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Will People Read Below Your Fold? |
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No matter what you think the web is about information. The information may make you laugh or inspire you to buy but its about information. If you are reading this then you have proven it. You want to learn more about me or my services and you are reading. Keep this in mind when developing your pages. Each image should include a caption, each story should be built top down. Important stuff first. Write like a newspaper editor.
Though developing your own style is certainly important (many dedicated readers will revisit sites more for their style than their substance), recent studies confirm that the whole "keep it above the fold" mentality has not gone the way of the dodo.
Strong organization of material is indispensable. Yes, your site has scroll bars for easy navigation. But the attention span of the modern web user is measured in nanoseconds. Place your bullet points high on the page and get to the gist of the information as soon as possible. Then drill down to specifics. Not everyone is willing to invest the time it takes to hit page down. Incidentally, pagination doesn't really seem to improve overall readership, and may actually lead to higher drop-off.
A neat little trick is to embed some really tasty bit of information toward the bottom of your page, as a call-out, sidebar, or footer. Do it consistently and, studies have shown, people will anticipate these nuggets, which may bring in better readership for the full article.
Read the whole article here. |
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Did I tell you I hate Flash? |
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The future of mobile computing is clear/murky. The iPHone/iPad are game changers but there are a lot of companies that are going to step up to the game (Google Android for one) to compete. The real question is what is the killer ap that will emerge that will force a Doctor, Real-Estate Agent and/or Business-person to buy a smart-phone for no other reason than to perform a specific task. (Making a phone call is a bonus.) I convinced my father to buy me an IBM XT while I was in college so I could do Word Processing. This was a legitamate business application that was my gateway to $2500 of technology. Our kids/colleagues all want smart phones, whats the killer app that'll get the bosses to buy one for them? Once that app is released all bets are off.
I'm not a fan of Flash but this is brain-food to ponder...
If the smartphone goes the way of previous computers, and the way of the internet, Apple's strategy will eventually lead to the iPhone occupying a similar niche to the Mac -- a miniscule market share sustained only by the fanatical loyalty of dedicated followers.
Steve Jobs says he hates Adobe Flash and will not support it on iPhone. The reason is clear -- Flash provides a cross-platform development system. Build an app in Flash and it runs on every operating system that supports Flash. In this sense Flash becomes an operating system to sit above the different operating systems deployed, providing developers with the widest possible market.
If all phone apps are written in Flash, then I can switch phones without inconvenience -- I'll keep my apps. People -- both consumers and developers -- are no longer locked into Apple. Apple has shown it likes to own the entire space around its devices, but history has shown that consumers like open systems, and that they inevitably get what they want. Locking Flash out is unsustainable if you want to retain market share.
"I'm not convinced iPhone/iPad has a long-term future. It's a closed system. It's attractive now because the U.S. lacks an open alternative, but it's inevitable that one will develop."
Read the full Article Here
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Social Media Dollars and Sense |
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Up to this point, if your social media program has been running on the fumes of your already over-extended marketing manager, who is operating outside of his or her comfort zone or at best, you have an eager intern or two tweeting out the occasional press release.
Hiring a dedicated social media manager is a thoughtfully considered investment. How do you plan on measuring its returns to your brand and to your organization? There are a number of outstanding tools and platforms (Radian6 and Sysomos, to name two top choices) for mining the rich and incredibly valuable brand and customer data that are generated via the social web. |
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Buzz
