Introducing The “Info-Cheese™®©” Principle:

How does a mouse-trap work? Well, you can bet that very few mice have ever looked at a trap and thought: “Hmmm, what a beautifully constructed trap, covered in text that tells me how wonderful its creators are. I think I’ll just throw myself on the trigger as a tribute to how clever these people are...”

Of course, that’s not how it works. The mouse sees the cheese and thinks: “A free dinner! I must come back here and bring all my friends with me. But first, I’ll have a little nibble on this cheese.....” SPLAT! Sadly, a well-baited and built mousetrap doesn’t attract much in the way of either word-of-mouth recommendation or repeat business. On the other hand, a well-baited and built web site does....

For example, we recently constructed a site for a credit union that mostly serves the university academic community. Aside from the obvious “newsy” bits that come from deposit and loan rate changes or new financial products, we had to add something that provoked return visits from current and prospective members. Our suggestion was to provide on-line listings of academic and administrative job opportunities and details of available study and research grants. In short, the kind of “Info-Cheese™®©” that is of vital interest to the target market and is apt to change daily, prompting frequent return visits.

What does this information have to do with the credit union? Nothing, really, except that it is exactly the sort of thing that places a site in a viewer’s list of on-line “bookmarks” - somewhere you would visit regularly, even if you weren’t seeking a new job or grant. After all, what section of a trade magazine do you look at first? That’s right, the “placements” section.

Your excuse is probably that you just want to see “what’s out there” or are simply keeping tabs on the salaries offered for similar positions to your own. Whatever the reason for your curiosity, it’s one that’s shared by the rest of the population, no matter what their particular industry.

Next: We Know Who You Are.

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