We won’t debate the changing PR landscape and how PR folks need to reach out to journalists. Instead, let’s talk about how companies can better serve journalists. Jakob Nielsen provides five reasons journalists visit a company’s web site: Locate a PR contact (name and telephone number). Find basic facts about the company (spelling of an … Read more
“Gaily bedight A gallant knight, In sunshine and shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado.” — Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe Businesses don’t have to journey long to find Eldorado of marketing. Most companies start right by establishing a Web site. However, some don’t make the most of having a Web … Read more
Call me goofy, but I loved singing “The Name Game” as kid: Meryl, Meryl, bo-beryl, Banana-fana fo-feryl Fee-fi-mo-meryl Meryl! Yeah, yeah… I know how some immature kids like to use names like Chuck and Mitch. I’m sure you’ve heard your share. I’ve always been fascinated with names, how they came to be, and their origins. … Read more
Writers don’t just write. They also must market unless they’re John Grisham or Mary Higgins Clark. However, Grisham had to market early in his career. So how do writers market themselves? Try any of these activities that would benefit writers, book authors, freelancers, and small businesses. Grow your portfolio. If you’re just getting started, many … Read more
How often does this scenario happen to you? When you land on a Web site, it doesn’t instantly answer the most important question: What is the Web site about? The second question depends on the site. For business sites: “What does the business do?” For blogs: “What is the topic of the blog?” My blog … Read more
Businesses neglect simple strategies when building their Web sites. They often make the site about the company instead of about the customer. Customers can see through the marketing-speak. The following six easy-to-do features help businesses ensure they make the most of out of visitor’s time: Focus on the customer: A site tends to pump up … Read more
Marcia Yudkin’s Marketing Minute newsletter references Jakob Nielsen’s research that says shoppers leave 10 percent of the time because the site didn’t provide enough information. She discusses how some sites don’t make it clear whether the product is a CD, book or download. Funny thing is that I experienced this recently. I was looking up … Read more
Tom Johnson offers a great writing tip especially for tech writers and others who write instructions. This method also works well with Web content and forms. Watching people use a Web site, a product, a service — anything is a superb way to get insight on how others use the product or service. Those involved … Read more
Last Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law was asking about how to get a web site to get better search engine rankings. Apparently, someone she knows started a web site and talked about it with her. No way she would’ve brought it up otherwise as she and my father-in-law are semi-Luddites. They have a computer for the basics … Read more
“Forgot password?” should be instant. The site should simply request the user to enter the email address and immediately let the user know if the email address is in the system or not. Otherwise, you could lose out on ordering opportunities. We tried to order dinner online and Paul (SO) forgot his password. He entered … Read more