Prime Your Web Design

Just like shopping in the brick-and-mortar world, website users are exposed to direct and indirect cues online that can unconsciously nudge them into making different decisions down the line. This process is called priming. Web designers can use priming to their advantage if they understand how and why it works, and how different situations call for different methods of priming. Priming describes the exposure to a stimulus that activates mental pathways. At a later point in time when these pathways are still active, they are more easily accessible for a similar stimulus than non-active ones. This leads to a priming effect.

An example of this is seen in television commercials. Watching televised advertising activates different mental pathways, and these pathways usually only link to positive memories – which is exactly what ad designers get paid to do.

The next time you visit the supermarket and see a product from an ad, these positive memories are triggered and they leave you with a positive attitude towards the product. If you need to choose between a hundred different types of yogurt brands, you are most likely going to go for the one that gives you a positive feeling.

How Designers Can Use Primes 
Priming does not work by forcing a decision upon your customers, but you can use it as a means to effectively support their decisions. Primes that can be used to guide your customers and support their decisions through website design include the following:

1. Colors
Colors have different meanings and can be used to prime emotions. You can color your background or only specific elements like buttons or content areas, for example. Be aware of your target group and their understanding of colors and the emotions they elicit.

2. Text
Text can also be used as a prime, of course. Include the exact wording of your menu items in your content and build a nice story around them, for example. Then when customers look around your site, the primed menu item will lead their thoughts back to your story -- which makes elements of the story accessible.

3. Metaphors
Use metaphors that refer to information to help your customers make a decision. For example, imagine you try to sell vacation trips. You could use the metaphor of a shell to trigger positive emotions like sun, beach, palm trees, ocean, waves, relaxation, etc.

4. Images
Use pictures to prime your customers. These pictures can either be in the background or a central element of your webpage. You can prime emotions that come with the purchase of your product or you can prime a desirable action that requires the purchase of your product, for example. Both times, you trigger memories that might only be distantly related to your product, as a way to guide your customers’ decisions.

5. Video
Use videos to prime a whole process of actions. Showing the sign-up process with the different steps involved will make it easier for your customers to sign up, for example. Different memories related to a sign-up process will be accessible that help to make the right choice. Besides, when your customers see the sign up button, the process of signing up will be more accessible to them than it would be without the prime.

6. Audio
Include audio on your website to prime any action you want your customers to engage in. Make sure that you don’t tell your customers what to do, but rather give them the idea that they figured it out themselves.Ensure that you pay attention to the atmosphere on your website. The emotional perception and elements that refer to emotions are important primes when it comes to the perception of your site. And for the rest, be creative! Anything that activates information in the minds of your customers can be used as prime.

It is important to note that priming is not the same as subliminal messaging. The two are related, but subliminal messaging includes ‘hidden’ primes and is considered by many to be an unethical marketing practice. Besides, not much research can be found to prove that subliminal messaging really works.Priming, on the other hand, has been proven multiple times to influence our judgment and decision-making, and is a recognized marketing tool. Priming includes visual or at least sensible primes that can be identified, such as pictures or odors. These primes should be context-sensitive and part of your website design.

Primes influence our choices, but they support our decision-making processes instead of forcing a decision upon us. However, primes only work if they are not identified as such, which also offers some food for thought.

About the author: Paul Veugen is the CEO and founder of Usabilla, a Web-based usability testing tool that allows marketers, analysts, designers and usability experts to collect visual feedback on their websites. Participants answer questions with points and notes on top of a webpage, mockup or sketch, and the results are analyzed and presented visually with charts and heat maps.

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7 Steps to Successful QR Codes

QR Codes have become the new marketing piece for businesses and their brands. The awareness of a QR Code is becoming more evident than ever; you can see QR Codes on billboards, magazines, television commercials – even on houses.

The beauty of the QR Code is the interaction with the mobile phone. Scanning a QR Code offer is like a box of assorted chocolates, never knowing what you will get next. That’s why we recommend that to maximize scan rates, you should tell the customer what they will receive.

With the increasing growth of QR Codes, businesses need to find a way to increase the number of scans and stand out from the crowd. QR Codes can often be associated to the Ugly Duckling in product placement. The black and white barcode does not match up to social media logos from Facebook and Twitter. Many may look at the QR Code and are unaware of what they are scanning. This is due to the lack of branding and direction.

How do we improve our QR Code Campaigns? Here are seven tips to help maximize success:

1. Use a QR Code Expert
QR Codes are extremely fragile and can be broken when adjusting sizes. Using a professional graphic designer will set up your campaign for the best possible success with a QR Code. Please note that creating a code can require much more than a free online generator might have to offer.

2. Tracking and Analytics
It is always good to know the success of your QR Code by the numbers. Using sites like bit.ly, you know the number of scans your QR Code receives by the minute. With tracking sites, you will be able to find the stats of each code scanned and hope to build on future campaigns. If you are using a mobile site with your QR Code, you should also track these pages with Google Analytics to help manage future success.

3. Call to Action
Letting your users know what they are getting can increase your scan rate tremendously. QR Codes are like Christmas presents; we want to be excited when we open them. Give your fans a hint to what will be inside. For example: “Scan to Win”, “Scan for Exclusive Content”, “Scan to like”. Giving these clues will hopefully attract the user before scanning.

4. Other Forms of Entry
Not everyone knows how to scan a QR Code. Using an alternate point of entry will help your campaign in succeeding its goal. Sites like 84444.com offer text message marketing campaigns that pair perfectly with QR Codes. Here is an example on how to incorporate text message marketing into your call to action: “Scan the Code or text “Promos” to “84444”.

5. Add Branding and Color
Standing out among a crowd can be difficult, especially in the realm of QR Codes. By branding your QR Code with both logos and colors, your code will shine. Would you prefer your television picture in black and white or full color? Taking this measure can be difficult and it is recommended to use a professional QR Code designer for the best possible scan rate.

6. Mobile Landing
Have you ever seen a movie that had an amazing preview, but the end result was dissatisfying?  If you give the user a clever QR Code or incentive to scan, be sure your result is MOBILE optimized. If your site is not mobile, your fan will have a terrible experience. Add social media links, incentives to win, and don’t forget mobilized contact information (a great way to generate leads!).

7. Testing, Testing and Testing
The final and most important step in a QR Code campaign is testing your end result. Before sending to print or any sort of live campaign, please be sure to thoroughly test your QR Code. Every smartphone device as well as scanner applications give different results (based on error). This means you should test your QR Code on at least one iPhone, Android and Blackberry device. It is recommend you also use at least two different QR Code applications to test these codes. The last thing you want to see is your campaign fail due to lack of testing.

If a user decides to scan your QR Code, they are interested in your product or what you have to offer; and this is exactly why you need to ultimately satisfy them. Going low budget on a QR Code campaign is possible, but will also limit your success.

Lack of experience may also hurt your chances of a successful campaign, which is why it is recommended to use experts. If you incorporate all of the above in your next promotion, you will be rewarded with a captivating QR Code Campaign.

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15 Free Fonts for 2012

The most compelling Web designs rely on creative uses of typography, which requires both smart and original thinking when it comes to font selections. With the inventories of free online font libraries such as Google Web Fonts and Typekit being added to regularly, and even more custom fonts being created daily, there are virtually thousands of open-source font families to choose from for your next design project.

Poring through thousands of fonts can be time consuming, however, and time is a commodity that few designers have in excess. So, WM has compiled a list of 15 fresh, free fonts to help get you started. If you would like to add something to the list, please do so in the comments section below:

Aovel Sans: A classy font that is best used for headlines of 16 points or larger.

Archive: A contemporary, versatile typeface with strong geometric forms

Carton: A strong and sensitive slab-serif font inspired by letterpress.

FV Almelo: When character has an alternative to caps find it by using lower-case

Hagin: Constructed with strong geometric forms in old-school style.

Homestead: Elegant slab-serif typeface that achieves an avant-garde look and feel

Jura: Serif typeface of narrow proportions with distinguishing details.

Lavanderia: Featuring numerous open-type features and three weights.

Molesk: A vintage-looking typeface that works well for headlines and logos.

Novecento: This font face is designed to be used mostly for headlines.

Otama e.p.: A quiet but confident typeface created for selling expensive stuff.

Parisienne: Casual connecting script that has a slight bounce for a variety of uses.

Poly: Intial design plan aimed to define an alternative system of diacritical marks

Scruffy: Inspired by writing with a black marker, this rough-edged, uppercase

Weston: Rounded slab-serif that is suitable for modification in logos and headlines.

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Next BIG Game Changer

This is an interesting time in the history of digital experiences, marked by the post-desktop era that is just ramping up. Tablet sales are expected to continue to soar, and Forrester estimates that one-third of online consumers will be using a tablet by 2015.

This presents a unique opportunity for retailers, as comScore reports that nearly half of today’s tablet owners have made purchases on their devices. The practice now known as t-commerce is taking off, and retailers had better take note.

The Tablet Experience

When today’s companies work to design their mobile strategies and the topic of tablets comes up, a big question often focuses on whether to offer tablet users a mobile or desktop browsing experience. The answer is neither. Tablets warrant a unique experience — whether you are considering sites, applications or even in-store installations. Shopping on a tablet is fundamentally different from shopping on smartphones or desktops. Consumers use tablets because they provide a highly immersive, high-touch experience and have an interface that makes it easy to browse the Internet without being constrained to a desk.

Tablets essentially bridge the gap between the desktop and the smartphone, creating a context-sensitive and personalized experience regardless of one’s location. Tablets merge the best features of both platforms with larger screens and location- and context-based awareness, making Internet surfing and purchasing easy and enjoyable. Tablet users can also find related items based on search or purchasing history, unlike on smaller-screened smartphone devices.


Many luxury retailers, in particular, are already capitalizing on the tablet platform by creating tailored experiences for users – making their products available for purchase in this channel and developing additional context around their offerings. The Look Book, for example, is a unique way that retailers can push more editorial content to consumers. With the larger screen, users can view a completed fashion “look” not otherwise possible with smartphones.

Make no mistake: Smartphones will continue to play a meaningful role in ecommerce, but tablets are beginning to overshadow traffic that was traditionally seen only from desktops.

Tablet as a Sales Tool

Brands are not only ramping up their tablet strategies from a digital perspective, but retailers are also leveraging the popular devices for clientele services and loyalty building by equipping their sales forces with tablets. Employees now have real-time access to a client’s purchase history and brand preference — basically a digitized version of Nordstrom’s popular “little black book.”

Retailers who arm their sales forces with these tools will redefine customer relationships by improving their understanding of each individual consumer. This ultimately helps drive more intimate relationships with customers, enabling brands to upsell and cross-sell based on their known preferences.

Tablet devices also expedite the stocking and checkout processes, as consumers can simply approach any store associate to complete a purchase. Apple is already ahead of this trend, leveraging the iPod touch in its stores to facilitate checkouts.

Tablets will go beyond a sales tool in the future, however. Virtual fitting rooms will enable consumers to snap a photo and upload it to a tablet to model a variety of outfit and fabric combinations – all without even stepping foot into a store’s physical location. Augmented reality technology even gives consumers the option to hold a tablet to their wrist to view a watch or piece of jewelry. Early adopters are already leveraging this technology, but it is still a few years from mass adoption in the marketplace.

When developing mobile strategies, it is important to recognize the tablet experience as something different. Do your research to understand your audience and plan accordingly. Find out where, when and why users are accessing your website and track the mobile device activity on your current site. If you are seeing more visitors from tablet devices, it is definitely worthwhile to implement a plan to deliver a more customized experience for these individuals.

About the Author: Tom Nawara is vice president of digital strategy and design at Acquity Group. He oversees the strategic direction and tactical execution of key client initiatives in a variety of digital areas, including content and collaboration, commerce, digital marketing, social media and mobile.

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GoDaddy and Sedo are making Domain Buying Easier

The world’s largest domain name registrar and the Web’s largest domain name marketplace have announced a partnership that will give users access to more premium domains than ever. When visitors search for domains at GoDaddy.com, matching names from Sedo’s marketplace will now also be displayed for potential buyers to purchase.

Go Daddy is the latest partner to join Sedo’s Multi-Listing Service, SedoMLS. The world’s largest domain name provider can now offer its customers the option to purchase domain names that are already taken as easily as they would register a domain for the first time. Sedo currently has 15 million domains for sale in its marketplace.

SedoMLS allows any domains listed at a “Buy Now” price to be displayed within Go Daddy’s search results, reaching the largest potential audience of domain buyers.

“As one of the most popular places worldwide for small business owners, entrepreneurs or individuals looking for the right domain name, we are thrilled to be partnering with Go Daddy,” says Sedo CEO Tim Schumacher. “Through our SedoMLS partnership, we can offer millions of domain buyers the widest choice of domain names, which will help them make the right decisions for their businesses, and purchase the names they need to find success online.”

Over the last several months and maybe even years, companies like Sedo and Afternic have been stressing that domain owners who want to sell their domain names need to have them priced. I would imagine that only domain names that are available with buy it now prices at Sedo will be shown to buyers at Go Daddy, enabling them to buy the domain name right away. Afternic domain names have been listed  at Godaddy since October (coincidentally announced at the last major domain conference).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan 30, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The largest domain name marketplace and monetization provider, Sedo, today announced a partnership with Go Daddy, the world’s largest provider of Web hosting, domain name registrations and new SSL Certificates. Already a prime location for businesses and individuals looking for a domain name, this new partnership enables registrar Go Daddy to expand its offering and provide end users with access to more premium domains than ever before. When a visitor searches for a domain or keyword at GoDaddy.com, matching names from Sedo’s marketplace will now also be displayed for potential buyers to purchase.

“Go Daddy wants to help small businesses grow larger, and finding the right domain name is the place to start,” said Paul Nicks, Go Daddy’s Director of Product Development for the Aftermarket. “Giving customers access to many premium domain names, including Sedo’s Buy Now domain names, Go Daddy can ensure our customers get the best domain name for their website or business.”

Go Daddy, the world’s largest registrar, is the latest partner to join Sedo’s Multi-Listing Service, SedoMLS. Through this partnership, Go Daddy can now offer its customers the option to purchase domain names that are already “taken” as easily as they would register a domain for the first time. The domain market leader, Sedo currently has 15 million domains for sale in its marketplace. SedoMLS allows any domains listed at a “Buy Now” price to be displayed within Go Daddy’s search results, reaching the largest potential audience of domain buyers.

“As one of the most popular places worldwide for small business owners, entrepreneurs, or individuals looking for the right domain name, we are thrilled to be partnering with Go Daddy,” said Sedo’s CEO, Tim Schumacher. “Through our SedoMLS partnership, we can offer millions of domain buyers the widest choice of domain names, which will help them make the right decision for their business, and purchase the names they need to find success online.”

About Sedo

Sedo, an acronym for “Search Engine for Domain Offers,” is the leading domain marketplace and monetization provider. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany and with offices in London, England and Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world’s largest database of domain names for sale, with more than 15 million listings. The success of Sedo’s model has attracted a global membership base of more than 1 million domain professionals.

About Go Daddy

Go Daddy is the world’s largest domain name provider, Web hosting provider and new SSL provider, focused on helping small businesses grow larger. Go Daddy provides dozens of cloud-based services and is the largest worldwide mass-market hosting provider by annual revenue according to Tier1 Research (Mass-Market Hosting Report-Winter 2011) and is the #1 provider of net-new SSL certificates for 2011, according to the Netcraft, LTD Secure Server Survey. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com/PR .

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Facebook posts have a lifetime ?

Did you know that Facebook posts have a lifetime?

According to Facebook exposure ranking tool EdgeRank Checker, the life of a Facebook post begins when it is posted live on the social network, and it ends when the growth in engagement is less than 10 percent between hourly snapshots.

So how long do posts usually live? A new study from EdgeRank Checker reveals that the average Business Page post lifetime is about 3 hours and 7 minutes, and the median post lifetime is 2 hours and 56 minutes. Meaning that most businesses and brands are experiencing post lifetimes around 3 hours long. It is important to know when a post dies so that businesses can plan how far apart content should be posted.

The study notes that when a post is receiving steady engagement from fans, it is more likely to stay on top of the feed as a Highlighted Story, which makes the content more visible, and can lead to a longer lifetime. However, the study also reveals that having multiple living posts could lead to cannibalization, and actually end up reducing fan engagement.

Keep your content alive on Facebook as long as possible. Here are a few tips for pumping some life into your posts:

Attract Attention. This can be done through unique posts, using actionable words or attaching pictures and videos to your posts. By including eye-catching content, your audience will want to engage with your brand.

Create Contests. By posting a trivia question or a riddle and promoting a free gift giveaway to a lucky fan, fans will have an incentive to interact with your post, and may even share your contest post with their friends and followers.

Be Consistent. Make sure that you are posting multiple times a day, every day, so that your fans can expect great content from you on a regular basis. However, quality content is key – so don’t post just to post, otherwise your fans may think that you are a spammer.

What is a Post doing while it is “alive”?A Post that is alive is typically occupying the News Feed. It may be placed atop the feed as a “Highlighted Story” receiving a continuous stream of engagement. It is important not to post while another Post is alive. Having multiple “alive” Posts will lead to cannibalization, therefore reducing Engagement, which ultimately leads to reduced EdgeRank.

How do I utilize understanding my Post Lifetime?Once you know your average Post Lifetime, it should serve as a guideline for how long to wait before introducing another Post. For example, if you posted at 1:00pm and you know that your average Post Lifetime is three hours, it’s recommended you wait until at least 4:00pm before following up with the next Post.

How do I find my average Post Lifetime?For EdgeRank Checker Pro users, Post Lifetime is analyzed on a hourly basis. This can be found in the Post Grading section of the site, at the bottom of your Page analysis.

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WordPress Plugins for Loyalty, Reward & Gamification

Here is four plugins you can use to increase engagement, encourage repeat visits and build a loyal following on your WordPress blog. Despite the growing interest in gamification, there are really only a handful of plugins available that are stable enough to provide Wordpress site developers a viable point and reward system to their users. There are definitely some winners:
Incrwd: A loyalty program plugin that uses real rewards to incentivize users to visit the site, share posts on Facebook and Twitter, and comment more often. The plugin comes from blog loyalty platform provider Incrwd, so bloggers can use their own products/deals or those provided by brand advertisers through Incrwd itself.

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Achievements for BuddyPress Built for the popular BuddyPress community platform for WordPress, this plugin helps bloggers promote and reward social interaction with challenges, badges and points. The plugin only works with BuddyPress and requires support for several other core plugins. Another option for BuddyPress sites is CubePoints

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Punchtab Released mid-2011, Punchtab is a loyalty program plugin enabling readers to sign in through Facebook, and earn points for activities such as visiting, commenting or sharing on Facebook, Twitter and PlusOne's. Readers can also redeem points.

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Big Door Quick Gamification Released by gamification technology startup Big Door, this plugin enables WordPress site operators. Big Door's point system is based on activities, earning users experience points and badges

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Get the Most Out of Google Analytics

Google Analytics has revamped its design, giving it not only a cleaner look but also updated data sets. You can now find everything from real-time stats to details about which mobile device your site visitors come from.

Though the data possibilities seem endless, Google Analytics product manager Phil Mui says the design reflects three core metrics: acquisition, engagement and outcome. Let’s take a closer look at what these numbers mean and how you can track them with one of the most widely used web analytics platforms.

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Acquisition

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The lowest-hanging fruit of web analytics is counting metrics. This data encompasses the number of visitors that come to your site and can be filtered to show what sites they’re coming from and how many of them have or haven’t been to your site before. In Google Analytics, this is described as “Visits.”

The tool has long provided information about where your visitors are coming from (geographically and on the web), what language they speak, how often they visit your site and what computers and browsers they use to get there. More recently, Google Analytics released mobile reporting. As people increasingly access the web from smartphones and tablets, this information is key to optimizing your site for those looking at it from a mobile device. This and most visitor-specific information can be found under the Audience tab. On report pages, the Visits metric can be found in the upper-left, while New Visits — the percentage of visitors coming to your site for the first time — is second in from the right.

Measuring how many people are coming to your site is the most cut and dried — but it’s only one piece of the metrics pie.

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Engagement

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These numbers consider the quality of your site traffic. Once visitors come to your site, they’ll do one of three things: read the page they came to, click to more pages beyond their entry page, or leave. Engagement metrics focus on these actions visitors are taking once they get to your site — and how good you are at keeping them there.

The three key engagement metrics in Google Analytics are:

• Pages per Visit: This is the average number of pages a visitor views when coming to your website. The more engaging your site is, the more inclined visitors will be to continue clicking beyond the entry page.
• Average Time on Site: This refers to the typical amount of time visitors spend on your site, despite whether they continue to stay on the page they came in on or navigate elsewhere within your domain.
• Bounce Rate: This represents the percentage of single-page visits to your site. It gives you a sense of how many visitors left your site from the entrance page rather than clicking further into your site as compared to total visitors. Like Pages per Visit, Bounce Rate can help you determine the performance of your entry pages based on the actions visitors take (or don’t take) after they’ve arrived on your site.

Engagement metrics are especially important for reports created in the Traffic Sources and Content tabs. On report pages, Pages per Visit and Average Time on site are located at the top middle of report pages, while Bounce Rate is at the far right.

So, how do you know if your site is “engaging?” Ask yourself: Is your site user-friendly? How simple is it for a visitor to click to the next page? Is there interactive content in which your readers can participate? Does landing page content match the keywords in its title? Considering these questions when designing your site is a surefire way to improve the quality of your web traffic.

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Outcome

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The Goals area is where your data tracking can really help you make a difference. These outcome-oriented metrics help you dive deeper into your site performance and learn whether you’re achieving what you want with your website.

The first step is defining your business objectives: Are you driving visitors to make online purchases? Getting them to view a specific piece of content? Aiming for more newsletter signups? Once you’ve pinned down your site goals, make sure your site administrator enables Goals in Google Analytics in the Account Settings page. Then you can choose one of four Goal types to track:

• URL destination: This metric is best if your goal is to get visits to a key page of your site, such as your homepage or a post-purchase message page.
• Time on Site: If you’re looking to measure engagement, this will track visitors spending a defined amount of time on your site.
• Pages per Visit: Also important for engagement, Pages per Visit will keep tabs on a defined number of pages visitors view in a session on your site.
• Events: Released in the most recent version of Google Analytics, Event Goals allow you to track specific actions visitors are taking on a page. This includes anything from downloading a PDF to watching a video.

Goals reports can be found under the Conversions tab, which will provide information about goal completions and conversion rates. You can opt to track goal value and abandonment rates (the percentage of visitors who fail to convert on the goal) as well.

If you’re an online retailer, it may make more sense for you to set up Ecommerce in Google Analytics, which allows you to track transactions and order values. It’s a more complicated setup process, but will provide more actionable metrics for visitors’ purchasing behavior on your site. For Google Adwords users, linking your account to Google Analytics goals can help you keep a closer eye on your marketing campaigns.

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Other Noteworthy Features

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One problem with the analytics industry, Mui says, is that tools give users so much information — but they’re not as good at telling users what they need to know. That’s why Google Analytics improved its Intelligence product in the most-recent update. It searches your site traffic for anything out of the ordinary and then alerts you to the anomaly. You can see all your alerts in a simple graph, where you can drill into and annotate specific events.

If you’re running a dynamic website that frequently publishes new content, Google Analytics Real-Time helps you understand what content is working best and what sites are sending you the most traffic at any given moment. It’s less useful for providing more long-term actionable insights.

For more useful v5 products, check out our top 10 features of the new Google Analytics.

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Conclusion

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While your level of interest in these key numbers and features may differ depending on your role and organization, these data points have become the standard for web analytics today. Whether you’re strategizing for a massive corporation or bolstering your personal web presence, understanding acquisition, engagement and outcome metrics is a must. “If content is king, then context is queen,” Mui says.

Which of these metrics and features are most important to your business? Has tracking them helped you improve your site? Tell us in the comments below.

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