Short headlines that can be understood out of context and containing a keyword associated with your content will bring maximum reward for user engagement and search engine optimisation (SEO).

Headlines as micro content

People scanning headlines will gain a clearer idea of the information in your content. Remember first impressions are fast.

Convey use 

A compelling headline is the best opportunity to grab the user's attention and get them to take action. You want to capitalise your online return for effort.

Tell people something

• they do not know
• that has benefoit for them
• that has meaning for them.

Recent research has revealed some fascinating data about what computer devices Australians use and assicated activities on each device¹. 

We are reaching the point where the majority of households have a tablet as well as a PC with 75% also having a smart phone.

Unlike the PC which everyone in the family will access, the tablet is "owned" by a single user in the same way as their smart phone.

A key piece of information from this research for us is that both on the PC or the tablet, Australians are looking at their email.

Simplifying website structure may appear to be counterintuitive but here are three solid reasons why.

Learning is hard work and takes time!

According to Jakob Neilsen people learn a core set of features fairly easily during their early use of a system whether it be a website or other computer system. This includes experts in the field. Everyone learns things differently.

When Microsoft's Office 2007 was released I found it quite a challenge. Many of the functions I was using in the previous release had been changed or were "hidden" from me.

What I didn't understand at the time was that revamp was driven by Microsft research showing that many of the feautures customers wanted actually already existed in MS Office. As a result the design team decided to emphasise discoverability through the introduction of the ribbon.

This may have been a fantastic leap forward for new users, but I had a certain way of using the program that I was happy with. I did not have the time to learn new things.  

Just ask anyone who uses your website how they would go about finding a specific article. If they know the title or topic, the range of ways they arrive at that article will be very different and may surprise you. Howoever they get there, it is what they do comfortablly. What happens when you change your website?  

What is it and why is it important?

Not so long ago the internet for most people was displayed primarily on a desk top or laptop computer. In this environment most things look pretty much the same. There were challenges and web standards were often interpreted differently between the various browsers but the page layout was designed to fit the range of screen resolutions of the day.

Early web access for mobile phones started around the turn of the century. The Nokia 9880i Communicator introduced in 1998 was a notable precursor to today's smartphone's with its large screen and web enabled network features. But the revolution to the smartphones we know today began with the introduction of first Apple iPhone in 2007.

Improving your web presence:   

How do you decide where to put effort for your online activity to achieve best value?

US company Custora recently released a report (1) that shows that social media does not pack much punch compared with organic search and email. 

Good search positioning is the best way to reach and convert cusrtomers, with email a close second and social media is way back in the field.

Web users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the page and 30% viewing the right half. A conventional layout is thus more likely to make sites profitable.

And they count!

Web users make up their minds about the quality of a website in just a 20th of a second of viewing a webpage!

According to Canadian research it takes less than 50 milliseconds to decide if you like a website. A surprising result for lead author Gitte Lindgaard of Carleton University and her colleagues who believed it would take at least 10 times longer to form an opinion.