The How to site

Summary:This article covers eight important features and considerations to improve usability and the reader confidence for your blog.

This post is largely based on Jacob Nielsens ideas about writing and presenting content on Internet. The focus is on usability, and building a relationship of trust between the user and the author. If you fulfil these two conditions you have a winner. It is not that simple to get there of course but here are a few guidelines and things you can implement that will improve one or the other of usability and building trust.

1. Make an author biography. Present yourself and let the reader decide whether he/she should bother listening to your rants. If you think you are qualified, present why. If you are not that qualified, be upfront about it and people can judge for themselves whether they should listen or not. Honesty goes a long way.
2. Put your picture up. Being able to put a face on the otherwise anonymous Internet gives an edge. It is also easier to trust to an author that you have a visual relation to.
3. Use descriptive post titles. Your titles are often the only information bearer in listings and links, and generic titles like “Check this out!” and “My god, look at this” are not going to get you many new readers. Your title is your ultra-compact post summary. The three first words are the most important.
4. Use intelligible links. Users must be able to tell where a link will take them, either from the anchor text or the link title. Never open links in new windows. This is extremely annoying to the user and also eliminate the use of the so important back navigation button.
5. Identify some of your pillar posts and link to them from your main navigation system. These are the posts that defines your site. The best you have done. These will entice the reader to keep reading and hopefully, subscribe to your blog.
6. Publish regulary. It is better to publish/update once a week, but regularly, than to publish ten posts one week and then take a three week break. Use your blogs schedule function (if it has one) to follow your schedule. There is probably no single ideal posting frequency, so go for what suits you.
7. Host your own blog. This is very important, and I figure will be even more important in the future, as Internet real estate increase in importance and value. By using a hosted service you build someone else’s brand instead of your own.
8. Use a familiar layout and navigation system. Unless you already have a name and loyal readers I’d recommend that you avoid ‘cutting edge’ menu systems and advanced design. Users don’t want to learn a new navigation system for each site they visit. They want something were they instantly can identify the key functions and quickly find your key content.

Continue Reading »

Popularity: 3% [?]

Internet users, and blog readers, generally don’t like to read long, winding texts, so cut your writing in half. Make sure your content is scannable and properly structured, starting with the conclusion and then the supporting information. I’ve been reading a bit about what makes or breaks a text on the Internet, or more specifically, a blog post. It might seem straightforward enough to the novice (me), but one soon discovers that in the razor sharp competition in the blogging world readers have little or no tolerance to bad writing and layout. So what is bad in this context? Well – overly long and talkative texts are bad. Compact text with low scannability is bad. Obviously, poor grammar and punctuation is bad.

To summarize a few points from what I’ve learnt:

• Be brief. Write 50% less than you want to. Excessive scrolling and massive texts are boring and detracts from the interactive experience.
• Use a scannable text layout. Reading from a computer monitor is painful. Bulletize important information, highlight keywords, use meaningful headlines.
• Use effective structure, like the “inverse pyramid” technique. Start with your conclusion, then give supporting information and lastly the introduction.

Continue Reading »

Popularity: 2% [?]