July 19, 2007

Use Icons To Make Your Content Stand Out

The web has changed, we all know that. Gone are the days of eye-catching visually trancing movement that once had us glued to the screen, we'd say, how'd they do that. I think with those websites, even if you wanted to know what they were selling or about you could not find one stitch of content or product promotion. Sites of long ago did very little for us as information gatherers or researchers.

Now, sites are well equipped with all the information and resources we need to be well adept in any discipline. Blogs are the stand out in today's web, they are proven to drive traffic with a targeted audience and they allow for interaction and social commentary.

Since the content within our blogs is what is truely important why not make it stand out?

We already do it with ads and rss feed icons, those elements tell us what they are, we should do the same with our content. Just like a road map has a compass so should our content. When I go to a blog or website and all I see is text and nothing else, I typically click off, don't you? When I see a blog or website with text mixed in with graphics or icons I have more reason to stay a while. When you use icons they become your true "go to" resources.

Develop icons for frequently post material - if you have a frequently asked question section, develop an icon so that people know what they are and where to go. You can develop icons for just about anything on your site. "Hot Tips" icons, that draw attention to something you really want people to see. You can also use icons to draw people to the set of tools that you use use. Have a little icon of a toolbox represent where they need to go. The possibilities are endless.

Here are some great sites that I go to for icons and some tutorials for creating my own icons.

I hope you get some good ideas from this post! Remember to be creative and think of the things you like to see on other people's sites.

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