Summary of Dr. Scacco's Lecture, February 20th
Josh Scacco was our guest lecturer on February 13th, and his content was focused on different features that can make our websites more appealing and substantive. Dr. Scacco is very qualified to be speaking on this subject matter, as he is a professor at Purdue University, and deals with politics and media on an everyday basis. He showed us his involvement with the Engaging News Project. The Engaging News Project is an outlet that aims to strengthen public discourse and a democratically acceptable manner.
Polls are not a necessary thing to have on your site, but Dr. Scacco showed our class how we can use them to our advantage. For starters, it makes your site much more interactive. The more time someone can spend on your page, the better. Also, it can provide you with instant feedback from site visitors. This feedback can range from anything regarding your website, to the product you are trying to sell, so it would be a good idea to include some type of polling mechanism on your website. Another benefit of polling it that consumers share their thoughts and opinions, which means that you are automatically receiving consumer data that you can use to your benefit.
One very good point that he made was that you must think from the perspective of the consumer when considering certain features of your website. Going back to CiCi Dadisman's lecture, you want to have your content in the appropriate places (referencing the "F" heat map), keep your content engaging and interactive, and keep your visitors coming back. Additionally, he briefly discussed SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization. He talked about how you can use keywords and phrases to draw the most amount of people possible to your page. Overall, I found Josh Scacco's information to be quite helpful, and I foresee myself using things like SEO a ton in the near future. Working with advertising, I cannot imagine my career without the use of the Internet and search engines like Google.
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