“… Sites with so many ads that have to load, including flash. Sloooow loading = bad!”

Not only are they slow to load, but the ads distract you from what you actually came to see. Web pages crammed full of animated ads, blinking logos, spinning graphics that shoot sparks out their butts? They’re like listening to talk radio, at the same time that the TV is playing infomercials full volume.

Readability is a near-perfect solution to website clutter. (And it’s free, so it’s the perfect Christmas gift.)

Readability is a simple browser plugin* that strips away everything — except what you came to read. You know, the content.

It couldn’t be simpler to install. On Readability’s home page, select your desired style, font size and column width, then drag the icon to your browser’s toolbar. That’s it, you’re finished. One click to install, one click to use.

By default, Readability is turned off. Whenever you come across a Web page that makes your eyes cross and your head throb, just click the Readability button on your toolbar and voila, all distractions disappear — the same way David Copperfield “vanished” the Statue of Liberty.

To return to a page’s original look, just click refresh. Readability isn’t perfect, but in my experience it successfully cleaned up 95% of the offending pages.

Major props to its developer, lab.arc90.com, who have some other interesting projects. Like TBuzz, a bookmarklet that lets you update twitter while you browse the Web. I’ll be checking that out soon.

Anybody else like Readability? Anybody used TBuzz? Love to get your feedback in the comments. And any other major website irritants you’d like to bellyache about? Have at it.

Or tweet me: @tom_mckay

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* Note #1: Yes, I know technically they’re both bookmarklets, not plugins. Let’s just keep things simple, shall we?
** Note #2: No, those aren’t affiliate links. Both products are free, for cryin’ out loud.

Instead of complaining, he did what any savvy, ambitious young designer would do. He designed a brand-new home page for the airline, posted it online and asked for their opinion.

Curtis’s quickie redesign is everything the official AA.com site is not: clean, clear, uncrowded, easy to navigate.

A member of the airline’s design team responded in a comment on Curtis’s blog. The unnamed employee basically agreed with the criticism, with an explanation that was very revealing about how complicated things get inside huge global enterprises.

Many, many people touch the AA website, the employee explained. At least 200, spanning multiple departments and divisions, including QA, product planning, business analysis, code development, site operations, project planning, and user experience.

He added (I’m paraphrasing slightly):

“Any new features on the site should be designed or vetted by us. However, there are (many) exceptions. For example, our Interactive Marketing group doesn’t go through us. The Publishing group pushes content without much interaction with us. The AAdvantage team, for some reason, runs its own little corner of the site. The international sites also have a lot of autonomy in how their domains are run.

“Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is that AA.com is a huge corporate undertaking with a lot of tentacles that reach into a lot of interests. It’s not small, by any means.”

Not exactly inflammatory rhetoric. And anyone who has ever worked in a large corporation will no doubt recognize the feeling of wrestling-with-an-octopus, and how insurmountable it can seem to try and implement the needed changes in a global enterprise.

So what did happen? Did AA reduce the friction between departments? Streamline its internal workflow? Did it consolidate Web operations in a single department?

Of course not. It simply fired the employee as soon as his reply became public. There! Problem solved.

Seybold, an expert in customer-inspired innovation, said the episode “exposes the sad truth about corporate inertia” and urges companies to install visionaries to keep from ruining the Customer Experience. As awful as dealing with mega-corporations can be, Seybold reveals why it could be a lot worse.

It’s a good read. Check it out.

Bob’s a successful and savvy advertising executive who owns his own agency in San Francisco. He’s also a delightfully grumpy old fart who loves to snicker at the Emperor’s missing bloomers, as well as the foolishness of the people watching the parade.

Like me, Bob gags at what passes for B2B copy these days, especially the “cutting edge, state of the art, scalable” baloney favored by technology companies big and small:

“One way we can tell that the marketing and advertising industries are in dire straits is by listening to the language. From the HP website:

“… (HP’s) collaborative approach is tailored to a customer’s ecosystem to create adaptive infrastructures that use leading software products and architectures and leverage HP’s own expertise in the creation of adaptive infrastructures.”

“Spend time at a conference, read a trade publication, listen to a presentation and it soon becomes obvious that speaking plainly and clearly has become anathema to most marketing practitioners.”

As a copywriter and former technical writer, I confess I have been forced to write that kind of crap on any number of occasions. But in my defense, the clients flatly rejected my initial drafts — the ones written in plain American English, easily understood even by CEOs. The kind of everyday shirtsleeve English you and I speak to each other.

Can you imagine meeting someone new, asking what they do, and have them say, “Oh, we create adaptive infrastructures…”? Of course not. Nobody really talks like that. Not even the guys who wrote it.

I have a theory. See if you agree. I think vague, jargon-filled copy are like those giant boulders in old TV westerns. They’re really big, they slow down your enemies … and they’re really great to hide behind.

PS: After a month-long, self-imposed hiatus from blogging, Bob’s and his blog are back together. To be honest, I think he was considering a divorce, but settled on a trial separation instead. Since he’s pretty skeptical about the business value of social media, we’ll see how long he lasts. Enjoy his curmudgeonality while you can, kids.

photo credit: colinedwards99

It’s understandable for business owners and marketers to dread nasty feedback from unhappy customers. It’s even worse when they vent their spleens online, posting negative reviews on the company’s own or resellers’ websites, in independent customer forums, Amazon reviews, etc.

Some companies even go so far as to try and squelch or remove them if they can. Which isn’t exactly the spirit of openness and honesty the interwebs are famous for.

But surprise! Negative reviews are not necessarily the kiss of death. As CNN/Money (via Consumerist) reported, sales can still increase. One company discovered that sales on a particular sweater increased 23%, even though its ratings were less than stellar  (e.g., three stars out of five).

“People are really researching their purchases,” said AlpacaDirect.com co-founder Jim Hobart. ‘We knew our customers liked our products, and we wanted them to tell one another.’

Here’s my take on negative reviews:

• All reviews, even mediocre ones, tend to reduce the “fear of the unknown” factor which can stop sales in their tracks.
• Something that might be a dealbreaker for one customer might not matter that much to another.
• The seller appears stronger, more confident, even fearless, by allowing both negative and positive reviews.
• And of course, negative reviews can be a form of market research. They can help you decide where you need to improve.

And be honest. Haven’t you ever read a negative review of a product or service you’re perfectly happy with? Haven’t you sometimes wondered, ‘What is this guy’s problem?’ A review that’s dripping with hatred and bile sometimes says more about the reviewer than the product.

photo credit: B Rosen

The kid just grins his goofy 7-year-old grin and holds up a page of his coloring book. “Look what I did,” he says proudly. “Very nice,” you reply, and after a little polite chit-chat, you try to go back to work.

But just as you’re opening the next email, he does it again. “Look at this one!” he yells, shoving the coloring book in front of your face, blocking the monitor. You nod politely, then try to explain that you’re trying to work, so please don’t interrupt. But he refuses to listen. In fact, every time you open a new email or Web page, he does it again.

So let me ask you. How long would it be before you packed up your laptop and went somewhere else? Not very long, I bet. Well, guess what.

You may be doing the very same thing on your company website.

You know those pop-up and drop-down windows, the ones with the customer sign-up forms? They’re a lot like the annoying little boy. They’re constantly blocking a visitor’s view while they’re trying to read. Every click brings another one, just like the coloring book. No matter how many you close, another one always springs up on the next page.

They’re relentless. Soon you either give up and flee the site, or enter an email address. Maybe a real one, maybe a BugMeNot email.

I know, your high-priced marketing consultant promised those pop-up windows would increase opt-ins. Maybe they will, too. But at what cost? How many other visitors will get so annoyed they leave before they even see your great content? Why spend all that time and money on great copy and SEO, only to chase away potential customers?

Look, the old saying is still true. People like to buy from people they like. Many of us only buy from people we like. And it’s pretty hard to like someone who’s annoying.

Think about it. The logic of pop-ups is totally illogical. Most open within a few seconds of landing on a site. Hey, Mr. Marketer, why would I sign up for your newsletter or free e-book before I’ve even had a chance to look around?

As a longtime online marketing consultant and copywriter, I have learned what goes through people’s minds. When someone lands on your website from a search engine, the first thing she wants to know is, is this the right place? Is this where I wanted to go? Does this site have the answer to my problem? Does it have what I’m looking for? Do I feel comfortable here?

Pop-ups give your website visitors little or no chance to answer those questions.

Exit pop-ups — the ones that appear when you try to click away from a site — make more sense, at least. They’re less an interruption and more like conventional business. Like exchanging business cards (or getting a girl’s phone number). The message is, Now that you’ve had a chance to look around, want to keep in touch? Then sign up here…

If you’re considering using pop-ups to capture visitors’ contact info, I recommend exit pop-ups. But frankly, there are more effective ways to motivate visitors to fork over their email address. More about those next time.

Agree? Disagree? Am I way off-base? Do you love pop-ups? Sound off in the comments.