What Is A Podcast?

A podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet for playback on portable media players and personal computers.

The term "podcast" is a combination of the words “iPod” and “broadcast.” The Apple iPod was the brand of portable media player for which the first podcasting scripts were developed. However, podcasts can be downloaded to much more than just your iPod. You can download a podcast to your very own computer!

Some of the Online Princess' favorite podcasts are educational, such as Coffee Break Spanish, and of course the Online Princess relishes Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Other top-ranked podcasts in the Online Princess' book include inspirational messages from Brian Houston, and a podcast the Online Princess helped to launch in 2006, the NewsOK Pet Show.

Do Eyes Travel In A "Z" Pattern Or A "F" Pattern On Web Sites?

Last week, I blogged about some evidence that the eyes travel in a Z-shaped pattern on web sites. But today, that theory could be debunked!

Jakob Nielsen's Alert Box, a fantastic site that studies online patterns, studied how 232 users' eyes looked across thousands of web pages. Overall, he discovered that readers tend to study the pages in an F-shape pattern.



" * Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F's top bar.
* Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement. This additional element forms the F's lower bar.
* Finally, users scan the content's left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eyetracking heatmap. Other times users move faster, creating a spottier heatmap. This last element forms the F's stem."

Based on this information, people who write for web sites (journalists, marketers, bloggers, etc.) should differentiate their writing from typical print writing.

* The first two paragraphs MUST have all the most important information. This is the same with newspaper writing, but even more pertinent for web.
* Start paragraphs, subheads, and bullet points with information-carrying words. Readers are more likely to read the first two words of a line than anything else.
* Use bullet points to break up information pieces.

Newsflash: People Love The Internet

The Online Princess dug up these interesting statistics from the Internet Advertising Bureau:

• More than half a billion people in the world access the Internet on a regular basis.
• A third of those people live in the U.S.
• The Internet is a $1 trillion dollar industry and rising.
• Americans spend an average of 8 hours and 48 minutes per week on the Internet at home.

Why Your Grandma Doesn't Text

Have you ever noticed that you don’t see many people in their 60s sending text messages? And you don’t see many people in their 20s hand-writing letters either. There is undoubtedly a gap between the generations.

You may experience this “techie gap” in working with colleaugues. It’s important to keep in mind that communications businesses will only continue to be even more web driven in the future. With that in mind, I thought I would share a chart from “The Elements of Internet Style” by EEI Press that shares the comparative mindsets of the generations:

Click to enlarge image

How Do Your Eyes Travel On A Web Site?

Have you ever thought about how your eyes travel on a web site?

The eye reads in a “Z” pattern when looking at print, beginning on one line reading left to right and then hopping diagonally backwards to the beginning of the next, and so on in a series of zigzags. Onscreen, it’s a different story. The main difference is that instead of ending up safely in the lower right-hand corner (where an ad is usually placed), the eye returns to the top of the screen. (from The Elements of Internet Style).

Why Blog?

The Online Princess is amazed at the sheer number of people who could be blogging but DON'T simply due to a lack of knowledge. Are you a plumber? The world needs your plumbing how-to tips! Are you a photographer? Get your photos on a blog! Are you a connoisseur of the best cupcakes in your city? Blog it! I hope to inspire at least one person to start blogging through my... Top 5 reasons to blog!:

1. Reach More People – As you build your blog, you will build readership. Utilizing this readership you will be able to reach more people at one time. It is like meeting someone face to face and telling them about your business in a story format. By doing this with a blog, you will be telling many people about your business at the same time, but it will feel as if you are talking to one person at a time.
2. Targeted – People look for very specific things when they go on the Internet. If you have what they want, then they will find you. You will in turn get a very focused and targeted group of people reading your blog. Since you have good content they will want to come back time and time again to read your blog and see what you have to say. This will only focus their attention more. You will not be spending time trying to target and convince a group of people who really are not interested. If they stay with your blog you know they will be interested.
3. Less Time –A blog post will only take maybe an hour to map out, write, edit, and post. As you do this more, your time spent will be less and less.You simply get an idea and write about it. It is an ongoing conversation with you as the leader and your audience as the listeners.
4. Anytime – Blogs are great because you can post any time you want. We recommend if you have a big chunk of time write a few posts, you can set WordPress to spread them out over time using their post date stamp function (more about that will be on the way). You don’t just have to work from 9-5, but you can do it anytime. Write a post just before bed, or when you wake up. Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to be productive? No one else is awake so what do you do? Write a blog post.
5. Anywhere – You can be in a coffee shop, the beach, or your office!

And now, I leave you with my favorite blogging-related cartoon: