Giraffe Forum

The Web reflects the return to dominance of the written word.
I’m just reading a book on Lenin, having previously finished books on Marx, Stalin and Hitler. More than anything they were writers. They saw that the written word was essential if their ideas were to triumph. They saw the critical importance of controlling newspapers.
Newspapers claim […]

There is growing evidence that traditional marketing imagery reduces the credibility and trustworthiness of a website.
Over the years I’ve noticed a development in behavior of customers to traditional marketing material. Large numbers completely ignore the traditional banner advertisement. But for those who do see anything they consider a traditional advertisement, their trust in the webpage […]

You need to manage the words that bring people to your website and the words that will bring them through it.
The IBM Cognos website has achieved three-times the industry average for lead generation. One way they did this was by focusing on getting found in search. They learned some interesting things along the way. “Our […]

Whenever you get people to vote on a list of tasks, clear trends will quickly emerge.
Over the last eight years we have done well over 100 top task identification surveys in six languages with more than 70,000 people participating. Repeatable trends have emerged, For example, by surveying 400 customers you will have identified your top […]

The importance of getting to the point
In an age when time is the most valuable resource of all, it is vital to lead with the need, to answer the question as quickly and concisely as possible.
Your laptop keeps crashing. It’s driving you insane. You’ve waited for ages on the phone for support and have given […]

On the Web, communicators must first and foremost help those who want to be helped, rather than trying to reach brand new audiences.
I’ve seen some powerful ads about drug use on UK television recently. They don’t pull any punches. At the end they advise you to go to a website. Do you know what that […]

Governments around the world are doing everything they can to rename swine flu. They will not succeed and will end up misinforming the public.
“Government officials in Thailand, one of the world’s largest meat exporters, have started referring to the disease as “Mexican flu,” according to an article in the New York Times. “An Israeli […]

Most web content is overwritten; too much content, too much context, not nearly enough focus on the action. Unfortunately, we’re taught to write this way.
How often are you presented with content on the Web that begins something like this: “Exciting, compelling, and effective user experiences result in high levels of customer loyalty, satisfaction, and […]

It’s vital to get the first couple of words exactly right when writing effective web headings and links.
The first two words have a huge impact on whether or not people will click on a link according to a new study by Jakob Nielsen. This basically confirms the findings of a 2004 Eyetrack study from the […]

The Microsoft Office Online team that manages the Excel website has five people and looks after about 1,000 pages. That’s 200 pages per person.
We are still in the early stages of web management. Many web teams lack authority and resources. This generally results in very large unmanaged websites.
In a choices-overloaded world, it is not what […]