In an age when TV shows and movies about zombies have millions of normally normal people acting very much like zombies clamoring for more, industry publications and organizations that impart information that’s actually helpful and useful are clamoring for “hits.”
Hits — those electronic browsing clicks that are prized by webmasters —register how many people are, at the least, glancing at a web page, advertisement, or article, and at best, lingering on and maneuvering around that location for more than a couple of minutes. The longer they linger, the more opportunities they have to view and click on the ads and other offerings that they see.
This development puts magazine editors in a spot: we have to retain some traditionalism in what we write and how we write it, and yet, if we write a Pulitzer Prize-worthy article that produces only minimal hits, it’s a so-so event.
“The medium is the message,” the most well-known of the many observations by the late communications philosopher Marshall McCluhan, has great relevance to the Internet age. That blasted mouse exists for moving and clicking, so browsing folks move it about feverishly and click away, often without thinking, as if they can’t find what they’re looking for. The web page itself contains various graphics, compartments, and self-important slots, all wanting your attention and precious clicks at the same time.
ContractingBusiness.com has provided and will continue to provide some of the best business-building information and news the HVACR industry has to offer. Our website is getting lots of hits, and we want to keep that going as we keep you informed. So please, do us both a favor: as you search around our website, take your time. Give earnest thought to what you’re looking for, and search with some kind of method. We value you as readers and as browsers, yet we also know your time is limited. The temptation exists to flit through it without giving much thought to every headline, every special offer, and every ad. Come back often to see what you might have missed and what we've added since your last visit. And don’t forget to check out our monthly editions, which we have ready for you on a timely basis.
One more thing: please use the comment section more often, to provide us with some feedback on articles. For more on this process, be sure to read Editorial Director Mike Weil’s editorial — “A Penny for Your Thoughts”.
Hmmm . . . what would you think of a story about zombie technicians? Let me know when you “got a minute.”