May 2006
Monthly Archive
Making people stay on your website more than a few seconds
It is an interesting excercise that any webmaster should undertake at least a few times per year. By doing so will show up and interesting result and put the whole business of the website into perspective.
That exercise is to look at your weblog and see how long people stay on your website. Lets face it – people are in a hurry, and unless they see what they want or at least have confirmation that they are on a site that they will be able to find the information they are after, then they will be hitting the back button on their browser faster than than you can say ‘Wait a minute!”
The need to make sure you tell people fast that they are at the right place is further exacerbated by the often poor results being returned by Google. Yes, there is trouble in Paradise and Google is trying to improve the situation since Big Daddy, which is when things started to go belly-up. Poor results means people are having to appraise a site quickly before moving onto the next search result.
What this means is people are being even faster in their initial assessment of if the site they have landed on is right for them. They are becoming skilled in capturing the information before they have to blink again. That is kow long you have to engage with them – less than a blink space.
Use SMS for gaining feedback
Just recently we helped a client gain feedback using SMS. Yeah – you say…so what?
The interesting aspect was this client (sorry, cannot tell you who!!) was seeking movie reviews – from pre-release test screenings. The system was simple, effective and through the use of abbreviated input, useful information was gained that will help adjust the movie prior to its final release.
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Webmistress interview – Stephanie Meagher of blahblahbox
MattE 07 May 2006 | : Webmaster Interviews
Every day there are new people coming to the web. I have some who are recent retirees who are looking at a new business venture they can easily manage from the comfort of their own home. On the other end of the age spectrum, there are those who are lookig to the internet as their future. Never mind about boring stuffy jobs in an office or factory! One such person is Stephanie Meagher, of blahblahbox.com. This dynamic young webmistress is taking the world head on – and by all accounts, winning!
I was interested to learn of her promotional techniques and approach to search engines at the end of the interview.
The internet provides access to global audiences and markets. Where are you located and is your market influenced by your location?
I live in a small village in Ireland, with no broadband access yet which can make running an Internet based business difficult. But I’ve got people from all over the world signing up to my website and most of them assume I’m American, so I don’t think it matters too much where I’m located.
