Archive for July, 2010

Fresh Content – Jargon Buster

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

The Serious/Not Serious Series on Jargon

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS:

Everybody loves fresh stuff.  Chefs, music producers, elephants.  It’s all about snapping up the newest, the peachiest, the least toadied by Time.  Luckily there’s an infinite well of it inside each of us.

Philosophers, neuro-linguists and cunning linguists state that nothing is as simple as creating a completely novel sentence, for instance.  It’s almost certain that you and I have, this very day, uttered at least 115 totally original constructions.  Such as “why do you always try to blame your farts on the phenomenon of “barking spiders”, like they do in ‘X Files’?”

Isn’t it just so liberating to think things are popping out all over the place that have never been said before?  I’ll name just two that readily spring to mind:

“Make my hair like Donald Trump’s, you cowering pizzle”, in the hairdressers, or “my plan is for the fat man to sit on many more bags of kittens, oh my yes”, in any location whatsoever.

I’m sure you can think of many more examples yourself.  Why not train yourself to produce fresh and titillating conversational nuggets by staring straight ahead while on public transport, barking out random utterances at discreet intervals.  Here’s one to be getting on with: “I was just admiring your most glamorous gherkin.” Now, that’s ‘brain training’, right there.

SERIOUSLY:

Fresh content is content which has not previously been published online. Search engines reward and pay attention to websites that have a continuous stream of fresh content.  Good quality, relevant, engaging fresh content is key to a successful online website. Businesses that budget for the creation of compelling fresh content are investing wisely.

When the search engine spiders come to visit your website they love nothing better than to gorge on any fresh content that you have added since their last visit.  It’s a good idea to have a regular publishing schedule.  For example, if you publish fresh content once a week on your site the spiders and your visitors will learn your publishing schedule and will base their visits around it.

A business blog is the best way to add a regular dose of fresh content to your business website. If you’re just starting out with your blog, try not to bite off more than you can chew. Don’t feel you have to post fresh content daily. Start out with a schedule that you can manage, even if it’s only once a fortnight at the beginning.  You can always increase the frequency at a later stage.

Other Jargon Buster Articles:

Attraction Marketing;  Buzz Marketing;  Content Strategy;  Duplicate Content; Interruption Marketing; Linkerati;  PageRank; SEO;  SERPS;  The Cloud; User Experience

Welcome to The Wittery Blog (aka The Witty Writer Marketplace)

You’re in the right place if you’re looking for Witty Freelance Writers to add zest to your business content. (Simply click here,  click the Register button [remembering to wipe your feet first] and give us some info about you. We don’t do spam (can’t stand the taste). There’s even a limited free trial where you can post your project for free.)

Witty Freelance Writer with a burning desire to join the wit mob? Click here, remove your shoes and then come through to the application form (you can’t miss it. It says “Apply”)

If you’d prefer to follow the scenic route instead, start off at the home page. See you soon.


Tags:
Posted in Jargon Buster - Serious/Not Serious Series, Witto | No Comments »

Interruption Marketing – Jargon Buster

Friday, July 16th, 2010

The Serious/Not Serious Series on Jargon

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS:

Interruptions are a universal nuisance. This is such a fundamental truth that the phrase “rudely interrupted” contains the redundant word “rudely”. There is no other way to be interrupted.

Salmon, for instance, do not eat when they leave the sea and return to their home river to spawn. So why do they bite the bright, colorful feathers presented by the angler? Because there they were floating gracefully thinking about getting laid when they were interrupted.

There is a similar situation for humans. Sitting down at their favorite restaurant, a couple read the menu. As they begin to salivate (partly because of the fare on offer) the fire alarm  goes off, interrupting them, and they have to leave the building. Damn! Don’t you just hate premature evacuations?

Online users are similarly plagued by interruptions; unsolicited offers to click, casinos where they can’t lose, pills guaranteed to increase the length and girth of their penis (Mothers Superior especially hate these), surveys to complete, eternal youth and guaranteed happiness, and any other bait that will be swallowed by the gullible.

The professional interrupters who provide the ads are only kept in business by the fact that some users, like the salmon, react violently to the bait and snap at it. Computer geeks aren’t salmon and don’t have a temper; they only bite humorous ads because they don’t understand them.

SERIOUSLY:

Interruption Marketing is the scruffy cousin of permission marketing and engagement marketing.  It’s a traditional form of marketing. It’s where the marketing message intrudes on the potential customer’s activities and fights for their attention. It’s where the marketer seeks out places where potential customers hang out and then subjects those targets to ads.

Types of marketing which come within this category include PPC Ads (eg Facebook ads, Google PPC), TV ads, Billboard ads, unsolicited marketing emails, newspaper ads.  These ads interrupt your current activity (eg you’re watching television, reading the paper, updating your Facebook Status) in order to bring you the marketing message.

It is widely accepted that interruption marketing is not as effective as other types of marketing such as permission marketing and attraction marketing. As the amount of marketing messages we come across on a daily basis continues to increase, humans are finding creative ways of ignoring these messages. For example, we increasingly tend to become blind to PPC ads in the SERPS and concentrate only on the organic (unpaid) search results.

As we (the customer/consumer) become immune to interruptive marketing techniques, advertisers and marketers are finding new ways to deliver their marketing message.  Hence the steady increase in alternative marketing techniques such as permission marketing, content marketing and engagement marketing.

Although interruption marketing is declining in its effectiveness, it still has a place in today’s marketing bag of tricks. When using interruption marketing as a tool, it’s more important than ever to ensure that you engage the customer as soon as you have interrupted them and got their attention.

RESOURCES:

Susan Gunelius has an informative article over at Entrepreneur.com where she explores the comparative techniques of interruption and engagement marketing. It’s somewhat ironic that a large advertisement/interruptive marketing message appears slap bang in the middle of the piece.  However, it helps to show that interruption marketing is not quite ready to make its funeral arrangements just yet.

Other Jargon Buster Articles:

Attraction Marketing;  Buzz Marketing;  Content Strategy;  Duplicate Content; Linkerati;  PageRank; SEO;  SERPS;  The Cloud; User Experience

Welcome to The Wittery Blog (aka The Witty Writer Marketplace)

You’re in the right place if you’re looking for Witty Freelance Writers to add zest to your business content. (Simply click here,  click the Register button [remembering to wipe your feet first] and give us some info about you. We don’t do spam (can’t stand the taste). There’s even a limited free trial where you can post your project for free.)

Witty Freelance Writer with a burning desire to join the wit mob? Click here, remove your shoes and then come through to the application form (you can’t miss it. It says “Apply”)

If you’d prefer to follow the scenic route instead, start off at the home page. See you soon.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Jargon Buster - Serious/Not Serious Series, Witto | No Comments »

User Experience – Jargon Buster

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

The Serious/Not Serious Series on Jargon

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS:

We give our guests a great user experience. We want them to like it so much that they want to come back, and guess what? Most of them love it and we have our “regulars”. Here is our “Recipe for Success” :

The San Quentin Guide to Providing a Good User Experience.

Make It Easy To Get In

It sure is easy to get in here. Johnny Cash comes here all the time, singing to our guests. He even stayed overnight in Bubba’s cell. He said that he got the inspiration for his song “Ring of Fire” from his visit here. I think it was because of the habañero chilli soup.

Make It Easy To Stay

Our guests here don’t want to leave. Once they get in, we just can’t get them out. Take “Mad Mick” Murphy from Dublin. Please take him because we don’t want him. He shows up drunk before breakfast, starts fighting and upsetting the other guests. We tried getting him to sober up but then he got sad and started singing about Ireland. Twenty four of our guests escaped that night to get away from him, and they were happy before that.

Make Sure Your Visitors Remember You and Come Back

Rob “Razor” Capone will never leave. He signed up for 25 years, but wants more. He says the premises are great, and he can get apple pies “just like mamma used to make” for $4. Nobody has the heart to tell him that for just $5 he can get apple pies just like mamma thought she used to make.

Our User Experience is second to none. Yes, San Quentin is one 4-star Prison.

SERIOUSLY:

You want some candy. You see a store nearby. You walk into the store. The floor is dirty and the store is badly lit. The products are scattered all over the place in no particular order. There’s no signage.  You can’t  find your way around.  You can’t find the candy. You ask the sales assistant. He’s not very helpful and tells you to find the candy yourself. How would this experience make you feel?

Your Virtual Store

Your website is no different. It’s a virtual store. It’s vitally important that you provide a great User Experience to the visitors that cross your website’s threshold.  User Experience (UX) is all about the overall impression, satisfaction and feelings that a user gets from visiting a site. Your business success is heavily dependent on User Experience.  Do all that you can to give your visitors a positive User Experience. This will improve customer satisfaction and drive referrals and repeat business.

Chasing the User Experience

Matt Cutts (of Google) recently highlighted that “… by chasing after a good user experience, you help ensure that you and the search engines are both working in the same direction. That’s much better than you chasing the search engines, which are in turn chasing what we think is best for users.”

There are a number of elements to User Experience including functionality, design, branding and content.  It’s about the overall package. Things that you can do to improve UX include:

  • factoring in UX elements into the design,
  • ensuring site navigation is intuitive,
  • improving site speed (load times) and
  • producing relevant engaging content on an ongoing basis.

Content & User Experience:

When it comes to content, the folks at The Wittery believe that if your content makes your site visitor smile, then you have achieved something very special from a User Experience perspective.  Aim to make your content induce positive feelings in your site visitor.

Websites and the internet are full words.   Don’t let the collection of words on your website fall into the “instantly forgettable” category. When commissioning content (or when writing it yourself), always keep your reader in mind. Aim to reach into their heart, soul and mind with your content. That’s how you can distinguish yourself in your visitor’s mind and improve their User Experience. Your visitor will then be  more likely to stay longer on your site, remember you when they leave, buy from you, re-visit your site and tell others about you.

The Journey and the Destination

If SEO is about getting search engines to bring visitors to your site, then UEO* is about making sure those visitors have a good time when they get there. “Driving traffic to your homepage is important, but making the destination worthwhile is vital” according to Entrepreneur.com.

Next time visitors arrive at your site how are you going to make sure that your store is in order and that your visitors get the experience they deserve?

*UEO (or UXO) is an acronym for “User Experience Optimization”.

Other Jargon Buster Articles:

Attraction Marketing;  Buzz Marketing;  Content Strategy;  Duplicate Content; Linkerati;   PageRank; SEO;  SERPS;  The Cloud

Welcome to The Wittery Blog (aka The Witty Writer Marketplace)

You’re in the right place if you’re looking for Witty Freelance Writers to add zest to your business content. (Simply click here,  click the Register button [remembering to wipe your feet first] and give us some info about you. We don’t do spam (can’t stand the taste). There’s even a limited free trial where you can post your project for free.)

Witty Freelance Writer with a burning desire to join the wit mob? Click here, remove your shoes and then come through to the application form (you can’t miss it. It says “Apply”)

If you’d prefer to follow the scenic route instead, start off at the home page. See you soon.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Jargon Buster - Serious/Not Serious Series, Witto | No Comments »