Are You Taking Advantage of the NetworkedBlogs App?

If you have a blog and a Facebook account, whether it be a profile or page, then you should look into the NetworkedBlogs Facebook App if you haven’t already.

Adding your blog is fairly simple. Just go to networkedblogs.com click ‘Add Your Blog’ and you’re on your way.

Helpful Tips for Installing and Using NetworkedBlogs

After putting in the blog information you’ll be asked to verify the blog. You have two options for doing this; you can take the longer method and have friends verify it, or you can use the quicker, more technical method of adding a snippet of code to your blog. If you want to display the facebook widget on your blog use the code method.

The widget comes in really handy, allowing your blog readers to follow your blog on Facebook with the click of a button.

Get your friends to follow your blog. Once you have 11 followers NetworkedBlogs will automatically feed your blog to your Facebook profile page.

Blogtactics.com put together a very useful video that walks you through the steps of registering your blog with NetworkedBlogs.

The F-Pattern of Reading Online

No matter how much time and effort you put into a piece of writing, users will sum up a web page in a matter of seconds. Understanding how your readers actually read online content will give you a serious advantage when crafting your articles and blog posts. Luckily for writers, the Nielsen Norman Group did a research study in 2006 that uncovered just how readers scan a page online.

What they found is now known as the F-Pattern. Using cameras and infrared emitters hidden in a seemingly ordinary computer, the Neilson Norman Group conducted eye tracking on 232 users. Though the types of content ranged from search engine results pages to product reviews, the way users read stayed the same for the most part.

The name F-Pattern comes from the eye tracking heat maps that showed 3 core components of user reading behavior which roughly form the shape of an F.

1. First users will typically read horizontally across the top of the page from left to right. (One reason why headlines matter so much.)
2. The eye will then move down the page a little bit, again moving horizontally from left to right.
3. As the reader moves down the page their eye path stays to the left in a more vertical line just skimming the first bit of the lines.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule; sometimes the pattern resembles more of an E for those who read more than they scan, and at the opposite end of the spectrum the really quick readers will often make a single horizontal sweep across the top then sweep down vertically making the shape of an L flipped upside down.

The takeaway: the title of the content on the page is extremely important since this is the most likely to get read in its entirety, opening lines of the opening paragraphs should grab attention and contain useful information, and content should always be left aligned including sub-heading and bullet points which are easy to scan.

Reduce User Friction on Sign Up and Form Pages

In an earlier post we defined user friction and went over a few ways to reduce user friction on your home page. The next most important place to make sure user friction is a a minimum is your form and sign up pages.

In other words, your conversion pages.

User Friction Reduction Strategies

Unnecessary Info on Forms

People are often leery of giving out their information online, and for good reason. There are a lot of scammers out there in the faceless world of the internet. You can greatly reduce user friction on forms by cutting out all information that isn’t absolutely necessary.

Not only will user feel better about not having to share their sensitive information they’ll also enjoy the reduced effort it takes to fill out the form. As far this element goes, the fewer fields the better. Besides, studies show that users are more willing to share detailed information after they’ve went through the initial sign up process.

Include Security Indicators

These little icons go a long way in reducing user friction because they lend credibility to your site. As explained in the point above, users don’t automatically trust a site unless its a well-known name. Taking the extra steps to reassure your users that you are protecting their information will result in higher conversions when purchasing online, filling out a form and signing up for a user account.

Some suggested security indicators are the Better Business Bureau, McAfee Secure, TRUSTe and VeriSign Secured,

Free Tools that Add Value to Your Website

Free is always good. Luckily there’s a lot you can find online that will make your site more dynamic and useful to users without costing you a single cent.

Guest Maps

This neat, interactive tool allows visitors to pin their place on a guest map. Choose from a number of highly customizable maps, pose a question to your users if you like then let them play.

Site Searches

Having a site search box on your website is one of the best features you can add. Site search is so commonplace now that it’s more unusual to see sites without them. Give your users basic features that they expect, especially the ones that help save users time and effort.

Calculators

There are a plethora of different kinds of calculators for the web, and many of them are free. You can find everything from standard add and subtract calculators to complex mortgage calculators, some that even allow you to customize the look.

Google

Google really started the trend of open source, free tools and still sticks by that business model today. Those just beginning to create websites will be surprised at just how much Google gives away for free. Here are a few:

Google Sites: allows you to create and share web pages with others, perfect for groups working to build a website together.

Google Analytics: if you have a website you should have a Google Analytics account. It will tell you more about your site’s performance than you ever knew possible.

Google Sitemaps: this tool is more for speaking to search engines than to users. As the name suggests, Sitemaps is a layout of your web pages which updates to show new pages and changed pages, making it easier for search engines to crawl your site.