| LED Digest 2481: Improving Credibility |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. August 29, 2007 Issue no. 2481 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= <Moderator Comment> ~ In Google We Trust --== Do Photos Improve Credibility? ==-- ~ Allan Gardyne "...one of the most important rules of marketing is that you need to be memorable." ~ Mark J. Welch "Many consumers are uncomfortable buying from 'faceless strangers'..." ~ Peter D'Aprix "The image...is something that you should work out with your photographer." --== Recommended Web Awards? ==-- ~ Renee Kennedy "I am looking for high quality web awards...for an internal recognition from within our company." ~ Steve Pronger "I would prefer to make them feel good by building a site which achieves a measurable objective." --== Who's Editing the Wikipedia ==-- ~ Veronica Yuill "The problem isn't Wikipedia, it's the ignorance of those using it." ======== CONTINUING =============================== <Moderator Comment> I thought this was interesting: Google funded a study to ascertain the perceptions college-level users have of Google search results. The findings were that Google had too much trust, and the college kids clicked on anything listed above the fold, regardless of quality. Here's the abstract: ---------------------- "An eye tracking experiment revealed that college student users have substantial trust in Google's ability to rank results by their true relevance to the query. When the participants selected a link to follow from Google's result pages, their decisions were strongly biased towards links higher in position even if the abstracts themselves were less relevant. While the participants reacted to artificially reduced retrieval quality by greater scrutiny, they failed to achieve the same success rate. This demonstrated trust in Google has implications for the search engine's tremendous potential influence on culture, society, and user traffic on the Web." ---------------------- Check out the full study: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue3/pan.html The implications are that there's a fundamental ignorance about how Web pages are ranked by Google (and by search engines in general, I would think). The message from this test seems to be, if Google says it's #1, then it must be worthwhile. BTW -- what a great discussion on credibility today, thanks everyone. Best wishes, Adam -------------------------- From: Allan Gardyne Subject: Credibility > Do fellow LED'ers have any views on whether photos > of the owners increase the conversion rate of contacts > to site visitors? Or is there another issue we're missing? - Carol Moore, LED Digest 2480 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1891/190/ The only way to know for certain would be to do A/B split testing. I can't offer you such scientific proof, but I can offer plenty of anecodotal "evidence". On my About Us page, I publish a photo in which I'm holding a python, under the heading, "There's no snake oil at this site." I also publish photos of water views, which my wife, Joanna, and I are collecting - that's water views from properties we own. You can see three of them here - http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/pages/About-Us It's a bit corny perhaps, but I reckon one of the most important rules of marketing is that you need to be memorable. You'll never get repeat visitors and repeat sales if you're tame and bland and people instantly forget you. Over the years, many readers have written to comment favorably on those photos. They help me form a connection with my visitors. You may wish to choose a less clownish approach, but I think the principle still applies. First you form a connection, then you make sales. All the best from Down Under. Allan Gardyne http://www.AssociatePrograms.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Mark J. Welch Subject: Credibility Carol Moore asked: > Do fellow LED'ers have any views on whether photos of the > owners increase the conversion rate of contacts to site visitors? It's probably just anecdotal. The issue here isn't really "photos" but "credibility." Many consumers are uncomfortable buying from "faceless strangers," and thus anything you can do to reassure the customer that you are "real" and "legitimate" should help. I often explain it this way: "People want to know that you're real, so post a picture of your staff standing in front of your building. Oh, it's just you and your spouse, and you work from your garage? Then post a picture of some professional-looking people standing in front of a nice-looking office building." Of course, the joke illustrates how silly this is -- many unscrupulous people have created web sites that list fictitious addresses, with poached photos to create a false perception of credibility. I once reported that a company's business address was actually a residence, and the fellow actually lied and argued that it was really an office building. The end result was a greater loss of credibility that would not have happened if he'd admitted the truth (that he was launching the business on a shoestring from his parent's home). Another example I often share with clients: at one time, CDNOW had a great affiliate program, and on their affiliate page they had a nice picture of seven "really hot-looking" young people, who were identified as being the affiliate team. The photo looked to me like a publicity photo for a band. Since there's so much "image trickery" in the entertainment business, and since it's pretty rare (and legally questionable) that a department would be staffed exclusively with young, gorgeous-looking people, I suspected that this was fake. If my perception were shared by other affiliates, it might have undermined the credibility that otherwise would come from including a staff photo (even if this really was a picture of the staff). To answer the question, I'm certainly not aware of any study done that would show whether including a photo on the "about us" page (or elsewhere) would increase conversion. I would be suspicious of any such study, unless it were an "A-B test" where the ONLY variation on the site was the inclusion or omission of staff photos. I suspect that merchants who post a picture probably pay more attention to other factors, so that sites with staff photos probably have other "credibility-enhancing content" also. Mark J. Welch http://www.MarkWelch.com/ -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Peter D'Aprix Subject: Credibility Dear Carol I am biased. But then I am a photographer who has been hired to take photographs with the direct intent to provide visual validity to any company and/or service. It works or I would not have made a living from it all these years. But, and it is a big BUT, a lousy photograph is worse than no photograph. Crafting images to achieve a desired effect on the view, to impart the right message, is a skill. Just because a digital point and shoot can take a properly exposed, correct color balance and good sharpness is only the beginning of the image process. The image (and I don't use that word loosely since the photograph will be projecting your "image" rightly or wrongly) is something that you should work out with your photographer. First what do you want the image to say about yourselves, your company? What "image", brand, impression do you want your visitors to have fixed in their mind's eye? Second. Actually make a list here just as you would for any marketing / branding situation. What should you wear to get across the impression you want communicated is high on the list. Each country and culture and cultural group with each culture sees the style of clothing as a symbol. Ireland will be different from California or Iraq. The setting is just as important. In photographs, you are dealing with visual symbols just as in writing you are dealing with words which are also symbolic and carry your meaning. Third. Whatever you do, don't use "flash on camera"! If you don't hire a professional who knows how to do this, photograph in available light with the faces well lit. Speaking of a professional, just because someone makes a living from photography and is a professional as a result, does not mean that they can handle this assignment. You need a professional that specializes in corporate image photography such as one who shoots annual reports, brochures etc. Probably not a news paper photographer, product photographer, portrait photographer, landscape photographer etc. Each is a separate skill. Lastly, when you have your photographs, get people's reactions before putting it up on the site. Ask them what the impressions they get from the image. See if in practice, what you wanted and intended, actually comes through. Then if all has gone according to plan, use the image. All my best Peter D'Aprix ============ Sponsor Message =========== Why pay more for less? Some content providers charge extra to search-engine optimize copy. And some are so clueless, they don't offer SEO at all. A lot of good that'll do your site. At GetWebContent.com, we SEO everything we write without any additional charge whatsoever. Get it all, http://www.GetWebContent.com/LED ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Renee Kennedy Subject: Web awards > I disagree, perhaps that is true if a visitor is looking > for a specific product or service, but there are a lot > of sites that deal with other things and web awards > (primarily rated ones) can really help their traffic. - Kythera Ann, LED Digest 2480 I would like to add to what Kythera said about web awards. I am looking for high quality web awards not so much for the recognition by our visitors, but more for an internal recognition from within our company. We are re-launching two web sites this year. It wouldn't hurt to obtain a high quality web award to prove to management that we are doing a good job by external standards. That reasoning may sound a little skewed, and I might get some flack from ya'll that it's not all about the visitor. But I don't think an award from the likes of the DMA could hurt us. Thanks, Renee Kennedy -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Steve Pronger Subject: Web awards > The majority of my customers are artists and authors with > a smattering of other self employed home type businesses... > These people do not have advertising budgets... Yet I consistently > get their sites to rank high in their subject areas, how? - Kythera Ann, LED Digest 2480 Hi Kythera. Don't believe I've seen you post before, so if that's the case, welcome! I'd like to address your "high ranking" factors: > Awesome title tag Not sure what constitutes "awesome," but agreed, as long as it's keyword focussed. > complete meta tags Discussed many times here in LED, but for the sake of argument, take it as agreed. > key word rich content with lots of pages Agreed. > outstanding graphics Disagree, as search engine spiders don't actually look at graphics, let alone judge their outstandingness. > items such as jigsaw puzzles to do online (great for artists sites) or downloadable free screensavers I got to admit Kythera, that's a new one on me. Can you show me how jigsaw puzzles and screen savers actually improve your rankings? Maybe I'll add a picture of my face on my site and jumble it up. Although, it's pretty jumbled up already, so maybe nobody would notice the difference. > no flash, no frames Agreed. > no CSS Disagree. Using a separate style sheet will usually reduce the amount of code for the spiders to wade through. This is a positive factor. > just plain but totally compliant HTML that is cross > browser capable and shows on all resolution monitors > and is seeing impaired navigable. Also discussed many times on LED. Opinions differ. I tend to agree with Michael Martinez that compliancy is unrelated to ranking. Gosh, did I say that? > the energy it takes to create an award winning web site. Hmmm. Not sure how much energy I expended building my sites (my wife will tell you I don't expend much energy at all), but I have managed to get most of them to rank pretty well without winning any awards. > Making the client feel good to get awards and accolades > thus psychologically making them feel the $ paid and the > effort they made to have a web site is well worth it I would prefer to make them feel good by building a site which achieves a measurable objective. If the client's objective is to feel good because his website won an award, then fine. But surely an artist's objective is to sell his art, an author to sell his books, and catteries, caterers and counsellors all want to generate leads for their respective services. All these things are measurable. What's more important to your clients, effective online marketing of their business or you winning awards? > Yes, it gives a site incoming contextual links. > A wonderful thing for the "little guy." If this is actually the case then perhaps it is worthwhile. I'd like to see some examples though. Where are these links coming from and are they actually passing value? Do you not have to link out to the awards site? Did a site show significant ranking improvement AFTER an award was given, and that improvement could not be attributed to any other factors? > There are people out there (honest) who like to surf > rated award winning web sites. Those people also > recommend cool sites to other people, etc. Maybe so, but are they visiting these sites as targeted, motivated, potential customers, or are they just turned on by the practice of passing judgement? "Cool" websites don't necessarily turn a profit. Steve Pronger http://www.stevepronger.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Veronica Yuill Subject: Wikipedia Not to flog a dead horse, but some of the comments about Wikipedia seem to be woefully ill-informed. Dismissing it as "just a forum", or suggesting that it represents "ignorance is rapture" misses the whole point IMHO. Like it or not, we all research stuff online now. How many times a day do you hit Google to find something out? Once you've got the search results in front of you, how do you determine which of those resources are "rubbish" and which are reliable and worth pursuing? If you are making decisions based on your googling, how do you ensure you have the full picture? Nowadays, any teacher worth his/her salt should be teaching students how to critically evaluate the worth of online resources they use. The problem isn't Wikipedia, it's the ignorance of those using it. Regards Veronica Yuill www.larecettedujour.org ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED SEOToolSet.com Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification Join the certified SEO directory: www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/189/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/187/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/201/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. 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