Jerry Bader asked:


Why Web-Users Are So Impatient

While watching a Toronto Raptor basketball game I saw T.J. Ford, one of the fastest players in the league, rush down the court like a man possessed and proceed to throw the ball behind his back to a trailing Andrea Bargnani. The trouble was the ball sailed over the head of the seven-foot Bargnani into the second row of seats. Ford, himself, ended up with a beer and popcorn ****** after landing in the lap of a front row patron. So what does this have to do with website design and marketing you ask? A lot.

As talented as Ford is a basketball player he sometimes plays out-of-control, and his major asset, his speed, becomes a liability. When this happens in a basketball game the answer is to slow the game down and get back in control.

Don' Speed-It-Up; Slow-It-Down

Website visitors are like the speedy T.J. Ford; they are so intent on getting what they want as quickly and efficiently as possible, that they often surf the Internet out-of-control.

How many times have you sat in front of the computer with your hand resting on your mouse searching for some desired product, service, or information, when all of sudden you find what looks like what you want, but before you even have a chance to discover exactly what it is, your hair-trigger finger decides it's time to move-on. It's like your finger has a mind of it's own.

Speed Kills Marketing Efforts

All the talk and discussion about short attention spans caused by people raised on video games and quick-cut-edited music videos is very misleading.

What website visitors won't tolerate are websites that waste their time, and many websites are guilty of exactly that. Contrary to popular belief, the job of a website designer, who understand marketing, is not to speed up website visitors, but to slow them down so they can absorb the marketing message.

If you want your audience to remember you, if you want to make an impression, if you want website visitors to understand why they should give you their business, then you have to slow them down long enough to absorb your message. And that message better be worth their while or they will never come back.

It isn't about how fast a page loads; it's about delivering an appropriate payoff for the wait.

Now I will admit there people who absolutely, positively will not wait more than eight seconds for anything to load. You know who you are. And I say, the hell with them. These are the same people who won't wait their turn in a brick and mortar store either, they demand to be served before everyone else - it's just not possible to satisfy these people, so why design your entire website marketing around them. They are never going to hang around long enough to grasp your message and learn why they should be giving you their business, so forget about them.

The people you should be worrying about are the ones that really want to find out more about what it is you do, and are prepared to invest a little time and effort to give you a chance to explain yourself. These are the important people; this is your real audience, and you disappoint them at your financial peril.

The Reasons Why Web-users Are Impatient

The real reason website users are so damn impatient is not that they have such short attention spans, it's because most websites are designed to meet perceived company objectives, rather than audience needs.

How To Drive Traffic Away From Your Website

Let's take a look at some of the reasons why your website visitors may be leaving your website before they've had a chance to hear what you have to say; or to put it another way, if you want to drive traffic AWAY faster than you attract it, here are some of the things you should do.

1.Give Web-visitors Too Many Options and Choices

Social scientist and Swarthmore College professor, Barry Schwartz, has coined the phrase, "the paradox of choice." His studies have concluded the more choice you give people, the less likely they are to make a decision. Some choice is good, but too much choice creates confusion: it's a case of diminishing marginal utility.

A well designed website explains, directs, guides, and focuses visitor attention on the things that are of real benefit to your visitors and to your company.

Every business provides a variety of products, services, and information to their customers, but these things are not all of equal importance. Your website is a place to focus attention on your core marketing message, not a place to provide a shopping list of everything you are able to do and every product or service you may be able to offer.

2. Give Web-visitors Too Much Information To Process

Architect, author, and information designer, Richard Saul Wurman, in his book, 'Information Anxiety' talks about, "the ever-widening gap between what we understand and what we think we should understand."

Good website design is about more than technology and aesthetics; it's about deciding what information needs to be presented and what information needs to be left out. If you are truly an expert in your field, you should know what information is important to your customers in order for them to make a decision. Too much information is like too much choice, it confuses rather clarifies. Focus on delivering meaningful content or risk having your visitors hit the exit button.

3. Give Web-visitors Too Much Non-relevant Content

The only thing worse than overloading your website with more information than visitors can absorb is confusing them with useless and non-relevant content.

Non-relevant content is content that doesn't advance your major purpose: to deliver your marketing message in an informative, engaging, entertaining, and memorable manner. If it isn't relevant, dump it.

4. Give Web-visitors Too Many Irritating Distractions

Websites should be designed to direct visitors to the information they want and that information should be the content you want to delivery.

You cannot sell someone a product or service they do not want. A real prospect is one that needs the same information you want to provide; the art of sales is directing potential clients to relevant information, and presenting it in a way that visitors see your product or service as fulfilling their needs.

On the surface, third-party advertisements and banners may seem like a good way to make some extra cash from your traffic, but these ads become so distracting, visitors either get feed-up or click on one of the links that takes them away from your site. Whatever few bucks you earn from these ads, you are loosing by chasing real customers away; this of course assumes you are a real business with something legitimate to sell and not a website that's an excuse to deliver advertisements.

Other nonsense like favorite links and silly fluff-content merely distracts visitors from investigating your site to find what they are looking for.

5. Give Web-visitors Too Many Red Flags

Website visitors are constantly looking for red flags that tell them that the site they are visiting should be skipped as soon as possible.

If you want to make sure visitors won't deal with you make sure you don't provide any contact information: no contact names, no phone numbers, and no mailing address is a sure sign that you won't look after any problems that arise from a website transaction.

Your website must be designed to build trust and foster a relationship, not scare people away.

6. Give Web-visitors Too Many Decisions To Make

How many decisions do you demand from your visitors in order for them to do business with you?

Take for example the seemingly simple task of purchasing a new television. Do you purchase the inexpensive but old tube technology, the newer Plasma technology, or the LCD technology? How about all the various features to choose from like picture-in-picture, commercial skip-timers, and on and on? All you really want to do is relax with your spouse and enjoy a good movie - is that on a VSH, DVD, Blu-ray, or HD-DVD?

7. Give Web-visitors Too Many Stumbling Blocks

Do you make people go through the order processing system before they can find out how much something costs, or do you demand potential customers read a ridiculous amount of small print legalese that only a lawyer could understand?

If you want to drive traffic away from your site make sure you build in as many stumbling blocks as possible.

8. Give Web-visitors Too Many Forms TO Fill-in

Do you attract your visitors with special offers or free white papers and then demand that they fill-out complex forms, surveys, and questionnaires before you give them access to what they came for? If you do, you are probably losing a lot of people you attracted, and you are guaranteeing that your next email promotion will end up in the trash.

9. Give Web-visitors Incomprehensible Page Layouts

Good design, proper page layout, consistent navigation, and well organized information architecture that promotes serendipity, helps visitors find what they're looking for and provides a pleasant, efficient and rewarding experience for the website visitor.

Website designs that rely on technology, databases, and search engine optimization rather than focused content, coherent organization, articulate presentation, and a memorable, rewarding experience are designs designed to chase traffic away.

10. Give Web-visitors Too Many Confusing Instructions

One of the most frustrating experiences website visitors encounter is confusing instructions and incoherent explanations of how your product or service works or how to order what you are selling.

11. Give Web-visitors Too Many Reason To Click-out

If you really are determined to fail, make sure you provide website visitors with as many reasons as possible to leave your site: irrelevant links to your favorite sites, links to your suppliers because you're too cheap to put their information on your own site, or any combination of the reasons mentioned above, all contribute to driving traffic away from your site.

David Jones asked:


The NPD Group provided a reminder this week that market growth is not guaranteed. The gaming industry in the US ended the year (2007) with record retail sales of nearly $18 billion.

This week The NPD Group the industry-research firm released US retail sales data for the January 2008 period. While software sales for the month were up 11 percent to nearly $611 million, hardware sales fell by a quarter to around $378 million. Combine that with a modest decline in accessory sales, the industry overall was down 6 percent for the month, posting $1.18 billion compared to January 2007's $1.25 billion take.

Despite this, the month contained indications that the industry actually grew. That was because the January 2007 reporting period was five weeks long as opposed to this January's four-week span. Analyst Anita Frazier said that the numbers are much rosier when this adjustment was taken into account.

The big winner in the gaming market was console software which was nearly 50 percent up when compared to last year.

Hardware sales were down and a lot of this was to do with poor supply that assertion was backed up by a statement from Microsoft saying the Xbox 360 was suffering from temporary shortages.

Nintendo's longtime lead on its competitors was also slimmed. The Wii once again took the console sales crown, by a narrower margin than in previous months. In a month that saw significant advances for the PlayStation 3's chosen Blu-ray disc format, Sony's system ran nearly neck-and-neck with the Wii, selling 269,000 systems compared to the Nintendo’s 275,000. 3rd placed Nintendo DS racked up 251,000 sales, while the Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable brought up the rear, selling 230,000 units each.

Familiar faces dominated the software list, with Modern Warfare and Call of Duty 4 for the Xbox 360 once again beating all challengers, notching up 331,000 in sales. Another favourite Guitar Hero on the Wii and Xbox 360 took third and fifth respectively, Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii was sixth and the DS edition of Mario Party in ninth.

THIS IS THE NPD GROUP's DATA FOR US GAME INDUSTRY SALES FOR JANUARY 2008

Category Total Change

Video Games: $1.18 billion -6%

Video Game Accessories: $191 million -4%

Video Games Software: $550 million +11%

Video Games Hardware: $378 million -25%

Total Sales Per Week: $295 million +18%

Hardware Sales (units sold)

Wii: 274,000

PlayStation 3: 269,000

Nintendo DS: 251,000

PlayStation Portable: 230,000

Xbox 360: 230,000

Game Software Top 10 (units sold)

1) Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat (360, Activision) - 331,000

2) Wii Play with Wii Remote (Wii, Nintendo) - 298,000

3) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii, Activision) - 240,000

4) Rock Band (Xbox 360, MTV Games) - 184,000

5) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, Activision) - 183,000

6) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo) - 172,000

7) Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360, EA) - 144,000

Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat (PS3, Activision) - 140,000

9) Mario Party DS (DS, Nintendo) - 139,000

10) Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS, Sega) - 133,000

A statement from Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is confident the company's revenue will jump to around $6 billion by the fiscal year 2011, with at least $900 million from digital revenue streams like downloadable content, in-game advertising and subscription fees. That would represent a growth of 71 percent over its 2008 fiscal year revenue forcast, which it expected to hit roughly $3.5 billion.

Other new announcements made by EA yesterday included a release date of September 7 for Spore (and possible PS3 and Xbox 360 versions).

David Jones asked:


According to data from Media-Control GfK International for sales week ending March 2. The PC title The Sims 2:

FreeTime went straight to the number one in the German chart, with Pro Evolution Soccer

for the PlayStation Portable going straight to the top of the Spanish charts.

These new entries broke Nintendo's dominance of these European charts which usually see's various DS or Wii games

titles taking the top slots.

The full charts are listed below:

Spain

1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PSP)

2. Wii Play (Wii)

3. Lost Odyssey (360)

4. More Brain Training (DS)

5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (DS)

6. The Sims 2: FreeTime (PC)

7. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (Wii)

8. Brain Training (DS)

9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)

10. FIFA 08 (PS2)

Germany

1. The Sims 2: FreeTime (PC)

2. Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (DS)

3. Brain Training (DS)

4. Frontlines: Fuel of War (PC)

5. More Brain Training (DS)

6. Maths Training (DS)

7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC)

8. New Super Mario Bros (DS)

9. Wii Play (Wii)

10. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)

"NINTENDO US To Repair WII Consoles"

Nintendo US said it would repair all Wii consoles struggling to play the highly-anticipated first-party title

Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Some users said they were getting disc read errors with the game, which Nintendo blames on the lens inside the Wii

console. North American consumers can send their consoles to Nintendo for repair free of charge, as the problem lies

with the hardware, not the software.

Nintendo has moved swiftly with a North American repair form, explaining that the double-layer disc can only

be read by a squeaky-clean disc drive lens. They implore you not to try to clean said lens on your own, and to

send in your console to Nintendo HQ for a thorough cleaning. We're sure they'll get your newly

spruced up console back to you as fast as they can..

SUPER SMASH Bros BRAWL (Game Review)

"Super Smash Bros Brawl utilises a double-layer disc which has a large memory capacity. A very small percentage

of Wii consoles may have trouble consistently reading data off this large capacity disc if there is some

contamination on the lens of the drive," said the company.

The game sold over one million units in the first 11 days in Japan, and has rcently gone on sale in the US.

In multiplayer games, characters from all Nintendo universes meet up in Nintendo locales to duke it out.

In the solo mode called "The Subspace Emissary," the world of Smash Bros. is invaded by an entity called the

Ancient Minister and his army of creatures, called "The Primid." Normally, characters come alive in the world

of Smash Bros. to do battle, then turn back into trophies when defeated. However, the Ancient Minister starts

turning characters into trophies to harness their power, then detonates bombs that **** pieces of the world back

into his realm of Subspace. Eventually, all the characters must work together to defeat the invading creatures

from Subspace - this is accomplished by playing through side-scrolling levels.

Nintendo have big hopes for this game, so lets see what happens over the coming months.

Warner Brothers has just released screens for its new movie tie-in Speed Racer.

The game which is to be released on the PS2, DS and the wii, and is based on the shortly to be released movie by The Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix Trilogy), its release is set for May 16th in the UK. Some of the tracks dont have side barriers, prompting me to speculate how the game reacts when cars smash into the sides. Will there be an invisible barrier, will the car rocket off the edge, wil it explode into a million bits when it hits the ground? Speed Racer should be out some time over the summer

Nintendo has moved swiftly with a North American repair form, explaining that the double-layer disc can only

be read by a squeaky-clean disc drive lens. They implore you not to try to clean said lens on your own, and to

send in your console to Nintendo HQ for a thorough purging. We're sure they'll get your newly

spruced console back to you in a timely manner.

Daniel Millions asked:

If you're one of thousands of people who's blood starts pumping, and veins get to jumping, just by the mere mention of being able to play free arcade games, then you have countless hours of shear fun in store for you. You will be able to find a ton of exciting and fun filled games in the dazzling world of high-tech communication, more commonly known as the fast paced world of the Internet Highway. Finding any type or style of arcade game you can possibly dream of, is right at your fingertips and waiting for you to conquer!

Gone are the days of having to take the time to get dressed, drive down to an arcade game room, then pour quarter after quarter into the old style arcade games. Thanks to modern technology the door has finally opened and a whole new world of free Internet arcade games have slammed right on through.

Did that cute little squatty guy named Mario sneak into your mind and you can't get him out? No worries my friend! You will be able to find more games with that crazy Mario than you'll know what to do with. What about Tetris, Sonic, the classic PacMan, or how about that old classic everyone always raved about, Defender? These are just a couple of the popular and thrilling free Internet arcade games that you will be able to play for free on the web.

You can play all by your lonesome, or you can challenge one of your best buddies to go head to head, in an all-out war of games. Either way you choose, it's totally up to you. There will be countless hour after hour of good ole blood pumping, vein jumping fun in the huge selection of games that are available for free play.

What if you are in dire need of some help with a specific game? Have no fear! You will be happy to know that you can also find any and all of the help you could possibly be hoping to find. You might just be able to find some extra help that you weren't even counting on finding. What could be better than that? You can be a long time guru of the old classic arcade games, or you can be one of many amateurs who are just now beginning to learn the tricks of the trade in playing some of the favorite games available, there's a game just for you.

If having a good time, hanging out, and playing games is something that appeals to you, then it's high time you check out all of the new games that are available, right along with all of the exciting oldies. It just could not get much better than this. So, pull up a chair, sit back, relax, and get ready to have a fantastic time. You will have the time of your life as you search through site after site, game after game, tip after tip, and all in the privacy of your own home.

If you happen to like word games, puzzles, role-playing games, or many others, you will also be able to find these types of games. If it is in game form, then chances are you will be able to find it.

Daniel Millions asked:

There is more action, a ton more thrills, and a whole lot more all around fun than is imaginable, in the vast world of free online arcade games that is available to game players of today.

Constant thrilling fun for many hours to come is exactly what you will be able to find among the hundreds of websites that are available for the serious and the beginner game players alike. The best part is each one of these game sites all offer their players the best in games to play for free.

Many of the long time loved classic games such as Mario, Sonic the Hedge-Hog, Defender, PacMan, Tetris, and many others, are always a big hit among the young and the young at heart. Many of these classics can still be found today on a large number of the exciting and fun filled sites that know exactly what an all around good time in game playing is all about. You will also be able to find a large variety of free game sites that offer the new games that are now available to their players on a daily basis.

These sites feature some of the most popular and most sought after names in game titles for you to choose from. You don't have to worry about getting tired of playing the same old games that become drab after you have played them day in and day out, and even won them time and time again. Now you are offered a whole new world in free Internet arcade games, where game playing never has a chance to become a bore.

Along with being able to find any type or style of game you could possibly be hoping to find, you will also be able to find many of the most common help topics that game players are always in need of finding. One of the best features, is you will be able to easily find other game players like yourself, where you can go head to head against someone that shares the same caliber as you do. You can't go wrong with the hundreds of tips and tricks you will be able to find that will help in building your game playing skills, and so much more.

The only problem you will run into now, is that your family will begin to have a real hard time in being able to drag you away from all of the fun you are having. Not to mention all of the action packed and thrilling games you will want to be playing 24 (twenty-four) hours a day. As you are comfortably sitting in your easy chair, and you are trying to decide which game you would like to play next, don't forget to stop long enough to fuel up on some energy!

Game playing has never been so much fun. You will enjoy having the ability to browse through a large and varied assortment of all types of thrilling games. What makes it even better, is the fact that each game has a feature where it will explain just a little information on what that particular game is about. This wonderful feature helps in giving you a quick hint on being able to find the games that appeal to your particular taste and style.