Web Traffic building tips

I just read an article on how to build web traffic, and thought I'd make a few comments on it.

Garrett (the author) makes some good points about online traffic building. They boil down to suggestions I've been making lately:

1. have good, focused content: Garrett mentions that your audience needs to consist of people who want to read your content. Should be a no-brainer, right? Not always - are you updating a page of links that no one uses? Do you maintain a (to you) very cool, yet little-used database of info? If so, are you focusing on content your users want? Probably not.

2. Update that content frequently: Once you have good content that customers are interested in, keep it going! Update it with new links, new library material purchases, new databases, new "how to find stuff" articles, etc. This will keep customers coming back.

3. Provide a way to keep customers coming back: Offer email and/or RSS updates. This will keep customers updated of changes - but more importantly, this gives customers new info they'd most likely be interested in (ie., new books, videos, etc to check out, new programs and events of interest to them, etc).

Garrett also misses the boat at least once. He states "At the root of it all, there's really only 2 ways to get traffic. Other sites. And search engines." Have I missed something here? His own article mentions RSS and email alerts (not other sites or search engines). And in my library world, there's something called marketing. You know - press releases, mailed out versions of a calendar of events, bookmarks by the service desk, programs (with handouts) given at schools... all mentioning our website. And that's just for starters.

Yes, links on other websites and search engines do bring in traffic, but only online-generated traffic. For many websites, that's only one type of customer (the web surfer), and possibly not even the best type of customer. For my library, local customers that can actually come in to the library, get a library card, use our databases, and check out material are very important customers, too. And they usually don't find us by searching the web. My guess is that other non-library organizations and businesses would fall here, too - local businesses that sell stuff online and in-store, local organizations that rely on the local community, etc.

To be fair, he's probably thinking about smaller niche websites that get a majority of customers directly from the web (he works at a technology consulting company, for example). But still - even Google or Yahoo! place ads on TV and in print once in awhile.

Website Credibility Equals Pleasing Design?!!?

Ok. I'm probably behind the times here, but I was thinking about how people evaluate website credibility (and more to the point, how I teach it in search engine classes). So I did a search to find some examples of best practices, and came across this amazing study done in 2002. It scared me.

Why did it scare me? I freaked because the number 1 thing people looked at (2,684 in this study) was... VISUAL DESIGN (46.1%)! Not the validity of the information presented on the page, not the accuracy of facts mentioned, but ... design. "Nearly half of all consumers in the study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on the appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size and color schemes" (link to quote page). One participant was even quoted as saying "just looks more credible" (about a website he/she was "evaluating"). My goodness.

You and I both know that the actual information presented on the page, whether that information comes in text, image, sound, etc., is the MOST important part of any website - a pretty website with no content isn't terribly useful to our customers (well, unless your customer happens to be a web designer hunting for creative visual ideas...). And at the same time, given the same information on two different websites, it just makes sense to go with the better-designed site (easier/faster to download, easy-to-read format, etc.).

But the apparent fact that consumers are judging potential sources of useful information by how visually appealing it is or isn't IS NOT GOOD! Sounds to me like it's up to us library-types to continue teaching not only how to search the web, but maybe more importantly - how to evaluate the stuff found while searching the web.

And one other random thought - since our library websites are, in essence, being judged by the clothes they wear - is yours dressed appropriately? Does it have that "I'm useful" look? And what exactly does "I'm useful" look like? Any thoughts/ideas?

Percent Finder Calculator Shareware Program

I'm sitting here, working on an idea for a possible article, and I wanted to know some percentages... unfortunately for me, the Windows calculator is my friend and crutch when it comes to numbers.

Enter Percent Finder Calculator Shareware Program - an awesome little program for those of us who are mathematically challenged.

What's it do? It calculates the percentage of any number out of any number. That's all. But that's a whole lot easier than me having to remember what the formula is for doing the same thing.... :-)

For Next Year's Internet Librarian

"Monterey Salinas Airbus provides exclusive, inexpensive, scheduled bus and minivan service to and from SFO and SJC international airports from the Monterey Peninsula."

So you don't HAVE to fly to Monterey (probably cheaper, too). I'm certainly gonna try this next year.

My thoughts on Internet Librarian 2004

First off - I really SHOULD have tried to stay for the whole conference, for a number of reasons... but mainly it looks like I missed some great presentations! I was there for Monday's presentations.

Alrightie... The Pew dude was cool (Lee Rainie, Director of Pew Internet and American Life Project)! By the way, they have an RSS feed (just subscribed). Here's some stuff I wrote down during his talk on internet trends:

- Popular internet has only been around for 10 years! I'm amazed that something so new has taken such a major role in ... well ... everything. 10 years - that's my whole professional library life (MLS in 1994)!

- He didn't use these words, but - the Internet pretty much mirrors what's already in people's heads. Very interesting thought, if you take ALL the net into consideration.

Anyway... there's a library concept in there somewhere. What do people like to do at the library? On the library website? What do WE want to put in our customer's heads? Or how do we facilitate our customers putting stuff into their own heads? And how do we do that using a website? Just something that struck me during the talk.

- Seniors really don't use the web as much as we think they do. Mr. Rainie said that any small increment in stats for seniors makes it look like a huge growth area. But by and large, seniors aren't as interested in the web - they "don't need it and don't want it."

- The web is becoming very social. When you're online nowadays, you tend to join things and share. I'm doing that now.

- Broadband influences people's use. Definitely.

- The doctor/patient thing - people are starting to see doctors as more of a health care partner, rather than the end-all DOCTOR. That's because we can look up the basic research on most anything health-related, and we go into the doctor's visit on a more equal footing than before.

That's it for Mr. Rainie. Next, I spoke on creating a community resource on the web (seemed to go over well), and then I hung out in the link resolver/openURL/Federated search track for the rest of the day. Cool stuff there, too. The OpenURL concept is awesome! I learned a new term, "Information Silo." That's basically any of our individual article databases (ProQuest, EBSCOHost, etc). They're "silos" because they hold a lot of good info, but our customers don't know how to use them (if they can even find them), especially when each product has it's own interface. Our customers want to go to one place and find everything.

And last - I had a great time meeting, hanging out with, and getting to know some of the other speakers. So much better than the usual "meet and greet" times that are provided to speakers and vendors (probably 'cause I'm not much of a schmoozer). It'll be fun to meet up with them again in DC for Computers in Libraries.

Free Range Librarian is bugged by bloggers

Karen Schneider had some interesting things to say about bloggers being, well... bloggers at Internet Librarian 2004. Mainly concerning the observation that they might not be listening as well as they should be, and that their blogging might not be terribly courteous.

Here's my take on it (speaking as a presenter who had bloggers in attendance):

1. Not so much with personal blogging, but for the more focused bloggers, I see them as the new grassroots press. they provide instant feedback to conferences, seminars, and even the general "feel" of the conference. You can know what's going on even without being there, which is cool. And like bloggers during this last presidential election, they can sometimes upstage the "traditional" press (in this case, the IL report that'll most likely run in Information Today in the upcoming weeks).

Plus, there's the whole excitement aspect. Bloggers aren't blogging the stuff that bores them - they're writing about what excites them, or as Michael Stephens says "that rocks!" You can lose something in the translation if you don't "write it down" while the excitement is still there.

2. Dissemination (sp?): I think it's way cool to get instant thoughts from a topic, rather than waiting a week or two or three... or never. I'd really rather have people share than not. There will be many attendees who do go back and share what they learned, but in internal staff meetings. It's great to also see and read attendees thoughts in the open web.

3. Attendees already take notes. Why not take them on a laptop? And if they happen to blog, why not post those notes? If they're taking notes anyway, posting those notes just takes a click - it's no more disruptive than people quietly typing or scribbling on a legal pad (or in my case, on a PDA). Shoot - my blog started as a place I could post info so I wouldn't forget it - sort of a customized, summarized bookmarks page of my own (that I could access at work or home).

4. The Younger Generation - They're here, and they plan to stay. Thankfully! They IM, they SMS, they chat on cell phones, they blog. These are things they just do - it's all part of their social structure, sort of like nudging your friend at a seminar or raising your eyebrows during an eye-opening point. The younger folks nudges just happen to be done electronically.

Stephen Abrams wrote a great article in the Nov/dec issue of Multimedia & Internet Schools about how schools tend to teach up-and-coming workers yesterday's technology. Some examples were: not typing when he was a kid (you'll have a secretary to do your typing); Too much emphasis on typing for his kids (they're going to be inputting info in many ways, not just on a large keyboard); etc. These "kids" are growing up and becoming librarians, and they have brought their cell phones, their Treos, their IMs and their SMS gadgets with them and EXPECT to use them! Why should it be any different at a library conference?

I look at bloggers in my talks as instant feedback - they more they type, blog, and even photograph me (thanks, Steven), the more I know I'm doing a good job of presenting.

Please keep it up!

Virtual Tours as an online resource

The Virtual Tours at Las Vegas/Clark County Library District's website are pretty cool - they are tours of what the library considers to be "useful resources." They're things like the Family History Center and a Legal Services self-help center. That a great idea!

But - we could take that idea further. In Kansas City, for example - we could create virtual tours of our well-known cultural icons, like our fountains, our barbeque restaurants, even our sports organizations (ie., virtual tour of Chiefs stadium). Or outdoor areas like the Plaza (a well-known outdoor shopping center).

This would help our remote customers see places they wouldn't usualyy see, and could possibly even supply visual driving directions.

Just a thought!

Library Journal - Technoplans vs. Technolust

Library Journal - Technoplans vs. Technolust

Cool! Michael Stephens, Special Projects Librarian at St. Joseph County Public Library and blogger for Tame the Web, wrote this article for Library Journal's netConnect... and quoted me! How cool is that?

It's also a great article with some very good pointers for creating and implementing technology plans. Read it!

CNN doesn't understand Google

CNN.com article - Brain teasers help Google recruit workers - Nov 4, 2004

Gee... here's their lead-in to the article:

"Google Inc. locates almost anything on the Web within seconds, but finding the brainy engineers who program the company's lightning-quick search engine takes more time -- and a quirky bit of ingenuity."

Anything on the web???? Sheesh. Why is it so hard to understand, especially in a techie news story (with probably reporters following techie trends)?

Alrightie - Here are some basic Google lessons for CNN:

1. Google doesn't REALLY search the web - they search their own database of web history that they've gone out and fetched
2. Google is big, but still covers maybe 1/3 of the web

Class dismissed.

Website Statistics - Top Search Keyword and Phrases

For the last part of this series, I'll focus on Search Engine Words and
Phrases. Yes, many different search engines direct customers to our
website - and our web stats software keeps track of which search engines
hit us, and more importantly, what words and phrases are used to find
our pages.

Here's what happened in October (looking at phrases):

Obviously, different forms of "Kansas City Public Library" appear (as
kansas city public library, kansas city library, kc public library, kc
library, etc.).

Also, we get a lot of content-driven types of phrases, like:

3 map of missouri
7 maps of missouri
8 kansas city map
9 missouri maps
13 pumpkin painting
14 Harry potter info
15 public library
16 sheffield steel
17 map of missouri counties
21 russell stover
22 kchasjobs
23 scary face painting
26 harry truman
27 kchasjobs.com
28 library
33 kansas city photos
34 Kansas City, MO
35 kansas city maps
36 Downtown Arena Design Team
37 Walter Disney
38 Jim Bridger
40 www.kchasjobs.com
41 how to make a purse
42 Sheffield steel industry
43 Kansas City Missouri
44 kansas city
46 railroad maps
47 kansas city mo
48 Flu Shots Kansas City
50 oregon trail map

This is great stuff! People want maps, craft information, local history
info, jobs, info on downtown, flue shots, and info on our city. And to
find that info, they are being directed to our library website.

So - here's the part involving work - we probably need to provide
pointers to some of this, at least the things that appear more
frequently. For example, Jim Bridger appears often in this list (for
June 1 through October 31, he's number 17). We have a local history
collection of photos and documents about him and his family, most of
which is online. But we could also write an article that describes him,
his family, and the information we have about him - in the local history
collection, but also in our books, videos, and articles that can be
found in our library. And in other web links, too.

This would do a number of things:
1. It would help establish our customized content on Mr. Bridger or
other top search phrases as "an authority" that would continue driving
more customers to our site
2. It would help provide information that customers are wanting from us
in a more condensed way (by providing a "this is what we have" type of
page)

And that's gotta be good for our website and our library, right?

Website Statistics - Top Search Keyword and Phrases

For the last part of this series, I'll focus on Search Engine Words and Phrases. Yes, many different search engines direct customers to our website - and our web stats software keeps track of which search engines hit us, and more importantly, what words and phrases are used to find our pages.

Here's what happened in October (looking at phrases):

• Obviously, different forms of "Kansas City Public Library" appear (as kansas city public library, kansas city library, kc public library, kc library, etc.).
• Also, we get a lot of content-driven types of phrases, like:
• 3 map of missouri
• 7 maps of missouri
• 8 kansas city map
• 9 missouri maps
• 13 pumpkin painting
• 14 Harry potter info
• 15 public library
• 16 sheffield steel
• 17 map of missouri counties
• 21 russell stover
• 22 kchasjobs
• 23 scary face painting
• 26 harry truman
• 27 kchasjobs.com
• 28 library
• 33 kansas city photos
• 34 Kansas City, MO
• 35 kansas city maps
• 36 Downtown Arena Design Team
• 37 Walter Disney
• 38 Jim Bridger
• 40 www.kchasjobs.com
• 41 how to make a purse
• 42 Sheffield steel industry
• 43 Kansas City Missouri
• 44 kansas city
• 46 railroad maps
• 47 kansas city mo
• 48 Flu Shots Kansas City
• 50 oregon trail map

This is great stuff! People want maps, craft information, local history info, jobs, info on downtown, flue shots, and info on our city. And to find that info, they are being directed to our library website.

So - here's the part involving work - we probably need to provide pointers to some of this, at least the things that appear more frequently. For example, Jim Bridger appears often in this list (for June 1 through October 31, he's number 17). We have a local history collection of photos and documents about him and his family, most of which is online. But we could also write an article that describes him, his family, and the information we have about him - in the local history collection, but also in our books, videos, and articles that can be found in our library. And in other web links, too.

This would do a number of things:

1. It would help establish our customized content on Mr. Bridger or other top search phrases as "an authority" that would continue driving more customers to our site
2. It would help provide information that customers are wanting from us in a more condensed way (by providing a "this is what we have" type of page)

And that's gotta be good for our website and our library, right?