Combating ADD The Online Community Public Enemy Number 1

Internet Marketing

Let’s face it, we all have A.D.D. Whether it’s quickly flipping through channels on television, flipping through magazines at your local grocery store, or surfing online, our attention spans have shrank to that of a goldfish. With all of the new media and marketing out there these days, we are being conditioned to only process thoughts and images for a small portion of time. Think about it, how many texts do you receive a day, instant messages, pop-ups, emails, commercials, flyers and the list goes on. All of these things contribute to the way our brain receives and inputs information. With quick messages and advertisements bombarding us by the minute in our day to day lives, our minds are getting used to short messages, not the long drawn out thoughts that our grandparents are used to processing. Ever notice how frustrated you get when your grandfather or an elder is telling you a story? It may not be because they are old and slow, it may be because you are too young and impatient. Seeing that our attention spans are so finite these days, how is a website developer suppose to combat a learning disability that consumes a majority of a population?

For those of you who don’t know, A.D.D. is Attention Deficit Disorder and you have it. Don’t worry, we all do and it’s not as bad as you think. ADD causes one to have a short attention span and makes it difficult for the mind to focus for long durations of time. How does this relate to internet marketing? If you haven’t figured that out by now then you must have a severe case, so go see an ADD Specialist. As for the rest of us, people don’t want to sit and stay on a site for a long period of time. There are so many distractions that can lead your site to a high bounce rate that it is imperative to devise a plan to keep the user’s eyes fixated on your page. Distractions can come in the form of pop-up ads, emails, instant messages, and those are only from the computer. Think about all of the real life distractions that happen to us live. If you don’t have something on your site that will catch the users attention at least initially, then they will bounce; literally and figuratively.

To clear things up a bit allow me to use an analogy. Imagine the Internet as an endless magazine that you would pick up at a supermarket. Usually people tend to quickly flip through the pages unless something on a page catches their eye. “Britney Spears is back in Rehab!” or “The truth about Obama unveiled!” Once their attention is captured, the content on the page keeps them engaged. The same can be applied to the web. If the user isn’t initially attracted that they will turn the page.

So we have diagnosed the online community with Attention Deficit Disorder, given that, what is the prescription? Make your site stand out in a unique way. If someone could only see your site for ten seconds, will they take away or remember anything from it? What do you have to keep them entertained and get them over the initial ADD slump?

Once you have your users mind occupied on your site make sure to display the important content in a way that isn’t too time consuming or boring. Devise a way to give small pieces of information at a time. People with short attention spans need bits and pieces, too much all at one time will lead to another turn of a page. Also, those of us with ADD love multimedia. Bells and whistles will hook us right in. If we hear something loud, listen to something interesting, or see something new and shiny then you succeeded at getting our attention, at least for the time being. While we are distracted now is your opportunity to reel us in.

Let us not see our new found learning disability as a fall back. Let us use this as another way to come up with some innovative marketing and design strategies to keep the average web surfer involved. Research other areas of interest that your demographic is involved in and use that as a platform to draw them in. . Just don’t be distracted!

“The more original a discovery is, the more obvious it seems afterwards.” (Arthur Koestler)

Joelle Ayala

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