Landing Pages

A landing page is any page where traffic is sent specifically to prompt a certain action or result. The objective of the landing page is to get the visitor to buy a product/service. Some types of landing pages are pay per click, banner ads, emails, or blog post. Pay per click is optimized to find landing pages based on the keywords on search phrases. Banner ads are designed to address target audience. Email landing pages are designed to prompt a purchase. Blogs direct buyers to affiliate products or encourages an opt-in marketing.

Some guidelines to creating landing pages include establish credibility, appropriate design, an excellent reference, reduce navigation, provide what the ad promise, and use better, fewer images. Establishing credibility includes having a good appearance, functionality and usability. An excellent reference includes a third-party endorsement which increases integrity. The reduction in navigation gives the user limited pages to view and have the user focus on the primary page.

HTML5 - Geolocation

One of my all time favorite games/television shows was "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego". The purpose of the game was to find Carmen Sandiego using clues of geography and history.


It would have been extremely easy to find her today if she used Four Square, Gowalla, or check in with Facebook Places. All of these apps use geolocation. Geolocation is a pretty cool tool which GPS-enabled devices lets users tell everyone where they are.

Geolocation app on cellphones are very accurate. However indoors users may have to select their location manually. I believe retail stores will use geolocation apps more often for marketing. For example GAP teamed up with Facebook Places .

This promotion was design for users to sign in with Facebook Places while at GAP. Then the user would receive a free pair of GAP jeans.

However this does raise concerns about privacy. These geolocation services have privacy settings with sharing your locations. The most sensiable thing is not to enter your home address when using a geolocation app. However the point of geolocation is to let people know your location. I think it is just up to the user and their comfort level to share thier location.

So "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego"? That is easy just look at her last checkin with Facebook Places!

SpoolCast

This is an overview of podcast SpoolCast: Luke Wroblewski and Innovations in Web Input.

On this podcast the speaker are talking about Google Instant. This feature on Google allows a user to type anything in the Google box on the screen. Instantly Google searches and displays the results while the search is being typed. Test users were excited about real time suggestions and the results updating right away.

They also mention to be careful of saying; “Since they can do it and it’s cool we should do it.” Before taking on a project they advised the team should be aware of technical implementation, the amount of time devoted, and getting the interaction correct. Instantaneous web forms are showing up in a lot of websites today.

They also talk about Apple iTunes Store social network called Ping. One of the speakers stated Apple has to approve the photo and even some of the employees couldn't get their picture on the profile. The speaker refers that Ping has not been successful; although Apple is known for design and attention to detail.

Personas…understanding your target audience

Part of web usability strategy is to understand your audience. The audience is anyone whom the company wishes to attract. To better understand the audience, most companies create profiles of their target audience. These profiles can be called personas. A persona is a fictional person(s) who characterizes a user group of the website. The personas describe users’ wants, concerns, current job, education, family and other demographics, and technological awareness. The persona should include a quote to summarize the overall characteristics of the persona. When creating a persona make up the persona name. The name should be serious and appropriate and not humorous. The persona should have a picture of a generalization of a user. The team should attain proper permission for photos used. This picture should be a good representation of the user group.

Personas should allow companies to gain a better understanding of customers, shorter design cycles and improve product quality.
Below is an example of a persona for Montford Point Marine Association Atlanta Chapter (MPMA) website: http://mpma-atlanta.com/

Name: Lt James Johnson


Quote: “I will always love my country and will do anything to make my community better for future generations.”

Description: Johnnie is a retired Marine. He currently works at the Center of Disease Control. He enjoys the Montford Point Marine Association Atlanta Chapter (MPMA). He willing volunteers his time mentoring, and doing various community projects. Johnnie loves to spend time with friends and family. He is currently 52 with a wife and two adult children. He is a retired Marine and is currently supervisor for CDC on campus security. James wishes to obtain contact information for other members, see calendar/meeting updates, and view photos and videos from events. James uses a pc with Windows XP using Internet Explorer 7 as his internet browser. Some of his favorite sites include ESPN.com, AJC.com, and NFL.com.