Is the PC Dying?

Posted on August 26, 2011 | 1 Comment

For years, people have speculated that Personal Computers will eventually die out and be replaced by simple, cheap “interface devides” that will allow you to log onto the Internet (where all your software and data resides).  That’s what Google is coming out with soon (a simple appliance to sign onto the Internet with almost no hard drive, no actual storage space and no programs to upload or update).

For some, HP’s sudden decision to stop making PCs and write-off the billions they paid to purchase Compaq and later Palm (to power their now dead tablets) signals the beginning of the end for PCs as we know them.  This article from BNET further explores that topic.

By Erik Sherman, BNET.

Does HP’s (HPQ) recent move to spin off its PC business underscore the end of the PC era? Not if you ask Microsoft (MSFT), or at least its vice president of corporate communications Frank Shaw. To Redmond, the PC is the hub of technical existence, with e-readers, tablets, set top boxes, and smartphones anything but PC-killers. Instead, Shaw argues on his corporate blog, PCs do a lot more and will remain vital and necessary in the future.

In one sense, he’s right. The PC isn’t going away completely, because there are important things it can do more easily than the other devices. But a PC-centric world? Oh, no, sorry, those days are done. Furthermore, if you look at Microsoft’s strategy, management already knows it. The company just doesn’t want to let on, because it would spook investors — and tank stock prices.

PCs will never die and cars are a fad

Shaw’s argument that we’re in a “PC plus” age came down to two basic points:

  1. There are a set of important things that PCs do uniquely well, and they aren’t going away.
  2. PCs are rapidly and dramatically getting better at doing the things those companions do.

He’s right on number 1 — for now — and irrelevant on 2. When it comes to creating material, the PC still rules because it has a bigger screen, which means more working real estate, and greater horsepower to do what you want. That said, at least one artist for the New Yorker has created a number of covers on an iPhone. No, not an iPad … an iPhone. You can also shoot images and video from small handheld devices and even do some basic editing.

A growing number of people can do what they need with mobile devices that are becoming better at what PCs do. Are PCs getting better at what the other devices do? Of course, because the basic capabilities of software improve. But are PCs getting much lighter and faster? Nowhere near enough for people to tote them around they way they might a smartphone, e-reader, or tablet.

Look at us!

Shaw took the official Microsoft corporate line that the PC is the center of the known universe. Only, that’s got things backwards. The product isn’t the center; the customer is. Microsoft has assumed that the PC and the consumer are the same, and that what’s good for the PC — which means what’s good for Windows and Office — is good for the consumer.

Utter nonsense, of course, because a business can’t win in the long run if it expects customers to play second fiddle. That’s why smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and the like are gaining success, because they are doing what people want and not expecting customers to do what the vendors want.

But then, Microsoft already knows that it’s in a post-PC-centric time. That’s why the company created the Xbox and keeps pushing the services available through it. The console is Microsoft admitting that its vision of home entertainment centered around a traditional PC wasn’t going to work. If PCs were really that important to everyone, why bother pushing so hard on the smartphone front? After all, the client business wouldn’t go away.

Investors don’t heart tech

But Microsoft is pushing on all other boundaries because it knows the PC center will not hold. From the company’s perspective mere anarchy is loosed upon the industry, and it stands a strong chance of losing its relevance.

What makes it so devilish is that for Microsoft to lose, PCs don’t have to disappear. Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs was right in saying that PCs would be like trucks: large, powerful, necessary for commerce, and not what most people need to drive the majority of the time.

That doesn’t mean extinct. But in the tech world, if you make trucks and not cars, you don’t get to help form what consumers will use, and so you also lose influence over what businesses do with their systems and how they make them work for customers.

However, many investors have undervalued technology companies and Microsoft has been high up on the list. Management knows how Wall Street could suddenly get buggy should anyone in Redmond admit that the PC has seen its heyday. Look at the 20 percent drop that HP (HPQ) stock took after the company announced last week that it looks to get out of the client PC business.

Why else would Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer claim that an iPad was just a “different form factor of PC?” Microsoft practically trips over its own corporate tongue to avoid admitting that the emperor has no clothes. And yet, it also tries, at the same time, to gain dominance in these new areas.

No wonder the company has such troubles, because it’s living in a land of cognitive dissonance. Maybe that explains part of its internal reluctance to push technologies that might challenge the dominance of the company’s historic juggernauts.

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A Simple Guide to Ad Exchanges

Posted on August 22, 2011 | 2 Comments

Courtesy of iMediaConnection

More and more online display inventory is being purchased via ad exchanges than ever before. On these platforms, advertisers utilize technology to bid on each and every ad impression in a real-time marketplace based on the value they put on the viewer. For example, retargeting has become a popular tactic as advertisers are able to tag (and then buy ads exposed to) users who have already shown interest in them by visiting their site. This technique has proven to be very effective, with higher than normal click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and other key performance indicators (KPIs).

Currently, more than 400 billion global monthly impressions are up for bid to online marketers — that translates to about 150,000 ads each second during high internet traffic times!

Tap into new digital knowledge. Want to stay on top of the latest developments in using ad exchanges? Attend ad:tech San Francisco, April 11-13. Learn more.

Since the first banner ad was sold more than a decade and a half ago, it’s no big surprise that publishers have aggressively sought ways to increase revenue by optimizing their ad inventory. Because so much of online inventory goes unsold or dropped into remnant channels for a micro-fraction of what can be made from presold, premium inventory, ad exchanges were an organic evolution in the ecosystem. A successful model was already in place with paid search where advertisers bid in a real-time, auction environment for ad impressions. As with paid search, exchange ad inventory is optimized by capitalist equilibrium — some inventory is worth pennies, some is worth tens of dollars. Either way, ad price is determined by what the market is willing to pay.

Because most of the transaction is automated by technology, exchanges are very efficient for publishers to monetize previously unsold inventory without the need for robust sales teams, as well as for advertisers to buy direct inventory without middle men (such as ad networks) inflating costs. This has led some industry experts to predict that the market share of exchange vs. traditional online display buying methods will grow quickly in the next several years. In fact, this may have set off a revolution in which we will see more and more inventory moved to digital channels — it might not be all available in real-time, but the efficiencies of this model cannot be denied. It’s very possible that one day that any inventory that can be sold this way, will be sold this way… not just online, but TV, print, radio, etc.

The debates of the value of audience vs. context, technology vs. manual expertise, commoditization of inventory and its effect on our industry, etc., are already taking place in board rooms, industry conferences, and the blogosphere. As exciting as the new opportunity might be, there is resistance from the owners of the status quo, who will find their importance and market share drastically reduced by this evolution. As well, there is concern about the quality of this inventory and, as is always the case when targeting individual users, there will be privacy issues to take into account.

Regardless of the positive and negative context surrounding ad exchange buying, there still exists some mystery into how the technology actually works. Below is a top-level overview on how a publisher impression gets passed through the exchange value chain and ultimately gets served as an ad to the end user.

Note: This entire process happens in less than one-third of a second.

The publisher
An online user makes it to a publisher’s site via a link or direct URL typed into a browser. The page loads and swoosh…

The publisher ad server
…the site’s ad server recognizes that an ad box is on the page that needs to be filled. Publishers have a variety of choices on where to buy inventory. They can have in-house sales teams that work to presell their best (premium) inventory, ad networks that agree to help sell the inventory (either on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis), and, of course, ad exchanges, where advertisers can bid, in real time, for the impression.

So the first-party ad server may put the ad impression up for bid on the exchanges directly or through…

The publisher’s tools
…which can enable them to let the impression be handled by yield optimizers (such as Rubicon, Admeld, and PubMatic) that can help them maximize their site revenue. They can consult with optimization service teams to help set pricing, decide what kind of ad units should go on specific pages, make deals with ad networks and exchanges, etc. As well, these partners can offer propriety technology to facilitate and optimize ad sales.

If the publisher tool decides at this time that the best value for the impression is on an exchange, it will send the impression there.

The exchanges
Currently, there are only a handful of “major” ad exchanges:
•AdBrite
•AdECN (Microsoft)
•ContextWeb
•DoubleClick Ad Exchange (Google)
•Right Media (Yahoo… currently testing real-time bidding)

These media entities have direct deals with publishers, networks, or publisher tools to sell inventory on their open platforms. On its DoubleClick Ad Exchange, for example, Google has migrated inventory from its very successful AdSense program, which enables it to sell advertising this way on literally billions of web pages. Exchanges negotiate rates with the media providers and get paid to simply handle the transaction.

Advertisers and their agencies can elect to “get a seat” on these exchanges in order to be involved in the bidding marketplace. Exchanges have self-service, back-end platforms that media buyers can log into, set up and manage campaigns, and run analytics reports to analyze and then optimize their accounts without ever talking to a sales person.

However, many advertisers elect to not work with exchanges directly, and opt to use a demand-side platform (DSP) as their trading desk of choice.

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WiFi Thru Your Lightbulb?

Posted on August 5, 2011 | Comments Off

Couldn’t help but post this promising new technology demo for delivering Internet content thru the new LED light bulbs that can be placed in all the lamps and sockets in your home or office. Exciting stuff! Shows you the new frontiers and possibiltiies we still have to explore.

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10 Tips for Facebook and Twitter Success

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Comments Off

Courtesy of Julie Glassman and IMediaConnection.

There’s no denying the importance of social media. You get it. Your team gets it. The question is, do your customers care to get it, or are they tired of being asked to “like” everyone and everything they meet? The big problem nowadays, with endless tweets, friends, pages, profiles, and tags — is how to engage desired audiences in such a way that your brand is perceived as relevant.

In a world defined largely by social media — from business reviews to cultural revolutions — you cannot simply be where your customers are for the sake of being there. You must be there for a reason, and that reason must not be entirely, if at all, self-serving. Social interactions with customers must be authentic and transparent, and must also offer something real in exchange for eyeballs, consideration, and loyalty. Every “like” must be viewed as currency, and audiences must be rewarded for their willingness to accept you with something they deem valuable.

What steps must you take to be perceived as genuine? It’s simple really… You actually need to be genuine. Forgotten how? Here are 10 simple things to keep in mind.

The old, new truism: Know your audience. But for real this time.
Ever thought about your customers in a way that has nothing to do with your business? Ever wonder who they are when they are not buying your products or services? Do you know what matters to them intrinsically, from saving whales to raising children? If not, it’s high time you found out. Connecting is not simply about getting on Facebook or Twitter, but interacting with your customers, in authentic ways that resonate with them — deeply. How? In a move that may seem antithetical to traditional marketing wisdom, when it comes to social media, it’s better to be reactive than proactive. Instead of planning your next big social media stunt, spend some quiet time observing your customers’ social behavior online. Kick back, hang out, listen, learn — and then interact. The simple act of getting to know your audience means knowing what works for them… and, more importantly, what doesn’t. This will likely save you much time, money, and embarrassment in the future.

Choose your friends wisely
You’re only as good as the company you keep, so choose wisely. With all the groups and influencers available to you via social media, make sure to align yourself with those befitting of “who” you are and how you want to be perceived. Befriend appropriate influencers and communities, in real and meaningful ways, and their followers will ultimately extend their trust to your brand. In social media, not all press is good press. What matters most today is not just word-of-mouth, but the right words out of the right mouths.

Look at yourself through rose-colored glasses
So what if you sell shoes. You can also sell something far more important. Emotion. Ever wonder how Zappos created such a loyal following? By thinking about employees and customers with heart. In other words, Zappos deems itself not a retailer, but a customer service organization that, oh, by the way, sells stuff. How does this translate to social media? Zappos, a living, breathing, feeling organization, engages customers via prolific, company-wide Twitter use, providing a transparent, unedited glimpse, at the caring, fun, emotive employees (CEO included), behind the curtain. They also actively solicit customer feedback, via Facebook, so that users always feel heard — and, better yet, listened to and understood. The rewards for keeping it real. Bet you’ve bought something from Zappos in recent months, if not weeks or days?

What can we learn from this? No matter the offering, the important element is to identify one or two things that matter most to desired audiences. Whether it’s emotion, social conscience, giving back, or something as simple as savings, get it out there, to the right people in authentic, fun, simple, and social ways.

In the words of Sally Field, “You like me.” Well, no… actually they don’t.
According to a March 2011 Forrester Research report on the “digital behavior of young consumers,” people simply do not want to be friends with brands. So how do you earn the trust and endorsement of customers? Give them a reason to like you. Forget about what you are selling and focus your time and energy on your winning personality and character instead. You know how the hot girl always ends up with the smart, funny guy? Well, social media typically takes off when it entertains, endears, and ingratiates. More often than not, connecting legitimately comes down to exposing your weaknesses, taking yourself less seriously, making someone laugh, and just palling around.

Think about it: Would you want to be friends with your corporate persona?

Ask not what your customers can do for you, but what you can do for your customers Social media is not just about acting sincere; it’s about being sincere. It’s not enough to simply say you care about something, but rather to demonstrate that you actually care. Identify what customers want or need from you and make it happen. Create opportunities for meaningful, two-way conversations. Solicit feedback, ask questions, get audiences involved in decision-making, or partner with someone or something that matters. Make sure, however, that your connections and queries are relevant and congruous to your existing brand, business, and practices and always, always follow through. If you ask what customers want or need, you must be prepared to change. Fake it and audiences will call BS on you faster than they can “unlike” you.

Conversely, just because customers say it’s so, doesn’t always mean they’re right. Use your head. You’re in charge for a reason. Consider audience feedback and needs in aggregate and through a seasoned marketing, sales and business lens. Just because one or two cyber bullies make a lot of noise doesn’t mean you can’t simply cover your ears. Case in point, Starbucks new logo is just fine people.

You care about me because I care
Brands need to stand up and take notice of things outside of themselves — with authenticity and humility. You can’t simply choose the cause of the day — “Hey look, we’re green” — but rather, pick something because it fits seamlessly with who you are and what you, and your audience, actually care about. Corporate social responsibility, awareness and action, must be congruent with the brand. Then, and only then, will it be perceived as real, engaging, inclusive, thoughtful, long-term and social.

When the going gets tough, go online
The web can be a dangerous place for brands these days. Ratings, reviews, rumors, pictures, video — consumers are more in control than ever before, and managing public opinion and perception can be next to impossible. That’s why being a legitimate, accepted participant in the online lives of key customers and influencers is mission critical. In other words, when things go wrong, you can turn to your “friends.” Social media puts you back in the driver’s seat, in real time, as you react (carefully) to the events, press, reviews, snafus, changes, and developments that affect consumer opinion and confidence. Haste, transparency, honesty, humility, and reverence can keep a potentially harmful story from going viral.

Change is good
Online, loyalty is not dependable. In fact, it means very little. What’s here today is most certainly gone tomorrow. Brands must keep their eyes on the ball, tracking trends, watching for audience fluctuations and never feeling too safe, too smug, or too comfortable. The truth is, you can never nail social media. One success can be followed by a major failure. The good news is that the web allows you to change anything and everything on the fly, and updates to your social media interactions and strategies needn’t be expensive nor ground breaking. Be careful not to be all over the map. Remember who you are and why audiences like you in the first place, and then focus on being relevant, fresh, inventive, and always one step ahead.

One cannot survive on social media alone
Don’t forget that real life matters. Social media does not exist in a vacuum and does not a successful company make. Everything you do online requires support; reinforcement and follow-through at other available customer touchpoints. Don’t expect users to know about, or understand, your social media initiatives without proper support elsewhere. The appropriate mix of promotional vehicles and campaigns is always a good idea. What’s more, even the best social networking cannot save you from a failed product, customer service interaction or business snafu. People will talk, so mind your Ps and Qs, socially and otherwise.

It’s social media, not brain surgery
In the end, perhaps we’re over-thinking things a bit. Do we plan this much before we go to a dinner party or a BBQ? Do we think about what we’re going to say when we meet a friend for coffee or a beer? Not really. So, what’s the most important lesson to be learned here? Get to know your audience, interact, engage, be real, and have fun doing so. It’s social media folks! Get the best version of yourself out there and simply be social.

Julie Glassman is the founder and partner of BRAND Consulting.

On Twitter? Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.

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10 Must Have Mobile Apps

Posted on June 13, 2011 | Comments Off

Courtesy of PRNewser

It’s been a little while since PRNewser updated our list of favorite mobile apps for PR professionals. At the rapid speed at which the mobile app industry evolves, much has changed since our last update, and yet several apps made the list this time around as well.

We’re skipping the consumer apps that many of us already use: Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, etc. This is a focus on some apps that frequently come in handy when in a bind.

1) Pulse – Pulse is a well-designed news aggregator app commonly compared to Flipboard, the wildly popular iPad app that has not yet made it the iPhone. It lets you add all of your top news sources and displays them in a visually appealing manner.

2) Instapaper – Save articles and content that you know you’ll want to read later. The app saves these articles in a clean format perfect for mobile reading.

3) Tripit – This one didn’t make it in last time, but makes it in this time after a recommendation from Jeremy Pepper. Aggregate all of your travel information in one place, including those must have confirmation numbers. Also, plan out all of your trips. Perfect for the PR pro on the go.

4) Open Table – The best app for booking restaurant reservations on the go. Because you don’t want to get stuck with your big client at a fast food joint.

5) Recorder – This one may be more popular for reporters, but PR pros should also have a recorder app handy when you really want record an interview, a chat with a colleague or client, etc.

6) WordPress – If you do a lot of work on WordPress, this is a must have. Beat others to the punch by having info on your company or client’s blog before anyone else. Or save images and content ideas when you’re on the go.

7) Analytics Agent – Google Analytics on the go. What else do you need to know?

Group texting (GroupMe, Beluga, etc.) – Very useful for teams on the go. We won’t get into making specific recommendations on any one app, but setting up a group texting app for different teams you often work with can speed up communications.

Repeats from last time (these are too good for us to leave out):

9) Evernote — “From creating text and ink notes, to snapshots of whiteboards and wine labels, to clips of webpages, Evernote users can capture anything from their real and digital lives and find it all anytime,” reads Evernote’s description. This is incredibly useful for capturing, researching and organizing content on the go.

10) Dropbox — Never email yourself or lose a file again. Dropbox is an “impressive file sharing service which makes it easy to sync your files across multiple computers and the web,” writes TechCrunch. Great for handling those PowerPoint presentations and other docs while on the road.

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3 Simple Steps to Increase Time on Your Website

Posted on June 7, 2011 | Comments Off

Courtesy of Website Magazine

Most online marketers and website owners tend to measure the success of their online business by the amount of traffic they are able to generate (and, of course, revenue).

While increasing the number of unique visitors is most definitely important (and something that everyone should be concerned with), it is arguably only half the battle. Unique visitors and visits alone should not be the only means by which you are measuring success.

It is easy to understand that there is little in the way of benefit from attracting a visitor to your website that quickly clicks the back button and leaves. Often, website owners and online marketers spend more time thinking about how to attract people to a site and less on how to encourage those visitors to spend considerably more time on your website. Take heed – there is a a direct correlation between the amount of time spent on a website and its success. So how can you increase time on site (and profits)? Follow these three simple strategies.

- Design Smarter (and Write Longer) -

Of all the different site types, it is the content marketers that either have the best or the worst time-on-site averages. While one suggestion might be to simply write longer-form content, another option would be to take the longer-form content you have or will develop in the future and commit to splitting it into multiple sections. This is a common approach that has been used on sites like About.com and many newspaper sites for years. For example, a 1,000 word article could be split into four sections of 250 words each. Some content management systems have this functionality built in, so explore that feature if available to you. Another benefit of splitting content is that it gives publishers the ability to generate more advertising impressions – a big draw particularly for those selling on a CPM basis.

- Create More Relevant Jump Points for Content Showcasing -

Would you rather feature content that is timely or timeless? There are arguments for and against both, but those publishers that concentrate on identifying areas where they can showcase their best information are those that often have the highest time-on-site averages. These jump points are areas where publishers can profile/push the most popular pages, the most heavily commented upon content items or most linked-to items. There are, of course, many places to do this, including at the end of articles/posts, within sidebars, and within the content itself. There is actually some SEO benefit to creating links to this type of content on your site as the number and relevance of links to internal pages is (arguably) an important factor in search engine ranking.

- Introduce Supplemental Formats: Multimedia & Applications -

Many content publishers, to their own detriment, opt to stay with the content format most familiar to them – whatever that may be. Consumers, however, often have very different demands when it comes to their consumption preferences – offering just one only gives you one chance for one type of visitor. Start introducing supplemental formats and you’ll be surprised about the positive effect it has on time on site. For example, if you’ve got a long-form article, why not fire up the webcam and produce a short-form video about that article’s key points or takeaways. If you publish a list of events, why not introduce a calendar application which is a terrific way to increase the number of clicks on your site as well.

When it comes to increasing time on site, remember the following: your website visitors are willing to be engaged with your site (and spend more time on it), but content publishers absolutely must commit to repurposing content into new design formats, providing jump points wherever necessary to expose them to content that should be showcased, and they should introduce supplemental formats to satisfy the Web’s diverse content consumption needs and wants.

Make no mistake – increasing time on site is no easy task. Keep these three simple strategies in mind and you will not only see significant percentage increases in time on site, but revenue as well.

Most online marketers and website owners tend to measure the success of their online business by the amount of traffic they are able to generate (and, of course, revenue).

While increasing the number of unique visitors is most definitely important (and something that everyone should be concerned with), it is arguably only half the battle. Unique visitors and visits alone should not be the only means by which you are measuring success.

It is easy to understand that there is little in the way of benefit from attracting a visitor to your website that quickly clicks the back button and leaves. Often, website owners and online marketers spend more time thinking about how to attract people to a site and less on how to encourage those visitors to spend considerably more time on your website. Take heed – there is a a direct correlation between the amount of time spent on a website and its success. So how can you increase time on site (and profits)? Follow these three simple strategies.

- Design Smarter (and Write Longer) -

Of all the different site types, it is the content marketers that either have the best or the worst time-on-site averages. While one suggestion might be to simply write longer-form content, another option would be to take the longer-form content you have or will develop in the future and commit to splitting it into multiple sections. This is a common approach that has been used on sites like About.com and many newspaper sites for years. For example, a 1,000 word article could be split into four sections of 250 words each. Some content management systems have this functionality built in, so explore that feature if available to you. Another benefit of splitting content is that it gives publishers the ability to generate more advertising impressions – a big draw particularly for those selling on a CPM basis.

- Create More Relevant Jump Points for Content Showcasing -

Would you rather feature content that is timely or timeless? There are arguments for and against both, but those publishers that concentrate on identifying areas where they can showcase their best information are those that often have the highest time-on-site averages. These jump points are areas where publishers can profile/push the most popular pages, the most heavily commented upon content items or most linked-to items. There are, of course, many places to do this, including at the end of articles/posts, within sidebars, and within the content itself. There is actually some SEO benefit to creating links to this type of content on your site as the number and relevance of links to internal pages is (arguably) an important factor in search engine ranking.

- Introduce Supplemental Formats: Multimedia & Applications -

Many content publishers, to their own detriment, opt to stay with the content format most familiar to them – whatever that may be. Consumers, however, often have very different demands when it comes to their consumption preferences – offering just one only gives you one chance for one type of visitor. Start introducing supplemental formats and you’ll be surprised about the positive effect it has on time on site. For example, if you’ve got a long-form article, why not fire up the webcam and produce a short-form video about that article’s key points or takeaways. If you publish a list of events, why not introduce a calendar application which is a terrific way to increase the number of clicks on your site as well.

When it comes to increasing time on site, remember the following: your website visitors are willing to be engaged with your site (and spend more time on it), but content publishers absolutely must commit to repurposing content into new design formats, providing jump points wherever necessary to expose them to content that should be showcased, and they should introduce supplemental formats to satisfy the Web’s diverse content consumption needs and wants.

Make no mistake – increasing time on site is no easy task. Keep these three simple strategies in mind and you will not only see significant percentage increases in time on site, but revenue as well.

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Web Design and the Rule of Thirds

Posted on June 2, 2011 | Comments Off

Courtesy of WEB DESIGN magazine.

Grid-based design provides designers a formal way to assess the communicative expression power of the UI thanks to the rule of thirds – a topic Website Magazine addresses in our July 2011 issue. But what is the rule of thirds and how can you use it to improve interaction on your own site?

Originally used in the visual arts field, the rule of thirds is adapted well to any design and any design format or device thanks to its simplicity. The rule of thirds identifies four focal points within compositions to where the human eye is naturally attracted. By aligning elements on dividing lines or placing elements at these focal points, a maximum amount of interest and energy can be directed to the most important elements of the page. While eye tracking and heat maps provide meaningful, empirical data on how the site was used in the past by users, applying the rule of thirds can be useful as the design takes shape to ensure you are meeting the underlying objectives initially set forth and within the boundaries of standard design practices.

To really understand how the rule of thirds can be used it is necessary to compare and review various websites to see what are they doing right and what are they doing wrong. WM reviewed homepages/index pages of three sites in the “Music/Entertainment” category including Rolling Stone, Spin Magazine and our very own WM Senior Editor Mike Phillips’ Chicago Music Blog, Sound Citizen. We’re looking beyond the homepage as well with an analysis of content pages on these websites and how the rule of thirds applies to their layout/structure.

Rules of Thirds on Homepages
When applying the rule of thirds to home or index pages, having site-wide objectives prioritized is of vital importance. In the case of the three sites reviewed, exposing content, profiling advertising, and encouraging “social” are the apparent core objectives of these sites when the rule of thirds is applied.

So how do the sites stack up? All things considered, pretty well. Some things that stand out at the outset are the predominance of advertising on Rolling Stone and Spin and how well they have done to balance advertising with featured editorial content. Sound Citizen’s focal points mainly target content and community features. Sound Citizen is also the only one of the three sites to employ a two column layout as opposed to three column layouts used by the others. The use of a two-column layout has different restrictions than that of a three-column. Rolling Stone and Spin are able to feature more content over the fold than Sound Citizen without losing site of the primary ad’s importance. Also, notice how much more linear (and in-line with grid based design) Rolling Stone and Spin are compared to Sound Citizen.

Rules of Third on Content Pages
When it comes to content pages, the rule of thirds once again proves useful. Keep in mind that the intersections of our “thirds” (represented by the blue dots) are not actually intended to be the the exclusive focus of our readers but also what is immediately around them.

So how do these pages stack up? Not very well, in our estimation. But there are some instances of abiding by the rule of thirds. Rolling Stone once again puts the ad in plain sight and Spin further exposes its most popular content to the lower right of the fourth focal point. Both, however, put the burden on the viewer to locate and consume the page’s content. Unlike Rolling Stone and Spin, Sound Citizen maintains its structure well. The design supports the primary objectives of the site (content and community) and it is carried over from previous pages visited by the user, such as the homepage. However, based on our evaluation, there is a great deal of room for improvement on all three sites.

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