Tripping Over ReferenceThe importance of link placement

(and other stuff)

Bill Pardue (bpardue@ahml.info)

PR for Virtual Reference—updated 5/19/2011

Placement is promotion!

Press releases, handouts, ads, etc. tend to create brief “spikes” in usage.

Proper placement assures that people will find the link to VR when and where they need it!

(This doesn’t mean not to do handouts, ads, etc.!)

Source: Elaina Norlin, “Creating a Purple Cow, VRD 2005.

Not just a “QuestionPoint thing” Promote multiple avenues for reference:

Chat IM VOIP Twitter/FB Phone & in-person

But today, we’re talking about AskAway/QP!

Looking at the statistics

Looked at referrer page info from QP Three months: 458 Sessions 139 sessions from home page & catalog 319 came from everywhere else! 70% of sessions originated from places other

than home page & catalog

December 2006 Stats (more detail) 136 Total chat sessions

Home Page: 48 referrals Websites/DBs page: 17 Kids World: 17 Catalog: 9 Contact Us: 7 38 sessions from other locations!

Placement tips

Get your link: As part of the basic page template “Above the fold” (test it at 800x600)

Use graphic and brief text AskAway branding essential, but make sure

patron understands what it is! E.G., “Ask a Question Live Online” or “Get Live Online Help”

Current practices (a quick look) Looked at 20 libraries Home page link: 19 (why not 20?) Part of site “template”: 8 Link via catalog: 0 Placement (homepage):

Low: 5 lower left; 1 lower right; 2 lower center High: 4 upper left; 5 upper right; 2 upper center 1 Dead center

Think about your vendors

Your catalog Your subscription databases

FirstSearch, Gale, Ebsco, Proquest, Wilson, etc. Many support “branded” links, which can include

VR service. Contact your vendor for details. We’ve had relatively few sessions from these,

but why not catch what you can?

FirstSearch admin module

Interface Display > Your Library Settings > Your Library

How it shows up:

Gale Group admin module

Locations/Select your location (like GRC)/Customer Links

WorldCat Registry

WorldCat Registry (cont’d)

WorldCat Registry (cont’d)

How it shows up:

Do you maintain any other sites? E.G., Community information directories

Market it as local information “Ask a question about Arlington Heights” or “Live Help 24/7” Don’t necessarily play up the librarian angle as the main point!

Links on other community sites? Town/village site Chamber of Commerce Social service agencies

Be ready to answer questions relevant to these sites or to arrange referrals!

There’s a political element to this.

Look for social sites/blogs!

Not just your own blog Look for other sites where people might post

comments/questions—post answers and give your URL!

Follow tweets about your town to see if it’s worth sending a link as a reply.

“Local” version of “Slam the Boards?”

Think of anywhere else! E.G., In the signature of outgoing e-mails to patrons

QR Codes: on business cards, posted around the library, book inserts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZJFUVXcKIw

(Also, generate bit.ly address for your qwidget/chat form and then go to that address followed by “qrcode. E.G.: http://bit.ly/jTgK8E.qrcode)

AHML: http://bit.ly/askahml

Your library’s tweets and FB posts

We’re after the “long tail!”

Most of these won’t contribute large numbers You’re doing this to increase referrals

incrementally. 1 or 2 per month from multiple sources

begins to add up!

Checking your referrals:

Start at the My QuestionPoint page, click on View Service History

Checking referrals, cont’d: Then Review Transcripts>Form Fields. Select month

and uncheck everything but “referrer”. Select “View Excel file,” then “Submit.”

QP: Best Practices in Link Placement http://bit.ly/qplinks