How a website makes people obsessed

A website that Internet users will always love must have the following principles: 1) The first page is as long as possible, but the ads must not appear. 2) It is like an endless maze. 3) The traditional classification method is also necessary. 4) win a woman, to win the traffic.

According to relevant information, the British "Daily Mail" web site traffic growth of 27%, no doubt that makes it the world's second largest English media. How an online media can add to so many Internet users, Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, the American tech blogger, gave her own analysis.

The following is the full text of the article:

When I go to work every day, I allow myself to relax on the net several times. Tumblr, Gawke's appeal to me is like the temptation of candy to children.

There is a website I never miss, that is, "Daily Mail" online version of Mail Online. The online version of the British tabloids is full of stories of celebrity gossip and news of moral corruption. Of course, this media is not just me. Currently, Mail Online has outperformed other online media, including the New York Times and The Guardian, in terms of independent access to users. Last year's revenue reached 40 million US dollars, an increase of 500% over 2008. I often think about having such a powerful magic for such a site that is neither very pretty nor well-known for its in-depth coverage. Some analysts pointed out that Mail Online broke the textbook any one of the principles of website design. However, the website traffic also shows that such a design is not unreasonable.

What made us log in again and again to see the message? This question was partially answered this week. British design industry alliance Brand42, which is Mail Online design agency won the British Design Award "Design Effect Award", this award was awarded to those who have achieved great success in the design work. Through contact with the designer, I am excited to learn the success of this design, four of the most basic elements of success are as follows:

The longer the home, the better, never allow ads to appear

Brand42 begins by introducing the treatment of prominent and inconspicuous locations in traditional Web site design and the design patterns adopted by many news sites. They said Mail Online has a long first page and may even have to scroll down for a long time to see the entire contents. The design pattern adopted here is that as many as possible, that is, placing as much content on the home page as possible. Another unique move for Brand42 is removing all ads on the homepage and running more on other pages of the site.

It's like an endless maze

There are on average 70 articles in the sidebar for each story on Mail Online, each with its own picture. When the reader reads a story, the sidebar tidbits of news are like anchors that pull readers to another story. "We created a unique information structure that gives readers more access and information channels," the Brand42 team wrote. The size and proportion of sidebars are repeatedly tested with line-of-sight technology, allowing the design team to design based on the reader's average reading speed. Based on that data, Brand42 also created search-optimized templates that editors can easily post and prevent dead links from appearing. Currently, more than half of Mail Online's page views do not come from the home page but are cross-clicked across the pages.

Well, the traditional classification method is also necessary

Mail Online publishes hundreds of reports daily, which means Brand42 needs to find an integrated, categorized approach. Just browse a few minutes, you can find it's nothing more than female column, technology and other topics. This classification prevents readers from "getting lost" in a large number of stories. "It's just giving the site a new look but it gives the reader a clear idea of ​​what it is reading," Brand42 explains.

Win a woman, to win traffic

We have long known that more traffic from women than men, Mail Online also just take advantage of this fact. If you look at the homepage, you will find that many of the images are catered to, or are of interest to women, celebrity gossip, beauty and family. According to the survey, the site's female channel is better than any beauty and fashion website in the UK. Even top international fashion magazines such as "Marie Claire" and "Cosmo"

Overall, the success of Mail Online is not the use of many novelty behind the success of the methods are all time-tested online publishing, but the proportion of the scale up by several orders of magnitude.