Golden Profits with Golden Ratios?

If I told you that the ratio of 1 to 1.618 could add to your bottom line you’d probably say I am crazy. Well you just may be wrong.

How you say?

Here’s how.

The number 1.618033988749895, which trails off to infinity, is called Phi (pronounced like “fly”) and is a very unusual number with very unique properties. This proportion can be derived from the golden ratio and is represented virtually everywhere in nature, often expressed in the form of a spiral.

Some quick examples can be seen in our DNA, in the cosmos, in plants, animals, fingerprints, faces, population growth rates, cellular division, etc.

So how does this help me? Whether you realize it or not, you are subconsciously attracted to objects which contain the golden ratio. How is this known? There is a wealth of research that suggests this. The golden ratio is found in the most revered art, architecture, music, poetry, and even people. In fact, several studies have shown that people naturally judge others as beautiful or not based on how closely their facial proportions resemble the golden ratio. Volumes have been written about it.

Search the web….you’ll be reading for days.

So if this subtle psychological appeal can be found in a simple proportion, can I apply this to the design of my marketing material to achieve better results? Why not! In fact some notable examples include cars, credit cards, and even iPods.

For all you designers and photographers out there, the golden ratio is considered a more complex version of the “rule of thirds”, which has been considered a benchmark for aesthetic beauty for ages. Despite this, very few are known to have intentionally incorporated the golden ratio marketing strategies in web campaigns, but what have you got to lose? Or perhaps better phrased, how much is there to gain? There are even some great programs to help you.

Here’s how it is derived:

Draw 2 lines so that the ratio of the length of the entire line ‘A’ to the length of larger line segment ‘B’ is the same as the ratio of the length of the larger line segment ‘B’ to the length of the smaller line segment ‘C’. This happens only at the point where ‘A’ is 1.618 times ‘B’ and ‘B’ is 1.618 times ‘C’.

Top 10 reasons why Google is truly an All-American company

(It’s as American as it can get, read on…):

1. Its young. And so are we. Haven’t you ever gone to Europe and been amazed at the buildings that have been there for hundreds of thousands of years when our oldest building is a woman with a crown, a book, and a flame? Which possibly isn’t even our oldest building, which leads me to my next point:
2. Google is cocky and thinks it knows everything, just like us. It’s convinced that it knows what type of ads we want and need and specially targets and matches them to what we’re interested in. The scary part is that they’re often right too. They serve me up ads about salsa dancing and The Office all the time, and sure enough, that’s precisely what I’m interested in. Remind you of any other entity who claims to be all-knowing and omnipotent? Maybe a certain America who’s convinced it knows exactly what’s best for other people in other parts of the world whose culture and reality is so different than ours its not even funny? Just a thought.
3. Reason three- it’s both copied and a copycat. Everyone tries to emulate what Google and America do, whether its AOL trying to be more Google-esque or little Japanese high schoolers knowing every word to Snoop’s ‘Sensual Seduction’. On the flip side though, both entities know when to copy others. Google wasn’t the first search engine. America wasn’t the first country to speak English and be mean to other people and colonize and displace them. The reason they’re both so successful though is because they do it best. Nobody does it better. Which takes smarts, hence reason numero cuatro.
4. Google is multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-everything. Whatever you want to know can be explained to you in Spanish, French, Norwegian, Arabic, etc. Google’s diverse, with the co.uk, the Google France, and the Google.es for the Espanish espeakers. It’s a bonafide Melting Pot, just like some other place I know…
5. Google was created by people branching off from where they came. They had an idea and went with it. And the rest is history. Just like the land of the red, white and blue.
6. Google is Big Brother-ish. Actually maybe it’s not even ‘ish’, maybe it actually is just Big Brother. It collects personal data about you and stores it for future use and whenever it needs it. And America, well, we know what we do. We have secret societies like the CIA who have the power to put their hand in anything and do whatever they want in the name of ‘democracy’, but shhhhh, it’s all very hush-hush. Just like what Google Earth is doing. I mean, who knows really?
7. Google expands rapidly, buying businesses like YouTube left and right, just like us when we ‘buy’ and take over little places like Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. We do what we want. It’s the big fish eating the little fish. Survival of the fittest. Nothing personal, just business.
8. Under the guise of ‘just business’, we both actually are extremely cutthroat and hardworking. Neither one of us are slackers, that’s for sure. We work very hard. Sure, Google will let you sit on exercise balls and serve you free lunch every day, but did you ever stop to think that they might be doing that so you eat your lunch at your desk and take 15 minutes instead of an hour and a half? Not that bad of a ROI when you look at it that way. And we Americans work hard too. I always hear of these Europeans taking a month off every year and siestas and what not, but none of that for us. The 40 hour work week is soon becoming a thing of the past from what I hear.
9. Google is where people strive to be. It’s at the top of the world. Not too shabby of a place to be, huh? At the same time however, they’re constantly underdogs like China and India trying to bring something new to the table and beat it at its own game. Just like SEO companies beating the Google system. And when you come across a savvy white-hat SEO companies out there, watch out.
10. Since most of the previous reasons could be construed as slightly negative, let’s say something positive about the two, shall we? They’re both fun. And innovative. And cutting edge. Not to mention pretty amazing and incredible. Even though I only pledge allegiance to one (for now). Thanks, Brooke