Power Structure: Slide Shows

When I worked for a major consumer website back in the 90s and early 2000s, I found that slide shows were one of the most effective tools for boosting page views per visitor. In fact, I quickly discovered that there was virtually no limit to the number of slides our visitors would click through. Because the site was associated with a monthly magazine, I had access to thousands of high quality photos. Our slide shows soon went from 15 to 20 slides to 30, 40 or 50 or more images. Most of our shows centered on recipes, but topics like decorating, gardening and home improvement also worked well.

Now imagine that you’ve just been put in charge of your company’s website, and your first order of business is to update the “Our Team” section of the “About Us” section. You could stick to the typical approach: a long scrolling page of postage-stamp size images accompanied by meaty chunks of biographical information.  If you’re very lucky, your average visitor will make it as far as the Chief Financial Officer before heading off in search of a stock quote or the latest annual report.

But what if you put much of that same information into a slide show? Now your visitors are greeted with a large photo of your CEO and a brief but compelling bio. Click. Another slide, another key member of your management team. Click, click, click. The Assistant Vice President for the Eastern U.S. Click, click ... click. Hey, that’s the intern that changes the toner in the copy machine.  Your visitor has reached the last slide, number 32, and  she’s still looking for the button to choose the next slide!

Not only have you added 31 page views to your website’s tally, you’ve suddenly become a hero in the eye’s of every team member who’s given his or her star turn on the pages of your site.

How to Proofread

A friend of mine, a lover of all things French, posted this simple yet eloquent snippet of prose in her garden. To experience its maximum poetic effect, please read the sign ALOUD now:

Did you just say “Paris in the Spring”? Or, did you say “Paris in the the Spring”? If not, take a closer look at the sign.

Why do so many of us miss that second “the”? Because we know what the sign should say. And that leads us to the first of three simple rules that can ensure your proofreading catches the sort of little (and big) errors that diminish your credibility and tarnish your brand.

The Easiest Tool for Better Search Engine Results

Getting visitors to your website depends on several factors. In the long run, the very best way to boost your visitors is simply to create lots of good content that your target audience will want to read.

That said, a well-written page title, meta description, and keyword list are all helpful in raising your web page's search engine ranking. So how do you find the right words to create these key elements? For years, I used Google's Adsense keyword tool to guide me.

Today, I tend to use a much simpler approach: I enter my topic (stated fairly specifically) into the Google search box, then scroll down to the bottom of the search results page. That's where I'll see a collection of words and phrases that people are using right now to search my topic. The benefit of this approach is that you are getting search terms that people are actually using. Often, you'll be surprised and even inspired.

Work the most appropriate of these search terms into your web page and meta-data and you'll give yourself a real-time leg up on the search engine scene.

A Quick Secret to Better Photos

If your digital camera has an optical zoom, here's a professional quick tip that will immediately improve all of your photos:

• Set your camera's optical zoom to its widest setting and leave it there -- permanently

Three reasons this works

1. The wider your lens setting, the closer you must get to your subject. This lends a sense of what photographers call "immediacy." In other words, you are drawing the viewer into the scene. (Just don't try to get 6 inches from your subject's nose, or you'll wind up with a very unflattering portrait.)

Seven easy rules for beginning writers

I have heard of V.S. Naipaul. I haven't read anything by him..He is a big deal. He won the Nobel prize for literature and the Booker Prize. A very big deal. But his approach to writing is quiet, almost Zen-like. Here's the advice he gave to new writers at Tehelka, an Indian news organization:

1. Do not write long sentences. A sentence should not have more than ten or twelve words.

2. Each sentence should make a clear statement. It should add to the statement that went before. A good paragraph is a series of clear, linked statements.

3. Do not use big words. If your computer tells you that your average word is more than five letters long, there is something wrong. The use of small words compels you to think about what you are writing. Even difficult ideas can be broken down into small words

More of Naipaul's advice ...

One ... Two ... Organize!

I love the number three. This humble little numeral inspires my creativity, which is why I apply its power throughout the content creation process. For example:

1. For any content piece, no matter how complex, I limit myself to three main topics. This makes outlining and research easy. Readers also appreciate the ease of recalling three points rather than ten.
2. If I offer ideas or solutions, I include try to three so I have room for gray this black or white world.
3. By limiting myself to three of anything, I have to choose the best -- whether that means words for a title or sources for a topic.

Here's a three-step process for developing your own powerful communications.

Wise Words

"A critic never made or killed a book or a play. The people themselves are the final judges. It is their opinion that counts. After all, the final test is truth. But the trouble is that most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession and therefore are most economical in its use." -- Mark Twain, via Wikiquote

Spice Up Your Writing with 4000 Year Old Secrets

Two-thousand years before the birth of Christ, writers and editors were already trying to figure out what makes communication powerful. Specifically, they wanted to know how to create messages capable of winning over readers (well, actually, listeners). The result of this study is rhetoric. By using the right rhetorical tricks you too can add persuasive touches to your writing.

7 secrets of rhetoric

How to Write a Powerful Dek

An effective dek (that little intro snuggled under the main title) is a powerful eyeball magnet. Draw readers into your text with a dek that summarizes your content and clearly states a reader benefit. A brief dek (150 characters or less) also makes a search-optimized meta-description for web projects.

The basics of a great dek are easy to master:

Choose clarity, not cleverness. Forget about alliteration. Banish puns. Shun jargon and jokes. Be ruthless. You have only two goals: 1) to create a dek that summarizes your main topic and 2) an explicit reader benefit.

Write, then rewrite. You might need to write 5 to 15 deks before your find the one that fulfills this checklist:

• No more than 200 characters (about 30-40 words). Shorter is better.
• No verbs in the "to be" family -- is, are was, were, will, am, become, became
• No noun or verb that appears in the first two paragraphs of body text

Read well-written deks. Gain inspiration from the perspiration of others. Here are a few websites that offer great deks (and heads, too).

• NPR.org -- the home page
• NYTimes.com -- any department main page
• Harvard Business Review -- great for its razor sharp, super-short deks

A Surprising Switch for Better Photos

Capable professional photographers deserve every penny they earn. Unfortunately, when the budget or time is tight, we design-challenged writers often find ourselves behind the camera. Here’s a surprising switch that will dramatically improve your photos:

Wise Words

"A typo is that bit of spinach stuck in your teeth. Only a true friend will point it out."
-- Paul Krantz

Wise Words

"Proofreading is the only thing that distinguishes humans from the aminals.
-- Paul Krantz

Five questions starting with 'Should I blog?'

Many professional writers and not-yet-paid scribes have discovered that blogging is a powerful communication strategy.  So have perceptive business executives, busy moms and passionate hobbyists. All have discovered that others respond enthusiastically when you share the hard-won fruits of your life experiences.

Before you answer the question -- Should I blog? -- you’ll need to answer four questions that are more important:

(Really) Free Photos from Flickr

Photos sell stories, both to editors and readers. Unfortunately, even so-called "free" stock images often require payment for commercial use. Flickr, on the other hand, offers a database of millions of images that are truly free. All that's required is that you credit the photographer. Here's how to find the photos you need and some tips for making the results really pay off.

How to Create a Steve Jobs Style Presentation

Want to create standing ovation-worthy presentations like Steve Jobs? Here's a report that reveals the secrets of his success.

Or, check out this video featuring the master himself.

As always, choose clarity over cleverness in all your communications.

10 Rules for Great Headlines

The Poynter Institute is a permanent fixture on MyYahoo bookmarks. This list of 10 tips for crafting effective headlines is a good example of why.

Wise Words

"If you can't explain something to a six-year-old, you really don't understand it yourself."
-- attributed to Albert Einstein

The Secret Writing Coach Inside Your PC

One of the best writing teachers may be sitting on your lap right now – if you have Microsoft Word. Yes, I’m referring Word’s much-maligned Spelling and Grammar Checker. (Cue eye rolls among professional writers.)

Like many of my colleagues, I long despised the Spelling and Grammar Checker. A couple of years ago finally gave it a fair trial, and I fell in love. The key to making it work, I found, is know which advice to follow and which advice to ignore.

5 Secrets of Effective Listicles

Despite their funny name, listicles are eyeball magnets. If you've read articles like "10 Surprising Ways to Burglar-Proof Your Home" or "Things you never knew about farts," you know how alluring lists can be. Whether in print or on the web, articles that promise to boil down a topic to an easy-to-read line-up are mental catnip.

To create an effective listicle, follow these five simple rules:

1. Get a number into the title. Though a successful listicle can get by without a number in the title, readership rises when there is a numeral up front (not spelled out, no matter what the copy editor says!)