Here is a little PDF file I put together for some writers/content providers that I work with.
Though their writing skills are excellent, their knowledge of how to create anchor tags fell very short. Don’t Click Here!
Download: How-to-link
Aug 032010
Mar 042009
Most sites do it. Does yours? Having your logo link to your home page is a fairly common practice. As a user of a website though, do you expect it to be like that? Does it improve a sites usability at all?
Here is the poll: Do you expect the logo of a website to link to the home page?
Archive of Previous Polls
Feb 042009
Last week I wrote an article about adding video to your website, Giving Life to Your Site. If done the right way, it can really compliment a site. If done the wrong way, it’s like turning off the visitors computer. I know many are still against finding sites with videos on them, and many webmasters will simply refuse adding them to a home page for usability reasons. So how do you get the power of a video without compromising your site? It’s simple really, you link to it.
Linking To It
In the process of reviewing the real estate site Breckenridge Real Estate, I found a very tiny link. It was too tiny really, but that link brought the visitor to a YouTube video they made, Breckenridge Real Estate Video. The video is a basic review of the website, and services offered. Watching it I saw that it was too broad to be put directly on the home page, and in no way would it help it. If this was my site I would definitely bring more emphasis to the link because this brings me to the second value of linking to it, YouTube.
YouTubing It
So if you checked out the video on YouTube you may have noticed a side effect of hosting it there, and linking to it. The video was uploaded Feb. 3rd, yesterday. It has already had nearly 2,000 viewers, and over fifty comments about the service of the real estate company. Most of them positive. That’s huge for a couple of reasons. First, I believe the real estate gets less than 2,000 viewers in a month. That means that video would never get the exposure that it got on YouTube as if they decided to host it them self. Second, having 2,000 people download a video from your server in one day can be a let down if your server is not prepared. It could also get very costly.
I Would Bet More Videos
After seeing those numbers I am sure the owner is very impressed with the YouTube experience. They do several territories like, Silverthorne Co Real Estate and Copper Mountain Real Estate, so I would expect to see videos for each and every one of them. Good job on adding video to your website…using the other way.
Oct 172008
What to do, what to do. After reviewing this story telling website, Tales from the Treasure Trove, I am not sure what to do. Visit their site, and let me know if you see the footer with the links without scrolling down. If you missed them when visiting you might feel like I do, and not know what to do.
It’s Not a Link?
With almost all my posts the images I include within them link to something. They either link to the page I took the screenshot from, or they link to a larger scale of them. Most people expect something when they see a major icon or image. Notice how this time I didn’t? Well it’s what happens when you visit this story telling site home page. The expectation might have been reduced if I saw a menu in the header or some other kind of link, but all the links were in the footer below the fold. I didn’t initially know what to do.
Lead Your Visitors
This site is missing out on an easy way to begin leading their visitors. That main image, dead center of their home page, the most obvious thing to look at, should be linking/pointing to it’s visitors to go this way. It should link to what the site owner wishes or expects the visitor to get out of the site. In this particular case it about offering some suggested reading for children. It should link to that, and not leave you hanging.
Don’t rely on your site menu to get your visitors on your premium content, especially when it’s in the footer. You must lead them to the…Treasure Trove.
ariel (1)
Chris (1)
Curtis (1)