About Jodi Kaplan

How to Write a Web Page vs. Writing for Print

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

Writing for the web poses some unique challenges compared to writing on paper.

It’s harder to read on a computer (even with retina screens) and people tire more easily.

Plus, there are more distractions. Unlike printed pages, web sites have ads that may move or blink. There are social media buttons, and of course, pinging email notifications.

All of this makes it a lot harder to keep someone’s attention on your article or post.

Here are some ways to overcome all of that.

Write in small chunks

A big block of text is OK on paper, but not on a screen. The resolution on a printed page is much clearer than onscreen – and reading large blobs of text online can quickly become tiring.

Break up your paragraphs into small bits, three or four lines at most. Then, add a paragraph break. I know, Strunk and White wouldn’t approve (but they never saw the web).

Use sub-headings

Add sub-headings to break up the text even more. Many people skim, so a heading helps them stop and find exactly the information they’re looking for. If you catch their attention, they may go back and read more carefully.

Write with bullet points

Short bullet points also make skimmers stop and read more carefully. If it’s a sales page, you want action words right at the front of those bullets. If it’s tech specs or design specs, they’re much easier to digest than if you wrote them out in long sentences.

Use colors

Colors are free on the web. Contrasting colors for headlines, or links, or buy buttons grab more attention. Don’t go crazy though – you don’t want it to look like you’ve dumped a paint store on your page. Don’t use too much of one color either (then it’s too bland).

Above all, keep editing and testing (unlike paper, it’s easy to change your mind!)

Make the type larger

Even with ever-sharper screens, reading text on the web can still be tiring. And, for older people (or those with poor eyesight) it’s difficult to read even a small section of text. Increase the type size on your posts (or allow a zoom in/out feature). Unlike text on paper. the font size on the web is adjustable!

Getting Raving Fans for Your Business

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

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I was listening to a webinar the other day with Peter Shankman of HARO (Help a Reporter Out). Peter’s got 188,000 people on his email list, and mails three times a day. He said he had an open rate of over 70% (pretty phenomenal for such a frequent mailer). His fans love his emails.

All creative types (and bloggers) want fans. We want people to like us, to leave comments, and eagerly await what we write. We want editors who never, ever kill our darling, favorite phrases. Clients who love our web designs, and never, ever spend an hour arguing over whether a design should be predominantly red or blue.

But, we know that may not happen. Certainly not all the time.

What we can do

We can’t all be Peter (darn), but is there anything we can do? What makes readers (and potential clients) respond?

Random rewards?
Giveaways?
Personal stories about successes (or even failures)?
Shoutouts?
Something else?

What other techniques can you think of? What have you tried? And which of them worked?

Tuesday Travels: Cool Tools for Creatives and Freelancers

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

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Today’s crop of cool tools brings a button maker, an FAQ generator, and an infographics tool.

Kloud (easy interactive FAQ page)

Button Maker – free tool for making your own call to action buttons (choice of colors, fonts, and shapes)

Visual.ly – infographics are hot; here’s how to make your own

Desktop wallpaper – Free desktop wallpaper from artists around the world (Estonia, Poland, Canada, India, and Slovakia, to name a few).

Scallions, User Experience, and Ease of Use

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Bunches of scallions / green onions (Allium fi...

Image via Wikipedia

You’re probably wondering what scallions have to do with marketing or user experience failures.

I was at the market the other day, and wanted to buy some scallions. I looked and looked, but couldn’t find them anywhere.

It was a new store, so I didn’t know where everything was.

Finally, I asked an employee. The scallions were right in front of me.

Poor User Experience

I didn’t see them because I was looking for the whitish bulbs and the roots. They were stacked the other way around. The green leaves were facing out, not in. It’s not a web site, but it was still a user experience failure. The produce department was failing “ease of use.”

Ease of Use Matters Both Online and Off

Something can be right in front of your client or your customer, but they may not recognize it. A big label saying, “scallions.” would have helped. Or, putting them the “right” way around.

Your menu, your navigation, and your site setup may make sense to you and your team (since you built it), but leave your visitors scratching their heads in confusion.

Here’s another example. Have you seen sites with “hamburger” menus? Those are the three straight lines usually on the top of a site. It looks like a burger with a bun (if you squint). The trouble with those menus is that they’re not obvious. Some older users don’t know what it is. And, it adds an extra step. You have to click the menu before you can see the options. They’re especially problematic on mobile, where it’s hard to type a tiny icon.

Skip the hamburger and use small icons representing each option (like a pin pointer for locations, a rectangle with a currency sign for gift cards, and a cart icon for shopping).

In a store, someone can ask. Online, they’ll leave.

How LinkedIn is Exploiting Your Name, Your Photo, and Your Inbox

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Have you checked your LinkedIn settings lately? I hadn’t, until Adriana Beal pointed out this article from Business Insider.

It turns out that LinkedIn is automatically opting you in to use your photo and your activity for their social advertising purposes.

Once I found that they could use my photo (without an OK, or remuneration), I decided to look further and see what else they were doing.

Quite a lot

Turns out they could:

1) use my photo
2) show me ads on other sites
3) send me new product announcements
4) send me invites to participate in research
5) send me partner inmail with more advertisements from their marketing and hiring partners
6) share my data with third party applications

Permission?

Some of these things are more obnoxious than others, but I never gave permission for any of them. It was all done behind my back – no disclosure, no easy way to see it.

Control your privacy

In fact, if you want to manage your privacy, you’ll need to check in three different places and change, and save, each one separately.

First, login, and go to settings (it’s on the upper right of your screen).

Then go to “email preferences.” In the second column, on the right, you’ll see settings for LinkedIn announcements, market research invites, and partner inmail.

Next, click on “groups/companies, and applications. ” There’s an item called “privacy controls” on the right. Click that to control what information gets shared with third party applications.

Finally, go to “account.” There’s another “privacy controls” setting here (why two?). Click on “social advertising” and turn that off. Then go back and turn off “enhanced advertising.”

That should do it.

To be fair, their marketing team may have drunk too much of their own Koolaid, but their customer service was very helpful recently when I had a problem.