I might have said, “Dear Editor,” because you know, sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s in charge around here. Then again, maybe what I meant to say is “Dear Marketer.” If it looks like I’m grabbing a little bit, well, no I haven’t been on a long vacation.
This is a column that is surprisingly long over due. But frankly, I really felt these issues would finally take care of themselves. They haven’t. So, I’m leaving the politics of Donald J Trump and his hardliner cabinet – what more can be said until they begin wreaking their havoc – to visit my old friend the Internet. Hence, the “Damn Twitter” part of the headline providing the written segway for what you may already see as obvious. That is, in the sidebar at right, is my tirade of instantaneous Tweets that have a tendency to sublimate my inner journalist prior to actually writing a real, long form column.
Still, I must give credit to my Tweeter presentations. However debasing they may seem, they actually do provide the kind of raw feedback that has frequently gotten the Donald in trouble. And how bad is that after all, if you end up getting to be president of the United States? So, the Tweeters will remain at least for the time being, and you should indeed come to visit TOCC TV for that reason alone.
The rest of this column is also about responsiveness on the Internet. I’ve mentioned that I didn’t even start using the WordPress content management system until a few short years ago, long after essentially no one in their right mind was still building html pages from scratch – as I was. Which is to say, I played a catch up game with some of my Internet “counterparts,” what ever happens to be their niche on the web. Believe it or not, I look up all kinds of things on the Internet, small engines maintenance, vegetable gardening, tree planting, clothing, food, equipment, and of course html, php, styles, widgets, plug-ins, and the like for my website. So, I know a little bit about what some of those guys are, or are not doing, as the case may be.
So get this. If your site still isn’t mobile friendly – GET OFF THE WEB !!! I know, you’re resisting because you don’t believe mobile is effective. Well, let me tell you about responsive mobile design. It’s easier than you think, and once you do it, you will likely be surprised to find out you can still display virtually all the content you thought was already too much for a full sized page. Just go get a new theme, or learn about percentages, and DO IT! No, this isn’t a tutorial. It’s closer to satire, which is also to say, I’m not faking it at all. There’s just not an excuse, and if you’re website presentation isn’t mobile you look like – toothless pond sucking scum – or using today’s quotable quote something thereabouts. (Go find it, I’m not giving a tutorial on that either.)
The other thing, that I have never understood since the beginning of the Internet, is the poor quality, over-focused and lack of well designed advertising by mainstream sites. Yes, I even mean USA Today and the New York Times. USAT has finally started getting their act together, although I understand part of the problem is the advertisers themselves. The local, non-existent rag, Al.com, is still in outer-space somewhere – they do not get it.
Hello. Advertising on the Internet does not need to be, and should not be, a banner when it lands on my mobile view. If you, or your advertiser doesn’t know how to use a responsive percentage, you really need to hire someone who knows what they are doing. Fit the screen dumbass. Further, my 320 x 240 aspect ratio is perfectly capable of inspiring me to go to the refrigerator for a cold one, i.e. soft-drink or beer. And a really good Taco Bell ad might just incite my exit from my executive chair for a trip to burrito hell. And guess what, not one of those very effective ads, if they even existed, would get a “click-thru.” And by the way THE most expensive ads known to mankind are during the Super Bowl, and they don’t even have “click-thru” capability. Don’t ‘cha think?
TO HELL WITH CLICK-THRU !!!
I know. It’s been a long and difficult transition, sometimes painful, for many media outlets. But, if you haven’t arrived just yet, non-existent rag, you aren’t going to. If the advertisers and marketers are holding back, spending their money on the Sunday morning circular to help prop up the slow pokes – it’s over, give it up.
I actually had a refreshing feeling when I saw a perfectly designed Tide coupon for a free sample on USAT last week. (It didn’t have to be a free sample, though, and when it got to DOB, it wasn’t.) And then I realized, how am I supposed to know when Best Buy has a 15gb micro sd on sale for $2.99 if I don’t see it while reading the news? Yeah, yea, I know. Coupon hounds and bargain hunters are way ahead and they already have comparison apps and blah, blah, blah, ad naseum. I ain’t down with all that. Just give me a simple ad every once and awhile, and you might be surprised how much revenue and profit you could actually have been getting from your mobile presentation a long, long time ago.
ONE MORE TIME – TO HELL WITH CLICK-THRU !!!
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© 2016 – Jim Casey
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