heisel.org

Usability of digital editions

Friday | November 14, 2003 | 3:11 pm  

“E-media Tidbits”:http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=53888 has an item about the usability of digital replica editions. (See “previous”:http://www.heisel.org/archives/2003/10/29/taking_a_liking_to_digital_replicas.php)

While I can’t read German, the overview presented indicated that its seen as an extension of the print version, rather than the Web and that it scored well with novice computer users.

As I “mentioned previously”:http://www.heisel.org/archives/2003/10/29/taking_a_liking_to_digital_replicas.php, digital replica editions may be a good way to extend your brand to older users who fell away from the print version for various reasons (delivery problems, etc.).

I stand by the thought that replica’s are not a replacement for traditional news Web sites — these are being accessed by younger groups and will, in some form or another, represent a strong distribution method for newspapers among a younger audience.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Categories: Web design

Video ads on news sites

Friday | November 7, 2003 | 12:39 pm  

“Editor and Publisher”:http://www.editorandpublisher.com reports that the two “Denver”:http://www.denverpost.com “papers”:http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ have begun “selling video ads”:http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2016756.

I was unable to find any of those ads on the site today, but the “E&P article”:http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2016756 says that they do not start playing automatically — thank god.

“The article”:http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2016756 also says that the ads require “Windows Media Player”:http://windowsmedia.com/download/download.asp.

I’m by no means a “Flash”:http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash wizard, and I know Flash has it own usability problems, but I’m pretty certain you can stream video through Flash rather than using a potentially platform-restricting choice (see M$’s “Windows Media Player”:http://windowsmedia.com/download/download.asp and “Apple”:http://www.apple.com’s “Quicktime”:http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/).

Ideally, there’d be a W3C(World Wide Web Consortium) video standard, but barring that, it seems that with Flash’s market penetration it’s the closest thing.

As long as the users will always have to click to play the video ads, I think they’re a great idea, as long as they’re kept a commodity.

There’s no reason why we shouldn’t start taking advantage of the Web’s multimedia-ness, and if the ads were context-sensitive and entertaining then they could do well.

If, however, I start seeing more than one video ad per page, then they — like animated banner ads before them — will be doomed to failure.

One of the nice things about the printing of a newspaper is that you can only physcially have color on certain pages, and thus only have color ads on certain pages. This makes it a commodity for the advertiser (read, more revenue for publishers) and it means more contrast for the reader (”Hey look, that ad’s in color!”).

On the Web, we’re confronted with dozens of flashing, blinking, screaming banner ads — on the top, down the side, in the content, at the bottom… .

The genie’s out of the bottle in this case — it’d be a tough sell for an ad manager to convince advertisers that he can no longer offer 5 animated banner spots on a page. There’s no good excuse like “the press can’t handle it.”

Permalink | Comments (0) | Categories: Business, Web design

Beyond the click-through

Wednesday | November 5, 2003 | 3:07 pm  

The New York Times has a good article about the ever changing face of advertising metrics.

Google is now offering a piece of code that advertisers can place on their site to track users that come from Google-placed ads.

The article talks about how this is leading to more effective campaigns.

True, the data it provides is a very valuable metric. But I’d caution managers not to base all of their decisions on this glorified click-through data.

I have two words for ad managers focusing on click-through performance: Trinity Homes.

What? You ask.

While I was working at The Indianapolis Star, Trinity Homes had purchased the top right ad avail on our home page.

The ad was a square, non-moving, non-flash, non-jumping, non-beeping, non-everthing ad. It was a purple square with the company’s triangle logo and their name.

That’s the power of branding. I saw that ad, I still remember that ad, and probably will for years to come. And, I assure you, if I’m ever back in Indianapolis and looking for home, I guarantee I’m going to look at Trinity Homes’ Web site.

This is a round-about way of coming to my point: there is more value in online advertising than the click-through alone.

There are four key things that have to be in place for a potential buyer to act on an ad and make a purchase.

The first three we can borrow from one of my favorite shows: motive, means and opportunity.

Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Business, Management