About Don Clark

http://www.abq1.com

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Info graphic on eye tracking

Eye Tracking 101- How Your Eyes Move on a Website Infographic

Don Clark

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Knowing how user eye tracking occurs allows you to build a more effective web page and a more visually pleasant experience for the end user:

  • The logo should be placed at the top left (if necessary on the db)
  • The most important content should be on the top left
  • Navigation bars should be on the top (preferred) or left
  • Keep written instructions concise and to the point

101-on-eye-tracking-how-your-eyes-move-on-a-website-infographic

Overall, a very informative article and infographic.  Getting the reader’s attention and holding it long enough to convert is the most critical function of your landing page.

101 on Eye Tracking: How Your Eyes Move on a Website Infographic via Single Grain

Picture of a real desktop with breakfast items, glasses, etc.

The Most Overlooked Piece of Real Estate on Your Blog

Don Clark

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Some very good advice about fixing up the “About” page on your website.  Just like your LinkedIn profile, it needs to be outstanding.  Unlike LinkedIn, however, you can do more on your own page.  Why should you spend more time?  A few hints:

Other than your homepage, which is usually the first place most first-time visitors drop by, your about page is the most important, and often the most viewed page on your website.

Why is this?

  • Because nobody reads something from a writer they don’t trust.
  • Because people want to connect with other people – especially on social media.
  • Because sometimes it’s hard to tell what your blog is actually about, even after reading a few articles.

An about page is a powerful resource, because it can quickly and easily address those three issues in one fell swoop. A good about page will immediately build trust with a first-time visitor, make readers feel more connected to the person behind the blog, and give them an idea of what to expect in the future.

Three keys to awesome about pages

So what does a good about page contain? A few things (with some real life-examples):

  • A welcome. This could be as simple as a headline that says, “Welcome to my blog!” followed by a brief bio on who you are and what you do. Chris Guillebeau does a great job with this without getting too wordy, as does Penelope Trunk. (Note: I recommend writing your About page in the first-person as this makes people feel more like they are talking to a real person. I learned that tip from Michael Hyatt.)
  • A promise. This is where you tell the reader what it is you do, why you do it, and how often. For example, my friend James Clear promises on his about page to send you helpful habit-building articles via email twice a week (every Monday and Thursday). He sticks to that schedule and to his published values regularly, because he understands that delivering on what he promises is essential to building an audience.
  • An invitation. This is where you ask people to follow your journey, to read a few articles, or maybe even to subscribe to your blog. See how I do that on my own about page. I learned this from Derek Halpern who leverages his about page to get more email subscribers. It’s a smart strategy.

Read the whole thing.

The Most Overlooked Piece of Real Estate on Your Blog.

Photo Credit: Kevin_Morris via Compfight cc

Colorful intersection

The Blogger’s Guide to Content Distribution Channels

Don Clark

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Interesting approach to getting your content in front of more of your target audience:

Content Distribution Channels aren’t talked about much in the social media space but they are critical in the startup world.

I’ve thrown a new buzzword at you so we’ll start with a definition.

Distribution Channels are places where your target audience congregate online to satisfy their thirst for more information about your subject.

For startups, distribution channels are where they find new users for products and services. You are familiar with “The Big Three” distribution channels: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

The problem is that the Big Three are charging for access to your potential audience which disqualifies most businesses from using them.  This means your post is reaching a sliver of your targeted audience.

There are a few more interesting tactics to maximize your reach on Facebook for example.  But it’s time for you to look for new places to distribute your content.

The Blogger’s Guide to Content Distribution Channels – Pushing Social.

Stuck in Customs Foter CC BY-NC-SA

10 Social Media Mistakes That Could Be Hurting Your Brand

10 Social Media Mistakes That Could Be Hurting Your Brand

Don Clark

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Social Media is taking over the web.  Three out of four internet users are visit social network sites when browsing.   This article goes over 10 possible mistakes you might make that could hurt your brand.  All are useful, although I see #6 and #7 being abused more often.

As of January 2014, 74 percent of all Internet users were on social networking sites. In other words, your brand needs to be active on social media to reach a huge chunk of your potential fan base. However, if you make one little error, you could be hurting your brand’s reputation. To make sure that you’re getting the most out of social media, make sure to avoid the following 10 mistakes.

via 10 Social Media Mistakes That Could Be Hurting Your Brand.

Paul Newman in a convertible.

SEO words, terms and phrases DEFINED. Finally.

Don Clark

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ARE YOU CONFUSED by the constant barrage of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) terms and acronyms?  Salvation is here!  In the form of a dictionary from Econsultancy.

Learn more about SERP, SEO, spiders and bots,  PPC, CPM, algorithms, White Hats and Black Hats, and more:

 

Authority Website:  An Authority Website is a site that is trusted.  It’s trusted by its users, trusted by industry experts, trusted by other websites and trusted by search engines. A link from an authority website is very valuable, but i order to get one you’ll have to be creating content that’s at least equal to the quality being created by the authority site.

Off-Page SEO:  These are methods that you can use to raise the ranking of a website through off-site, promotional means beyond its code or design. For instance, link building or via social media.

On-page SEO:  These are all the elements on your web page that you can control in order to make it visible to search engines. For instance: the use of a search engine friendly URL with relevancy to the content, good internal linking, fast loading pages, logical and clear navigation and the use of Sitemaps.

Crawling:  Google sends out Googlebots (or Spiders) to fetch information on new and updated web pages. This is known as crawling and will lead to your website’s inclusion in search results. This is a fully automated process and happens on a regular basis. You don’t even need to submit your web page to Google in order to be included. Although you can ask Google to crawl a URL if you wish for it to be indexed sooner.

What it all boils down to:  making your site human friendly by following White Hat SEO practices.  Like we do at Abq1.

More…A dictionary of SEO words, terms and phrases | Econsultancy.

 

boy holding out a bowl saying "Please, sir I want some more"

The Most Entertaining Guide to Landing Page Optimization You’ll Ever Read – Moz

Don Clark

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IF YOU’RE INTO LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION, you’re gonna love this article.  A very entertaining article by Oli Gardner of Unbounce.com that walks you through the steps to getting more conversions from your landing page (you do have one, don’t you?):

The start of the best part of your day begins now with this table of contents:

  • First I’ll give you the only rationale you’ll ever need to explain why landing pages are to marketers, what Immodium is to an astronaut with diarrhea. Essential.
  • I’ll prove why context – not content – is king when it comes to conversion.
  • Following that, I will make you fall in love with forms. FYI, it’s really, really hard to make form love a “thing”.
  • Mid way through we’ll sip some Canadian Club, get our Don Draper on, and learn how to write copy like the Mad Men (and Women).
  • “Paint me a pretty picture Johnny!” “Screw you mommy. Design is not just rainbows and unicorns!”
  • Is it greedy to want a second helping when you’re an orphan? Not if you have my name. (It’s Oliver in case you’re confused). Always ask for more when it comes to conversion .
  • And finally, I’ll put my art critic hat on and rip into some landing page examples, both good and bad.

Challenge laid down. Challenge accepted (on your behalf).

You’ll learn about attention ratio, conversion rates, providing context–not content, persuasive design, great copywriting, and much, much more.

And you won’t be bored.

More…The Most Entertaining Guide to Landing Page Optimization You’ll Ever Read – Moz.

 

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