Look and Stay or Look Away

Look and Stay or Look Away How many seconds will you spend looking at a Facebook Page, Twitterprofile, Linkedin profile, a professional resume, a video on Youtube or any website before you make a conscious decision to look and stay or look away? Most studies indicate an impression will beestablished and the resulting decision to stay or look elsewherewithin 10 to 30 seconds. Are you still reading this post or have you moved on? Thetime youve spent looking at this pageand reading the first paragraph likely exceeds the average time it takes to instill an impressionand make thedecision tostay, exit from the siteor discarda resume. Are you catching the attention of those you wish to influence?Are you establishing a positive first impression? Have you presented a clear message? Lets face it, 10 to 30 seconds leaves little time for even the best speed readers or those with photographic memoriesto obtain a valid first impression. Consideration must be given to the look and the content that stands out. Here are a few tips to consider if you want toinspire your audience to stay with you. A professional resume or online profile will be perceived within the first few seconds as little more than an overall image withlimited content absorbed prior to making the decision to read on. Does it look professional? Is it complete and concise? Have you increased the font size or chosen the content to boldthat you want tostand out? If you are promoting yourself as a professional seeking anew position asVP Sales Marketing, it is not in your best interest to show an online image taken in your back yard with your childs camera. Your resume should also look professional with impressiveandquantifiable accomplishments that will stand out ina graph rather than highlightingyourhobby of mountain biking. Online videos continue to become more popularbut I find myself more often than notexiting the video before it ever gets to the main content asthe introductions seem to ramble on far too long. I already knowwhat it is about, whichis why I wanted to watch it in the first place. Time is of the essence so the information provided must beconciseand relevant. Although many live, interactive videos are available, accommodating busy schedules usually finds us listening to a recording so time spent to advise the time, discuss the weather or technical and sound checks is not relevant information. The lack of a professional appearance or image and a less than articulate speaker will also encouragea viewer to move on to one ofmillions ofother available videos. A Facebook Page is important for any professional or business.In order to create a page that will catch the attention of youraudience within a few seconds and communicate a clear message it is important to provide as much information as possible on your Wall.Creatingadditional tabs and information is ok if you have the timebut the majority ofpeople will only spend 10 to 30 seconds which means they will not venture past your Wall. Add FBML boxes to display most or all of the content in your Info tab onyour Wall tab includingthelinks to other sites. Blogs and articles are now being authored by millions of content producers,someauthoring long drawn out repetitious articles and othersaware that a blog post that is short,conciseand delivers a clear messagewill be more successful in keeping the attention of their audience.Blog postswith titles such as the top ten tips, orthe top 2oare extremely popular drawing the attention of billions of readers. If I have managed to keep your attention this long, thank you!I hope the impression you leave with is a positive one and that you will benefit from the tips that have been provided here.