I know I have written a post on this topic before – The annoying click here habit, but as I mentioned, it is my pet hate. It drives me crazy and I have to keep griping about it.

Whenever I see a Click here link these days I feel like e-mailing the company and saying ‘NO, I don’t want to Click here’. Don’t tell me what to do, or treat me like an idiot. You didn’t even say ‘Please’.

When you walk into a restaurant, each chair does not have a sign on it that says Sit here. Newspapers do not have a headline on each column that says Read here.

Why?

Because we know what a chair is and what it is for. Likewise we know what a newspaper is and where to read.

WE ALSO KNOW WHAT A LINK IS AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT!

Let’s look back to the origins of the infamous ‘Click here’ link. When the Internet was very new to the world, websites were not a common channel as they are today, Google was yet to be born, and there was no such thing as Web standards, websites were built in any old colour and layout. Usability, accessibility, information architecture and an aesthetic user interface had never seen the light of day. Back then it was not always clear what a link was or what it looked like. It could look the same as the rest of the copy on a page or it may have blinked, animated, almost chased you across a page, or been in 36 point font and red. It was easier for the developer/designer to say Click here so there was no doubt as to which were the links.

Those days are over.

We now have Web standards, best practice, usability, accessibility, information architecture and a knowledge that did not exist then. We KNOW what a link looks like as it is usually a different colour to the rest of the text or it has an underline. We know that when we hold the mouse over it, the pointer turns into a hand and often the link will change colour or underline. We also know that a well designed site is uniform and that links on all pages will have the same attributes and behave in the same manner. This gives us a feeling of confidence and familiarity when navigating around a site.

We also know that if the site is designed and written correctly, that the copy has made it clear where the link is going to take us to, and can see the destination page URL in the status bar. (I did say on a correctly designed site)

If the site is well built, then the navigation is very clear, and the information architecture has left scope for an evolving and growing website within its framework instead of having to pop in Click here everywhere when something doesn’t quite fit.

The link text should be contextual and mean something. Instead of Click here, we can have Read the annual report. Now, doesn’t that read better? A blind person using a reader to read the website out to them will know exactly what that link is about instead of having a leap of faith in where we are trying to take them with a Click here link.

It is amazing how many business websites and even corporate sites have Click here for many of their links. Look for it when you are surfing around the Internet and you will be surprised.

My other pet hate is finger prints on the fridge, but that is another story …

A classic case of why ‘online reputation management’ is so important is the recent YouTube success of Dave Carroll’s song, United Breaks Guitars.

Band members watched in horror from a United plane as baggage handlers played catch with their guitars. From this rough handling, a Taylor guitar was broken. After 12 months of frustration in trying to get United to reimburse them for the guitar, the band got together and wrote a ‘catchy’ tune (pun intended) called United Breaks Guitars.

This video clip has now been viewed millions of times and the tale has been retold in newspapers all over the world.

According to Social media lessons: United Airlines breaks guitars, John Dodge reports that United have since offered compensation for the guitar. It is a case of too little, too late, or closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

This PR disaster for United could have been avoided had they offered better customer service in the 12 months prior to the song being released.

I love the homepage of Taylor Guitars at the moment. Quick to jump on the PR bandwagon, the main image is a guitar with a Fragile sticker and an airline claim ticket, and the heading ‘Bumpy flight?’ Brilliant!

1. Web copy should be left-aligned. Indenting the first word of a paragraph is often used in print material but is not correct for Web copy. This has become a standard with Web writing and also with modern business letters.
2. Do not use underlines. On a Web page, underlined words often represent links. It confuses a reader if a word has an underline but is not a link.
3. Do not colour-code words to highlight them. Many websites use a colour theme for links so a coloured word may lead the reader to think it is a link. Headings can have a colour theme.
4. Use bolded words or italics where appropriate. Highlight a word or sentence with bolded or italic font. Don’t overdo it.
5. Use semantic headings. Depending on how your page is set up, use H1, H2 or H3 headings where appropriate. The use of semantic headings is like letting search engines know the importance of a heading and is better house-keeping from a styling perspective.
6. Do not use long sentences. Long sentences are for print material. Online copy should use short sentences which are to the point. Break up your long sentences into two sentences.
7. Break up large blocks of text. It is difficult for the reader to absorb large blocks of text when reading online. Try to keep blocks of text to a minimum and break the page up with images, headings, bullet lists, words in bold or white space.
8. Reference material used from elsewhere. If you are quoting someone else, using their information or thoughts, always cite the reference whether it is a link to their site, or a mention in the copy, or in references at the end of the copy. Plagiarism and copyright infringement are serious issues.
9. Have a clear call-to-action. If the purpose of your page is to encourage a sale, or provide information on a product or a service, always make it clear to the reader what the next step is. A simple call-to-action such as ‘Order U-Beaut Now!’ or ‘Contact us today for a quote!’ with a link to the relevant page would suffice.
10. Have interesting content. If your site is a business site, write in a general, neutral and professional tone, but don’t get too bogged down in trivial detail. Keep the content fresh and appealing. More intricate detail can be offered in a PDF or over several pages, giving the reader the choice of reading more.
]]> http://www.blax.com.au/ten-tips-to-writing-web-copy.html/feed 0 http://www.blax.com.au/email-communications-gaining-a-subscriber-list.html http://www.blax.com.au/email-communications-gaining-a-subscriber-list.html#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 01:27:42 +0000 Fox http://www.blax.com.au/?p=391  

A few weeks ago I posted a blog titled SPAM – Australian business and the law. I have had phone calls since then asking questions on how to obtain a mailing list.

If you wish to email a newsletter, specials and promotions, or other marketing material to a list then the best list to have is your own customers. Start collecting subscribers as soon as possible even if you are not ready to start emailing until some time in the future. By the time you are ready to send, you should have a list where the subscribers have consented to receiving your email.

For online subscriptions you will need to add an area to your website where the user can sign up:

• A text box where the subscriber enters their email address
• A checkbox with some wording such as ‘Please send me newsletters and special offers’. The checkbox must not be pre-ticked. The action of the ticking of a checkbox must be a manual process that the subscriber performs.
• A Submit button which saves the subscriber to a database maintained either by you or a third party.

Best practice dictates that an automated email is sent to the subscriber asking them to click on a link to confirm that they wish to receive the communications. There are times when a person signs up a friend so the request to confirm is a safeguard to ensure that the recipient does wish to receive the communication. It is also recommended to offer a link to your Privacy Policy so the subscriber can read your process and practices regarding protecting their private information. Of course you must let the subscriber know how they can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time.

It is a good idea to place this subscription area on your website where it is easily seen such as the homepage, or a side column common to each page. Also add the subscribe option to any membership forms on your website. This is a good opportunity to gain a subscriber as they are already filling out a form and interested in your product or service.

You can gain subscribers offline as well. If you have a printed membership form or an offline newsletter, you can add the subscription complete with un-ticked checkbox to the form. There are a number of ways you can gain subscribers, but just be careful that you are clear about what they are subscribing to.

What if you are a new business, without a mailing list and want to email a target audience to let them know about your product or service?

You can buy a legitimate mailing list from a broker using a Pay Per Lead model. These companies will gain consent from a targeted consumer segment for your specific website to send information to them. Often the subscription is on a survey site.

There is no need to preach that you should never buy a mailing list from any other source.

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