Studies done by Jakob Nielson the man touted as the, “King of usability” by Internet Magazine showed that people do not read on the web like they would normally read offline.

So what does this mean to you and why should you care?

Visitors to your web sites are in a rush, they want the information you promised and they want it NOW.

If they don’t get the information they want they will leave and this means you lose the sale, the opt-in or whatever action you want the visitor to take while at your site.

The following 3 tips will help you give your visitors what they want and in a way that will increase your web sites usability.

1. Concise Text

By keeping your paragraphs down to one single idea you can help speed up how your visitor absorbs your information.

For example, instead of:

“In today’s market place many people tend to become overwhelmed with the over hyped and highly charged writing that most web sites employ to gain visitors business. This causes people to be turned off by the sites language and ultimately they will click the back button on their browser and leave.”

Why not say,

“Today more than ever people are turned off by over hyped marketing language of websites they visit and because of this frustration they will end up leaving your site.”

See how that short, to the point paragraph says the same thing but quicker?

Go through your home page first and take out long, multiple thought paragraphs and edit them down to be precise. One idea per paragraph once you finish your thought (in 3-4 lines) start another paragraph.

2. Scannable Text

Web site users do not read online text. They scan it.

Use short bold text, for example in the form of a hyperlink, to make important information stick out from the page.

Bullet lists are an invaluable tool as well. Put your important sets of words in bullets. For example instead of,

“You will learn how to create your own web site, design pages that load faster, pick the right color scheme, and improve your sites navigation.”

Use this,

“You will learn:

How to create your own web site

Design pages that load faster

Pick the right color scheme

And improve your sites navigation.”

Use Subheadings through out the page.

As you go through your pages pick out the important points and put them in heading tags. Heading 2 and 3 work the best but the heading 1 tag will also work.

This will break the page up for the reader and they will be able to get the information they want simply by scanning your pages.

3. Be Objective

Far to many web sites are “me” oriented. In other words your site is about making money for you and you want your visitor to stay at your site and buy from you.

So what do you do?

You force them to stay at your site even if they are not interested in your product or service any longer.

Doing this only serves to damage your reputation and cause visitors to leave with a bad taste in their mouth.

Being objective means putting links to other related sites through out your web pages and allowing the visitor the free will to either stay at your site or leave and find the information they are looking for somewhere else.

In the end this is not a bad thing because you, as the site owner, can direct them to the sites you want them to go to.

However, seeding your pages with a bunch of recommendations to other sales sites is not the smartest way to do this.

Offer them free information along with sites that you receive compensation from as well.

This way you are being objective and offering your visitor valuable information they can use at the same time.

In Conclusion

Take a few days and walk through your web site and find the long paragraphs and make them more concise.

Bold important text, create subheadings for extremely important points and create more bullet lists where needed.

Finally, add more out bound links to your information and show them you are objective and care about their needs.

Internet users are getting tired of the hype and they are speaking out with their browser’s back button.

By taking the time to make these changes you will improve your sites usability and your visitors will thank you for it by doing business with you.

For more Website Design help visit:
http://www.bruisedonion.com/guide/design/

Like all plans, there is an ultimate goal to achieve. The goal in a business continuity plan is simply that: to continue your business in the face of a disaster or a disruption. A business continuity plan is not just for a disaster. It’s also for the smaller things in life, like your friendly neighborhood burglar who decides to borrow all of your computers or the small power interruption, which causes loss of data and downtime or the fire five floors below you, which causes a 5 hour building shutdown. These are a few of the many things, which do occur every day and do happen to companies like yours.

Disaster recovery has traditionally been associated with computing systems and data storage and recovery of data. Different than business continuity, disaster recovery is focused more on after the fact, quickly and effectively recovering from a disaster or disruption.

There are many good sources of information on both business continuity and disaster recovery. Some of the more authoritative sources are: Disaster Recovery International (www.drii.org), Disaster Recovery Journal (www.drj.com).

It’s, of course, not realistic to think that you can guard against every risk. However, through risk analysis, business impact analysis, selecting effective strategies, documenting detailed recovery plans and testing your plans, you can significantly reduce many of your risks, often in a very cost effective way. You have an important management responsibility to safeguard company assets. Reducing your risk profile through a well thought out business continuity and disaster recovery plan is an effective way to do so.

For more help and info on Data Recovery visit:
http://www.bruisedonion.com/guide/data%20recovery/

Multiculturalism is a reality in North America and for those of us who do business globally. The US has more legal immigrants yearly than all the other countries in the world combined. Also there are vast cultural differences among “native” North Americans living in the US and Canada for several generations, as you know if you’ve done business with a New Yorker (better be quick!) or with a Texan (better stand at a 90degree angle to your male companion). Culture is not ethnic or racial. It is learned and of course each culture is different. Treat everyone like a unique individual, as you would like to be treated, don’t get hung up on stereotypes. Develop your emotional intelligence so you can be more intuitive about how to communicate with, negotiate with, and provide services and products for people from cultural backgrounds other than your own. I offer some tips below, and yet they are not universal in these cultures.

1. I repeat, do not expect everyone in a culture to be the same!

2. In South Texas, if you’re talking to a male, they will often stand at a 90 degree angle to you.

If you move to reorient, a “dance” will begin. This is a markedly non-intimate position, and often the eyes are cast down to the floor or out across the floor. South Texans generally say “Pleased to know you,” while Mid Westerners say, “Pleased to meet you” or “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” In social settings in South Texas, it is not customary to shake hands with women. Other San Antonio cultural customs — in San Antonio society, we have the haute hug – two women will parody a hug, not touching any part of their bodies, and just patting one another lightly on the back. As a sign of affection, when you shake hands, sometimes you cover the other person’s hand with your left hand and pat or squeeze with warm eye contact. This is particularly done with respected older people.

3. Be aware that most of the world does not greet by shaking hands.

4. People from Asian cultures bow in greeting, but the bows are different.

People from Cambodia and Laos bow with both hands together in front of the chest, as if praying. In Japan, the depth of the bow signifies the level of respect for the other party. Many Koreans prefer bowing and if they shake hands, the right hand is supported at the wrist by the left hand to show respect. Thais bow with palms together about chest-high with their fingers outstretched. And, there are exceptions. The Taiwanese usually nod the head in recognition rather than bow.

5. Some cultures naturally greet by hugging.

Native Hawaiians hug each other, exchanging breaths. The custom is called “ha.” Ancient Hawaiians, incidentally, actually bumped heads together. Mexicans use the abrazo. Greeks and Italians often hug with or without shaking hands first.

6. Some cultures kiss!

If your Cuban male client kisses you on the cheek, you know you’ve made the short list. Immigrant men from the Middle East often shake hands with a slight nod or bow and then exchange kisses on both cheeks. Men from the Middle East usually don’t shake hands with women, nor do they introduce the woman with them. Do not attempt to shake hands with a Middle Eastern woman unless — and here’s where the EQ comes in — she extends her hand to you. Men in Eastern Europe, Portugal, Spain and Italy will often kiss male friends on the cheek.

7. Pakistanis (largely Muslims) greet with salaam, which is the equivalent of our “hello.”

The salaam is done by bowing with the palm of the right hand on the forehead. Salaam means “peace” or “Peace be with you.”

8. Postures also have meaning.

Ready to settle in with your Middle Eastern client? You may be most comfortable sitting back in your chair and crossing your legs. Well, don’t! In the Middle East, one of the most insulting things you can do is sit with your legs crossed so the bottoms of the feet are pointed in the other person’s direction. The foot is the dirtiest part of the body and the sole of the shoe is the dirtiest of the low. To show someone the bottom of your foot or shoe means you’re looking for a fight!

9. Even handshaking cultures do it differently.

Many Britian’s prefer a brief but firm handshake. The French prefer a light grip while sharing a single gentle shake that’s quickly withdrawn. Germans will give a very firm handshake — just one “pump” then quick withdrawal. More than one shake with Germans or French is considered aggressive. Italians will shake hands and then hug friends or kiss them on both cheeks.

10. Bear in mind the other person may be trying to accommodate your culture, so don’t assume they will use their traditional greeting.

For example, if you start first, for instance bowing, and then see a hand extended for a shake, and switch to that, the other person will then have switched to a bow and this becomes awkward. For many cultures such “awkwardness” will kill the relationship early on, which means the deal is off.

11. Greetings are critical first moves in relationships.

Begin with a polite word or two, such as “Mr. and Mrs. Takida, it’s so nice to meet you at last,” and then hesitate for a moment to see what they want to do and are comfortable with. Then mirror their gesture, be it bow, hand shake, abrazo (hug) or nothing! Use your intuition! When in doubt, err on the side of conservatism.

I look forward to the day when we abandon our collective need for safety through homogeneity and reclaim our natural curiosity about what is not like us. We then will no longer need to “manage” diversity, and will have no need other than to engage it and open ourselves to receive its gifts.

For more info and articles about Culture visit:
http://www.bruisedonion.com/guide/culture/

Every newer technology has loopholes that draw multitudes of Spammers. The newest Spam technique on the scene is hiding text and URL gateways using CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) methods.

More frequently we are finding top listed sites owned or controlled by SEO and Web Development companies using this technique.

There are many ways to hide text and links using CSS and it is seems to be running completely unchecked by the major SE’s at this time. Up to now the search engines haven’t been able to parse CSS files and combine that information with the page code to determine if spamming techniques were being used.

Most methods deploy a separate attached CSS file and use “hide” terms, such as:

keyword keyword

This morning I was doing a GOOGLE search for “web development pricing” and found a Site in top positions using a similar technique to hide hundreds of links to pseudo URLs with a full spectrum of web design, development and promotion key terms. Each page was the same “gateway” page.

Obviously, the links were hidden in microscopic detail, utilizing the smallest text possible and CSS color the same as the background. Of course this method required very little space at the bottom of the page after the layout table for hundreds of links.

The search engines thrive on “relevance” to maintain market share. Almost every algorithm shift targets Spam, filtering out anything irrelevant possible. Recent Search Engine history is replete with algorithm updates that severely punished Sites and Site Owners that chose to deploy similar “Black Hat” Search Engine Optimization techniques.

Why do so many flock to new “Black Hat” SEO techniques every time another one surfaces?

These practices are strictly forbidden in the top 3 SE’s published “Webmaster” and “Site Owner” guidelines.

It shouldn’t be very difficult for the Search Engine developers to take in external CSS file considerations and incorporate them into algorithm changes in the near future. With the extent CSS is being misused now, we should expect an update correcting this problem in the near future.

I highly recommend that anyone using CSS techniques to SPAM, on their or client’s Sites immediately desist. Site owners hold ultimate responsibility for what occurs on their Site. Site owners should immediately check with your Webmaster, Website Marketing or SEO company to make sure they are not deploying CSS Spam techniques on their Site, to protect themselves in this coming update. Many small business owners do not have the time or the knowledge to manage their own Sites.

In past updates, many business owners suddenly found that their Site had been completely de-listed or de-rated so severely that it cost them their livelihood. Small business owners are so busy managing the daily affairs of their business, they have to hire outside professionals foe web development, marketing etc. If you fall in that category make sure and read what GOOGLE has to say about SEO: http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html

Another very real and present danger to “Black Hat” SEO practices is; When Sites using dubious methods gain top positions, competing “White Hat” Webmasters and Site Owners checking their own positions find unfair positioning, they tend to report the Spam directly to the Search Engine. This method of reporting Spam Sites has become very effective for “White Hat” webmasters and the Search Engines alike. GOOGLE even states that such reports are used in ongoing development and refinement of their algorithms. Many are reviewed and even banned. Spam reported through these channels are valuable to Search Engine administrators, saving a great deal of algorithm research and development expenditure. You bet they listen.

We support reporting Sites deploying Spam methods to:

Google @ http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html
MSN @ At the bottom of every SERP, select the “Help us improve” link.
Yahoo @ http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/ysearch/cgi_reportsearchspam
Excite @ http://mailit.excite.com/mailit/feedback_abuse.jsp
DMOZ @ staff@dmoz.org

Know your and your client’s competition in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). If a competitive Site’s listing doesn’t look right, examine the code and determine how and why they beat you in the SERPs.

For more help and info on CSS visit:
http://www.bruisedonion.com/guide/css/

Whilst tests measuring the creative or innovative personality exist, there are a number of inherent flaws. Some are noted below:

a) Whether a creative or innovative type exists at all is highly contentious. Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation – universal abilities. Creativity can be defined as producing a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas – universal abilities. Traits are not stable or transferable across situations. Motivation is a critical factor.

b) Due to the numerous relevant definitions of creativity and innovation, it is clear that a number of differing and distinct competencies are involved. It is unlikely (or rare) that all competencies are present in single individual.

c) Creativity is a cognitive process and case dependent. Not all people produce equal quantities of ideas across tasks and, importantly, the same people do not produce equal quantities of ideas across tasks.

d) Too many assumptions are made. Some have been indicated : the assumption that creativity and innovation are stable and transferable across situations ; motivation and competencies are not accounted for etc etc etc.

f) Collaboration, networking and such are ignored. Intellectual cross pollination results in a higher degree of creative output than is produced by individuals alone.

g) The generalisability, variability and reliability of the test paramters can be disputed.

For more info about Creativity & Innovation visit:
http://www.bruisedonion.com/guide/creativity/