Comments on: Attract More Visitors By Going Invisible

By: Edman

Edman — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:27:49 +0000

It might be even older now, but it still holds true today. The less people stop and notice your website, the more things they can get done. People don’t come to your website just to admire the pretty layout, they want to find what they’re looking for and move on to something else. If you have too much going on, ultimately, it’s a distraction.

By: Harry Scanlan

Harry Scanlan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:15:13 +0000

I know this post is pretty old, but even a quick count does show 7 social media buttons, 3 links to rss, 3 links to email, 3 links to sphinn, 4 links to twitter, 1 ustream, 1 digg, 1 flickr, 1 youtube … All on this one page.

I wonder if linking of social media has changed over the last year.

By: Cliff Paulick

Cliff Paulick — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:45:37 +0000

I really like your posts, which is why I was all over your site, following links and all that. One of the first things I noticed was the list of 7 large buttons under “Share this Post”. They’re large enough to catch my attention but not too big that they’re out of proportion to your site.

After following several links to your other posts, I read this post, including this paragraph:

“I know that you have a blog. I know that you’re social media savvy. You’re an Expert, even! That’s spectacular, truly. That does not mean your social media buttons should be located on every page of your site. That actually tells me that you don’t know how to use social media if you think EVERY piece of content you write or display on your site is worthy of being pushed, promoted and whored. I guarantee you it’s not. Save the big buttons for that big piece of content that is worth pushing. Otherwise your site just looks like no one wants to play with it when none of your users have touched your ginormous Digg/Reddit/Sphinn button in 12 posts. And now instead of focusing on your content, I’m wondering what those buttons are, why they’re there and why no one seems to like you. I must be on a bad site.”

I’m VERY curious why you would write that when all of your posts have the 7 large “Share this Post” buttons? Please help me understand. I want to do right by the Internet and sharing every post seems to be the right thing to do…

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:32:06 +0000

Lisa,
What you told about the buttons is 100% correct.
Am a starter and I have just set up my site and I had wasted many -hours searching for a plugin for social-bookmarking. :) I realised lately that concentrating on the content which am gonna write would be more important than getting worried about how my plugin will look.
If you write something really good,Its gonna spread across to others even with out social bookmarking.(May be a little slower).
Thanks and I ve already subscribed to your post after reading your blog on chat between Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki…Thanks…

By: Janeth

Janeth — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:31:34 +0000

I don’t use them on my sites.

My content is written for the average site visitor or someone that I might be able to make a sale to. I enjoy making money with my sites, I’m sorry; it’s just in my blood.

The average site visitor has no idea why that button is there and other than distracting from my site, sending them somewhere else, confusing them and causing them to look elsewhere for a service that I provide it really does nothing else, for the average site visitor.

The guys that understand the buttons are out looking for content for their own sites are trying to learn something that they didn’t already know. These people are not going to buy from me; they are not looking for my services.

I just can’t imagine designing my site for people that are not going to spend money while at the same time confusing the people that are.

Just my two cents.

By: Yura

Yura — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:58:15 +0000

So I shouldn’t change my absolutely minimalistic text design that I created with the user in mind? Wouldn’t hurt to add more personality to it, though. Invisible design doesn’t mean that *you* need to be invisible on your site, right? :)

By: Greg Finn

Greg Finn — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:15:52 +0000

There are some “conditional ” plugins out there ( ex. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/conditional-digg-this-badge/) But I don’t know of an encompassing one that hits the main social sites and displays if at least one vote exists.

By: Tim Staines

Tim Staines — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:48:14 +0000

A couple comments:

1) Good/great content doesn’t have to cost that much. One of the best things I heard at #IMSB spoke to finding experts in the topic and commissioning them to do your writing. We all love talking or writing about what we love and we’re usually willing to talk about it for no charge. Quality writing can often come at a very reduced price if you find someone who really wants to write about the topic and maybe isn’t a full time writer. You may have to rewrite for marketing purposes, but you will already have the quality part to build on.

2) I prefer the little social media buttons (the ones that are even smaller than those that you use on this post, but have you ever heard of anyone adding the counter buttons in after the article gets Dugg, Redditted, or Sphunn? Is that cheating? Might be a way to avoid the zeros and still get the participation value . . .

By: Greg Finn

Greg Finn — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:38:30 +0000

Agreed that social buttons & badges aren't for every site, many sites however are hitting stories regularly and these buttons can help if leveraged correctly. Something like a digg button can be optimized to help lazy people promote your stuff with your titles. So something like: digg.com/submit?url=http://www.yoursitehere.com/currentpost&title=Really+Really+Awesome+Title+Written+For+Digg&bodytext=Totally+radical+and+bodacious+description+that+backs+up+your+title&topic=the_correct_topic_here Would allow for your users to click the Digg button, have a kick-ass title/description inserted & the proper topic selected. It really depends on the site though, but these buttons can be a powerful tool to use if the shoe fits.

By: Joe Hall

Joe Hall — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:38:15 +0000

When I can, i do invest in high quality content. I agree with you. We are on the same page here.

Do I now get an agitating Lisa trophy?? ;-)