Some may recall a study that was published by Jacob Neilson back in 2006 that analyzes how people view websites. When Neilson asked people to view websites, it was noticed that many would read them in a similar manner. Heatmaps were used to express now visitors would view the content on the page, and when the map was studied, a clear pattern was noticed. This pattern became known as the “F Pattern” because of the resemblance to the letter “F”.
The areas viewed most are red; yellow is less and blue shows the least amount of views. What you will notice, is that as the reader continues to scan the page, the lower section and the right rail of the page receives less views. This supports that most viewers are reading left to right and top to bottom, and that they tend not to read all of your content. You will notice a distinct “blue color” toward the bottom of the page meaning that people are abandoning it. The same can be said about content that is on the right side of the page.
What does this mean for web design? When designing your site, it is crucial to have the most important elements in the top, left section of the site. When creating navigation, feature your most important sections on the left side.
As you start to create your content, it is important that you recognize this F Pattern and organize your content accordingly. Make sure the most important information is in the first two paragraphs of the text, and make it easy to read. Incorporate bulleted or numbered lists so it is easier for readers to pick out important pieces of information. Understanding that you don’t have much time to grab your readers attention will be an integral part of creating text that is both compelling and optimized.
Wikipedia.org, the free online encyclopedia, is a force on the Internet and in the world of social media. This wholly interactive way of sharing and retrieving information has over 13 million articles. According to their website, the word Wikipedia means a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning “quick”) and encyclopedia.
Having an article about your business in Wikipedia is beneficial for the simple fact that it can drive great quality traffic to your website:
For instance, when a business (such as IBM) appears prominently in the search results pages of Google, the Wikipedia entry is considered to be such an authority, that it will rank very prominently in the search results. This results in more traffic to your site because of the valuable real estate that it takes up in the SERPs.
Links coming from Wikipedia to your site do not have any value in terms of “Link Juice”, but, again, will drive traffic to your site and will give your business credibility in the industry.
Wikipedia is human edited, so any Wikipedia editor can delete your article if they feel that it is merely a “commercial” for your business and/or it doesn’t have any cultural significance. This means, obviously, that not all websites will be successful at submitting an article to Wikipedia and keeping it there. Articles on people or businesses should read like biographies, in that they are written from a neutral point of view. So, has your business made any industry innovations? Is it notable and culturally significant? If so, you may have a shot at gaining a presence on one of the largest sites on the web.
In recent weeks, Twitter has announced that it will be updating its look and feel. Many of us who use Twitter on a daily basis are excited for these new changes. For those of you who haven’t heard that Twitter is updating, here is a run down of some of the items that it will be changing:
Pictures and Movies in the interface — In the past when someone Tweeted a picture or video by way of Twitpic or Twitvid, one would click the link in the Tweet, and it would take them off page and open a new tab or browser to view the photo or video. With this update, these photos and videos can now be featured in the right rail of the interface by clicking in the tweet area, but not on the Tweet. If you click on the link that is contained within the Tweet, you will still be taken offsite.
Twitter Profile Information — Currently, if you were to click on a username (@morevisibility) in your twitter stream, you will be taken to their Twitter profile page where you can see additional information and their most current Tweets. With this new update, a click on the username will display a mini profile in the right rail. From here you can then go a step further to read more about them or see related content.
Endless Stream — When using Twitter presently, you must scroll to the bottom of the screen and then click a button to view more past tweets. With Twitters’ new rollout, you will not need to click buttons to receive older content. As you scroll, content will update automatically and you will be able to see all the past information.
Overall, I think these changes will be great for Twitter, as it will keep users viewing one page more often and it will be easier to see related content as you browse through all of your Tweets. Twitter has stated that this rollout will be happening over the next few weeks. As you see this rollout happening, let us know what you think!
975 South Federal Highway, 2nd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33432
800.787.0497
ph: 561.620.9682
fx: 561.620.9684
info@morevisibility.com
