January 22, 2008
Writing for the web
No Comments
Writing for Your Customers
An occasional series on writing for the average web site visitor.
When creating content for your web site, you want to optimize it so that your content will be readily found when users search for it.
Identify Relevant Keywords
While you are the expert in your products and services, it is helpful to think about it from a naive user’s point of view. What keywords are visitors likely to use in a search engine to find your site and a specific page? Avoid extremely generic or single keywords, like “property management.” Use at least two- or three-word combinations, for example, “Monterey property management,” or “Monterey real estate property management.”
If you are not sure what keywords to use, do some research using 
Google’s Keyword Tool. For example, if you enter “property management,” the Google tool shows that other keywords are also often used as search terms:
- real estate property management
- property management companies
- real estate management
- rental property management
These other keywords, because they are more specific, are more competitive niches for search.
January 22, 2008
Usability
No Comments
Writing for Your Customers
An occasional series on writing for the average web site visitor.
Keep Your Content Relevant
If any content might cause someone to think, ‘So what?’ get rid of it. Avoid obvioius information, like the name of the department, when it’s already clear.
Use Simple Language
Don’t use long words where short ones will do. You want to give your visitors information — make it easy for them. Avoid convoluted syntax, vocabulary that outsiders won’t understand, and over-use of acronyms.
Use Your Audience’s Language
When federal agencies communicate with the public, they are required to use plain English. Increasing numbers of state governments are also implementing this policy.
Use your readers’ language, not yours. Try to use the words people are searching for. Remember that the thing you care about most may be a turn-off for your audience. To your audience, you are not the center of the universe, your website is one among many.
Read the rest…
January 9, 2007
Devices
No Comments
You’ve done it. Walked up to a door and pulled, only to lose your grip in the process. And there it is: the sign that says, “Push.” Or maybe it was the other way around. You pushed, and the sign said, “Pull.” And maybe you felt kind of stupid for a second. “Why didn’t I see the sign?”
I think we ought to be asking another question. Why is the sign necessary? And a third: Why did you intuitively pull (or push)?
Many people assume they are at fault when they can’t figure how to use something. But it’s often the product’s fault: it’s shoddily made, poorly designed, or just difficult to use. And people just adapt to the poor design because they they have no choice. Look at that door again: was the handle a vertical bar? Which naturally invites you to push? But wait, there’s a vertical handle on both sides.
I currently have a Treo 700P,a so-called “smart phone,” that I use for business. I really hate the phone interface. The external keypad is tiny, requiring near pinprick precision. When a second call comes in, I can put the first caller on hold. But I have yet to figure out how to get the call back. When I remove an item from the phone task list, the next time I sync online I end up with two of the same task. Duh. Read the rest…
November 4, 2006
Public Spaces
No Comments
During the fall of 1972, I was a senior in high school and Editorial Page Editor of “The Galleon,” Monterey High School’s student newspaper. As a member of the wrestling club, I sold candy and snacks during wrestling matches. I noticed that there were four fire hose boxes in the gym, and three of them were broken. One had, as I recall, no glass, hose and extinguisher. Another, the glass was broken, and the extinguisher was missing. During a wrestling match one evening, I thought that I might write an editorial about the state of these boxes and asking why the hose and extinguisher were not maintained.
For reasons I do not recall, while looking at the last box which appeared intact, I decided to open the box. The metal door stuck at the bottom corner, it flexed, and the glass in the door broke, shattering on the concrete floor. Now I could have run, but it was just an accident. The end of the story is that I was summoned to the Vice Principal’s office. He wanted to know what I had been doing. I told him I was thinking about writing the editorial. All I really wanted was an answer to the question as to why these essential life-saving devices were not maintained so they could be used as intended. He suggested that I could have brought the problem to his attention, and informed me that I could be suspended for this “vandalism.”
I was shocked. Me, the former Junior Class President? The Editorial Page Editor? The proverbial good guy? I told the faculty newspaper advisor the story, and he organized a meeting of concerned individuals. Three days later the Vice Principal told me I would, in fact, be suspended for three days for vandalism. And when the Vice Principle heard about the advisor’s plans for a meeting, the teacher was called in too. Not yet tenured, he was told in effect to back off and to mind his own business.
So I was suspended for vandalism. My teachers were surprised and supportive. Technically, they did not have to allow me to make up work missed during the suspension. All gave me advance copies of my homework and I had three days off.
What did I learn?
1) People don’t trust your motivations.
2) Watch out for yourself.
3) If something doesn’t work, it isn’t neccesarily because you are doing it wrong.
