Business Marketing Writing

Business Blogging: 7 Quick Tips, 7 Absolute Truths

January 16, 2012 – 7:13 am
Businesses, get ahead using your blog!

"A blog-blog-blog..."

Tomorrow is going to be a great day. Mack D. Male, one of Edmonton, Alberta’s blogging elite will be hosting a seminar downtown at the Alberta Business Link. For those who can make it, there is no need to RSVP. Just show up with some business cards and GET YOUR LEARN ON.

In honour of Mr. Male’s upcoming session, I would like to share some perspective on business blogging and where the Red Paper Clip team sees it going.

Tip 1: Growth does not equal saturation

The consistent growth of business blogging over the last few years is impressive. Email marketing and social media promotion of business blogs are new but essential methods to build leads, authority and community. Their flexibility through the use of platforms and services like WordPress, MailChimp and Aweber makes it easy for even the most novice of content creators.

But the continued growth of business blogs hasn’t slowed down the readership. In fact, it continues to blossom in ways that puzzle even the craziest economists. The readership resource is far from extinguished. For new bloggers, the water’s still warm.

Tip 2: Let your data be your guide—er, DRIVER

Don’t ever let a content strategist, social media person, or anyone who has a job on the Interwebz tell you that data doesn’t matter. One of the greatest advantages of the internet is that everything is trackable. Use this to your business blog’s advantage. Track clicks through Google Analytics, search socially trending topics on Twitter trends and Google Alerts, and get a sense of what people really want to know. Your relevance to them—and your popularity—will skyrocket within a few posts.

Tip 3: Treat your business blog more like a moving magazine

We’ve entered a really interesting time in content creation and management. Today, it’s easy to post images, diagrams, client testimonials, comments, questions, videos, clickable links and audio conversations. Take advantage of these content possibilities by looking at your business blog more like a magazine and less like a sidebar newspaper column. I’ve seen industrial business blogs that look more like climbing magazines (by design, of course), and they earn a much higher yield of leads and traffic than their more conservative counterparts.

Tip 4: RSS is D-E-D: Stick to email marketing for leads and business

The fact that I have to further explain so-called Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to new and established clients is proof that they are never going to catch on. I can’t be bothered to tome on their history (since I predict that their death knell might be in 2012), but here is a great explanation. I always suggest that companies keep their email lists close to their hearts, because it’s where some of your best leads will always come from.

Tip 5: Mobility isn’t the it-girl, but she’s about to be!

I like imagining mobile and smartphone communication like I imagine Zooey Dechanel’s  recent explosion on television. Dechanel’s been in film for a few years, and she’s been working her skills on the big screen just fine. But since earning the lead role in The New Girl, she has been surrounded by a crack team of comedy writers and producers that has really shaken the industry up. Mobile phone use is the same. We’re sitting in a perfect storm of mobile market advantages (ease, cheap prices, easy applications, ubiquity) and the world has thus responded. Keep mobile users in mind when preparing your blog topics. Avoid anything that might not translate well to mobile users, and they will continue to visit.

Tip 6: There will always be bloggers who know more, but only YOU can tell your story.

The proliferation of business blogs has created one problem: There is so damn much information out there, readers often don’t know who best to follow. Many of us in the same profession may have similar views on best practices. So how do you keep those lucky few who visit? Tell your story and keep it up top in your messaging. Readers like to connect with people more than information. Be human. Be courteous. Be professional. Be yourself.

Tip 7: Use SEO blogging best practices to stay visible.

People will read only what they can find. Using simple and effective search engine optimization practices will ensure that you rank where you need to, captivating the right audience to build those leads. Great content is invisible without good SEO. We’ve a few good articles on the matter here.

So for those of you in Edmonton, I look forward to meeting you at the Business Link seminar tomorrow!

Bests,

Idris

Idris Fashan

Idris Fashan is a content strategist, percussionist, writer, marketer, vegan, political junkie and cat lover. He used to love walks on the beach, but being a Prairie boy now, he's gotten used to freshwater. He is also the Managing Partner at Red Paper Clip.

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Business Writing

Create Your Editorial Content Calendar

January 2, 2012 – 11:48 pm

.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably got 50+ emails, phone calls, to-dos and miscellanea that was supposed to get handled in the onslaught that was Christmas break.

Well, now that we’ve come out from under that pile (not by having finished it, but by having it brushed aside for two weeks), I have laid my New Year’s resolutions on the table.

Unfortunately, the 2012 to-do pile just overtakes them.

If you’re anything like me, you probably sat down with your team. You’ve probably talked about those outstanding things your business should have completed this year. This might have included upgrading your website content or writing X number of blog posts a month, and you may have felt pressured to push those closer-than-future regrets into business resolutions.

And you may have even coupled this with the obvious business disclaimer, “We don’t have time to write/complete/edit these web pages/blog posts/ebooks/reports.”

It might hurt to hear this, but your content for 2012 looks a lot like your content for 2011.

Take control of your content

Don’t let your content slide. We can help you take control of your content.

This is normally the part where I get into a diatribe about how we do it. But we have web pages for that. Instead, I want to give you a leg up on fulfilling your own content requirements.

And this all begins with an editorial calendar.

This is your chance to do what magazines, newspapers, research institutes and professional writers do. We all rely on editorial calendars to clarify the roles of our team, the themes, topics and ideas for the content, and (most importantly), the deadlines for each part of the content. It gives you a chance to plan a process for delivering your content in a timely way so it doesn’t have to infringe on your other work or your peace of mind.

For those of us in the writing industry, editorial calendars can be complicated project architectures separating the roles of contributors, editors, and even typesetters and publishers.

That said, we don’t need to use anything complicated, and neither do you. But we all deserve to have the tools to stop saying, “There’s no time to get this done.”

Editorial Content Calendar Rule 1 – Use a calendar that your team will use

We’re a Mac-outfitted office, but we tend to use Google Calendar. Apple’s Calendar is painfully elementary, and Outlook (as clean as it is for PC networks) isn’t as clean for us. Many people prefer to use shared spreadsheets. What you prefer doesn’t matter as much as picking the method that others can use comfortably.

Editorial Content Calendar Rule 2 – Mark time for research

I like to leave time at the beginning of the month to gather ideas about my industry, pulling favourited tweets, emails from my subscriptions, magazine articles I clipped, notes from websites, etc. The timing of this isn’t important. Just make sure you leave one hour a month to gather or assemble these things and collate them into possible ideas. Believe me: It gets easier as you go, and you can move along whatever doesn’t get used the month before (assuming it’s still current).

Editorial Content Calendar Rule 3 – Don’t talk about it. Lay it out and fight about it later

Most people get stuck here. They get the calendar started and they get the team on board. They gather materials, and then they get caught in committee purgatory. That lifeless place is where good ideas go to die.

Don’t do it. Don’t share everything. Instead, take the agreed-upon ideas and assign them outward. If you have a team of one or two, it gets pretty easy. If you have a team of three or more, don’t share who will do what. Assign tasks and allow them to trade. They can see what might be due when. Allow them the chance to update the responsible parties and move on. A great example is assigning a website content rewriting. You might find that people fear writing the home page or the about page. Don’t let that slow you down. Assign it to who you think the best candidate might be and move on. People can broker their good deeds as trade without committee-style conversations slowing the calendar down.

Now you have a calendar that lays out who is responsible for what content and when it is due. You now have a tool that saves time, effort, and most importantly, backtalk and quips about there being no time to see it through.

As I am often told by one of our architecture clients, “Planning IS execution. Do it right and the labour becomes the easiest part.”

If pulling together a working editorial calendar still feels like an impossible task among your 2012 to-dos, CLICK HERE and we’ll get in touch with you directly. We’re happy to help.

Good luck,

Idris

Idris Fashan

Idris Fashan is a content strategist, percussionist, writer, marketer, vegan, political junkie and cat lover. He used to love walks on the beach, but being a Prairie boy now, he's gotten used to freshwater. He is also the Managing Partner at Red Paper Clip.

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Business Strategy Writing

Write Optimized Blog Posts in One Hour

December 19, 2011 – 10:32 am
Write optimized Blog Posts: Four Tips

"This wouldn't be a bad time to think about my blog... where's my notepad?"

I know we tend to go on and on about blogging and content optimization, but it’s so hard for us not to! Blogs are great for providing fresh, relevant content and they can dramatically improve your  search rankings, customer base, community and brand.

But blogs can be brutal for busy people, and the time required to build an effective blog can seem daunting. For those few who take the plunge, coming up with strong, strategic blogs that speak to your audience and fulfill your website goals becomes too much to bear. Stale, dusty or rusty business blogs are commonplace.

It’s not a novel. It’s a blog.

What most people don’t realize is that blog writing isn’t like writing fiction. As most professional writers will tell you, web writing is more design, planning and adjusting than it is idea generation, language or prose .

And since most people don’t have a handle on the tricks that we use to stay on top of our blogs, here are some short tips that you can use today that will get you writing optimized blog posts in an hour, not an afternoon.

Keep a notepad (or maybe an iPad)

Having a way to talk about what you know is critical to writing good content, especially for blogs. I always find that my best ideas come at those times when I am finishing up with a client or am just hanging out with friends. Keep a notebook handy so you can record your thoughts, other people’s questions or opinions. You can tighten these ideas later, but building the list is a huge advantage. Flip through it once a week to…

Write in mind before writing on the page

Give yourself time to create a picture for how you want your blog to be structured. The more time you spend on this, the stronger the flow of your blog will be, and the shorter the time you will need to assemble your ideas as you…

Outline the blog

Create a short list of the central parts of your blog post. You’ll need an introduction, a few short points and way to get out quickly that hits the spot. Take those elements and simply fill them in. Remember that Google, as well as readers, love short, snappy content with headlines, sub headlines and lists. No need to wax poetic. Simply state what’s on order and finish up, but…

Remember the most important trick: Put Your Reader First

Putting the reader first to most means keeping the blog focused on the reader’s frame of mind. We agree, but just as important is thinking about how your reader will find your post. Think about the search terms they use and how they could fit in the blog content, headlines and subheads. Be sure not to neglect your blog tags, meta information and image tags (if you are using WordPress or other blog content platforms, this is easy to do). We’re big fans of Yoast SEO for WordPress for helping us to manage meta information (get it here).

It’s like we always tell people (who will listen): Writing is a process that gets better as you practice and refine your process. The writing becomes easier, faster, and normally better. We’ve seen blogs improve their ranking with a dozen posts of optimized blog content, and there is no reason why any business cannot have a successful blog. By using these 4 tips and following through on them, you’ll build a solid, optimized blog archive that will help the right people find you and make the right decisions on your website.

If time is an issue for you making your blog or website content work, please visit our Contact Page, fill our the form, and we’ll get in touch with you.

Idris Fashan

Idris Fashan is a content strategist, percussionist, writer, marketer, vegan, political junkie and cat lover. He used to love walks on the beach, but being a Prairie boy now, he's gotten used to freshwater. He is also the Managing Partner at Red Paper Clip.

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Marketing Writing

Optimize Your Old Blog Posts: Don’t Forget!

December 12, 2011 – 6:56 pm
Your Old Blog Posts Can Be Great SEO Opportunities

This should be on every "exit."

We’re having a lot of fun right now.

We’re working with X5 Management on their blog and website. They are an outstanding team. And as we have been working with them on their website content, blog strategy and blog writing, their understanding and skills have grown at a rapid rate. (We highly recommend you visit their site and enjoy their offerings on taking business to the next level.)

When we work with our clients, we tell them that their improvements in creating content is a great thing. It doesn’t matter what level anyone begins at, progress is a wonderful thing.

But when it comes to your blog, what should you be doing with your old blog posts? You know, the ones you might have thought were fine at the time, but you may be afraid to revisit for fear of wanting to alter them altogether.

Don’t Agonize, Optimize!

Ouch! But seriously, you don’t have to go there.

One consideration worth examining involves revisits and possibly a few edits, but rest assured, you won’t have to make faces about your writing.

Instead, you can optimize your old blog posts using a few tricks for SEO (search engine optimization). Cleaning your posts up for search saves you having to do any heavy content editing while still giving you a leg up in marketing your blog to your community and beyond.

It’s possible that your blog posts haven’t really been optimized at all. Not to worry, you need not focus on every post—just the ones that get the most traction.

If you are familiar with Google Analytics, try running it through your posts and track the ones with the most views. This will give you your to-do list.

You might want to go through the blog posts that you feel are the strongest posts, the ones you want shared and found. Add these to your list, but put them at the TOP.

Next, find out what these posts are optimized for by running Wordle. This forms the keywords into a tag cloud. The largest words in the cloud are the most often used terms or phrases.

Run those terms through your keyword tool (if you don’t have one, try Google’s Keyword Research Tool) to find other terms that will fit well in the post. Build a short list and keep it handy.

Have a look at the post and make sure those terms end up in the content in your titles. Make sure those terms use title tags H1 and H2, and they are not just bolded body content. Make sure the best keywords or phrases end up in your image tags and your URL, too.

Five Fast Blog Optimization Tips

Once you get through the content, you might want to do a little housekeeping for those few blogs that are lacking:

  • Images: Put images in place if there aren’t any on your post (don’t forget the tags).
  • Check for your call to action. If it’s not getting any traction, replace it with something new. If there isn’t one there, well, get cracking.
  • It’s obvious that if you had social share buttons set up on your website, those buttons will appear on all blog posts. But if there are posts that don’t have likes or “+1’s,” make sure you do so to your own posts.
  • Add links in the blog content that connect related blog posts to each other. This is one of the most under completed SEO techniques, and it reflects well in search.
  • If you don’t already have one, add a related posts plugin to your blog (for WordPress, the Related Post Plugin is one of the standards). This will increase traffic and help to elevate those older posts.

Yes, it might still seem like extra work and effort to make any of these changes to those pieces that are parts of your website’s past. But remember: You shouldn’t worry about doing it all in one swoop. Any adjustment you make to them will make a difference to the algorithms that rule the web.

Also, it saves you having to make any heavy edits to your already-posted content—because none of us have that kind of time!

If time is an issue for you making your blog or website a success, please visit our Contact Page, fill our the form, and we’ll get in touch with you.

Idris

Idris Fashan

Idris Fashan is a content strategist, percussionist, writer, marketer, vegan, political junkie and cat lover. He used to love walks on the beach, but being a Prairie boy now, he's gotten used to freshwater. He is also the Managing Partner at Red Paper Clip.

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Marketing Writing

Content Marketing for Healthcare Providers

December 5, 2011 – 7:06 am

This week, we were generously invited to a networking event held semiweekly by the BoB Clubs (Business over Breakfast) midday group of Edmonton. Geneve and I didn’t sit together, and so we managed to really work the room, though she got first dibs at our shared lunch plates. I longingly stared from across Expressionz Cafe.

As the members and guests talked about their respective businesses, I diligently jotted notes about each presentation. As we finished our meals and began networking, I got into a spirited discussion about web content, blogging and how to build website traffic.

The chatter attracted a gentleman who came right up behind us and began asking pointed questions. He was in the healthcare industry and had a fair share of news related content on his website, but he was curious if there were possible advantages for him to be blogging.

I was careful.

I didn’t let myself wax endlessly, and I did tell him that we could have a detailed conversation about his clients might be seeking and how that might work for him.

He hasn’t returned my email—it was only thirty hours ago. But I wanted to share a few ideas about what has made me so excited:

How Can Content Marketing Work for Healthcare Providers?

This is a big question, and it wouldn’t be easy to answer broadly. The gentleman I spoke with on Friday was an independent service provider for patients, so I will try to answer his question succinctly.

It’s not news that people prefer to surf the web for information and answers to their problems and ailments. The alternative, a trip to the doctor’s office, is even less desirable now that we have this modern convenience. An additional complexity to this issue is the plethora of incorrect or outdated information ranking on Google’s pages. When patients act upon this information, things can escalate to perilous possibilities.

That said, a little guidance from a healthcare professional could go a long way to providing reliable sources for health information. Building a solid blog archive of relevant content, reliable search sites, and new symptom detection sources would be a great start. Additionally, practitioners could share their experiences and professional opinions on changes within their industry, studies that have been published or reviewed, and what possible implications might surface because of those studies. The added advantages of audio, video and guest posts could provide patients with safe, compliant information through a more human medium.

What About Social Media in Healthcare?

There is huge potential and opportunity for healthcare professionals who merge social media into their content marketing. Social platforms can leverage your reach from your immediate circle and outward. There are possible caveats concerning professional compliance and privacy that practitioners would need to research and understand. But the thought of any real time interaction with a healthcare practitioner frankly is, as a 30-something male, pretty attractive to me.

In fact, I dare say that in our collective near futures, blogs and social media for healthcare practitioners will be more the norm than not.

Building a relevant, respectable and goal-busting online presence is more than possible.  And building the right strategy to get things started is a few letters away. If you are in a professional field and you are still unsure of how content marketing could work for you, please fill out the floating form on the left.

If you know what you need, please visit our Contact Page and we’ll get in touch.

Have a great week.

- !dris

Idris Fashan

Idris Fashan is a content strategist, percussionist, writer, marketer, vegan, political junkie and cat lover. He used to love walks on the beach, but being a Prairie boy now, he's gotten used to freshwater. He is also the Managing Partner at Red Paper Clip.

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Business Marketing Strategy

Don’t Be That Company!

November 28, 2011 – 10:34 pm
"That Guy"

"That Guy" or "That Company." It's all the same in the world of social media!

Friends. Followers. Fans.

Whatever you call them, they’re your people—your online community.

Do you treat them as such, or has your company’s Twitter feed, Facebook page, blog and email newsletter turned into a spam machine, with update after update after update about new products, services and company-held events?

While some may view social media as a means of distancing ourselves from one another and taking the personal out of personal relationships, the opposite is true when it comes to marketing. Once someone has liked, followed or subscribed to you, they have essentially brought you into their circle. They have not only granted you access to their personal or professional online network and presence but they have also gone out on a limb to show all of their followers, friends and fans that they in some way identify with your company and its message. Respect this.

How Should You Treat Your People?

1). Engage them

This often involves posting great articles and links you think your people can use, not just updates about you. It’s also about talking to your people. Asking questions is a great way to build community. If you’re a coach, ask them to share or send you a story about a time they surprised themselves by achieving what they thought was unachievable. If you’re a clothing designer, ask them to share the worst clothing trend they fell for in high school. Just get them talking!

2). Always reply

When someone does use your social media channels to talk to you or share your material, don’t ever ignore them. A meaningful reply is best (too many “thanks for posting!” comments will feel automated), but any acknowledgment is better than none.

3). Pay attention

Just as you’re using social media as a networking tool to boost your online presence, your people are too, and it’s all about give and take. Take the time to look through your list of people and see what they’re up to. It’ll give you some great insight into who they are and what they’re looking for, but it’ll also give you an opportunity to talk directly to them or to share their material. When they see that you care enough to pay attention to them, they’ll care enough to pay attention to you.

Tip: If you have a lot of followers, it can help to use a program like SocialBro to create lists of people to keep an eye on. You may not have time to pay close attention to everyone, but even if you can create a list of 50 contacts whose engagement would be a real asset to your company, you’ll still come out way ahead of the game.

In essence, what we’re talking about here is the Golden Rule. We all want our friends and acquaintances to see us as people and to put in the time to stay connected, even if they’re not our bestest best friends.

After all, if you wouldn’t want to be your friend, you can’t expect anyone else to.

Geneve

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Business Marketing Strategy Writing

Who is Lululemon?

November 15, 2011 – 1:32 am
Lululemon "Who is John Gault?" bag

Photo credit goes to Rick Marazzani at MindPosts

Recently, Lululemon began distributing shopping bags with “Who is John Galt?” printed on the sides, following up with a blog post explaining the company’s decision. Unsurprisingly, this has put Lululemon at the center of controversy as some identify with the message and others paint it in a less favourable light, as a libertarian message endorsed by a company that sells a lifestyle based on conscientiousness and harmony.

I’m not here to discuss Ayn Rand’s politics. Instead, what interests me in all this is whether Lululemon is really all that off base in using such a loaded and controversial literary symbol.

What Were They Thinking?

In its blog post, Lululemon explained itself by saying that it’s John Galt’s pursuit of greatness over mediocrity that is behind its latest marketing inspiration.

Fair enough. No little kid responds to, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” with, “I want to be mediocre!” And hey, the notion that we can all be whatever we want to be and rise up above circumstance with the right mindset is soothing, kind of like a comfy pair of yoga pants and a cup of hot herbal tea, no?

What’s contentious here is the philosophy of how such greatness is achieved. According to Rand, it’s by acting in self-interest and having a government that stays well out of your way. It’s political.

Using politics in your marketing is ballsy, and those behind the campaign had to have known this would earn the company some enemies.

Or has it?

Who Wears Lululemon?

Something tells me that the people passing Lululemon’s blog post around on Twitter and Facebook and talking about how disgusting this all is aren’t regular Lululemon customers. Lululemon lost the love of the leftist and hippie yoga crowds long ago with its pricing, upscale locales, sweatshop labour allegations, and ubiquitous presence on the bodies of well-to-do so-called “yuppies” and “yummy mummies” in line for an extra-hot skinny latté at Starbucks.

And it is those bodies that Lululemon is marketing to.

Chances are, if you’re the type to have a hate-on for Ayn Rand, you’re not—and never have been—Lululemon’s target market.

The reason so many people are upset at Lululemon’s “Who is John Galt?” campaign isn’t because their much-loved athletic wear provider is a turncoat. It’s because it further reinforces what they already know Lululemon to be: A corporate retailer that has found its niche in high-end, fashionable athletic attire and that aims to profit off of the latest trend in all things yoga, pilates, and dance.

Those Who Try To Please Everyone Please No One

Fact is, Ayn Rand, or at least Lululemon’s interpretation of John Galt, likely resonates with those who are able and willing to spend $100 on a pair of stretch pants. There’s nothing disingenuous about Lululemon’s marketing here. People are strongly divided on the issue, to be sure, but those on the side of Lululemon are exactly the ones Lululemon sought to appeal to.

When it comes to everyone else, well…

No love lost, right?

 

Having not looked at Lululemon’s market research and having not consulted them on their choice of words, I can of course only guess at the company’s motives and provide distant assumptions about the campaign’s effectiveness. However, if you’d like to see how you can use the written word to connect with your best people, contact us to arrange for a free consultation.

Geneve

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Business Strategy Writing

Your Business Blog Deserves More Attention than Your Website Content

November 6, 2011 – 7:00 am
Neglect your business blog at your peril.

Image blatantly stolen from the Stillwater Public Library Blog. THANKS, GUYS!

Blogs: The kids are alright.

There is no shortage of blogs and blog marketers touting the power of blogging, and you’ll see no exception to that here. Blogs are a central part of effective online marketing, and they provide numerous benefits for businesses seeking to build leads, community and authority in their industry. And with the people-driven nature of blogging and blog marketing, businesses of all sizes can quickly benefit from them.

Blogs are lovingly described by social media experts as the centrepiece from which all social media should take place. But blogs for business can be so much more. In fact, blogs can be the leverage point for how a business creates and connects competitive researchers, readers, buyers and ambassadors, as well as encourage deeper interactions among those groups.

It seems far easier to justify a business website than it is to justify a business blog. Much of this is because the same metrics are used for each.

This is an incorrect way to think.

Where the boardroom meets the water cooler

Blogs enable companies to facilitate connections between people who may be directly or indirectly connected to the brand. These individuals, by being completely human (with attitudes, experiences and opinions) contribute to the “energy” of your blog. Therefore, the critical creative decisions you make about your blog must have these people’s interests in mind.

As you begin to build your blog, consider the type of impacts and conversations you wish to facilitate. The reason that I mention this is that the kinds of conversations you have, for some, is as important a measure as your number of visitors.

Plan and define success

You can define the success of your blog based on reputation/social interaction, visitors, search engine ranking and the redirects of your readers to other areas of your website (landing pages, forms, etc). We like to call these points of conversion.

People may be interested in your company, but the reasons for visiting your blog can be for much deeper reasons, and these should not be ignored. It could be for a specific post a writer had posted. It could be the controversial or contrarian position your company takes on a related topic, or it could be a guest blogger of mention that interests your readers. These organic interests should be reason enough to consider your blog a key entry point to your website, your conversion tools or your enrollment methods. Perhaps your email newsletters will see even more interested readers that the ones you recruit in person or over email.

Either way, we say your business blog requires more attention than your website. You’ll get more bang from it than you can imagine. And since people have become more familiar and active on business blogs, you’ll do best to plan, set and move toward your goals. It will come back in relevant and measurable successes.

Cheers,

!d

Idris Fashan

Idris Fashan is a content strategist, percussionist, writer, marketer, vegan, political junkie and cat lover. He used to love walks on the beach, but being a Prairie boy now, he's gotten used to freshwater. He is also the Managing Partner at Red Paper Clip.

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Business Strategy

Online Checkout – Hilarious Video!

October 31, 2011 – 6:42 am

Hey folks.

I just watched this video from Chris Brogan’s Google+ profile. If you are not already aware of him, I highly recommend you visit his blog http://www.chrisbrogan.com. It is the source of great information on marketing online, social media, and it remains one of the top visited blogs out there.

Anyhow, at first glance this appears to be a video about online checkouts, and you are partly right. But this video reveals a problem that afflicts more than the world of e-commerce. Website and content usability remains one of the consistently overlooked areas in website design and development.

So as you enjoy this video, consider the effect that poorly arranged, poorly developed content can have on readers.

Cheers,

Idris

Idris Fashan

Idris Fashan is a content strategist, percussionist, writer, marketer, vegan, political junkie and cat lover. He used to love walks on the beach, but being a Prairie boy now, he's gotten used to freshwater. He is also the Managing Partner at Red Paper Clip.

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Design Marketing Strategy Writing

Friction: How to avoid website static

October 9, 2011 – 9:46 pm

True Friction

We’ve been writing this blog for long enough, and it’s time to dole out some secrets.

I struggle in malls.

It’s not because my dashing good looks are bringing throngs of new fans chasing me from store to store.

But the same things happen, whether I am at Walmart or Shoppers’ Drug Mart.

I get shocks. All the time. If I walk along tile floors, regardless what I wear, I get shocks whenever my hands near a metal surface. The surface might be touching the ground, it might be elevated, it doesn’t matter. Heck, the metal could be beneath rubber, I still get shocks. And sometimes, they can be painful (and bright).

How does it happen? Friction. I blame the friction for the days I wander through the aisles and hallways hoping for a positive experience, but getting nothing but the opposite. Instead I build a daylong static charge that releases in small, shocky increments.

I never want to touch any surfaces, people’s hands, products or even pocket change (don’t worry, I know it doesn’t conduct much electricity). The friction has became such a distraction that I can’t escape it. I often go home frustrated and without anything I was planning to buy.

The Truth About Website Friction

Online sales experiences are remarkably similar. No, people may not be shocked away from website or subscription forms in an embarrassing display of light and awe. But in web content and web usability, friction is a reality for visitors. Inconsistencies, like rough surfaces, increase friction. Friction creates static in potential buyers’ minds. Static breeds skepticism, and prevents people from clicking forward.

What are possible inconsistencies that cause friction?

1) Your visitors’ mindset and the thoughts that enter their minds should be the source of all your creative decisions. When they are not, these cast subtle negative cues:

  • Perhaps your benefits are not made clear enough, or they are not close enough to the top of the page for people to see.
  • Perhaps there isn’t enough information directed at reducing your readers’ price objections.
  • Worse, they may not see how they can get the return on the investment by going with your product/service.

Each of these issues can create a climate for your buyers’ mindset, and these are either working for you, or they are working against you. It’s up to you (with people like us) to find out what parts might be doing that and what parts need to be kept.

2) Your buyers’ experience may seem a more difficult element to measure, but it is no less important as a way to reduce friction. The quality of your products and the experience of your staff has no bearing if visitors can’t learn what they want when they want it. Frustration is the ugliest emotion in web usability, so it serves you to know what to watch for:

  • Users might not find your website easy to move through or understand.
  • Your content might not be arranged in a way that informs your buyer in a way that’s natural to them.
  • Your website might not present the level of quality you offer (mixed expectations). This could be an issue of pricing, design, language/reading level, etc.

Friction in a web experience can be a dangerous thing, but if you are watching for those inconsistencies, they can become a powerful learning tool. Using analytics to track clicks and time on pages will give you your to-do list. For many businesses, social media comments and searches are also great ways to know what people are saying about you and your site. (We recommend that negative comments are responded to quickly and with grace.) Always be thankful for people’s positions. They are a living learning tool.

As people, we have deepened our reliance on the web for making decisions and marketing to those people who are making decisions. We must remove all points of friction to make their experiences easier.

And until I figure out how to safely maneuver my way through the mall without friction, it might be where I stay, too!

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

Idris

Idris Fashan

Idris Fashan is a content strategist, percussionist, writer, marketer, vegan, political junkie and cat lover. He used to love walks on the beach, but being a Prairie boy now, he's gotten used to freshwater. He is also the Managing Partner at Red Paper Clip.

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