match the link names. Many sites lose visitors through poor information architecture.
4. Make sure every page communicates the essence of what your site is about. People will scan the page to make their decision to read further, or move on. Make sure they get the point quickly on every page of your site.
5. Provide information that real users actually want. The purpose of a site is often obscured by the many creators and cooks who conspire to build it. The problem comes when someone pays a visit. Users want to know whether your services meet their needs, and why they should do business with you.
6. Now that you have done justice to the basics, look to the burgeoning world wide web and its many high tech innovations. By staying grounded at first, you'll be in a better position to seize that new competitive advantage.

Draw Them In To Your Site With The Right "Scent"

Let me hit you with this one: Successful websites can be analyzed by understanding the visitor's sense of smell!

You think I'm kidding, right?

Yet, as crazy as it sounds this concept reflects scientific findings in human-computer interaction research which date back to the early 90's (a nearly pre-historic age in computer technology) at the Palo Alto Research Center in California. Back then Stuart Card and Peter Pirolli used the analogy of wild animals gathering food to better understand how humans collect information online. This led them to the concept of "information foraging." Hence the idea of information scent in predicting how people actually follow up on a spoor of data and then continue in following the path to hit upon the information they're seeking to find.

It's all so figurative, of course. But, that's what makes the analogy so appealing. You can't actually smell anything online (unless your computer keyboard becomes very dirty). But your eyes can translate what you're seeing and reading into a warmer feeling, which is akin to the scent a predator picks up as it follows a path to its prey.

The website developer's job is to make that scent appear when it should, to make it a bit stronger at every step, so the information forager continues on the right path and reaches his goal on your site.

There's an inversion of natural selection here. No prey wants to be caught; but your website does. You want your site to be easily found and captured. You want people to satisfy their quest on your site's pages and links. It's our job to make it as easy as possible. We want them to catch the scent of a successsful hunt and reinforce it as they click the links. To do this we make your site a nutritious meal (or even a delicious little snack) and allow the forager to sniff it out early as an easy catch.

Here are a few things we do to enhance the smell of success for information foraging:

1) Spend time on links and category discriptions. This takes some analysis and pre-production time, but it's very much worthwhile. With so many navigational options available through a search query, the hunter has too many choices at every step. She can loose the scent quite easily. There's work to be done here that you don't want to short-change.

2) Avoid using jargon and cute words that have no common usage or "scent." Slogans cannot be saught out ahead of time by people who don't know what they mean. Unless you have a universal household trade name, try to make use of short, common English nouns and verbs to in your headings, link names, navigational elements, and copy.

3) Keep it easy for the visitor to know where they are in your site at all times, and provide stimulating links and for them to continue their efforts in drilling down to interior pages and information that will satisfy their search.

4) Use informative product pages. Don't assume anyone knows your product names and model numbers. They won't know them or find them on their own. Too often product pages are nearly barren of any real meat (hence no real scent to smell).

5) Use great product photography with people shown enjoying product benefits. This helps the visitor identify with the information and understand how the product will help them.

6) Drawing the visitor with the right scent is a cummulative process. Make sure these message elements find their way into main topic pages as well as the "deep links" on your site.

Four Things Site Visitors Do Online That You Should Know

Today Web visitors use search engines as 'answer engines.' They have learned much about the World Wide Web and they now view it as a single, integrated resource (for a great discussion of this pick up a copy of "Prioritizing Web Usability" by Nielsen and Loranger). The result of this shift means they don't think or care very much about individual websites. Their information grazing habits have turned them into answer engine query animals turning stones to find digestible nuggets of information. Here are the four things they do when they visit your site:

1) They go to their preferred search engine and type a few descriptive words.

2) The look at the top listings of the search engine results page.

3) They visit some of the sites they find on that page, but leave quickly after a minute or two... at best.

4) They view most pages for less than half a minute.

With such pressure to communicate effectively, you'll want to avoid fluffy talk, vague language, misleading statements, or poor graphics and photography. You'll want to give them well written and concise information, and avoid the temptation to engage in a concentrated sales pitch. You'll want to make sure your site is lean, well designed, easy to navigate, and standards compliant.

This takes a fusion of marketing, research, strategy, creative thinking and some experience with usability studies on how people succeed in their tasks using the web, and how they fail.

How Scrolling Affects Your Website

Most Web users simply do not take the time to scroll down a web page, at least not very far down anyway. This may be disconcerting if you're a website publisher or marketer. It's likely you have worked hard on your site's content and delivered a lot of good material and data.

Did you do the right thing in developing longer copy that takes up several screens of information?

Or, should you start over with shorter pages which require less scrolling?

It is a question every site designer will consider at some point. Just how much information constitutes a page? Based on usability and tracking data, most site visitors don't scroll past the first screen of a landing page. Just over 40% of them remain for a short time on the first screen before choosing to move on, or back to the search engine results page (SERP) to click another link. For professional and business to business sites a higher proportion of users will take more time to investigate site offerings. In fact, more experienced web users will do more scrolling than people who are less comfortable on the web. The experienced user knows that important information is often hidden below the first screen on many websites. However, for any site geared to consumers, it's very important to think through the content that will appear "above the fold" (i.e. the top portion of a folded newspaper) on the first screen of the landing page.

This is a quick business. People feel pressed having to go through so much information. They're impatient in searching through web pages looking for what they need. Since most web pages offer up convoluted writing and limited information at best, users often make the right decision to keep on clicking instead of scrolling and reading. It is important to be there with what they want by providing well written headlines, subheads, and pin-pointed copy above the fold, on the landing page for their keyword query.

Eliminate scrolling, or use longer copy? What's the best approach?

Shorter pages can be seen and assesed more easily. Yet genuine in-depth content requires longer treatment. Learn the proper way to engage the visitor with strong opening copy. Make sure the first two sentences effectively introduce and summarize what the page offers. Make good use of text links within the content so your visitors can find related information easily without leaving your site or returning to the search engine results page.

It's in your interest to keep them engaged and interested. Additionally, don't be shy in helping them find your product or service offerings. You must know how to present good copy headlines above the fold to gain their interest and engagement.

Targeted Searches Have Defined User Needs, How They See Your Site, & What They Want to Find

We used think about a website in a different way that we do today. It used to be that we were expecting people might visit our site, bookmark it, enjoy visiting, etc. But in truth, that's not the case, according to recent usability studies.

Instead, the web today is one vast integrated resource for users who are not looking for sites to visit. Instead, they want answers to immediate questions, often isolated pieces of data or information, such as how long it took Lewis and Clark to reach the Pacific. Or, where can I find the best price for the new ipod. Or, give me a nice hotel in San Francisco this weekend (as searched in google or yahoo, and not through Expedia).

For most users this targeted search activity has redefined how they use the Web. They seek focused information, usually the stuff that's found on the interior pages of sites, with no stop-over for the home page, and very little use or exploration beyond the immediate need or task.

In old days, before 1994, prior to the development of modern visual browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape, a few people used the Internet to find articles, technical information and arcane bits and pieces of research. There were perhaps, 30,000 websites on the Web. The idea of visiting a site for entertainment, pleasure, or a visual tour of a hotel room, or any other kind of "visiting" simply did not exist.

Today, we have gone full circle. In the aggregate, users worldwide hit the web for specific answers and don't bother to bookmark anything at all. Their loyalty is to a search engine, used primarily as an answer engine which can dredge up an endless numbers of interior web pages to address an immediate need or task. The user simply doesn't care about the sites themselves. This kind of behavior, called "information foraging" has allowed users to search out information by through keywords more easily than by sticking with one site and exploring the links.

Much of what exists on the web is out of date in this sense, not because it is unattractive or unprofessional looking. Instead, it just does not meet visitor needs quickly and simply. Visitors are not going to browse. Instead they arrive at a page, find what they need, and leave. Maybe twenty or forty seconds in all. No further visiting, fun as that may be. It's more like this: here they are. Now they're gone.

You cannot change their behavior, but you can redesign you site to catch the bird when it's in your hand.

Ask yourself, do users quickly find what they need on the interior pages of your site? Do you show them text based links within the content area for related choices or more information? When you give away free information, do they find your product shown immediately and clearly as the solution to their need? These links (called"Also See" links) can be placed strategically within your site, on each and every page, to keep them reading and discovering what you have, both for the intrinsic value of the information and for the main selling points of your product.

This is where usability, information architecture and page design naturally flow into each other. It is the place where search engine marketing resides. Natural, organic search results derive from the way you present your content, the link names you use and the way in which your site is designed.

In the pre-Mosaic age the web was a network of information where the base unit was an article about a certain topic. It was not about websites per se.

Search engines have become the user interface to the world's abundance of information. This is good news for users, who merely spend a few minutes making their query in a brief string of key words to find what they need. Unfortunately for the marketer who is building a website, this is not necessarily such a good thing. But you can set a course to take advantage of how today's web is being used.

As they once said in the stock market, "don't fight the tape. Make the trend your friend."

The High Price of Bad Writing. How It May Cause Your Website to Fail

The power of effective writing for the Web has been recognized as more marketers strive to create sites reflecting higher standards of usability.

Yet, despite this good news, there's an overwhelming abundance of bad writing on the web. Convoluted prose, complex paragraphs, repeating phrases and vague navigational elements may cause visitors to abandon pages that might have the information or products they want, but which they're not willing to wade through to find.

Here's a few points to remember:

• Effective web writing... is clear, concise, descripitive. It reflects and reveals interior contents and site purpose.
• Ineffective web writing... is repetitious, complex, convoluted and wordy.
• Bad web writing... is disorganized and poorly written, to the point where visitors fail in performing basic tasks.

The irony is bad web writing may be rhetorically admirable, well informed, and possess an interesting style or personality. This comes from a distinction between pixels and printing. Whereas we're conditioned to read printed books, articles, and magazines in a linear, sometimes reflective consciousness, the web is about delivering usable data and nuggets of information that visitors are actively seeking. Usually, their quest is very specific and directed.

So, the writer's style can get in the way, even when the writing itself may work reasonably well in print (say in a book or article). Dump that article online and it looks daunting! A dense sea of text which fails to reveal its contents easily or quickly. In usability studies, visitors may navigate to right area of a site, only to find themselves defeated by a thicket of words. Sometimes the content is vague. When attempting to caraefully read through, many visitors simply don't get it, and leave the site.

You may be thinking, "this isn't true for me. Not for our site." However, you may want to recheck just to be sure. Sometimes site managers and content experts are too close to what they're doing. They don't realize the phrases, acronyms, common industry terms, or products they work with everyday, may not intuitively easy or accesssible for others. Also, attempts at clever writing, metaphor, lengthy descriptions and examples often break down on screen, as visitors lose their patience.

Great images help.

Good design helps.

The right words help.

Especially when you get to the point right away.

Effective Writing for The Web

Writing for the Web is very different than writing advertising copy or corporate white papers. Web visitors surf and search with specific goals. They scan for simple descriptive labels. They make decisions quickly. They avoid complex, busy pages, with confusing labels and link names. They're impatient with over-written copy that's boastful or filled with marketing hype.

Some direct mail writers do poorly at first in this new medium due to their hard sell conditioning. Yes, product benefits should emerge. But the writer must remember the visitor is already in search mode, looking for solid, creditable information. He's landing on the site, fully prepared to investigate; she's predisposed and ready to learn. They want technical information, product comparisons, frequently asked questions, etc.

This is not the time to hit them over the head with your marketing. When people enter a query, they end up with a "million hits" on their desktop. Their first task is a ruthless leap through the pages they don't want to see. And, these days it doesn't take long. Usually, a smart marketer has figured out how to design, write and optimize a site with great usability factors, one that ranks high in the search engine response pages.

The short of it: if your site won't satisfy; they won't stick around (assuming they even find your site).


Style Tips

Serve up the major point of each page in the first two sentences.

Give 'em text bullets, short sentences and short paragraphs. Get to the point!

Support Deep Link Visitors to Your Website. Here's Why

An important aspect of web usability has to do with the "deep link" and what it may mean to the success of your website.

A deep link is the initial visit to an interior page made by a new visitor. Instead of entering through the home page, these visitors will see an interior page through a search engine or third party link.

What's important about this? According to Jacob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger in their landmark book, "Prioritizing Web Usability" deep links account for nearly 60% of initial page views. Additionally, the visits to the interior pages account for an average of 60 seconds, well past the 20 to 30 second average for the typical home page.

The important thing for you to remember is to actively support this characteristic of the web. Don't fight it, as many still do, because you're proud of the home page and want everyong to gain access to your site through the "front door." It's virtually impossible to control where the traffic will come from. As the old stock market saying suggests, "don't fight the tape; make the trend your friend."

Many rich sites are akin to a house with a thousand doors. Deep linking will enhance usability of your site. It gives visitors a chance to find the very nugget of information, or point of discuassion, their looking for. An unmediated, inside scoop direct to the most cogent page. Why try to control their access to this information? Deep links enhance usability "because they are more likely to satisfy user needs." A generic link that takes someone to the home page of a site is often less useful than a direct link to an article, or a product, which is the real subject of the search engine query.

Supporting deep linking is not a difficult thing to do. But you must consider this aspect of your site when you design it and build out the site.

Better still, when you create your strategy for search engine optimization, you should consider which pages on your site are the most useful and optimize them accordingly. You should encourage search engines and third party sites to link directly to these high content, high value pages, the ones that address specific issues.

You'll end up with more traffic, more satisfied readers and visitors overall.

Why Your Next Website Should Comply With The New Standards

There's a major shift in the media world which you may not be following closely. It goes like this: the old rulers of media are losing ground to internet media (the new rulers). I know. It may not be so earth shaking. You already know this to be true, right? However, what you may not realize is the extent to which the ground is shifting, and how fast.

Today's stock market report on the Tribune and Los Angeles Times reports more red ink. Just when they thought they were getting a handle on their online ventures (local websites) in stemming a losing tide and repositioning their brands, etc., more bad news comes along: Jobs, Autos, and Housing sectors, which were deemed to be on a gentle upswing, are clearly not showing the expected stabilizing trend.

Now, as a marketer you may be saying, "so what? I wasn't planning to do more newspaper advertising anyway." So be it. It may be incidental to everything else for your company right now. Yet, I think the current media picture is also suggesting a bit more than this.

The web is no longer a playground of experimentation. It's now solidly established as the main thoroughfare of news, personal communications, entertainment, texting, mobile computing and wireless technology, etc. It is now the dominant (if not dominating) media growth trend in the U.S. and the world.

So, here's a question: Have you changed your marketing approach to take advantage of this trend? Or, have you been slowly sticking your toe into the online waters? If you have been pro-active, is your web presence reflecting the new standards of usability and complaince?

If not, do you realize the price you may be paying for the delay in redoing your web presence?

When you click on a search link in Google or Yahoo and proceed to a website... hosted somewhere, anywhere in the world... and find the exact nugget of information, or the product you're looking for (at the right price), you experience the web at its best, as a medium conforming to high usability standards and compliance. Your search was seemless, and the results page satisfied your query with an appropriate ranking of relevant information.

Assuming the site you visited met your needs, for the information you needed, the download that took place, or the product you purchased, it will have been in large part due to the new standards of web development that have taken place in the last few years.

Now, statistically, only a few sites truly perform in this way. A very large majority of the millions of sites created and hosted, in the last five to six years don't satisfy the criteria set forth by the WC3 (World Wide Web Consotium). They do not use XHTML architecture, or CSS style sheets for design. They use bloated code, take a long time to download, and are largely inaccessible to people with disabilities. These sites simply don't fare as well in the search engines. In a CSS driven site the structured markup makes the site more friendly to the search engine spiders.

So what happened to all those other sites? Where were they during your search query?

For the most part, these sites appeared in the anonymous listings that fell below the top ten as ranked by Google, MSN, Ask.com and Yahoo.

Yes, they're still there. Perhaps the site publishers still think of them as a great bargain.

Trusting Your Gut Instinct

It's soooo "scientific" these days, trust your gut! Of course, you won't get promoted. But you'll feel good.

Just finished reading another Email Insider by David Baker (11/20/06 from Media Post). I really should stop reading them. There must have been a rash on getting past the data measurement fix at Media Post (http://www.mediapost.com), which may be putting some direct marketers into the Constant Spin Cycle.

Baker's core message in, "Don't Believe Everythng You Hear," deals with the unmasking of Urban Legends in E-mail Marketing. For example...

• He takes on the one about putting all of your content on the top left of the preview pane. Yet, it's not so air tight as it may seem. What's the Reality? "Test different layouts," he says.

• Then, there's the one that says, "don't put your main content below the fold." So what's the reality behind this Urban Legend? If it's just clicks you're using to measure success, think again. Maybe you should consider measuring sales, or leads, or opens over time and put the content where it works best in the final analysis which may be above, or below, the infamous fold.

• Finally, there's the legend on long copy, which says that all copy must be short, that no one has time to read anymore, etc. Yet, as long as marketers continue testing copy length, they'll rediscover the truth about long copy, that it often performs much better than short copy.

Okay. So the data can take you only so far.

Innovation is the art of doing something unexpected, finding new patterns in old things, engaging the reader or vistor. The value of your product of company may require longer treatment. If that's the case, you can chalk it up to "good writing and solid content" which translates into more copy, e.g. the old direct mail mantra: the more you tell the more you sell.

I guess you can trust your gut if it's working properly. However, maybe it's not such a good idea if you haven't got any gut or instinct, or hunch to invest. We tend to forget this point. The fixation on data happens because many otherwise bright people won't automatically know which way to go next, without a few objective correlatives to fall back on.

Data is what the brain wants to see when it comes time to analyze.

Information is what we use to confirm our gut instinct.

It' okay to trust you gut if you take the time to become well informed. That's why measurement is so important. Why scientific analysis should be done carefully, each step of the way. Why you should read widely in the emerging field of internet marketing.

With regard to the web, on-going usability analysis has emerged on the study of interfaces and how people use them which are nearly immutable.* Yet, on closer inspection, you'll see many points of analysis and observation which are changing, as the technology changes, as people become more accustomed to using the web.

This too becomes of primary importance to the practice of email marketing. We may have reached a point where the fascination with metrics and analytics has nearly driven everyone mad with an over-abundance of conclusions which have not necessarily been confirmed as universal.

There's still a whole lot of learning going on.


*See "Prioritizing Web Usability" by Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger, from New Riders Press

Friday the 13th Musings On Metrics and Data

It's Friday the 13th. I'm closing up. Ready to go home and enjoy the weekend with my family.

Perhaps we'll see re-runs tonight of the old slasher movie which has memorialized this infamous Friday. Is it Freddie Kruger or Michael Meyers? I don't know which one to worry about. That's my problem I guess.

It's also true that I may be running the risk of appearing contrary to e-mail marketing and the chase for data supremacy. This 'losing the forest through the trees' stuff in my last post may make some you smile at me as naive and out of step. Especially with my last posting to this space. But, I've got to follow up once more. The subject of harvesting data, perhaps at the expense of strategy, remains unresolved. Which is probably useful to me in continuing to pique my curiosity.

Today I found one more "Email Insider" article from Media Post (11/16/06, by Amy D'Oliveira entitled "Going On A Data Diet") while wandering through my little binder of good stuff. She brings three points to the table on how to differentiate between the "interesting 'so what' and the actionable 'now what'... when looking at all the performance data, and how to tell the difference. Here's her key action points...

• Define program succss measures upfront and identify the relevant metrics.
• Track these metrics over time and keep them consistent.
• When data mining, ask the hard question: "what will we do with this information to improve our program?"

With more information coming along so quickly and readily through the digital dashboard on emailings, you have a choice of how to analyze your data and what you're going to pay attention to it, based on your strategic goals. In essence, you still need an overall strategy to guide you in digesting all this information and fine tuning your program.

The abundance of data, now so quickly harvested, easily accessed and analyzed (correctly we hope) brings real prospects for automated marketing. But the essential questions shall always start with the customer and the individuality of their relationship to the product.

That's it. That part isn't going to go away any time soon. We're dealing with people and not just data. There is an essential level of psychology and understanding which must preceed, any key stragegy decision.

To investigate and ask questions, even if they're rhetorical, is compelling to my interest in writing these entries.

So, who's it going to be: Kruger or Meyers?

Which slasher do you fear the most?

How to See The Forest Through The E-mail

My thanks to David Baker for his insightful brief ("Simplify Your E-mail Marketing Programs," Email Insider, 10/2/06, Media Post). His article is one of several we have been keeping in a binder for internal discussion. This particular entry owes a lot to his comments.

Here's a quote: ""Many of you have patched together teams of multiple vendors: one for the business brief, another for the creative brief, an agency to build the e-mail, and then a provider to deliver your precious cargo. As a result, many programs suffer from the complexity... leaving no time for applied learning."

Or, as I might say more generally in expanding on this topic: technique for the sake of technique often contributes to needless complications and distractions. Even perhaps to the formation of bad marketing ideas.

It so happens, e-mail marketing thrives on technique. It's part of the nature of the medium. However, as marketers we must be concerned with the habitual chasing of 'best practice du jour.' Many benefits of marketing take time to develop. The voice and personality, not to mention brand formation, takes time. It should not be baked and served too quickly. Not if you want to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

In a world transifixed by technology, many marketers pursue short term gains at the expense of long term goals. It is common to see people chasing technique, when they should be re-asking basic questions along the way: what are we trying to do? What are we trying to share in this new space (e-mail) that will reinforce customer perception and branding? What is the goal of this particular campaign or e-mailing? What are the objectives we need to reach in meeting them? Why should the customer care?

Chasing returns is counter productive in the stock market. But what about the stock we place in the brands we trust? Is it not counter productive to chase too many short term gains? What if these gains end up diminishing how the customer perceives our product?

Too many trees may obscure the forest. Just because the analytics and reporting are built-in, doesn't mean you should live and die by them with such fervor in every e-mail. Relationship marketing is a carefully built process. To your customer or subscriber, the choices they make in opening your message, or in becoming "engaged" with it, may have little to do with the metrics of testing, which may better reflect the sender's obsession with tactics and instant gratification (test, test, test, with lots of measurement, too little strategy?).

Your customer does not live with technology in the same way you live with it. She is definitely not sharing the fixation on measurement. We must always remind ourselves that measurement is often part of a larger more subjective analysis. It may be ironic that testing obsessions can end up becoming symptomatic of a continual misuse of data.

Let me replay the five guidelines from David Baker (in paraphasing his originals):

1. Be clear about your goals and don't get confused between goals and objectives. They are not the same.

2. If there is not going to be a measurable value attached to your test results, why do it?

3. Test only what you will be able to act on. Why measure what you cannot change?

4. (Quoted verbatim from Baker's post): "Quantify response -- both in cost to attain and cost to manage. If you don't interpret this, it will be an empty open rate or click through rate."

5. Stick to a six-words in summarizing your reasons for each new campaign or tactic. If you can't say it simply, it may be too complex.

Three More Points On Preview Panes

No sooner had I finished yesterday's post on preview panes, than I ran across Email Diva's take on the matter (Melinda Kruger, 9/25/06, Email Insider, from Media Post). She suggests all email marketers should be optimizing for the preview, assuming that blocked images are the norm, by giving the reader a choice on whether to open or delete.

Seems simple enough. Just pack your punch in the upper left corner, work to get on the friend's or safe list with each subscriber, and consider using Goodmail for Yahoo and AOL subscribers.

On the first of these, the advice still has me a little bit concerned. Perhaps so few are truly doing this. It may not be the 'numbing down' of the same layout over and over again which I'm so cautious about. As Melinda puts it, "While we are all tempted to put a big image and graphic headlines at the top of the e-mail, it more often than not comes through as boxes with red Xs in the corners." She suggests you determine what makes your e-mail a must read and put those benefits top left. On working to get on the friends safe list the suggestion is to ask for this on the registration screen, in the welcome e-mail and in every single e-mail that follows. Then there's Goodmail certification. Here the advice is to do it so your e-mails can arrive intact. Kruger says, "Goodmail certification also allows copywriters to curtail self-censorship... free is no longer a dirty word."

While I like and admire the writing I see in the Media Post, I'm still a little worried about the standard advice, which seems a bit too much like a common recipe, something we all must do in the same way if we want to see results. If awareness advertising is the art of marketing and direct marketing is the science of getting people to respond and make decisions, then the science has trumped art. It is the science of direct marketing that is truly winning.

There's no question that permission marketing has a defined set of best practices. However, the more we follow each other, the less true innovation in format and style we'll see.

Maybe it's just me. But I'm concerned with the straight-jacket that seems to be emerging.

Imagine the same restrictions on a print brochure. Or, a commercial. As consumers of media, we would go a little crazy with the monotony, redundancy and repitition if subjected to the same execution, over and over again.

Fashion icon Diana Vreeland once responded to the question, "what is style" by saying "True style has an animalistic, steely whip."

Now that's light years from permission marketing. But, the essence of it seems bear consideration. Real style, in anything you can name, will always be derived from genuine orginality. The challenge for the creative person is to "find new patterns in old things."

But how can do this, with so much imitation of technique?

I'm looking forward to learning more about real creativity in e-mail marketing.