Drive-by-Shooting Sunday: Marketing Artfully
Two men watched the small screen, one casually lounging but his eyes sharp and scrutinizing every action, the other with elbows propped on the table and green eyes slightly narrowed.
“He’d better not screw it up,” James offered the comment into the silence of the small observation room. “We have a lot riding on this hit.” And this time, it wasn’t them pulling the gun. They were observers, making sure nothing went wrong.
If it did, they were close enough that James could secure the scene and put a bullet in fast, getting out before anyone knew what had happened.
“He won’t screw up,” Harry answered, watching the screen and the car that pulled out from the driveway. “Are you sure the video’s going to work on this?” He glanced over at James, skepticism all over his face.
“It should.” He’d Googled and researched and schemed up strategic webcams and a video network system that was tighter than water. He hoped. “I hate video.”
“I know.”
“He’d better not screw it up…”
“He won’t.”
And they watched the moment unfold, their hit in the hands of the rookie at the wheel of the car.
Clearwater Florida. Temperature 89. Humidity 89. Average Age 89. Average IQ, well, I couldn’t say.
All I knew was I had to be careful. I was in Frenchy’s town: Frenchy’s Seafood Company, Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill, Frenchy’s Jet Ski & Boat Rentals. You couldn’t get away from Frenchy. I didn’t know who Frenchy was, and I didn’t want to know. Get in. Get out. Let Frenchy clean up the mess. That was the goal.
I’d found out about the hits, especially last week’s. I’d been watching them for a while… and the boys had reacted in the smartest way. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. They called me in.
Today’s drive-by is Marketing Artfully, the blog of Tara L. Jacobsen, and here’s how the site looked at the time of my visit:
She was a looker, this victim. She was into the ponies. Meerkats too. Odd combination. What she’d done, I didn’t know. It was something to do with the declining real estate market, I assumed.
All I knew was my company’s new mission statement. Exceeding customer and shareholder expectations with flawless execution. It wasn’t much of a statement. Hell, it wasn’t even a sentence.
Flawless Execution… I knew what that meant. That meant me.
I removed the Arizona license plates from my 97 Dodge Stratus, got out my Sig Sauer 220, and slowly drove through the palm-tree infested neighborhood. It was time to execute flawlessly…
Anyone who knows my pet peeves knows that the first thing I looked for was an archive page. Unfortunately, there was none to be had.
Marketing Artfully uses category and month links, as well as a list of five recent posts. The lack of an archive page hurts MA’s ability to get its posts indexed by Google, and it shows. Very few individual blog posts have been indexed. About the only thing you will find in a search is the main site. One of the keys to long-term success is a good archive page. It allows readers and search engines to find the articles you want read.
“Hm.” James leaned forward to get a better look at the screen. “Left-side navigation going on. I’d much rather see that on the right, with the content on the left. Google reads top to bottom and left to right. So do people.”
Harry just grunted.
“The navigation really fades into the background too. I don’t like that it isn’t clear and easy to see. Tabs, maybe, nicely visible, or a navigation bar. Why doesn’t she have a ‘Services’ page? Why isn’t her name in the About Us? Wait… what’s he doing now,” James frowned, watching the man on the screen.
The next minor annoyance was the double masthead. The name of the blog appears as text, and then underneath it is the logo with a rotating banner. (note from James – we see the logo beside the banner… screen size?). Not only is it redundant, but it takes up a lot of space on the screen.
The rotating graphic (changes with each pageload) is an interesting choice and could work. This is a blog about marketing homes though, so why am I seeing pictures of meerkats and racehorses? Every picture should be of a beautiful home. It’s the only choice that makes sense.
“What the… Hey. Is that a meerkat?” The grin on Jamie’s face said it all. “Coolness.”
Then he frowned. “Not cool on a real estate blog though… Nice horses… Alright, pick one banner relevant to real estate and stick with it. Keep the logo, ditch the boring title at the top, and have the tagline underneath the logo.”
The theme colors are lime green, light blue and gray. The colors are attractive and professional looking, with an upbeat feel. I think it works well for the site. I would probably change the subscription button to a lime green so that it matched.
“I like the colors,” Harry commented, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “The green in the logo could be sharper though. It’s not clear enough. The white background is eating it up. I’d get that RSS out of the top section to move the banner up and save space. Belongs with the email subscription section.”
Marketing Artfully does a good job of emphasizing the feed subscription options. It’s right there at the top of the right column. I would get rid of the MyBlogLog and Amungus widgets though. They make the blog seem more casual than professional. This blog is promoting professional services. It is fine to look creative, but a site like this should avoid any gimmicky widgets.
“Hey, what the…” James frowned at the little blinking green circle that hovered over the map. Montreal, Quebec. “Is she tracking us? WTF? Okay, that’s just creepy,” he reached over to shut down the video monitor. “Call him. Get him the hell out of there. We have a trace on us.”
“Wait,” Harry’s hand reached to stop James from shutting the hit down completely. “Hold on…” His whole body was tense, waiting to see if anything would happen. Nothing.
“Let it go, bro.” Harry relaxed and sat back. “We’re ditching this rental anyways. No one will know we’ve been here.”
Having removed the widgets, I would move up the ads for her services. They are attractive and blend well with the site colors so there is no harm in moving them directly underneath the subscription form. Make it easy for people to do business with you.
“And improve the copy,” James mumbled absently. “‘Hire me.’ To do what? Plus, with that lack of clear navigation, people can’t see right away that there are services being offered…”
“Be quiet, would you?” Harry glanced over. “I’m trying to watch this, you know.”
The tagline for the site is “Niche Marketing For Realtors and Small Businesses”. The site is clearly meant to promote services but to do that, there’s going to have to be some great information.
For the most part the posts stay close to the stated purpose, but I notice that many of the posts contain long paragraphs with few headlines or other visuals to break up the text. Readers on the web tend to get bogged down by large blocks of text. I would consider adding some graphics to the post and using more headings and lists.
“No argument there,” Harry grunted.
This is a marketing blog, so I expect great headlines. Blog owner Tara Jacobson has the appropriate creativity when it comes to writing headlines for her articles, but her references can be a little obscure. Headlines are not meant to entertain your existing readers, they are meant to draw in new readers.
If I came across an article titled, Your Favorite Medium, I could only guess what the article was about. A headline such as, Reaching Your Market: Is Your Medium Too Small?, identifies what the article is about while staying creative. The key to good headlines is to be creative AND informative.
“You go, bro” James said softly, nodding in agreement.
This good, basic site just needs a little tweaking. I would consider a professionally designed theme, but the current theme has no serious problems other than the double masthead. I would look for better headlines and more visual posts. I would also add an archive page and (behind the scenes) Google Site Maps. I would encourage Jacobson get more involved in the blog community and look for ways to reach out to similar sites and get more incoming links.
The afternoon rain began to fall right on schedule. A convenient lightning strike distracted from the shots. Two to the body. One to the head. The corporate guidelines were specific. She never saw it coming. I was around the corner and on my way before she hit the ground.
As I drove away, I turned on NPR and listened to Kai Ryssdal give the Marketplace Report. He told me the real estate slump was getting worse by the day. I nodded in agreement as I pulled off the road to reattach the license plates and ditch my gun in Old Tampa Bay.
The market was dead.
John Hewitt has been a professional writer for 20 years. In that time, he has learned 12 Ways to Write Terrible Documentation, 10 Ways to Annoy the Hell out of Your Writers’ Group and How to Write Your Way Out of a Wet Paper Sack. Oh, and how to be a hit man.
Want more? You got it. Check out our upcoming hit jobs:
June 8 – Head Rambles
June 15 – Kameronmf.com
Want your blog shot down? Sign up in the comment section for your free drive-by, and we’ll schedule you in. Or share your comments and tell us what you’d change about this site. Who knows… you might just make a hit of your own.
19 Responses to “Drive-by-Shooting Sunday: Marketing Artfully”
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James – You’re shooting the wrong victim. According to your link ‘Marketing Artfully’, you’re aiming at ‘bookclubclassics.com’ again. Is it fair to be murdered twice?
Grandad’s last blog post..Scribo, Ergo sum
Fixed, sorry about that. Blame Harry
*sigh* Always blame the other guy…..
Grandad’s last blog post..Scribo, Ergo sum
Why do you think I have him around?
“Google reads top to bottom and left to right. ”
What Google sees and what you see can be two different things entirely.
I use a left side column, but if you look at the source of one of my pages, you’ll see that Google reads that last.
http://training.seobook.com/ uses left side navigation; see http://www.seobook.com/left-or-right-rail-navigation for a discussion.
This http://www.directoryone.com/articles/website-navigation.html says that usability and navigation are NOT affected by left vs. right.
Pick up any newspaper or magazine: you’ll find plenty of left side columns for ads, sidebars.. if having them on the right was important for readers, they wouldn’t do that.
Tony Lawrence’s last blog post..Page Views Per Visitor – more isn’t always better by Anthony Lawrence
@ Tony – Newspapers and magazines are not affected by either Google or screen reading and are read completely differently and perceived differently as well. While I respect your views, the general consensus across the Internet is that right is best, especially with blogs.
Why? Because western readers read left to right, and what is on your left is the most important aspect. A blog is all about content – put your content first and foremost, period.
As for Google, Google has a general pattern of crawling which I believe you’ll agree is left to right, top to bottom.
Most Internet users do NOT have the savvy to start playing with coding and make their left sidebar source code appear last. While you may be familiar with this type of programming, I’m sure that well over three quarters of people don’t. The solution? Move the sidebar. Or hire a programmer.
Usability and navigation *are* affected by left versus right. Sorry, but I’ll argue this one firmly until the cows go home.
It was a bright and shiney morning when I got hit! The men with pens had done a drive by and Marketing Artfully was in their sights!
After the bruising Jacobsen was heard to gasp…I WILL write better headlines! I WILL do a google sitemap, I am not sure I can get less inane in my writing style but I WILL work on it!
I WILL break up my pages more and have more HEADLINES
Thank you SO much for the information! I appreciate the time you took and will let you know if any of your suggestions are successful!
PS – I am on my way to Montreal, Quebec – because of the Amungus I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE and I am coming for you….Jacobsen
What also comes into the equation here is loading time.
While the blog in question loads fairly easily, if those widgets had been placed in the left hand column, the blog would have taken ages to load on my slow broadband service and there are many potential readers (and possibly purchasers?) out there with slow connection speeds just like mine.
Which is another reason why blogs with left hand side bars can be a pain in the butt.
zania’s last blog post..Keep a Suspicious Mind When You Make Money Online
@ Tara – It was creepy as hell LOL. I thought, “Wow, cool!” And then I saw the flashing light pinpointing me like some military radar. Freaky. Hehehe.
We really liked the white background and the simplicity you have going on, Tara. If you had a great banner, you really wouldn’t have to do much to make it a good, solid site.
@ Zania – Really? I have no idea if left-sidebar widgets slow down loading. Could be. I’d have to research. I do know that sites with too many active widgets and ads or videos makes my super-dooper high-performance ‘net crawl like a man dying of thirst. Tara’s blog had none of those that I noticed, though. Hm.
Web pages tend to load top to bottom, left to right, so a slow loading widget could block the site content until it is fully loaded.
The general rule of thumb in site design is to have your most important content on the top left. This is where the eye will naturally go. On a commercial sites, the navigation is generally placed on the top or left, as it is crucial. However, in blogging, the latest post is generally what people want and it therefore should be top-left.
There is also the issue of legacy screens, where the site may exceed screen width. A left sidebar could force a sideways scroll, which is one of the biggest sins in web design.
Grandad’s last blog post..Friends
“Most Internet users do NOT have the savvy to start playing with coding and make their left sidebar source code appear last”
If you think that’s “beyond the capacity” of most people, perhaps so. It’s actually trivial, but most people are deathly afraid of learning anything about technology. Their loss.
“Usability and navigation *are* affected by left versus right. Sorry, but I’ll argue this one firmly until the cows go home.”
That’s conventional wisdom among many bloggers, but it’s incorrect according to the study I quoted.
It’s a bit of a red herring to say that newspapers and magazines are read and perceived differently. We’re talking about the mechanics of reading and noticing – the media work identically in that respect.
I can also tell you from years of A/B testing that a left sidebar increases both average views per visits AND ad income at my site. So no matter how many bloggers say “left is wrong”, I’ll keep mine where it is. Well, that’s not necessarily true: I do A/B testing every few years to make sure I’m still on track. So I’ll amend that: I’ll keep mine where it is unless real facts tell me to move it.
And I’d strongly advise anyone else who is serious about their blog or website NOT to swallow “conventional wisdom” outright. Investigate, do A/B testing (Google Analytics now has some great tools that can show results very visually) and find out what REALLY works best for you. You might find that right works better, you might find the opposite, or you might find (as the studies I referenced indicate) it really doesn’t matter.
Is it more important to you to go with the crowd or to do what works best? I know my answer.
Tony Lawrence’s last blog post..Page Views Per Visitor – more isn’t always better by Anthony Lawrence
“left-sidebar widgets slow down loading”
Again, CSS lets you position the users view wherever you like while putting the actual load at the bottom of the page.
And I need to revisit James contention that “Most Internet users do NOT have the savvy to start playing with coding and make their left sidebar source code appear lastâ€
Most bloggers don’t know ANYTHING about positioning – they rely on their blogging platform to do that. So are you saying that these blogging platforms are really so stupid as to not use CSS for positioning? The blog in question here uses WordPress and the Navigation column we are discussing IS positioned with CSS and DOES load last. So THAT platform certainly isn’t stupid about columns, and I bet most are just as smart.
Tony Lawrence’s last blog post..Page Views Per Visitor – more isn’t always better by Anthony Lawrence
Hey guys,
I just wanted to say I really enjoy these drive-by shootings! I find them professional, informative, valuable, and of course fun. I love the creativity. Your whole approach to this kind of advice is refreshing. It’s both forthright and firm yet not at all offensive. I also love that I’m indirectly learning what things I should implement for my own website when the time comes.
steph’s last blog post..Fiction. Episode IV: Return of the Canadians
@James: Whoa, hold on there, Baba-Looey…don’t be blaming me. I’ve been fixing your links every Sunday. Hmph, that’s what I get for being a nice guy…where’s Fukko? He’s slacking off again.
@ James and Harry,
Thank you for the ride-along. It was fun. Let me know if you ever need me to make another hit.
@ Tara
Thats why i removed my license plates. A little anonymity is good. Good luck with your site.
@ Steph
It’s all about the education.
John Hewitt’s last blog post..Please Welcome My Guest Bloggers
James and Harry,
Now that you’ve whacked my wife (yes, I’m THAT Jacobsen), perhaps you could schedule a drive-by for my blog – http://blog.g33kart.com – would this be the first family hit in history?
John “the widower” Jacobsen
John Jacobsen’s last blog post..The Rays… are for REAL?!?!?
@ John – I didn’t touch your wife, I swear… lies. All lies!
You’re up for June 29, and I’ll look forward to it.