News To Use

Welcome to the June 2007 edition of ChamberExpress™ News to Use. Our goal:  provide ideas, information and news to help chambers of commerce succeed online.

In This Edition

1. Best Practice:  Number Knowledge
2. Tools of the Trade:  Count on Counters
3. News from ChamberExpress™:  A Special Campaign to Help Military Families

1. Best Practice:  Number Knowledge  

Like most text, the rules for presenting numbers are different for websites than for print. Rather than being confused, just follow these simple tips on how to maximize using numbers on your website to your advantage.

• Since research has shown numerals stop the eye, write numbers with digits, not letters (23, not twenty-three).
• Use numerals even when the number is the first word in a sentence or bullet point, for example, “23 people attended the luncheon…”
• Use numerals for big numbers up to one billon, for example, “2,000,000” is better than “two million”, but “two trillion” are better than “2,000,000,000,000” because most people can't interpret that many zeros.
• The other option is to use numerals for the significant digits and write out the magnitude as a word, for example, write 24 billion (not twenty-four billion or 24,000,000,000).
• Spell out numbers that don't represent specific facts.  An example of this would be saying “the event attracted 1,000s of attendees” verses saying “the event attracted thousands of attendees.”

By following these simple rules for using numbers, you can increase the readability of your website text, making the experience the best possible for your customer.

*Excerpted from an online article by Jakob Nielsen.

2. Tools of the Trade:  Count on Counters

Want to know how many people are visiting your website?  Want to even know how they got there? Consider installing a counter!  Many companies use counters to give them a better understanding of how much web traffic is coming to their website as well as give information like how many times a web page have been viewed.  Here are some additional benefits of website counters:

Counters can either be hidden (only viewable by you) or displayed for anyone visiting the site to see. If you choose to display your counter, most counter companies offer various options in design so you can choose a counter which coordinates with your website.

Many counters are available with analytical statistics options which can help you can evaluate the effectiveness of advertising dollars as well as whether the keywords you are using are as effective as they can be.

Analytical statistics from counters also can help you determine where your website's visitors are coming from, for example, do you get most of your traffic from search engines, advertising or links?

If you are losing visitors, counter statistics can tell you which pages visitors are dropping out from so you can consider how to make those pages more effective. Counters also can give information on the most popular pages on your site and which pages visitors are entering on.

A closing note – there are numerous website counters available on the market so make sure you research the one that best meets your companies’ needs, or consult with your website creator for recommendations.

3. News from ChamberExpress™:  A Special Campaign to Help Military Families

We recently heard about a national campaign starting on Memorial Day to help military families that really resonated with ChamberExpress'™ focus on the positive power of technology.

Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer, is partnering with the 38 Fisher Houses - large multi-family comfort homes on the grounds of 18 major military medical centers and nine VA medical centers - to donate laptop computers and other support to make it easier for service men and women at these medical centers stay in touch with their friends and families.  The Campaign also gives Best Buy customers an easy way to support Fisher House, the troops and their families through in-store and online donations. 

Beginning on Memorial Day Weekend and continuing through the week of July 4^th, Best Buy customers can donate to Fisher House at any Best Buy register during check-out, or any time from the Best Buy website, www.bestbuy.com.  Best Buy vendor partners, including Nintendo, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba are donating laptop computers, flat screen televisions, Wii gaming systems and other technology to the Campaign.  Best Buy employees will volunteer at Fisher Houses and help install and service the new systems.  All is part of an effort by Best Buy to provide the Fisher Houses with the most modern technology so the families can remain connected to their loved ones. 

The Fisher House program began in 1990 when philanthropists and patriots Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher offered to build and donate to the government comfort homes on the grounds of military medical centers to permit service members to be close to their families during a hospitalization.  Today, there is at least one Fisher House at every major military medical center, and more are planned.   Since September 11, 2001, Fisher House Foundation has made support to service men and women hospitalized as a result of their service in Iraq or Afghanistan, and their families, its highest priority.  The six Fisher Houses that will start construction in 2007 are being built at locations where the combat casualties will receive long term rehabilitation.