It’s not failure that companies need to avoid, but rather “failing expensively”.

Hulu Now The Number Three U.S. Web Video Site. Soon To Be Number Two.:

To be clear, the new March U.S. numbers released by comScore show that Hulu is still slightly behind Yahoo’s video properties when it comes to unique viewers. But the NBC and Fox-backed Hulu should pass it any day now in that category as well. Meanwhile, the number two player, Fox Interactive Media (which runs MySpace), is slipping just as quickly as Hulu is rising in videos viewed. It could well be as soon as this month when Hulu moves into the number two web video position.

Noteworthy: Youtube has over 40% of the market, while the closest competitor has 3%

When you think about growing your blog, whether it is a personal, professional or company blog, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Chances are it is something related to traffic or subscribers. Getting more traffic or subscribers is never a bad thing, but if you really want more sustainable traffic you first have to understand the people coming to your blog. If you can’t make them happy, how can you expect your traffic to grow?

Stop Assuming!

You have a vision of how you see your blog and where you want it to go. The reality is that your vision may not match up with what you”

(Via TechCrunch.)

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

The Most Easily Referred Companies are Naturally Social

One benefit that may not get accurately measured in the world of social media is that companies that are very social are easier to refer.

I’ve theorized in the past posts that companies that combine the highly wired tactics involved in social networking platforms with the highly engaged tactics of traditional networking seem be the ones that just naturally generate more referrals.

(Via Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing.)

A new study in the April 2009 issue of Journal of Consumer Research reveals that our purchasing decisions are susceptible to the influence of external descriptions. When we shop, we may spend too much when we base our decisions on product specifications.

The researchers found that ‘even when consumers can directly experience the relevant products, and the specifications carry little or no new information, their preference is still influenced by specifications’. In other words, even when we can compare products first-hand, we don’t trust our own judgment. We let specifications influence our decisions.

First-hand experience
I’ve experienced this first-hand many times. I might, for example, be shopping for a new blender and find a model that I really like. It does what I need and is easy to use. It matches our kitchen and the price is right. But then I’ll notice that it only has 6 speeds and other models have 8 speeds. Suddenly I’ll second-guess myself and end up buying a different blender — one that I ultimately find less satisfying.

(Via Get Rich Slowly.)

(Via Signal vs. Noise.)

(Via Slashdot.)

Everybody’s a scanner

It’s one thing if you’re writing a blog with a devoted following. But a corporate, nonprofit or e-commerce website doesn’t come with a readymade group of friends. If users can’t immediately find what they’re looking for, they move on.

Web users tend to scan information rather than reading it closely. One reason is physiological. Research—by Nielsen, Stanford University/The Poynter Institute and others—has shown that reading pixels on a screen makes eyes work harder than reading ink on paper.

Another impetus for scanning, I believe, is the web’s seemingly limitless content. It’s like being unable to enjoy yourself at a party because you might be having a better time at someone else’s house. Add the growing mania for speed (“This #%&* site is taking 20 seconds to load!”), and it’s clear that web writing has to pick up the pace.

Subheads built for speed

To make copy easier to scan, I break it up with multiple subheads. They act as visual skipping stones—an eye-friendly break from blocks of copy.

Ideally, the subheads can also convey the main points of the story all by themselves, so they can’t be too cute. And they must speak to the general reader, with no insider terminology that would cut the conversation short.

The em-dash is my friend

That little horizontal line is probably the most useful form of punctuation on the web. Commas, semicolons and colons don’t do a good job of visually breaking up information, and they’re hard to see on the screen. Parentheses have to be used carefully, because the words they enclose are understood to be less important than the rest of the sentence…

via AIGA | the professional association for design