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Joe, even funnier, Jakob's site has looked exactly the same since 1995! It's borderline ugly, but there's no denying the usability.
Make your on-line ads STAND OUT
- Thread starter TodorYordanov
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Jim, you make me happy. Jakob's a star in website usability, though there are other great voices out there.
When I worked at Enquiro we did a bunch of eye tracking and other usability tests on websites. I learned a ton, as did our clients. A good friend from Enquiro/Mediative writes a great usability blog called Stuff on My Wall, worth checking out.
When I worked at Enquiro we did a bunch of eye tracking and other usability tests on websites. I learned a ton, as did our clients. A good friend from Enquiro/Mediative writes a great usability blog called Stuff on My Wall, worth checking out.
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OK Jim, Microsoft didn't invent the internet - It was Al Gordo
Todor I'm not in denial, never was, never will be, not possible
I'm with Joey, its about grabbing the readers attention in seconds, like a blog, the 'wall of text' just turns them away.
Don says it all the time: get in the mind of the tenant.
What do they want, whats in it for them, want to write a lot of content- go ahead but use a few bold headlines and different colours to at least point out the sweet spot.
Just don't delve into font abuse that will not be tolerated and user may be subjected to forced reading of that Jakob guy's site- or whatever hes called...
Todor I'm not in denial, never was, never will be, not possible
I'm with Joey, its about grabbing the readers attention in seconds, like a blog, the 'wall of text' just turns them away.
Don says it all the time: get in the mind of the tenant.
What do they want, whats in it for them, want to write a lot of content- go ahead but use a few bold headlines and different colours to at least point out the sweet spot.
Just don't delve into font abuse that will not be tolerated and user may be subjected to forced reading of that Jakob guy's site- or whatever hes called...
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[quote user=EdRenkema]Don says it all the time: get in the mind of the tenant.I have to admit that I find this very difficult.
For instance, when I advertise a "Pet friendly 3 Bedroom suite for $1200/mo" and then a prospective tenant calls up to ask "How many bedrooms, how much is rent and do you allow pets?" I simply can't imagine WTH they are thinking. :|
Joking aside, I do struggle with this. I simply have no idea how someone else sees something and I'm not creative enough to imagine it. I find it almost impossible to remove my own biases and adopt a different viewpoint. The ad-writing style that tries to "paint a picture in the mind" is exceptionally presumptuous and annoying - to me. I find it hard to come to terms with the fact that that kind of marketing works for some people, let alone try and create it for them.
For instance, when I advertise a "Pet friendly 3 Bedroom suite for $1200/mo" and then a prospective tenant calls up to ask "How many bedrooms, how much is rent and do you allow pets?" I simply can't imagine WTH they are thinking. :|
Joking aside, I do struggle with this. I simply have no idea how someone else sees something and I'm not creative enough to imagine it. I find it almost impossible to remove my own biases and adopt a different viewpoint. The ad-writing style that tries to "paint a picture in the mind" is exceptionally presumptuous and annoying - to me. I find it hard to come to terms with the fact that that kind of marketing works for some people, let alone try and create it for them.
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I think there is a certain level of that with all ads (I hope!!). It seems to me that stems from applicants, scanning ads and replying in a hurry. Sometimes with a friend reading things to them. I often heard friends talking in the background with the most recent ad. I also often got "which ad was that..?" when I returned calls. I chalked it up to people sending 50 responses to anything that in a 30 second glance seemed to fit their criteria.
I think the "paint a picture" idea is somewhat arbitrary. However, if you do some searching for 'descriptive writing' and read some fiction stories online you'll see some common traits. There is actually a killer paragraph (that is about 5 pages long if memory serves) in Homer's Iliad. I'll try and dig up the chapter. By far the most effective "can picture it in your mind" type writing I've ever read. It's only words but after reading that paragraph I guarantee you know exactly how it looks.
The passage: scan down to line 480. might not help but hopefully it does!
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Texts/Iliad/iliad18.htm
I think the "paint a picture" idea is somewhat arbitrary. However, if you do some searching for 'descriptive writing' and read some fiction stories online you'll see some common traits. There is actually a killer paragraph (that is about 5 pages long if memory serves) in Homer's Iliad. I'll try and dig up the chapter. By far the most effective "can picture it in your mind" type writing I've ever read. It's only words but after reading that paragraph I guarantee you know exactly how it looks.
The passage: scan down to line 480. might not help but hopefully it does!
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Texts/Iliad/iliad18.htm
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[quote user=JimWhitelaw]For instance, when I advertise a "Pet friendly 3 Bedroom suite for $1200/mo" and then a prospective tenant calls up to ask "How many bedrooms, how much is rent and do you allow pets?" I simply can't imagine WTH they are thinking. :|
Jim I feel your pain - do I ever!
And to your point I get what you say, my mind works like no one else's so I want different things, I think Don only wants us to engage in the process. My only take away from this is to the post following yours - the potential tenant is looking at many many ads, hence the obvious (stupid) question. Anybody with tact will simply say, "sorry but I just need to confirm the rent and # of beds, I've viewed many today" As we know, tact is hardly a prerequisite for being a tenant
Anyways try different things, try to stand out, run 2 different ads for the same vacancy.
Just never, never stray into the forbidden territory of.... FONT ABUSE!
Jim I feel your pain - do I ever!
And to your point I get what you say, my mind works like no one else's so I want different things, I think Don only wants us to engage in the process. My only take away from this is to the post following yours - the potential tenant is looking at many many ads, hence the obvious (stupid) question. Anybody with tact will simply say, "sorry but I just need to confirm the rent and # of beds, I've viewed many today" As we know, tact is hardly a prerequisite for being a tenant
Anyways try different things, try to stand out, run 2 different ads for the same vacancy.
Just never, never stray into the forbidden territory of.... FONT ABUSE!