Get the Most of the Internet. Slow down.

I have never met a man nor woman who can work at the speed of light. As much as i have tried I can’t even come close to breaking the sound barrier. I can only type somewhere in the range of thirty words a minute, forty if I don’t care about spelling and punctuation. So I have come to the realization that I will never work at the speed of the internet. In fact, no one can.

So maybe we shouldn’t think of approaching the internet as something we need to race through. The internet houses a wealth of information and we can either choose the abridged version or the encyclopedic version. Both versions fit our needs and both versions are readily accessible but there is a barrier with the internet that we do not often experience in the print world.

With abundance comes waste. In the online world that waste often comes in the form of irrelevant information for our business needs. If we could create a website that simply had a button labeled “find what i am thinking” we could be millionaires. But, as of this writing, that button does not exist.

So lesson one in navigating the internet is to slow down. We have quickly become scanners of information rather then readers. When we search for information we are often too quick to deem it irrelevant yet we often base this assumption on the first three to five items that are returned to us. We fail to keep in mind that this golden real estate has been either purchased or influenced by sites with large SEO budgets. Take time to read through more then just the top five hits and maybe even think about looking at page two or three of the results before you jump to another query.

When you first approach a web page don’t forget to slow down and take a few extra seconds to look at the whole thing. It is ok to scan but let’s shoot for some more intelligent scanning. Review the navigation, look at the imagery and by all means read some of the content. More and more sites are becoming user centric entities which means that the navigation has often been designed for the end user. This bodes well for those of you that take the time to look through the navigation to understand the content categorization on a site.

Be at peace. The internet can be your friend and the information you seek is out there. Just be patient.
ED. NOTE: Brian Kempf leads the User Experience practice at Kinesis by day and the internet revolution by night.

Becoming Part of the Conversation: Equifax

We’ve spoken before in this space about how imperative it is now for marketers to start taking part in the internet conversation. We’ve talked about how consumers are discussing your brand or at least your business (whether you know it or not), and that getting in on the discussion, and helping to direct it, can help bring you brand, product or service into the light and delivering straight into the hands of of your consumers.

Our client, Equifax , known to most as one of the three credit reporting agencies, has long been dogged by negative perceptions. Credit reporting agencies are thought to be the people who decide your fate when it comes to credit scoring. Not true. These companies just report the scores, they don’t decide that you can’t afford the car you want. Actually, they are the good guys because they can at least educate people on the credit scoring system and how it all works. Still, perception is reality, and Equifax often causes wrinkles in the brows of consumers when it comes to their credit scores. Kinesis has been working with them to try and change that impression.

As part of a larger Equifax strategy aimed at educating consumers on better understanding their credit, Kinesis helped develop the Equifax Learn Portal, a stand alone Web site dedicated to providing consumers everything they need to know about how to protect and maintain their interests when it comes to personal finances and credit. The site is an important foundation, able to be accessed from anywhere including paid advertising, search, offline ads and of course the main consumer site.

But it’s really just the foundation. Equifax could not sit back and wait for people to realize that they are helpers not hinderers when it comes to thier credit. So Kinesis, working closely with the Equifax team, delved into the internet information boards, places like Yahoo Answers and WikiAnswers.com, to better understand consumer issues with finance, monitor the conversations around the Brand, and listen to the types of questions that are being asked . But listening is not enough.

When appropriate the Brand participates and offers guidance, clarifications and points people to the most relevant sections of the Equifax learn portal. An important fact of this 2.0 campaign is that we never hide that we work for Equifax, in fact, we were very up front. But the campaign has been successful so far because the information is good and useful and is presented in the right context. We are establishing trust and becoming a valuable part of the conversation.

How are you becoming part of the dialogue your customers are having?