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The Promotion World Informer
Issue #61 March 15, 1999
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This issue of the Informer is sponsored by:
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Contents Of This Issue:
- Editor's Notes
- Cool Quotes
- Friendly Advice from the Editor
- Sponsor Message
- Get Them Involved!
- What's New At Promotion World
- Searching With Hayden
- The Discussion Board
- Sponsor Message
- Website Usability
- A Small Request
- Misc. Information
=========================== Editor's Notes ======================
Wow... I was hardly prepared for the inundation of comments I received
as a result of my simple question, "what do you think of the Informer"
question last week. I received over 20 in depth and well thought out
responses! I received many suggestions and great ideas, and I will be
implementing many of them. However, the general theme throughout the
majority of the messages was "it's great the way it is- don't change it!"
Of course, almost everyone had one or two things to point out or request.
One kind fellow took great delight in pointing out a grammatical error in
my article on professionalism. It is nice to know that I add some amusement
to people's lives.
I also received some requests for articles on a specific subject. I will
work on those.
Only three people out of the twenty responses I received asked for a
shorter newsletter. The rest almost all said that something along the
lines of "You have good content. While the content remains good the
length is almost irrelevant".
So, I won't be making the issues any longer, but I most likely won't be
cutting them shorter, either.
There you have it. If you find the newsletter too long, you may want to
just pick and choose what you read from each issue. That seems to be what
most people do. Only people with a lot of extra time on their hands should
read information that is irrelevant to them.
Enjoy the issue!
The Informer is sent only to those who have expressly requested it.
If you no longer wish to receive it, simply follow the simple
unsubscribe instructions at the end of this newsletter.
============================ Cool Quotes ========================
Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At
least they can find Kuwait.
- A. Whitney Brown
Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of
science, 1949
The average person puts only 25 percent of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50 percent of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100 percent.
-- Andrew Carnegie
Download all the past Cool Quotes by sending any email to
<mailto:quotes@promotionworld.com&> Enjoy!
================= Friendly Advice from the Editor =================
I received quite the response to my article on personalizing websites.
I would like to follow up on a few of the concerns that were raised,
as well as put in a few more ideas that I had over the last week. If
this doesn't interest you, don't worry, we will get on to different
and more exciting topics next week.
One comment went as follows:
"However, I don't know if I should [personalize my site]. I am trying
to run a business; I am trying to be a professional. I don't want to
be boring - but it's hard to figure out where to draw the line."
I can see the point here. You don't want to downgrade your site in an
effort to personalize it.
I thought that a few "case studies" might be helpful.
I would like to point out an example of an excellent, professional
and yet friendly and personal site. Have a look at
<http://www.jellybelly.com>.
This site makes you feel quite at home. There is just something
about the design... maybe it is the dancing jellybean at the top,
or the friendly, well-designed buttons. Maybe it is the clean design
and excellent color selection, or maybe it is a combination of all
of these things. Not to mention the outstanding content.
Of course, this site is generally geared for a younger audience. Are
there any larger sites out there that really make you feel at home?
Good question. I spent a large chunk of the morning searching for a
good example.
I finally found a reasonable example. <http://www.fortunecity.com/>
has built up a community of users, and seems to have a very personable
site. As they say, "...we're themed on a real life city, which means
interaction between the citizens, district related and seasonal
activities, and a multitude of events happening around your very eyes,
just waiting for you to take notice of them!"
Of course, we won't mention the fact that I can't stand sites with black
backgrounds. That is a subject for another time.
There are other types of personalizing, as well. Many of the larger
search engines such as <http://www.excite.com> are offering
personalization to their users, letting them edit the search engine's
main page to suit their preferences. Of course, this is beyond the
average website owner's means, but it helps to get you thinking of the possibilities.
If you really want to personalize your page, (ahem!), you can try
the free Dialectizer at <http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/>. It will
quickly convert your website from English to... well, maybe you should
just go have a look!
Another good idea is using friendly looking clip art on your site.
I recommend <http://www.barrysclipart.com> as a good place to search
for free clip art.
I hope these sites get your imagination going, and get you thinking
about ways you can make your visitors feel more at home around your
site. You want your site to be a place visitors enjoy coming back to!
Joshua
Editor/webmaster/ad sales guy/everything else at Promotion World.
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======================= Get Them Involved! =======================
Get Them Involved!
by Jennifer Johnson
There's this site I love...I can go to it day after day after day. It never
changes; always the same great content laid out in that old familiar way. I
just never tire of reading the same thing. In fact, I'll bet by now I've got
the entire site completely memorized, but I visit it anyway for sentimental
reasons - I've grown attached to it. Don't you have a few sites that you feel
this way about?
Before we go any further, let me say that the above paragraph is a complete
and total lie (forgive me) and if you answered "yes" to the previous question,
you just might be spending a few too many hours in front of the ol' computer.
Most people will need a little more stimulation in order to encourage them to
return to your site. Great content is wonderful, but if your site never
changes, it won't do much in the way of fostering return visits. I love
chocolate, but if I was forced to stare at the same bowl of chocolatey cereal
at breakfast day after day I might go a little cuckoo for...well, you get the
picture.
It takes a lot of work to get a quality site together, but the work doesn't
end there; in fact, that's where the real work begins. A web site - a good one
- is never really "finished"; it's always in the process of evolving and
changing.
There are other things you can do, aside from adding new text content, to
entice visitors to return to your site, however. I'm going to discuss a few of
these things now.
ADD A MESSAGE BOARD
A message board allows visitors to your site to post new messages for other
visitors to see and to respond to messages others have posted on the board.
There are two basic types of boards, moderated and unmoderated.
Moderated boards are "controlled" by an assigned moderator, usually yourself,
but it could be another individual you've designated to take on that task. The
moderator reviews the submitted messages and decides whether or not to approve
them to be posted for viewing by the group.
Unmoderated boards are those in which all posts are viewable by any visitor.
You usually have the option of deleting unwanted posts, however.
You might want to think about implementing one or more message boards on your
site. Visitors benefit from being able to post questions or comments and you
benefit because you have other people helping you help your visitors. In some
cases, it can cut down on the amount of email correspondence you have to keep
up with.
I use a message board provided by Inside The Web
<http://www.insidetheweb.com>. It's free (of course, there are the mandatory
ads) and it's very easy to setup and administer.
E-MAIL NEWSLETTER OR DISCUSSION LIST
Another great way to keep in touch with visitors and promote repeat visits is
to publish an email newsletter or discussion list.
These types of email correspondence are a great way to keep in touch with
visitors without being intrusive - your visitors are given the option of
signing up for your newsletter or list.
You can include articles, tips, new items added to your site, etc. with a
newsletter. It also gives you the opportunity to cover a given topic in much
more detail than you might be able to on site.
Discussion lists give subscribers the chance to join in the "conversation".
These can be a great tool for expanding knowledge in a given subject area. The
LinkExchange Digest <http://digest.linkexchange.com> is a good list for web
site owners to join, as is I-ADVERTISING Digest
<http://www.internetadvertising.org/>.
You can ask your hosting company if they offer the ability to send out mailing
lists or if you don't want the hassle of setting up the list and maintaining
the database yourself, ListBot <http://www.listbot.com> can take care of those
aspects of newsletter publishing for you. Basically all you have to do is get
the subscribers and develop the content; they'll take care of the rest. Their
basic service is free. I use ListBot for both my newsletters.
CHAT ROOMS
Chat rooms are something that I really wanted to incorporate into my site, but
have not had much luck with so far. I still think they're a great idea and
provide a super way for web site owners to exchange ideas and get to know
visitors.
Here are a couple of sites to get you started on adding a chat room:
BeSeen <http://www.beseen.com>
TalkCity <http://www.talkcity.com>
SURVEYS AND POLLS
Surveys and polls are a fun way to gather information. You can have a monthly,
weekly, daily, or whatever you choose poll on any topic you select.
You can get a free poll for your site from: VantageNet Web Services
<http://www.freepolls.com>.
CONTESTS AND GIVEAWAYS
A surefire way to generate some traffic is to give something away. People are
always interested in free stuff.
One caveat here, though: be aware of the fact that increased traffic won't
necessarily mean increased sales.
I've had personal experience in this area, unfortunately. I operated a site
which gave away free graphics for use on personal pages. I also sold the
graphics on diskette at a very reasonable price (under $5). I got loads of
traffic to my site by offering a monthly drawing for a free diskette, but do
you know that I didn't have one sale in six months...not ONE. The sad thing
was that tons of people would come back month after month to register for that
free diskette, but wouldn't shell out $5 to buy it. Oh well, I'll chalk that
one up to a lesson learned I guess. :-)
If you do decide to host a contest or drawing, put some thought into exactly
what the "prize" will be. You want to generate new and repeat traffic but at
the same time, you don't want to give away the farm either.
Hopefully you can implement one or more of these ideas - or one of your own -
to boost traffic to your site. To keep visitors coming back (in most cases)
you must have a dynamic, interactive site.
PromotingYourSite.com
<http://www.promotingyoursite.com>
Free info on how to effectively design and promote your site. Join the "Rate
My Site Newsletter" (delivered 3-5 times/week) by sending any email to:
ratemysite-subscribe@listbot.com and find out how to submit *your* site for
other webmasters to review. Contact Jennifer directly at:
jennifer@promotingyoursite.com.
================ What's New At Promotion World ==================
~ Review: CD Stix
Say goodbye to fridge magnet promotions. Something more high tech
has arrived!
<http://www.promotionworld.com/reviews/cdstix.html>
====================== Searching With Hayden =====================
Q. In meta tags, is the use of the word(s) "digital" and "digitally"
termed as a repetition of the word "digital" twice by the search
engines? And, is the use of the word(s) "program" and "programmable"
repeating the word "program" twice?
A. This situation is called word stemming. One word stems off a root
word. Most engines deal with these as separate words. The same is true
on some engines for plurals "program" "programs" but the evidence these
days is to take it easy on any repetition including stemming and plurals.
I would never exceed one use of each variation in a meta tag. Pages
do not get great position just from meta tags anymore but they can get
a serious penalty if keywords are over used.
Hayden Mitchell
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===================== The Discussion Board ======================
This week's quote from the discussion board:
"I don't like HTML editors either and I hate Note Pad.
If you are having trouble with Windows Note Pad, or just don't like
its limitations, why not try EditPad. It received a 5 COW Rating at
TUCOW.
Use EditPad and you won't use Windows NotePad again. EditPad requires
Windows 95 or later to run. No additional DLLs or whatever are required.
With EditPad you can open as many files at a time as you want. Change
between the open files by clicking on their tabs, no overlapping Windows!!
You can download EdtPad at this link: <http://www.jgsoft.com/>. What
does it cost? It's free - almost. Just send Jan Goyvaerts (the author)
a Postcard, he lives in Belgium.
EditPad is also available in Dansk, English, Fran#231#ais, Italiano, and
the Nederlands.
Bill Green (Website Design Moderator)
---
Need A Website?
1st Site Free "
Visit the message boards to comment on this quote or just to catch
up on the other exciting discussions going on!
<http://www.promotionworld.com/discus/>
Don't forget to stop by and receive a free review of your site! All
you need to do is review two other sites, and you will have a number
of experts giving you their opinions.
========================= Sponsor Message =====================
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======================= Website Usability =======================
There is No Prejudice in Population Stereotypes
by John S. Rhodes
Definition: Population stereotypes are the long-term habits and
well-ingrained knowledge that we have about the world (Kantowitz &
Sorkin, 1983).
Using the letters A, B, C, and D, how would you
label the four quadrants of this figure?
__|__
|
Did you put the the 'A' in the top left corner? Probably. But guess
what, not everyone does it that way. Some folks start their labeling
in the top right corner. And other folks do it in other (seemingly
crazy) ways.
The majority of people will start their labeling in the top left corner.
That is, people will stereotypically place the 'A' in that position.
Notice that we are looking at tendencies here, not absolutes. Only knowing
your users will give you the answers and knowing them one-to-one is best.
Here's another example of population stereotypes. When walking into a
room, assuming it is dark, what way would you flip a toggle switch to
turn the lights on? You have two choices, up flip or down flip. You will
probably say that the switch should be flipped up; you think that up is
on and down is off. Most people use this implicit "flipping heuristic".
Indeed, most Americans think that up is on. Yet in other other countries,
the opposite is true. If you put a little thought into this you'll realize
that there is no empirical reason to believe that one way is better than
another.
Now, what about the Web and usability? Population stereotypes are critical.
Let's start with this simple example. What color should links be, in your
opinion? What color are they usually? Blue perhaps? The color blue for links
is a very powerful population stereotype. When you break that stereotype,
you break the readability and usability of the text. The degree of the degradation is uncertain, but it is there. On the flip side, people get
really ticked off when something is blue and underlined yet it is not a
link (yes, I've seen blue underlined text that does not function as a link
-- ridiculous!).
Population stereotypes obviously augment consistency too. Conversely, when
you break consistency within and between pages, you've shot yourself in the
foot. When you use non-standard colors, fonts, and graphics, you tend to
slow users down.
Don't get me wrong: a bit of flair and individuality is important. But
breaking population stereotypes too often will anger and frustrate users.
Let me introduce a term I've recently begun using: Web site stereotypes.
These are things that you do to create consistency from one page to the next
on your Web site. The assumption is that graphics, logos, layout, and so on,
all play a role. They are obviously highly related to branding mechanisms.
Yet, Web site stereotypes go beyond such mechanisms. They include writing
style, editing preferences, language usage, content cohesion, use of white
space, and even advertising partners. Simple branding does not capture the
Gestalt nature of Web site stereotyping.
You can create Web site stereotypes. The main rule of thumb, not surprisingly,
is to be consistent throughout your site. This fosters cohesion. Every font,
every paragraph, every graphic, and every logo will train users to understand
your site. Everything is training your user population; you're always building
and shaping their knowledge and Web site stereotypes.
Remember that we are creatures of habit and that we learn things implicitly.
You can learn things, yet not even know that you learned them. When those
unconsciousness things get disturbed, you get frustrated and annoyed. So,
even the subtlest of cues can be of importance in the building of Web site
stereotypes. Be vividly aware of your writing style, fonts, editing, logos,
and graphics. And remember, you lose users' trust when you add too much
static, which is often caused by the breaking of Web site stereotypes. In
contrast, properly used Web site stereotypes will increase Web site usability.
So, try not to rock the boat too much. Every page on your site should NOT be
innovative. Add your special touch but don't try to push any new paradigms too
hard. In your Web site development, tempered innovation is better than supernova
innovation. Continuous iteration and improvement will yield great innovations,
and a steady development process will manage the various changes appropriately
too.
I know that these ideas, especially "don't rock the boat too much", will anger
certain folks, such as graphic designers and artists. I'm not against a liberal
view of development. However, I am against poor usability and when there is too
much change from page to page, you end up with noise and broken Web site
stereotypes.
If you want to provide good information and a solid design, then utilizing Web
site stereotypes is something to consider.
=========================================================================
John S. Rhodes -- mailto:john@WebWord.com
Human Factors Engineer and Usability Professional
Internet Usability and Web Site Development: http://www.WebWord.com/
========================= A Small Request =======================
If you enjoy reading this newsletter each week, why not tell a friend
about it? Even better, why don't you recommend The Informer on a
discussion list? After all, you wouldn't want to keep all this free
information to yourself.
Just tell 'em all to subscribe by sending a message to
<mailto:informer@oaknetpub.com> with SUBSCRIBE in the BODY of their message.
======================== Misc. Information =======================
To comment on the issues covered in this week's newsletter, use the
appropriate forum on our Discussion Boards.
<http://www.promotionworld.com/discus/>
Browse the archives at <http://www.promotionworld.com/informer/archives.html>
If you are looking for some good advertising deals, you might like to
consider Promotion World and the Informer as places to advertise.
<http://www.promotionworld.com/sponsor.html>
To subscribe put SUBSCRIBE in the BODY of an email to
<mailto:informer@oaknetpub.com>
To unsubscribe put REMOVE in the BODY of an email to
<mailto:informer@oaknetpub.com>
I appreciate all your mail with your comments and suggestions!
<mailto:webmaster@promotionworld.com>
Newsletter Credits:
Joshua Reimer, Editor
<mailto:webmaster@promotionworld.com>
<http://www.promotionworld.com>
Jennifer Johnson, Feature Writer
<mailto:jenny@promotingyoursite.com>
<http://www.PromotingYourSite.com>
John S. Rhodes, Usability Specialist
<mailto:john@WebWord.com>
<http://www.WebWord.com/>
Hayden Mitchell, Search Engine Specialist
<mailto:hayden@webthemes.com>
<http://www.webthemes.com>
David Handlos, What Not To Do Specialist
<mailto:webmaster@crosslinkz.com>
<http://www.crosslinkz.com>
And now for the mandatory legal stuff:
This newsletter is copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 Joshua Reimer. No part may be
reproduced in any way without prior permission.
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