The latest SEO Industry news, notes, and chat.
If website usability site audits were conducted on TV with an audience, host and emotional site owner, I would be famous for breaking bad news and crushing dreams. However, by the end of the show my guests would be gushing and crying tears of joy because my recommendations turned their websites upside down and into money making, traffic busy, socially buzzed brands. First, the Pain The most memorable learning experiences… [Read More…]
Google’s new algorithm, Hummingbird, is so named to represent a new “fast and precise” searcher experience. Is it a coincidence that website visitors wish this too in the form of user experience? Google and Bing want to provide a good quality experience for each individual who types words into their search engine. To achieve this they need to know what you want and there’s the rub. We can’t be depended… [Read More…]
The user experience for your website is different for every individual who arrives because of where they started out and what they are looking for. Most sites target first time visitors. They are not your brand advocates. If you use advertising to drive traffic into your website, the content you choose for each ad should be agonized over. The content of every landing page should be agonized over too. Despite… [Read More…]
If you were to hold a contest to find which site offers the best online deal for a new cell phone, which would win? The website targeting newcomers or the one with an established customer? The answer is not so easy because people change. We lose trust. We change how we think and do things. We age. Whenever it is difficult to come up with a topic to write about… [Read More…]
Isn’t it remarkable that all these years later, since the debut of the public Internet, websites are still designed that we are unable to use? How many fads have you seen come and go? Remember thick cell padding borders around boxes before true border design? In the late 1990’s animated images were popular, and so were 3D rotating logos. Then, there was the two color web design – lime green… [Read More…]
Every web site owner shares one thing in common. They believe their web site is fine and there’s no need in testing its performance. No web site is usable by everyone. There’s always going to be someone who doesn’t understand what to do. The costs for building a web site that is accessible, understandable and can be used on all devices in all situations is not only out of the… [Read More…]
Your web site design presents two options after marketing it. Invite, browse, and leave. Or, invite and guide to revenue oriented tasks. Most web sites do the first one. The investment goes into promoting, not the user experience. Commonly Heard Feedback Selling user experience and usability services such as audits and user testing is the equivalent of making kids eat their vegetables. You tell them they are good for you… [Read More…]
If user experience is important to a company’s online sales, why do they continue to not invest in it? When did human-computer experience stop being an asset in product and services design? According to a recent study by Econsultancy, called User Experience Survey Report, “Almost three-quarters (74%) of businesses believe that the user experience is important for improving sales and conversions”. Believing is not the same thing as doing. The… [Read More…]
The buzz from SXSW regarding updates from Google’s algorithms created a stir among SEO’s but barely a stir from the usability industry. Now, more than ever before, reputation counts. You can have the best keyword rank possible, or purchase the top spot in search results, and yet what happens after the click into a web page remains the deciding factor on whether the time and investment to get there were… [Read More…]
For Marketers: Explaining the Importance of Usability to Site Owners – Part Four The way to capture the attention of someone browsing on the web is not by hitting the exact keyword phrase. Even search engines know this and offer variations of search phrases to help direct us to the best results. And that’s when all the nice and friendly assistance stops. After you click into a promising web page… [Read More…]
For Marketers: Explaining the Importance of Usability to Site Owners – Part Three Online marketing companies typically don’t offer web site usability testing for their clients because how we use web sites isn’t a priority for marketing. Search engine rank is. To their credit, some search engine marketing companies got the message from Google and Bing that user experience signals reach them. What you do online is of serious interest… [Read More…]
For Marketers: Explaining the Importance of Usability to Site Owners – Part Two Last week I launched this series on selling usability to site owners by offering some of my favorite eye opening pitches to prospective clients. Visual proof is always easy to do. But, it’s not enough. When a prospective client approaches a search engine marketing company for marketing help, most, if not all, of the proposed strategy is… [Read More…]
When I first found a web site that wouldn’t let me see the products on its homepage I was shocked and thought it was me making user errors. But it wasn’t my fault. The website really would not let me use it. It was clothing site advertising in Facebook. The picture of a shirt caught my eye and the offer sounded like a great bargain. When I clicked the ad… [Read More…]