TL;DR: The first thing your audience spends on you isn’t money. It’s seconds and (if you’re lucky) minutes. Make sure they get a good return on time invested.
It’s not about the money. OK, yeah it is, but it’s not about the money first.
When your audience encounters you, the first thing they spend isn’t money. They spend time. They’re consuming information, and that requires effort. They’re not doing other stuff when they read, watch, click, or listen to you. They’re not grocery shopping, reading a book, or binge-watching The Expanse.
Your audience wants a high Return On Time Invested. Or ROTI, as I call it, because I’ve always wanted an acronym of my very own.
Gee, thanks, Ian, you’re thinking. You just unloaded a bunch of deep-thinking philosophical marketing crap and wrote the script for a second-rate TED talk. Got any suggestions I can actually use?
Why yes. Yes I do:
Improve ROTI
Here’s my list of little things you can do to maximize your audience’s return on time invested. I bet you already know ’em. Maximizing return on time invested is just good manners. Everyone knows what’s good, but sometimes we have to be reminded:
Teach me something
Teach me something, and I’ll thank you for it. It’s definitely a positive return on my time invested.
Shameless plug: Read this piece I wrote about teaching the shit out of everything
Don’t use ChatGPT to write
It’s a general language model. It knows precisely nothing new about your product, industry, or the questions your customers are trying to handle.
Why are you just flinging more crap on the internet? Oh, wait, I know…
Don’t talk to me about SEO
I. don’t. want. to. hear. it. You don’t maximize return on time invested by building your strategy around shipping containers full of computers.
You don’t create “SEO content.” You create content for humans and refine it. SEO is what you do after you’ve done all the things to maximize the audience’s return on time invested.
Use tabindex
Random, teeny-tiny bit of advice:
Tabindex is an often-ignored, absolutely invaluable HTML attribute.
It controls where a tab key press takes me on your page. My favorite uses:
- Ensure users can skip fields like “Address 2” without using their mouse
- Allow users to easily move from link to link
Don’t overuse tabindex. It may seem like you’re doing a good deed, accessibility-wise, but putting tabindex on headings, paragraphs, etc. can cause massive confusion. Screen readers have built-in commands for this stuff, and it’ll create utter chaos.
Practice defensive design
An old concept that still applies: Build pages that respond well when things go wrong.
I wrote an article about this in 2011 (!!!), and this book is the definitive guide.
Gimme a second. Please.
My last four (five?) bikes have been Specialized, so no hate here, but guys could you please give me 30 seconds before you show a modal?!!!
If you’re considering a modal, remember that I’ve already taken the time to click a link and load your site. Show me an immediate return on that time invested. Then show me the modal that asks me to provide contact info because that’s an even bigger investment.
Avoid the wall of text
You don’t need to insert random stock photos. Follow some basic rules and your text content will be nicely scannable:
- No more than 16 words per line. This used to be my top priority, but 2–4 are where I spend the most time now
- Line height is a matter of taste, but I go anywhere from 1.3 to 1.7em, depending on the font face
- No more than six lines per paragraph (desktop)
- No more than four paragraphs without a subhead. If your writing’s organized, that should work out
Try the breath test: If reading a passage feels like you’re holding your breath, you need to create a little more room.
Pssst, give gridlover.net or syncope a try. Don’t blame me if you spend a half hour playing with the settings, though.
Give good typography
Typography ain’t easy. I’ve obssessed over fonts for 25+ years, and the best I can manage is “meh.”
Just read Butterick’s Practical Typography.
Make your site fast
Understand how images work: Compression, vector vs. raster, maybe even (gasp) lazy loading. Try Squoosh. Don’t trust automated image compression until you’ve thoroughly tested it.
Don’t abuse javascript.
Don’t write code that makes my eyes bleed.
There’s more, but ignore those three rules, and I give up.
Also, remember that fast sites get slow. Pay attention to the inevitable crap added by us marketers because we ruin everything.
Gate nothing (without a good reason)
If it were up to me, we’d abolish gated content. Since it’s not up to me, try following these rules:
- Gated assets must be solid gold content. Video, text, whatever, if you’re asking me to not only pay with my time but also subject myself to your sales calls and emails, you’d better provide me with content so good, so memorable, that I want to keep it
- Gated assets must teach the shit out of something besides your Gartner Magic Quadrant or which athlete wears your shoes. Otherwise, you’ve wasted my time
- Give me a preview. I need to see a real, consumable chunk of that gated content. Prove to me that it’s worth my investment
Don’t autoplay video
If I’m investing time, that autoplay video with your CEO babbling away gives me immediate buyer’s remorse. Autoplay is a distraction that makes me:
- Frantically jab the mute button on my computer
- Get stupidfingers while I click around the screen trying to find the pause button
- Curse you and add your brand to my book of grudges
Please just don’t.
In your video, get to the point
Start your video with the information I need. Yes, you can do a quick intro. Even a promo or two. But after that, get right to the point. Banter is wonderful if you can look out at the audience and make sure they’re not yawning.
It doesn’t work in a recorded video, unless banter enhances the subject matter, like an interview. In that case, joke away, mock your competitors, complain about last night’s Dungeons & Game, whatever.
Create templates for embedded assets
Don’t just slap embedded content into a standard page…
Cough. Do as I say, not as I do.
I kinda like the way Moz does it with their Whiteboard Fridays. The video isn’t front-and-center, but it’s easy to find and play.
Sparktoro makes sure the video player doesn’t look like an accident:
This is, I think, the best guideline: Embed it like you mean it. And yeah, do as I say, not as I do.
Create a decent product page
Post coming soon. For now, read the original post on what’s left of my agency’s website. RIP Portent. Sniff.
Use AI (to create cool stuff)
This is purely Wil Reynold’s genius. Tip is so good I’m embedding a video from The Bad Place:
Ever write a blog post you liked, but it felt like it was missing visuals to tell the story? Well you might want to give Claude a try.
My prompts are mega basic, you'll see them in this video, yet the example came out exceeding my expectations, I want from "make me an… pic.twitter.com/lq9vN9ta3R
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) November 25, 2024
I’ve had good luck creating visualizations, too.
I won’t waste more of your time
If you read all the way down here, then maybe I gave you a good return on time invested.
Remember: The first thing your audience spends is time. Not money. Provide them a high return and they’ll stick around.