Can Google Discern Ads from relevant images?

Let’s say I own a photography company that has a website showing off my images. When a user searches for a photography studio on the web, they find my site and all they see is small images beside a few paragraphs of text. Do you think they will hire me to shoot their wedding? Photography is usually sold by large, bold and exciting images that captivate the audience. And with only 2.6 seconds to keep their attention, I cannot sell them with blocks of text. To shove text above the fold would only take away from the experience that the user is seeking. And photography is not the only market that uses images to captivate an audience. Do these images count as “ads” or will Google make the distinction and treat my site fairly?

“Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away.”

Although I do not disagree with this quote, I find myself wondering who it applies to. As you can see here, YouTube has a huge block of ads at the top of their homepage. Do you think they will be penalized?

Don’t get me wrong, I have been to a bunch of sites where I am more than annoyed at the amount of ads they have sold above the content I am seeking. But is this a reason to punish everyone that puts images up top and text down below? Does a few bad apples really need to spoil the bunch?

I truly hope that Google has the ability and foresight to actually be able to tell the difference between ads and actual relevant images. If they do, GREAT! If not, then I will continue to design my sites how Google sees fit. And I will also continue to curse them every time I have to limit my designs to fit their needs.

Examples of relevant sites with no text based content above the fold

A photography website that shows off the work of Brian Mullins. This site actually contains zero text based content on the front page. Although this site shows up 3rd in Google when searching “Raleigh Photography”. The site also captivates the user with fantastic photography, which is exactly the point of the website. I consider this site to be very relevant. Will Google drop them in the rankings because they provide no text?

Is Google going too far?

Another such example are sites selling fashion. This site has a tiny bit of text based content on the front page above the fold. Is this enough to skirt the grasp of Google’s algorithm? If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the site, you may find another small paragraph of text based content. I would also consider this site to be very relevant if I were searching for stylish clothing for the lady in my life. The trends in design are moving toward a more magazine feel that will reach out and grab your attention in the first few seconds of arrival.

As a designer, fighting the ever shrinking attention span of the average user, I find myself looking for any way that I can increase user interaction. Increasing the time the user spends on the site and ultimately leading to conversions.

Here is an example of a law firm website that attempts to sell the user with an image of the experienced attorneys above the fold. Instead of a stuffy law website that has nothing but text and promises of large verdicts. This firm delivers what the user is looking for, an approachable, experienced firm. I am biased, as I work for a legal web marketing company and I strive to create conversion optimized designs. Through stats, testing and click maps I have found that my users are shopping for the attorneys that they can connect with on a personal level. I cannot do that with large amounts of text above the fold. The user will not be engaged enough to stay on the site long enough to convert.

One of the things I understand is that Google cannot give out the secrets to their algorithm for the same reason we cannot leave our doors unlocked at night.

People will inherently take advantage of any opportunities to game the system. But I beg of you, Google, please let us know what exactly is considered content so I can work in harmony with my stellar SEO team, to make the best sites possible for my clients.

The Benefits

Standing up to work allows me to keep moving during the work day. Standing back from my screen to review a design, moving between screens on my desktop, or even just taking a quick walk break to keep fresh. Before I built this desk, I was finding that my back was aching after every 10 hour work day due to the gravitational push on my spine. My posture was pretty much non-existent and was causing problems in other areas of my life. I now have more energy at the end of the day, my posture has vastly improved and I am even more productive in my work.

When I stand during video meetings with clients, it gives me a feeling of power and confidence. This even comes across to the client and sends a good message about my ability to handle their projects.

Are There Any Disadvantages?

Absolutely. Too much of anything can be bad. Standing up in one place for several hours can definitely hurt you more than it can help. Sometimes a meeting can string out to 3 hours and cause me to reconsider the choices I have made. I will even pause my camera just to get a little rest on the stool I keep behind my desk for just these occasions. I also have a small stool under my desk to rest a foot on to slightly recover from continued standing. Another con to a stand up desk is that it looks behemoth in my small office. My guests stare in awe and ask me if I am aspiring to be the Anchorman in the near future. I guess the lights, camera and green screen help with that assessment.

How I Built The Stand Up Desk

First, I found a free desk that would serve as a suitable top for my standing desk, and I took it apart. I bought some cabinet wood from the local hardware to make the legs, back and shelf under the desk. Since the top of my desk is a dark cherry wood laminate, it was difficult to copy it with stain. With persistence, I matched the color beautifully and nobody even notices that it is different wood. I put it together with screws in the office as I don’t ever want to try and move this thing fully assembled. All in all it was a pretty painless process with huge benefits.

Why?

It is said that a website has a shelf life of 2 years before you need a refresh. If you asked me, I would say that time is more like 1 year. With all the changes in technology, design trends and conversion tactics, you should really keep an eye on your site every week. You should test, re-test and tweak your site to be optimal for conversion, no matter what kind of site you maintain. But in the end, normal people don’t have the means to keep up with such an arduous task. So they hire “designers”.

But I design things! I don’t watch the stats, conversion, bounce rates and all that boring stuff. As a designer, why do I need to worry about these things? I just want to make things pretty and drink lattes. If you think like this, you are the definition of a modern day starving artist. Throughout time, artists have created beautiful works of art and reveled in the ideal that they are making the world better just by applying paint to canvas. Singing songs to the trees. Writing poems for lovers. Now I ask, did any of those artists leave a lasting impression on society? Yes, a few did exactly that! But those few knew how to convert! Michelangelo convinced the church that they needed his art to persuade the masses to convert to Christianity. Dali knew that people wanted to break away from reality and find a fantasy world that he could provide. Monet gave subtle beauty to a picture seen through eyes without corrective lenses, although it took him quite a while to realize his potential. All of these “designers” had one thing in common, the ability to create value in their work.

In today’s high paced world, value comes and goes very quickly. For designers it is no different than any other profession. There is value to be had, all you have to do is figure out where and how to achieve it. Today, web design has evolved into a process to make money for business owners and designers alike. Of course we can’t leave out the developers, but for the sake of this post I am just focused on designers.

Start caring about what it takes to make your customers more money.

• How do your pretty designs affect users?
• Do they cause them to buy more products?
• Do they entice them to contact your clients?
• Will they be convinced to book more services?

Get your head out of the clouds and start designing for your future. You can making a good living if you focus your efforts on your clients’ business. Don’t stop at a pretty picture and create a value for your art. Focus your design around conversion and you too can leave your mark on society.

I constantly think about the absolute best way to live and work at home and on the go sans throwing out my back. Working at home has its advantages, but when I need to take it on the road, I have to lug around a HUGE laptop, mouse, cables, iPhone, bag, camera, storage device, etc. etc.

Now here is what I want, and I want it now! Think about this. Stick a 1T SD card in my iphone, I would actually have 2, one for back up. Make the operating system a full Snow Leopard or whatever animal is in stock at the time. Allow me to dock this powerhouse into any monitor and the touch screen becomes the trackpad or a mouse. Of course I would have to figure out a solution for the keyboard, but hey what else do they have to do over in Cupertino? Now this awesome piece of craftiness would be my main machine, my phone, my mobile computing device and a little slice of FREAKING WICKEDNESS! I would always be online if needed by way of 8G or whatever network AT&T decided I should be on. I would also have my work with me at all times just in case a needy client was to call me while I was chillin at the Flying Saucer with my peeps. <– Can’t believe I just said that.

Now that I gave away the ultimate idea, I am sure that Steve Jobs will announce this new product at the WWDC 2010! I think he might even call it the iKevin. Well that was what I dreamed about last night. And yes, I was smiling a toothy grin onstage, as he let me show it off to the world.

Like I said, Dream on. Now I only have to figure out what to dream about after I have my new iKevin.

The main CMS that I have become relatively comfortable with is WordPress. I use thematic to design my projects due to the child theme capabilities. This allows me to alter the theme without destroying the main theme code base, which may need to be upgraded at any time during the life of the website. WordPress has a huge developer and plugin base to choose from currently and can be customized to fit your needs from a small sites to large sites. One thing that you must keep in mind is that these developers are not all controlled by WordPress and do not always work together to create a seamless product. I have found that many of the plugins may or may not work with other plugins running or with new updated versions of WordPress. You have to be very careful when adding new functionality into your site as well as when you update to a new version. It is truly best to know a well versed PHP developer to help you sort out some of these issues. If you use WordPress, you need to also be aware of security issues and how to prevent someone from hacking yours or your client’s website. Malicious people are always looking for ways to promote their hacking abilities with your front page! Keeping up to date on all of WordPress’s updates is a must, but this also causing you to be aware and fully test the plugin functionality from version to version. Keep in mind that when you update a site for security reasons, that you must charge your client properly to allow for your time in securing their site and making sure that all of their pages work properly. Many times clients do not understand or see what goes into testing and insuring their safety in this regard.

I have witnessed one of my friend’s site being hacked and relentlessly bombarded with malware. I tried everything to get this site back to status quo with no success. I decided that it was best to move the site from the hosting company that housed it and start fresh. Looking back, I think that the issue was my fault in not keeping the site updated and secure, but also had something to do with the hosting company and their security. I ended up spending a lot of hours trying to fix something that could have been avoided if I had spent the time during development. Unfortunately many clients would like to keep the cost down and not opt for this service. This friend found out the hard way that this may have not been the best choice when all of his customers saw this message when they visited his site.

I have also worked with several other CMS systems including Expression Engine, Drupal, Joomla, Mambo and Simple CMS. I have found that they all have their pros and cons. For a designer, I find that most have their cons. Of course I am writing this while I am focused on WordPress and have not fully explored these other CMS systems lately. They have quite possibly improved since I have made my judgement.

CMS systems are great and are always changing for the better. If you would like to discuss this topic in more detail or would like to have your site built around a CMS system, please contact me here. I would be more that happy to discuss with you what I know and maybe lead you in the right direction to save you some time and money.

Myself and several others including Jonathan Poole, Mike Norris and Chris MacLeod have all contributed into making this into a unique and innovative way to follow the action while sitting at your desk or phone during the Championship. I built all the graphics in Photoshop, and the web functionality in flash. We have a special way of communicating to the trailer dot where the shot has landed on the course, and he in turn plots the throw and uploads the jpg to the server.

If you are interested in how you can provide this action for your golf tournament or if you want to hire us, please contact us here.

LEAD GROUP: On the top of the screen, you can click to open the lead group set of photos. This section also pulls in the scores and checks for updates every 15 seconds. You can find which color dot belongs to who, but remember, the red dot is always in the lead at the beginning of the round. Click it again, and it closes.

DOT ARCHIVE: You shall find all the archived holes played throughout the week in the archive. Click to open and persue between the tabs to see the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday archives. If it has not yet happened, there will be no graphic present. Click the archive again, and it closes. You can also use the button, “Go to current hole” to return to the action. If you want to see all of the details of a hole, please visit our online caddy book.