Monthly Archive for June, 2007

Act on SEO

Published
by
John
on June 17, 2007
in Search engines
. 0 Comments

The Department for Transport has kicked-off its Act on CO2 campaign, to enourage people to think more about carbon emissions when they’re driving their car, or choosing a new one.

I caught one of the TV ads tonight and the call-to-action at the end was one I’ve not seen before. Instead of telling us to ‘visit actonco2.co.uk for more information’, the commercial directs us to ’search online for act on CO2′.

When you put that phrase into Google, it seems they’ve bagged the top natural search spot, as well as the top sponsored link. Fair enough - they’ve picked a tag line and optimised the site so it’s highly ranked for it.

This approach does make some sense. It’s often easier to remember a phrase instead of a website address, and if you can’t recall the exact wording, a close approximation will often get you there.

But it does leave an obvious route for someone to mount a counter-campaign. A bit of concerted search engine optimisation work could probably push a different site to the top of those Google search results. And then the Department for Transport could find its ads promoting exactly the kind of behaviour they’re trying to discourage.

It would be interesting to hear if they’ve thought of this - and if they think the gains they’ll make from not quoting a specific URL will outweigh the damage done by conflicting websites appearing alongside their own.

(To give you some idea, the Association of British Drivers are already 5th-placed for that term, and I think it’s fair to say that they are slightly sceptical of the whole thing. With some work, I bet they could rise up the rankings.)

Commercial breakdown

Published
by
John
on June 15, 2007
in Websites
. 0 Comments

Stumbled across a gem of an advertising-related site today: adverbox, which showcases some of the most original pieces of advertising from around the world.

It seems like the role of traditional advertising and big-budget campaigns is evolving pretty rapidly at the moment, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that some of the stuff on this website is fantastically original and brilliantly executed.

I particularly like the WWF alarm clock and these rather arresting Amnesty International posters. Which are your favourites?

Service alteration - everything’s normal

Published
by
John
on June 12, 2007
in Spotted
. 0 Comments

No engineering works this weekend…I think this sign in Reading station says more about British trains than the author intended.

This must be one of the few places in the world where rail services get altered “due to engineering works not taking place”.

I’m sure they could have phrased it better. “Engineering works cancelled - services running as normal” would probably have covered it.

Stuck in the Slough lane

Published
by
John
on June 10, 2007
in Spotted
. 1 Comment

Bus in SloughIf anyone’s landed a difficult marketing job, it’s got to be whoever’s in charge of encouraging people to use Slough’s buses more. Buses aren’t sexy at the best of times - put one in Slough and you have a real challenge.

This copy on the back of a spanking new bus there caught my eye. The “warp drive (OK, not warp drive)” line’s a refreshing bit of honesty, but then they went and spoilt it all by claiming it’s “a cool way to go to work”.

Copywriting rule #1: if you have to point out the fact that something’s cool, it very definitely isn’t.

Still, eight out of ten for effort. Like I said, it’s a tough job.

A/S/L - and I’d like to change my order please

Published
by
John
on June 7, 2007
in Websites
. 0 Comments

Student finance chat in actionOnline chatrooms seem somewhat passé now, and instant messaging is decidedly mainstream, at least for leisure use. But the number of companies using similar methods to communicate with customers remains stubbornly low.

Those which do try it generally do a pretty abysmal job. One trend seems to be to create a ‘virtual assistant’ - basically a front-end for a search engine that attempts to answer questions typed in plain English. The results aren’t usually very encouraging. Try asking Ikea’s Anna something. ‘How much is your cheapest sofabed?’ produces the following mine of information:

“We do our bit and you do yours to get high quality at low prices. Economically produced flat-pack designs, bought in bulk, keep costs down. So does leaving the planning and assembly to you. This means that together we can create a better everyday life for everyone!”

Nothing about a sofabed, and no prices. Rubbish. Still, if you click ‘turn sound on’, it does get read out by a non-Swedish sounding lady with a slight lisp.

Putting a real person on the other end of the keyboard seems as rare as ever. Strange really, as at first glance it looks like an obvious way to deal with simple queries quickly, and cope with more customers at once. Anyone who’s ever tried chatting in four or five instant messaging windows at once knows that’s much easier than holding four or five simultaneous phone calls.

When I think of internet-savvy companies willing to try new things, the Student Finance people doesn’t come anywhere near the top of my list. That’s why I was surprised to see an online chat option on its website.

I had a query about my years-old student loan, so I tried it. Sure - I had to wait about five minutes for someone to get to me, but as I didn’t have to hang on the phone listening to rubbish music, this was less annoying than usual. I carried on working while I waited, and when the chat window started flashing I punched in my query.

It worked pretty well. I got them to change my registered address and send out some previous statements. It was pretty efficient, and certainly less hassle than hanging on the phone.

I can see that there are still loads of things that would stop people using this. While I’m quite used to chatting online, there are many people who wouldn’t be comfortable with it. And had I taken a slightly more cynical approach to security, I might’ve resisted handing over my personal details in a chat window.

But I did, and it worked. I wonder if any other companies that I’ve had painful call-centre experiences with in the past would like to refine the concept a bit. I’d definitely use it.

Threadless - an online community and a business

Published
by
John
on June 1, 2007
in Websites
. 0 Comments

Once of my favourite websites is Threadless. It’s an online t-shirt shop. It’s a thriving online community. And - I imagine - it makes money too.

I live in t-shirts, and I love unusual ones, so I’ll really go out of my way to find them. I stumbled across Threadless about a year ago after a tip-off from my sister, and it’s brilliant.

Much like CafePress.com, anyone can submit a t-shirt design to be printed. But on Threadless, the community really counts, because votes and comments help decide which t-shirts get printed. Ok, so like the FAQ says, ultimately it’s their call, but they’d be stupid not to listen to what their members are saying.

The site is criminally easy to use. You can see every single design, but because each shirt is printed in limited numbers, it’s better to see what’s available at a glance. The stock chart does just that. All the available t-shirts, on one page. It’s simple, but it works very well.

They keep people coming back by letting members blog and chat in forums. And they create innovative competitions that get the whole community involved.

None of it is revolutionary, but it’s a very good example of how to bring together a few elements of ‘Web 2.0′ to create something that people really identify with. Give it a go; their shipping charges to the UK are pretty reasonable too.

Consistency for consistency’s sake?

Published
by
John
on June 1, 2007
in Writing
. 0 Comments

Consistency’s important when it comes to writing for the web. After all, you want your readers to know what you’re talking about. And that means not confusing them by giving one thing several different names.

This was the central premise of a conversation I had last week. And it was absolutely right - to a point. You don’t want to confuse the reader. So if something has a name, you stick to it.

But my view is that there’s a balance to be struck here. When you write for the web, you tend to write in a conversational style. You write like you speak.

Nobody uses the same words over and over again in conversation. It’s boring, and it sounds silly - like talking in a monotone. So any ‘conversational’ copy with the same lack of variety just isn’t going to sound right.

If you truly want to engage the reader, your copy needs to stand up and grab their attention. To do that, variety is vital; without it, you’ll sound stilted and contrived. Almost like a machine wrote the text for you. And that’s not going to impress anyone.