Write every web page with a view to its connections to other pages.

Unless you are writing a single page web site, the pages you write will always be connected to other pages on the site.

Here are my questions...and be honest in your answers:

When you write a web page, how much attention do you pay to its relationship with other pages on the site?

Do you think about the pages people may have read immediately BEFORE arriving on the page you are writing?

Do you think about the pages that people will visit immediately AFTER reading that page?

Understand this difference about the web...

Unlike with other media, the connections between the different pages on a web site can be very complicated.

With a catalog or magazine, one page follows the other in a linear, predictable fashion. The relationship between one page and the next is always the same. The next page follows the one before.

But it's different online, and a lot harder for people to figure out where they are and where they should go next.

Imagine not being able to hold a print catalog in your hand in its entirety. Instead, you are given just one page to look at a time. Once you have read that one page, you then have to ask for the next page you'd like to see.

How do you know which is the "best" next page to see? How do you know which page to ask for?

It would drive you crazy. You'd scream, "Hey, just give me the entire catalog so I can see where I am and see where I want to go next!"

Online, visitors to web site are served up just one page at a time.

And we can't help them by giving them the whole web site at once. We are constricted by the medium and by the monitor.

In other words, our visitors have a really hard time figuring out where they are and where they should go next.

Here's how you need to help them...

First, understand that visitors to an internal web page won't always arrive from "the page before". Some will come from the home page, if there's a link, some will come there direct from a search engine, and some will arrive via some other internal page on your site.

In other words, if you have links to a page from ten other pages on your site, people can arrive there from any of those pages...in addition to those arriving from links outside your site.

This means that each page has to open with a headline and introductory copy that will make sense to people REGARDLESS of which page they arrived from.

This can be tough to do.

All too often writers will assume that visitors to a second level page have all arrived from a link on the home page. And they write that second level page as if it is a continuation of the information on the home page.

That works fine for visitors who DO arrive from the home page, but not so well for those who don't.

Just be aware that the web is not a linear reader experience, like a catalog, and write accordingly.

Here's another way to help your readers...

If you study your server logs and track the behavior of your visitors, over time you will see some clear patterns emerge.

For instance, you will usually find that after reading a particular page about 80% of people will find their way to one of three or four other pages.

For instance, if a financial services web site has a page on insurance, 80% of the readers of that page may want to then go to 1) the page on auto insurance, 2) the page on home insurance or 3) the page on farm insurance.

When this proves to be the case, make it easy for everyone by providing direct, descriptive links to those three or four pages at the end of the current page.

As with a catalog being served up one page at a time, it helps people if you can tell at least 80% of your readers, "Here are the pages you probably want to look at next."

Author:
Nick Usbourne
home of the Excess Voice newsletter for online copywriters

6 million People Live In Homes Where No-One Is Working

Around six million people live in homes where no one is working, according to new figures.

The statistics, from the Office for National Statistics, reveal that 4.3m adults and 1.77m children reside in welfare-dependent homes. The number of homes in which no one works has risen by 43,000 since 2003.

James Clappison, a Tory welfare reform spokesman, told the Daily Mail: "If nearly 1.8m children are growing up in households with no one in work, they are potentially being condemned to a cycle of low achievement and unemployment."

Debbie Scott, chief executive at Tomorrow's People, an independent charity that helps the long-term unemployed back into work, told Recruiter: "We are acutely aware that there are unacceptable numbers of households with people that have never worked. We need to work with the whole family in getting them back to work. We are about to commission a research project this to identify some strategies to look into this problem."

Richard Bacon, a Tory MP on the committee, which acts as a watchdog over public spending, said: "The Department for Work and Pensions does not know how many people are out of work by choice, rather than by chance.

"Properly targeted help must be put in place for those who want to work. Only then will the Government be able to flush out the shirkers who are sticking up two fingers at hard-working families and treating the benefit system like a cash machine."

The committee's report pointed out that the burden of worklessness is being borne by the country at a time when an expanding economy has produced record levels of employment. The proportion of working age people with jobs has reached a historic high of just under 75 per cent.

At the same time, the official unemployment tally says only a few more than 800,000 are out of a job and able to work.

However evidence has been piling up that millions of Britons have been content to spend entire lives on benefits while four out of every five new jobs have been taken by immigrants.

Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment a specialist recruiter for creative account manager jobs, marketing account manager jobs and technical project manager jobs, based in Manchester, UK.

3.3 Million Workers Are Not Confident They Will Keep Their Jobs

According to a new YouGov poll commissioned by the TUC more than 3.3 million workers (13 per cent of the workforce) are not confident they will still be in their job in a year's time.

The report, found that that one in five Welsh workers fear job cuts, while 17% of Scots are worried they may find themselves out of work.

Workers in the east of England are the most optimistic. Only 7 per cent are not confident of being in their job in a year’s time. They are followed by workers in London, Yorkshire and the west Midlands where 12 per cent lack the confidence in being in their jobs in a year.

People who earn between £10,000 and £15,000 feel less secure about keeping their jobs whereas employees earning more than £50,000 seemed more confident. Non- Union members seemed less confident about being in their job in a years time compared to 48 per cent of union members who where optimistic about their employment.

Brendan Barber, general secretary at the TUC, said: "These poll findings show just how many people are getting worried about losing their job in the current economic slowdown. Of course, this does not mean that unemployment will rise by anything like three million, but it does show just how jittery people have become about the economy and their own job."

"The economy will inevitably slow this year and next, given the credit crunch and the impact of higher oil, food and commodity prices. But there is a real danger that if everyone thinks that the downturn will be deeper than it needs to be it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy."

"These findings add to the growing pressure on the Government and economic policy makers to put growth first by doing all they can to restore confidence and boost investment".

Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment a specialist recruiter for creative manager jobs, marketing management jobs and business analysis jobs, based in Manchester, UK.

Results of a survey by the CIPD

According to a survey released by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), fewer than a third of UK firms are taking on new staff and are expected to increase from 22% to 27% this year.

The number of employers planning job losses increased between the second and third quarters of this year. And the survey of 1,200 UK firms showed a big dip in work prospects compared with 37% of firms taking on staff earlier this year and 58% when the survey began in 2004.

John Philpott, chief economist at the CIPD, said: "Last December I forecast that 2008 would be the UK'S worst year for jobs in a decade. I thought there would be some growth in employment- though only a third of that enjoyed in 2006 and 2007 and not enough to present a rise in unemployment- resulting from a squeeze on recruitment and a limited increase in the number of redundancies. Although this forecast was initially considered pessimistic it now looks relatively optimistic in comparison with the prevailing mood of doom and gloom. My initial view was based on the assumption that interest rates would fall in the second half of 2008. But this has been made difficult by a bigger than anticipated spike in food and fuel prices, making the outlook for jobs worse than originally expected.

Even if we avoid the scale of jobs fallout suffered in previous downturns, the era of the candidate's recruitment market is already over, with people in work becoming increasingly anxious that their P45 might be on its way soon.

With pay pressure still subdued, mounting job insecurity is being compounded by a significant squeeze on workers' real incomes."

According to the recent study, average pay rises are expected to rise by 3.7% in the coming months, in line with recent settlements.

Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment a specialist recruiter for creative manager jobs, ppc jobs and c# jobs, based in Manchester, UK.

Help to Decline in the Level of Sickness at Work

New report by the Department of Work and Pensions claim that bosses could be assisted by the department by being given grants to help sick employees return to work. This would in turn cut the level of sickness absence as well as the amount of people that are relying on incapacity benefits.

The Department of Work and Pensions reveals that around 90% of people that have health problems would be able to return to work earlier if there was some intervention in illnesses, along with the work place becoming much more accommodating, allowing more support for retuning to work and the temporary provision of modified work.

The official review looks closely into vocational rehabilitation, simple measures, as well as more structured support for employees who need extra help, this could reduce the amount of long term sickness absence. It could also reduce the number of employees on incapacity benefits by up to 60%.

James Purnell, the Secretary for the Work and Pensions Department, commented on the review stating that their radical proposals to change the welfare system are created to make sure that people can stay at or return to work if they re able to. The evidence from the review shows how getting back to work can be an important step to the recovery of employees.

Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment a specialist recruiter for creative jobs, marketing jobs and technical IT jobs, based in Manchester, UK.

CIPD Conference

With the economic downturn being the focus for this year’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) conference it’s a must for all businesses. With 5,000 HR professionals to meet and network with, 300 exhibitors and the opportunity to book an appointment in advance with key suppliers it’s worth a visit if you are a recruiter or just looking for a career change.

You can find advice and solutions to all your HR needs from talent management to organisational development and there will be speciality zones to help you find your way.

The Conference will take place at the Harrogate International Centre from Tuesday 16th of September until Thursday 18th of September. It will be open to everyone from 9.30am-5pm.

Seminars that will take place include;

· Surviving and Thriving through Turbulence: views from the top with Carolyn McCall, chief executive from the Guardian Media Group (GMG) and David Robinson, chairman from Richer Sounds.

· Leading through Turbulence: the power of courageous leaders with Octavius Black.

· How to Get Engaged at Work: developing successful leaders and cultures with Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe, professor of leadership from the University of Bradford School of Management, Emeritus professor of leadership studies at the University of Leeds and chief executive at Real World Group.

· Performance Management with Stephen Sidebottom, head of HR Europe at Nomura International, and Stephen Moir, Director of people and policy from Cambridgeshire County Council.

To find out more information about the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development conference visit their website www.cipd.co.uk

Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment a specialist recruiter for web development jobs, ppc jobs and .net developer jobs, based in Manchester, UK.

Pauillac Gironde Latour Reprieve

A reprieve from work: Château Latour's vineyards... heaven?