Time, they say, was invented to keep everything from happening all at once. Whether we’re performers, filmmakers or UX designers, time allows us to organize events and engineer an audience’s experience.

Time is also a conversion lever that can be as powerful as messaging, placement, color or any other user experience factor—and as deserving of its own study and focus. Three areas in particular are, I think, important to test and optimize in regards to time.

1. A need for speed

Some events just can’t happen quickly enough. The end of Lost and the final, complete obliteration of IE6 certainly come to mind. From a conversion perspective, however, the same is true. The faster certain events happen, the more likely your website visitors will convert. This includes:

The least sexy factor: page load time.

Page load time isn’t very sexy or hip, but it’s fundamental. It’s the plain, beige, lace-free foundational garment of your conversion optimization efforts. All other factors being equal, this single lever alone can improve your conversion rate and customer loyalty.

The conceptual keystone here, of course, is the phrase “all other factors being equal.”

… Read the complete article on Search Engine Land >

Ever failed to stick to a New Year’s resolution, and then blame yourself for poor willpower? Well, it may not be your will that’s to blame—it may simply be the way you phrased your resolution. And the same could be said about the goals you have for your website.

As we enter a new year, if one of your intentions for 2010 is to improve your website’s conversion performance, then here are some suggestions to help you set realistic and rewarding conversion goals.

1. Treat opportunities like problems

What the heck do I mean by this? Aren’t we supposed to look at it the other way around, seeing problems as opportunities for growth, learning, and all that good stuff?

The problem (if I dare say it) with website opportunities is that they don’t get the same fervent attention that problems do…

(See full article on SearchEngineLand > )

I’m not a big fan of TV. But my wife and I decided to cancel our satellite TV service effective next week, so I’ve found myself watching more TV than ever recently, trying to squeeze the most out of my remaining days. I guess Cinderella was right: You don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.

Anyhow, my wife and I cracked up the other night at a TV commercial that’s had me laughing ever since. The commercial involves two characters: a guy and a llama. The guy (who looks suspiciously llama-like himself) chews on a Starburst, which makes him look exactly like the llama chewing cud (or whatever llamas eat). Then you see the guy’s arm feeding the llama a Starburst, which it continues chewing. Then when the shot switches back to the guy, you see a llama’s arm (Leg? Paw? Hoof?) reach up and feed the guy a Starburst. It’s unexpected and funny, which makes it memorable. I’d argue that it’s a rare example of a TV ad that does a brilliant job of branding.

It did this by appealing to multiple senses. Most TV ads use both video and audio, thus playing to our sense of sight and sound. This ad went further by playing off the unique chewiness of Starburst candy in such a funny way. It was easy to imagine being the funny-looking guy, chewing the candy yourself (touch), savoring the flavor (taste) and inhaling the aroma (smell) with your llama-esque nose.

The essence of branding

Branding has been on my mind a lot lately because I just finished reading “Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy” by Martin Lindstrom. It’s a fascinating book that provides great insight into how branding really works in the minds of consumers. It also explains how most companies get branding wrong by continuing to focus on stale advertising tactics and logo design instead of engaging consumers’ senses and emotions. The author conducted research using brain scanning technology to see how consumers really react to various types of stimuli associated with brands. It’s a very compelling read that yields some eye-opening takeaways about how human beings are wired.

… Read the full article on Search Engine Land >

I’m an introvert by nature, so this whole social media thing has left me feeling like an outsider looking in. While everyone Facebooks and Twitters each other to death, I’m asking “What’s the point?” It’s a genuine item of curiosity to me. I can’t really relate to wanting to relate to everyone. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my real friends who live 15 minutes away.

Don’t believe the hype

But as an advertising professional, I’m also always judging any new trend or platform for its potential to impact the business world. I watched the rise of Facebook and the attendant hype about how the company was going to pioneer a new advertising world with suspicion. And wanted to claw my eyes out when I saw Microsoft shell out $240M for less than a 2% stake in Facebook. That was back when all the headlines said that Facebook was going to be the next Google. Now that the winds of conventional wisdom have shifted, nobody seems to be making that prediction any longer.

Not that I’m a great oracle, but it seemed plain as day to me that a traditional interrupt-driven advertising model was never going to work in an environment where users are focused on connecting with each other in a highly personal way. Yet that’s what Facebook was preparing to launch at the time. Sure enough…

Read the full article at Search Engine Land

Cross-posting my article from Search Engine Land here…

Dear Search Marketers:

I’m worried about us.

The way we’ve started talking about our target audience has me concerned that our priorities may be out of whack. By target audience I don’t mean our clients or employers. I mean the people to whom we’re marketing—the human beings performing the searches and on whose backs we make our living.

I’ve been wanting to address this issue for some time, but haven’t done so for fear of offending people. But I’m over that. So here’s the potentially offensive stuff…

Read the full column at SearchEngineLand.