Event Marketing and Event Promotions

Usability Dilemma: Too Many Online Choices

In a previous post, “The Danger of Too Much Event Marketing Technology,” I briefly explored the challenges of choosing the best technology for one’s event web site. Today we’re faced with so many technological and marketing choices that we don’t even know where to start.  I’ve been caught in the technological choice trap on a number of occasions and it’s not fun. The same challenge of practically unlimited choices also plays out on the user’s side of the spectrum. When users come to a web site they’re frequently faced with so many choices they don’t know where to start or finish. The end result is that users frequently leave a web site without taking any action beneficial to the web site owner.

Analysis Paralysis and Dissatisfaction
Below is an interesting presentation by Dr. Barry Schwartz called “the Paradox of Choice.” He breaks down the virtues and vices of free choice.  Most people assume that freedom of choice can be nothing less than a virtue. Unfortunately, freedom of choice can also make all of us suffer analysis paralysis and create a dissatisfying purchasing experience. If you can’t dedicate 20 minutes to watching the entire video, just watch the first 8 minutes.  It will make you think a little about your own freedom of choice.

The Paradox of Choice

The scenario presented in the video above also plays out in regards to online choice. There are critical questions every web site owner should ask. Are you better off offering the widest variety of product or the best single product for the consumer on your web site?  A similar scenario plays out in the event marketing world. As an event organizer do you offer as many ticket options as possible or a limited number of options?

Goals and Well Defined Paths
One recommendation to web site owners is to consider having a clearly defined set of goals for your web site. In tandem with your web site goals you should also have a well defined path you expect web site users to follow.  If users fall off the path is your web site intuitive enough for them to self correct their course?

The challenges above aren’t always easy to solve. You can at least start with well defined goals for you web site. Most people never set goals for their web site and therefore never find success online. Where do you fall on the issue?

Here are some additional resources:

• There Is No Perfect Web Strategy
• Missed Opportunity and Online Strategy
• Persistence and Online Patience

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

JPGs & GIFs: Optimizing Your Graphics and Images

Have you every waited too long for a web page to load up? Did the wait frustrate you? Today I’d like to dig into some old school web site usability advice on optimizing web graphics and images.  Some people might be thinking “this is newbie advice or old news.” I’d ask the question, “are you optimizing your web site graphics?” A quick look at a majority of the web sites online would show most web site owners aren’t optimizing their graphics and images.

Way Back When
Back in the day optimizing web graphics was pretty standard practice. Just a few years ago dial up access was the primary way people accessed the Internet. Web page graphics had to be optimized because people didn’t want to wait for pages to load. If a web page didn’t load in a certain amount of time people would abandon the page.  Remember that the average attention span of the typical web user is about 8 seconds. Just because dial up is on the wane, doesn’t mean you can abandon optimizing your web site graphics. In today’s high speed world attention spans are even shorter. This advice is especially important to event web sites. The number of event photos and photo galleries that aren’t optimized on various event web sites is pretty scary.

Optimizing is More Important Than Ever
Regardless of high speed internet connections you still need to ensure that your page loads as quickly as possible. One of the main ways to get your web site to load quicker is by optimizing your graphics. Anything that’s in an image format like .gif or .jpg (.jpeg) can be optimized. In short, optimization involves taking away some of the image’s information to make it smaller and more compact.  You want to significantly reduce the file size of the graphics (not appearance size or dimensions) without the user noticing. 

This Page as an Example
If you’re reading this page on my web site’s home page, take a look at all the graphics by scrolling up and down the entire page. There are at least 10-15 different images. Each of the images on this page have been optimized. I’ve reduced the file size of each graphic by almost 90%. If all of the graphics you see on this page weren’t optimized they would total over 1.5 Megabytes.  By optimizing all the graphics on this page I’ve reduced the load time by 4 - 10 seconds on a high speed connection. A few seconds might not seem like a lot, but people just don’t have online patience anyone.

Your web site users will never complain if your web site loads too quickly, but they will leave if it takes too long to load.  By optimizing the graphics on your web site you can double or triple the speed that your current web page loads up. Optimizing goes well beyond just graphics, it can include video, layout, and programming.  Always strive to make sure you website loads as quickly as possible. Below are some resources for optimizing your web graphics.

Web Graphic Optimization Resources

• About – Optimizing Web Graphics
• Optimizing Web Graphics

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Don’t Pollute Your Web Site with Advertising

Before I ruffle too many feathers, let me start with a brief disclaimer.  What follows is specifically directed to people with web sites that don’t generate their primary means of revenue from advertising.  News web sites are a prime example of web sites that use on page advertising as a primary revenue stream. They publish content to attract visitors and pay for expenses with their advertising revenue.

Advertising Pollution
A few years ago I was introduced to a unique term: advertising pollution.  If you want to see or hear advertising pollution just turn on the radio, watch TV, open a newspaper, or get online.  We’re so inundated with advertising that it’s easy to get lost in the almost useless myriad of marketing.  When I was doing extensive usability testing on web sites one of the biggest user red flags was confusing on site advertising.  Test users would ask, “What does this (banner or ad) have to do with this web site/company?”  The test users were frustrated by the advertising. The consensus was, if it doesn’t specifically support the company don’t have advertising on an informational site. High quality information first, everything else should be a very distant second.

Don’t Pollute Your Site
Too many web sites run advertising just to run advertising.  I’m willing to bet if you look at their web stats they probably don’t get enough traffic to generate any decent advertising revenue.  If you have an event web site or a business web, don’t cloud the user’s search for information with advertising pollution.  Visitors come to your web site for information about your event or your business. It’s in your best interest to focus on your user’s needs.

Internal Advertising
There are some rare exceptions to the recommendation.  I am a proponent of internal advertising on web sites. If you have a product or service that can truly help someone, then you owe it to your potential customer and yourself to advertise on your web site. Wikipedia for all its faults is a pretty good example.  They have a donation banner on top to support their operation. To the best of my knowledge they haven’t sold out their page space to unrelated third parties to generate revenue. Ultimately the advertising has to truly help the user.

Make sure you put your information before any advertising on your web site.  You’ll have happier users and most likely make more money.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Web Usability: How Many Users Do I Need to Test?

When discussing usability testing with business owners one of the first questioned to be asked is “How many people are we going to need to test properly?” Most people assume the more users you have the better your usability testing results. Ironically most usability problems can be identified with a fairly small group of users.  According to web usability guru Jakob Nielsen, you can conduct very effective usability testing on your web site with just five users.

Testing Once versus Repetitive Testing
In Nielsen's article “Why You Only Need to Test With 5 Users,” he points out that you can identify more usability issues testing 3 different times with 5 test users as opposed to testing once with 15 different users. If you only test once, you won’t be able to test any changes or improvements to identified usability issues. By spreading out the testing over a series of sessions you can apply changes and test your new solutions.  From personal experience, it has taken at least 2 different testing sessions with individual users to correct usability problems.  Testing multiple times is also crucial from a marketing perspective. Ask someone with a successful Adwords campaign how many times they test just a single highly effective Adword ad. From an improvement standpoint you’ll get the most return by repeating the simple testing formula of: test, modify, and retest. Consider how well the previous formula worked for Thomas Edison.

More Than Five People . . .
Can you test with more than 5 people? Absolutely!  If you test with more people you’ll get more data, but it is also going to cost you additional money and take up more of your time. If you look at it from a return on investment perspective, is it worth it?  One place where you might need more users as test subjects is if you have multiple niches inside your user demographic.  In those cases you’re probably have to use more than 5 users to cover the various niches.

The bottom line is if you’re considering testing your web site, you can do so effectively with just five users from your demographic.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Learn From the Past Before Spending On the Future

When it comes to web usability testing you can never start testing too early. Starting early helps you identify positive and negative aspects of your web site before spending the time and money on redesigning or creating a new web site. I recently ran across a case study of a company that decided to forgo any early testing of their current web site and only test the newly programmed web site. The caution flag was immediately raised because they decided to spend months of time redesigning their site without considering if there were issues on their current site. Did they miss something vitally important that now might be carried over from their existing web site?

Always Test Your Previous Site
Some of the most valuable information you can collect during a web site redesign can be derived form your current web site. Every company should seriously consider what can be learned from their current web site before even considering a new web site. A redesign might be a waste of time and money if you just carry over unresolved user issues.

The Numbers Don’t Lie
One place to start is by carefully considering your web statistics.  Web statistics give you a good picture of what parts of your web site attract the most and least user attention.  Such information can prove tremendously helpful for streamlining your web site. On one particular project a careful analysis of the web stats allowed the client to reduce a 150 page web site to a 15-20 page web site.  The statistical data indicated that users spent a majority of their time on just 10 of the 150 pages. A 15-20 page site is far easier for a company to manage and for users to get around.  Their decision was ultimately justified by a significant increase in user traffic.  Analyzing stats will also allow you to gather great information for search engine optimization purposes. Perhaps you’re not considering valuable keywords that drive traffic to your web site?

Likes and Dislikes
In regards to the actual use of your web site, how the user interacts, it is important to also identify your target user’s likes and dislikes.  By taking stock of user likes and dislikes you will ensure the next version of your site operates more efficiently. Let the users decide what works best for them. Don't be lured by the mindset of "We Know What's Best for the User." Ego is the quickest was to kill any business web site.

When it comes to determining a time frame for testing make sure you test early and often. It is very easy to reach a point when redesigning a web site that you can’t do anything about the problem. If the web site is already redesigned and programmed who wants to go back and correct problems?  Make sure you start testing early to avoid such a costly scenario.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

A Quick Way to Find the Dominant Web Page Element

In web design and web usability it is often important to know what elements on your web page attract the most attention. The dominant page element attracts the most visual attention on any given web page. Attracting attention can either be a virtue or a vice.  A vice would be when an element is distracting from a compelling headline. A dominant element might distract the user from accomplishing their goals on your web site. The first place to start is identifying the dominant element on your web site.

Blur Your Vision
The easiest way to find the dominate element on any web page is buy de-focusing or blurbing your eyes when you are looking at a web page. Blur your eyes just enough to make the text difficult to read. You don't want to blurb your vision so much that you start to cross fields of view.  While your vision is blurred, pay attention to what element or elements stand out the most on your web page. The part that stands out is your dominant element.

Where is the Emphasis?
Does the dominant element on the your web page that stands out too much or unbalance your design? Overly dominant page elements can distract from your messaging and dilute the effectiveness of your design. Traditionally the most dominate web site elements should be found on top of the browser window or adjacent to your most important messaging. Make sure that your advertising doesn't get in the way of your messaging.

De-Emphasizing
You can bring less emphasis to elements in several different ways. If it's a matter of large imagery, reduce the physical size of the image on your web page. Bold, dark, and vibrant colors can also attract too much attention.  Consider using colors that strike an even balance to your overall design. 

Do you know someone who is a graphic designer or artist? Leverage a graphic designer's critical eye to identify dominant page elements. A graphic designer or artist should be able to give you very straightforward advice on how to bring more or less emphasis to your design.

Make sure you are bringing emphasis to the right areas of your web page.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Squeeze Pages versus Splash Pages

Usability is an important aspect for any web site. Over the years I've changed my perspective on being a purist when it comes to usability. There are times when you have to ask yourself what's best for your bottom line. Is it more important to make money with your web site or try to make your web site as usable as possible? There are times when usability comes in conflict with effective marketing techniques.  One area of debate is in regards to splash pages and squeeze pages. Both Splash and Squeeze pages present challenges to making a web site truly usable.  Yet, one is definitely more valuable from a marketing perspective. Let's take a moment to consider both.

Splashing Them with Art
Splash pages are usually very graphical in nature and sometimes contain flash animation.  Splash pages are typically an opportunity for graphic designers to show off their artistic talents. A few years ago splash pages were all the rage for web development firms, yet times have changed. Developers started to clue in that users were bouncing from web sites that started with a splash page.  Users come to almost every web site for information not an art show. Compare a splash page with a Squeeze page.

Squeezing Information Out of Them
A squeeze page is a web page that forces people to give up at least their email and first name before they can proceed any further. A great example of a squeeze page can be found at PileCabinet.com. Many usability people would argue that a squeeze page is also barrier to entry. But over the years I've seen the tremendous amount of lead generation and revenue companies have produced by incorporating squeeze pages. One of my friends has collected over 40,000+ email addresses in the last four years with a squeeze page. Squeeze pages are also analogous with landing pages.

One aspect that makes a squeeze page different than a splash page is the promise of good information to follow. It's like the start of a relationship. The process usually starts with first name and email. After entering their information the user is expecting some pretty good information and follow up. If a company can deliver the information, they raise their level of trust and credibility with their users. Information needs to be put in front of sales pitch. Multi-million dollar businesses online are build upon this concept.

Squeeze Page Tip
If you are going to use a squeeze page make users bookmark the post-squeeze page. This way they can go direct to the information.

Anyone online should consider the advantages of using a squeeze or landing page somewhere on their web site. If you are going to use a barrier to entry on your web site, use a squeeze page!

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

High Speed Internet and the Wane of Dial Up

It was only a few years ago when more than half of the Internet users were getting online via dial up connections.  The problem was that many companies started to abandon the notion of keeping web pages small and load times quick as broadband connections became more mainstream.  As of 2007, about 20% of Internet users are still utilizing dial up access to get on the Internet. A full report detailing additional recent Internet usage statistics is available on the Ipsos North America web site.

Back in the day eight seconds was the typical attention span of a web user.  Ironically, I believe user attention spans have become even shorter than eight seconds. Broadband connections have reduced the patience of many Internet users.  If a web site doesn't start to load in a few seconds even I start to get frustrated. One of the fallouts from more high speed users has become bloated web sites with lots of video, graphics, plus unnecessary bells and whistles. In a time of high speed Internet it becomes beneficial not to think like everyone else. Instead of thinking about how much information you can stuff onto a single web page, think about providing just the right amount of information.

Thinking Backwards
There are times when a 'contrarian' mindset can serve almost any web site. A friend of mine runs a series of college humor web sites.  His video driven web site costs him thousands of dollars a month in hosting fees because of the ridiculous amount of bandwidth it requires. He told me he was measuring bandwidth for one of his college humor video web sites in terabytes. One day he came up with the idea of focusing on a picture driven web site. His desire to focus on picture web sites versus video web sites might shock some people. Someone I mentioned the idea to responded with, "everyone is interested in video web sites." Most people think that video is the way to go online. Interestingly, he has far more page views per user than his video web sites and pays far less in web site hosting each month. If I'm not mistaken his profit margin is much higher on his picture web sites than on his video web site.

Use it - Don't Abuse It
Because you have the bandwidth doesn't mean you need to use the bandwidth. Some of the most financially successful web pages I know of weight in under 100K.  That's smaller than most individual photographs contained on newspaper homepages. These light weight web sites are the epitome of simplicity.  Yet for most companies they're too simple to emulate. The best part is that they are driving millions of dollars of revenue for the companies running them.

Even though high speed connections are hear to stay, it's still tremendously beneficial to create web sites that load quickly. I have yet to receive a complaint about a web site that loaded too quickly.  In the predominately high speed Internet one of the best things any company can do is keep its' site "lean and mean."

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

What Web Developers Can Learn From Facebook

A few months ago, some friends convinced me to join Facebook. It is in some ways similar to other social networking web sites such as MySpace and Multiply. For those that don't know, Facebook is a social networking web site that allows you and your friends to share stories, pictures, and other forms of user generated content. Facebook marks a return to the simpler side of the Internet. Like other social networking web sites, Facebook emphasizes user driven content. From a web design aspect, Facebook is an ode to the simple roots of the early Internet, plenty of text and picture content. There are a few lessons on content that any web developer can learn from Facebook and integrate into their own web projects. The biggest lesson to be learned comes in the form of relevant content.

High Quality Content Versus Relevant Content
From a content perspective Facebook becomes an interesting contrast of high quality content versus extremely relevant content. For years I've always been a big proponent of high quality content. But with social networking web sites the emphasis focuses on very relevant content. Consider the following choices, which would you choose to view first?

1. A potentially great story or amazing photograph by someone you don't know.
2. A story posted by a friend with decent pictures.

Most people I know would choose number 2. Too many web developers and web site owners have content on their web sites that doesn't interest their visitors. You see it all the time with companies that provide great offline services. They aren't able to effectively connect with their target market because of a lack of relevant content.

There are also other strengths that web developers can integrate into their own projects.

Facebook's Strengths:

• Hyper Relevant User Content
• Very Simple Content: Predominately Pictures and Text
• Near Instantaneous Updates
• Quick Load Time
• Integration of the Traditional Web with the Mobile Web
• Advertising that doesn't overshadow content

Facebook does an excellent job of bridging traditional PC based web browsing with a quick loading and compact mobile phone applications.  Their mobile application is almost entirely text based. If you use the mobile phone interface, you can select the type of content and information alerts you receive.

For all its' strengths one of the biggest challenges I faced was learning to use the interface.  I wouldn't classify Facebook's user interface as being highly intuitive or extremely simple to use.  Since the service is so heavily driven by content it forces me to ask the question, "Is the user interface THAT important?"

The tremendous growth of Facebook's membership speaks for itself. The network and its' growth is built upon the premise of interacting and sharing information with your friends.  Facebook does a great job of reminding us to focus content supported by decent design. It drives home the point that content is still King on the Internet and graphic design is Queen. If you have a few minutes it's worth signing up for an account and networking with friends.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Questions You Need To Ask Regarding Your Web Site

Last week, during a local marketing meeting, a thought occurred to me.  I was in a room full of 25 savvy marketers/business people. I thought to myself "why not ask the meeting attendees some simple yet important questions regarding their company web sites."  It was an informal survey and the results ended up resonating an important point.   My first question was, "Do you have a company web site?"  Almost everyone in the room raised their hand. Two questions later only three people had their hand still raised. Out of a group of 25 people only 3 (12%) had a web site that supported their business.  I believe there are three simple yet important questions any business owner could ask themselves to identify if their web site is supporting their business. The questions that follow are the same questions I asked the meeting participants.

The Important Questions To Consider

• Is my web site helping to generate revenue for my company?
• Does my web site generate quantifiable sale leads for my company?
• Does my web site save my company money on a regular basis?

Ideally, "Yes" should be the answer to all the questions above. A truly effective web site, at a minimum, should answer "Yes" to at least two of the questions.  Many people will answer yes to the questions, but give very nebulous information to support their answer. A "Yes" response should be followed by supporting data, "Yes, we generated sales leads with out web site, and here is how we accomplished that . . ."

A Difficult Path to Travel
It isn't easy to create a web site that you can answer yes to the three questions above. It took me years to figure out how to create a web site that generated leads, creates consistent revenue, and saves money on a regular basis. I'm still in the process of creating a web site that does all three things. Every company with a web site should strive to create a site that measurably saves money, generates leads, and increases revenue. "Because everyone else has one" isn't a good reason to have a web site.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Leveraging Technology Versus Using "Bells and Whistles"

Are you leveraging technology or making use of "bells and whistles?" 
There are plenty of companies who are quick to integrate various forms of technology online or into their web site. Examples are numerous from online audio and video to flash and interactive polling. There are some great technologies out there that can automate a process into a few minutes compared to hours or days for traditional implementation. The leveraging of technology provides companies with a proven return on investment. "Bells and whistles" are nice to have, but never deliver a measurable or advantageous return on investment. It is important to know the difference between leveraging technology and making use of "bells and whistles."

It starts with companies being objective about their use of online technology. A large differentiator between those individuals and companies who are successful online and everyone else comes down to who consistently leverages technology. Consider the example of email marketing with programs like, AWeber, Constant Contact, or 1ShoppingCart.  How many people do you know make use of email marketing services? I personally know a number of companies and individuals who make use of email marketing technology.  For all the companies using email marketing programs,very few use the technology properly and on a regular basis.  For those that fail in their endeavors, you hear reasons like "we couldn't figure out how to make it work" or "it didn't work for us." Frustration replaces objectivity.

Tenacity and Determination
Those who are very successful online leverage technology to it's maximum potential.  They test and track their results on a regular basis. They don't quit because something doesn't go accordingly the first, second, or third time.  The online superstars realize the difference between being perfect and "good is good enough." For those that fail with their online efforts it is usually from a lack of tenacity and determination.

Be Introspective
One way to differentiate between "bells and whistles" and good technology is by asking yourself, "what's cool to have and what is truly useful?" Also ask yourself,"I am maximizing the usefulness of a given technology?" If not, it might be time to move on to something else. The hard part is knowing when to stay with a process and when to get out. In the past it was said "One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure." It isn't much different when it comes to technology. Those that take the time to figure it out the right nuances usually end up with most of the treasure.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Reading the User's Mind and Then Doing Nothing About It

Want to find out what users of your web site are thinking?
The simplest place to start is by looking at your web site log files with an analytics program. Right now, I know that a number of people reading this are saying to themselves "Thank You, Dr. Obvious!" Of course if you look at your web stats you'll get better information on what the users are thinking.  Each user movement through your web site tallies up in various trends for interpretation on web reports.  The process takes a good portion of the guess work out of the equation as it pertains to "what are the users thinking?

Doing Nothing With Good Information
I've seen more web reports than I care to recall.  These reports include everything from a short synopsis of user activity to 75 pages of data that a statistician would drool over.  For all the great analytics packages on the market, some solutions being absolutely free, most companies don't take the time to implement web strategy changes in accordance with their web stats.  At web stat review meetings  everyone is "amazed and really interested in all the findings." After a review meeting most findings fall to the way side or nothing gets changed.

Linking Your Statistics with Goals
I discussed the challenge of web stats falling to the wayside with my friend Matt from ITMonkey.  He shared some of the same concerns and suggested some very practical advice. Matt said it starts with "creating realistic and measurable goals that you can reference against your web stats." You need to go beyond the standard metrics such as visitors, page views, average time on site, etc. Some simple goal oriented suggestions include the following:

• If your goal is to increase the usability of your web site, your web statistics are a great starting point for any usability testing.  The history of your site gives a historical retrospective on who, what, when, where, as it pertains to users. You can also test new strategies against old trends.

• Web statistics are a great bridge into establishing or refining a Search Engine Optimization campaign.  Again use collected keyword data as a starting point.  Are your new keywords as effective as generating traffic?

• Are links you've recently traded or purchased to your web site providing you with an appreciable return on investment?

• If you have an advertising campaign you are running in the traditional media use your analytics software to track the effectiveness of your marketing.  There was one campaign that was run earlier this year that actually showed a better return on investment from Pay Per Click Advertising versus radio advertising.

Companies need to go beyond just reading web statistics for all the obvious reasons.  Look deeper and tie the statistical data to measurable goals over time. Companies are getting a pretty precise map of what their web users are thinking and doing, but what's the use of a map that you never reference?

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

What You See ISN'T Always What You Get . . .

When it comes to web usability there are number of methods and techniques used to ensure that a web site is easy to use and understand.  One particular area of usability is ensuring web site compatibility with the greatest number of computers possible. Software developers have created features for web development applications to aid developers in creating compatible web sites.  Two of the most popular web design applications, Dreamweaver and Frontpage, are considered WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get).  What you see while programming the page is suppose to be close to what you should get after the web site is posted on a server.  In additional to the WYSIWYG environment most web development software has a preview function.  The preview function allows web site creators to view a page on their local machine in the web browser of their choice. For all the technology in place to assist web designers in creating compatible web sites something always goes awry. 

It Looks Different on This Computer
One of the biggest “Doh!” moments is when you check your web site online and see something completely different than what was tested on your local machine.  This happens regularly to the best developers on Earth.  Most web developers could write books on the horror stories associated with “I previewed the page before I posted it to the server.”

The Ultimate Test
Regardless of how sure you are that a web page is programmed correctly, you always need to test and test relentlessly.  The ultimate test of a web site’s compatibility should be when a web site is uploaded to a server.  You should never consider what you see on your own computer an accurate representation of a given web.  Always test from the server that is going to be hosting your web page.  Below you’ll find a brief list of checks you can perform to ensure compatibility.

Simple Web Site Compatibility Checks:

• Check your web site in multiple browsers.
• Check your web site in browsers a few releases behind.
• Check your web site on multiple platforms (Mac, PC, Unix).
• Clear your browser cache before checking an updated web site.
• Is the design broken or inconsistent?
• Does all the critical functionality work (Forms, E-comm, Interactive Elements)?

Always double check your web site, as often as possible, but at least once every few days.  The most important time to check is immediately after a page has been updated.

A Dose of Usable Reality
One common piece of usability advice is testing a few browser versions behind the current release.  The reality of the situation is that you can be vigilant in checking your web site in previous browser versions but that isn’t enough. Users bare a certain level of responsibility in ensuring their browsers are up to date. 

The mobile revolution is also making things increasingly difficult from a compatibility and accessibility aspect.  Developing a web site for a typical user versus a mobile user is a distinct discipline.  Each version of the web site is different for individual platforms.

Web site compatibility is important to strive for, but often difficult to achieve. You can reasonably ensure web site compatibility by testing for proper functionality and testing often!

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Type, Audio, and Video

In “The Most Powerful Form of Advertising” the argument is made that copywriting is the most powerful form of online advertising. Depending on the type of web site and the information being presented, the written word might be the most effective way of presenting information.  Words are clean, simple, and to the point.  “What about multimedia?” Multimedia is wonderful and has its place on the Internet. Yet multimedia can also complicate things and add a tremendous amount of cost to any web project.   

Content Driven
Visit some of your favorite web sites. What is the balance of words to multimedia? One of my favorite web sites “Abandon & Little Known Airfields” is composed entirely of text, html links, and pictures.  The web site contains a tremendous amount of historical information on abandon airports across the United State. There aren’t any flashy graphics, audio, or video, just really interesting information.

Books versus Movies
There is something about the written word that cannot be replaced with audio, video, or other forms of multimedia.  Consider some of your favorite books.  Many books become motion pictures. How many times have you walked out of the theater and said to yourself, “I enjoyed the book more than the movie.” Words have an interesting way of setting off our imagination.  Regardless of how good the cinematography or specials many movies can’t match the impact of ink and paper.

On the Internet the user is always looking at the quickest and easiest way to access good information. One of the easiest ways to get information to the user is by using nothing more than words.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Online Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success

Someone asked me the other day “why do so few companies find success online?” There are so many different answers I didn’t know where to start.  On a whim, I came up with an answer that has crept up in almost every single web project I can recall.  My answer to “why do so few companies find success online?” is “companies lack online objectivity.”  Companies cannot take their own vested interests out of their web site.  They focus more on their own needs as oppose to their user’s needs. This isn't to suggest that a company shouldn't strive to meet its online goals.  Companies get tripped up in the process.  They try to serve themselves first before serving their market. How many web sites have you visited a web site with each sentence starting with “Our … My … We?” Successful companies maintain a high degree of online objectivity.

Online Objectivity
Here is a simple usability fact: Users aren’t interest in a company that tells them about the greatness of their product or service. Users want to know what a company is going to do for them.  The focus should be on meeting the user’s needs.  This can be accomplished by listening or interacting with them. Those companies that practice a high level on online objectivity are more likely to succeed online. If you want to ensure success online make sure you’re meeting your user’s needs before your own. The great thing about the Internet is that you can collect feedback quickly and inexpensively.  Below are a few suggestions of ways to meet user needs.

Ways to Meet User Needs:

• Post Transaction Follow up
• Feedback Forums
• Email Survey
• Online Survey
• Usability Testing

Those companies who keep the focus on the user at all times are far more likely to be successful online.  The most difficult thing to overcome online is a company’s own ego.  Putting the customer’s ego in front of your ego is a big step with big payoffs.

Additional Resource:

• Ego: How to Destroy Your Web Site

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites and Sound
• Web Page Layout Suggestions
• Reading the User's Mind and Then Doing Nothing About It
• JPGs & GIFs: Optimizing Your Graphics and Images
• Web Usability Versus Internet Marketing
• Where's the Web Site Link? ( I'm confused . . . )
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Web Usability Versus Internet Marketing

More Than Usability
The importance of web usability cannot be underestimated.  Yet it is important to recognize it takes a lot more than just having a usable web site to be successful online.  Usability primarily focuses on making things easy to use and understand.  Regardless of how easy a web site is to use it also needs to have consistent and increasing visitor traffic. Traffic generation falls under the category of internet marketing. Marketing concentrates on product or service awareness and as part of the sales process.  It is important for any web site owner to make use of both usability and marketing.

Marketing isn't always Usable
There are some techniques direct marketing techniques that directly contradict sound usability principles.  One such technique is the use of pop ups.  For years pop up windows created usability issues.  Yet from a marketing perspective pop ups are great way to collect email addresses. Email addresses can be used to drive a marketing campaign for a product or service.

Bridging Usability and Marketing
One distinct area where web usability and internet marketing are complementary is when it comes to user testing.  User testing is crucial for both disciplines.  In web usability testing you collect data to identify positive or negative trends.  Those trends are used to enhance an improve a web site or online process.  Testing is also used in the area of marketing to improve advertising performance. Internet marketers frequently use Split testing to improve the performance of various marketing pieces: PPC ads, sales letter, or headlines to name a few.  The importance of testing needs to be placed on objectivity.  It is very easy to throw overshadow "what the boss wants" as opposed to what people are saying.

There are a number of marketing techniques that don't conform with good usability standards. The most profitable web sites find the right balance between web usability and marketing.  From experience I’ve seen web sites that give deference to marketing, sacrificing usability, and doing tremendously well on the financial front.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Others Do the Work, You Save Money

In the Think Big, Start Small post I suggested the idea of an online field trip to find web site concepts that might be applicable to your own web site. Some of the most successful web sites borrowed their ideas from some other site. For whatever reason, people have a pressing need to reinvent the wheel on the Internet.  It costs money to reinvent the wheel.  In many cases you can find a web site that is doing reasonably well, borrow some of their ideas and do even better.  The process allows almost anyone to save time and money on their web project. 

Looking At The Competition
A few years ago I headed up a usability study for a local private school that services the deaf and hard of hearing.  Part of the usability study focused on looking at the client’s competition and similar topical web sites.  The information derived from analyzing other web sites was tremendously helpful.  It allowed the client and the developer to integrate user approved concepts thereby reducing project time and cost.

Direct Marketing Methodology
The same methodology is used in the direct marketing field on a regular basis.  Most of the great copywriters encourage their students to collect junk mail.  Companies pay top dollar to create advertising campaigns that most people classify as junk mail.  If you can clue into the successful campaigns (those that run often) you might be able to integrate some of the ideas.  It takes time but is well worth the effort.   

Where to Start
The process is very straightforward. Find web sites that offer a similar product or service to your own.  Those will be the sites that you’ll look to gather information from. Take into consideration the factors such as user demographics and the size of a site as it relates to your site. 

You can conduct the testing on your own or make use of family or friends.  Consider looking to users outside your organization to conduct testing. People outside the organization traditionally have less bias as it related to your company or product.

Likes and Dislikes
Ask people to identify their likes and dislikes on the competing or similar web sites.  Make a list of your findings. Are there any ideas or concepts that you might be able to improve upon?

It is important to emulate as opposed to creating an exact copy. There are still copyright laws that need to be observed.

You can save a significant amount of money and time on development costs by emulating others.  There is nothing wrong with taking someone's idea and expanding it or modifying it.  It is the essence of the Internet.  Almost everyone is a copy cat.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Two Click Usability and SEO

A number of web sites unintentionally bury their best content.  In some cases users might completely miss the most important content a web site has to offer. This usability challenge can also have a significant impact on e-commerce web sites. Companies and web site owners need to ask themselves: “Is the content on my web site easy for users to access?” Less clicks can also help you with your search engine optimization efforts.

Below are some simple suggestions for making sure you best content is getting to the user:

The Two Click Suggestion
One usability suggestion is making sure important content is no more than two clicks away.  Users should be able to access most of your pages without having to click more than two times.  The ‘two click’ suggestion is also applicable for search engine optimization purposes.  Most spiders will only crawl web sites so deep before they stop.

Let the User Decide
Another helpful way to determine what content is most important to the user is by looking at your log files. Think of your log files as an informal voting system.  In many cases the users choose pages or article that a web site owner wouldn’t have considered important. Use the log files to your advantage.

Questions to Ask:

• Are there individual pages or article that get a comparatively large proportion of requests?
  
  
• Are there pages or article you believe to be important that are being missed by users? 

Using Anchor Links in Each Page
You can use HTML anchor links within each page to point related pages on your web site.  If a user is interested in the related information they might be apt to click on the link.  Keyword targeted HTML anchor links also help search engines to better index your web site.  If you can't integrate HTML anchor links into your body content, consider placing them at the bottom of each page.

Getting Big With Blogs
One web site format that offers a surprising amount of versatility and usability is a Blog.  A Blog's hierarchy is a great way of organizing web sites that have a large number of individual pages. Blogs are usually categorize by topic area and in most cases archived by date.  A Blog format isn’t for every web site, but that doesn’t mean you can adopt some of the information architecture related to categorizing content.

Blogs also have Search Engine spiders have a much easier time crawling Blogs because HTML links.  If you choose the right keywords and topic areas, you stand to get better indexing in the search engines.

It is in the best interest of almost every web site to keep content as easy to access as possible.  When good content becomes difficult to reach it makes it tremendously difficult to create a sticky web site. It is not only good for the usability of your web site, but it is also good for your bottom line.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Web Sites That are Always Under Construction

How can a web site annoy a user in 5 seconds or less?  By presenting the user with a page that contains the words “under construction.” During the pioneering days of the Internet it was almost impossible to run across a page on a daily basis that didn’t say “under construction.  Thankfully most companies have abandoned the practice of tagging their incomplete pages with the “under construction.” Yet there are enough sites that contain those infamous words to dedicate a post to the issue. 

One area where the under construction plague runs rampant is on personal web sites. If you do a search for “under construction” in Google and you get 52 million results.  There are a few steps any web site can take to overcome the usability issues created by always being under construction.

Users Seek Immediate Content
The problem with most under construction pages is they don’t present the user with any compelling content.  There might be the occasional “stop back soon for updates,” but users rarely go back to the site.  Remember the user’s mindset when they surf the Internet.  If you can’t provide users with information they’ll find it elsewhere.  User attention span is measured in seconds.

What Can Be Done
In many cases you don't need to use an under construction page. Any changes on a web site should be done near instantaneously or in the background. Depending on the versatility of your navigation consider disabling individual web pages or sections that don’t contain any content.  Consider posting a temporary page with some content.

Try not to leave pages blank. From an SEO standpoint pages with little or no content have almost no search value.    As opposed to presenting the user with an “under construction” page, present a temporary page with some relevant content.  Some content is far better than no content. Give the user a sneak peak of what is coming or use the page to build some anticipation.  Just make sure the anticipation isn’t carried out for too long.

Be sure to include good contact information if you’re using temporary home page. What a page lacks in content can be made up with an offer to communicate. Encourage users to contact you if they have any questions.  Keep the emphasis on customer service.

The Internet is always under construction.  Posting a sign to point out the obvious doesn’t help users. Keep the emphasis on presenting the user with some content or the ability to assist them in some fashion.

Additional Resource:

• Starting on the Internet, Slowly

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

When They Have To Hit Submit

Today I’m going to briefly approach the submit button from a trust and credibility standpoint with some added usability added to the mix.  It is possible for one simple thing like the submit button to have a noticeable impact on a web site.  There are many times when a developer will take for granted the placement and implementation of a submit button.  This article stemmed from a client expressing their opinion on the poor implementation of an online form during a recent review meeting.  There are certain factors that can be addressed to make it easier for a user to submit.

Placement
The placement of a search or submit button can impact click through rates for form submission.  Regardless of the logic of placing a submit button at the end of a form, the bottom might not always be a logical place.  In some instances it might be beneficial to think logically before thinking visually in regards to submission button placement.

Where does the information go?
One question that comes up during usability studies that involve submission forms is “where does the information go after I hit submit?”  Users are particularly sensitive when they are filling out personal information.  Let the user know exactly where their information is being sent. 

Privacy Policy
Another piece of information you should nest near the submit button is a privacy or SPAM policy.  Make users feel more comfortable by ensuring the user that their privacy and data will be safely protected. Also letting them know they won't be inundated with email might give them more incentive to submit their information.

Give Feedback
After the user hits the submit button let them know that the information has been successfully sent.  This can be as simple as a thank you or acknowledgment page. If you have an autoresponder setup let the user know to check their email.  There have been a few instances when a client inadvertently broke an online form.  The issue wasn’t detected until a few weeks later.  Users are usually the last to know if a form is properly submitting information.   

Is there an alternative option?
There are instances where an online form might stop working.  In some cases the web site owner isn’t aware of the problem.  Always provide the user with an alternative method of submitting information like email or via telephone.   Keep that information near the submit button.  Let the users know there is an alternative.

Always be away of the small things you can do that have a larger impact on the user.  The ability to submit information is an important interactive element to many web sites.  Keep the process simple and provide the user with feedback.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

News and a Greater Attention Span

There was an interesting article I found the other day regarding the reading habits of users.  The study compared the reading habits of how people read online versus reading information from traditional media like newspapers.  When users found something of interest to them they tend to read word for word.  This contradicts with the popular web usability notion that users are more apt to skim.  “The EyeTrack07 survey by the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism school, found online readers read 77 percent of what they chose to read while broadsheet newspaper readers read an average of 62 percent, and tabloid readers about 57 percent.” (Goldsmith)

Questions and Bullets
The article supports the traditional usability recommendation to break information into easier to digest chunks and make the information interesting. “People paid more attention to items written in a question and answer format or as lists, and preferred documentary news photographs to staged or studio pictures.” (Goldsmith) Thought provoking questions are a great way to hook the users into your content.

Online Versus Offline
The study also points out some key points of focus being different for online versus offline readers.  In newspapers the readers focused on large headlines and photos. When a reader was on a web site their initial focus was on navigation and story teasers.

What's the Impact?
It will be interested to see how some of the gurus in the usability industry react to the findings. A number of findings reemphasize what current web usability already supports, but there are some counterpoints.  You still need to give the user a good reason to click on an article.  Users aren’t apt to read anything that doesn’t hold their interest or is poorly written either online or offline.

*Source: Web news readers have greater attention span: study

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Do You Make These Web Site Mistakes?

On occasion we can do things that make our web site harder to use.  In Mark Pearrow’s The Usability Handbook, he outlines some commons causes that adversely impact web site usability. What starts as a small usability issue can grow into a larger problem. Most web sites can be successful without being completely usable.  Yet, the piling up of small usability problems can have a negative impact a web site’s performance and bottom line.  Are you making any of the following common mistakes?

Getting too Technical
When you’re in the technology industry it is very easy to get caught up in the "latest and greatest." Many Web developers and site owners focus too much on technological "bells and whistles." It might be an interactive calendar that is packed with features that nobody understands how to use. Technology tends to get complex. It is imperative to know your web site user and design for them. If you want great examples go and check out Google or Yahoo. Both companies have amazing technology behind them, yet use a very simple facade. Keep things as simple as possible and focus on making the user experience as painless as possible.

• Keeping It Simple

“Someone” Centric Web Design
Geeks speak techno terms and humans speak human.  Graphic designers are highly creative, yet their design might be above the user’s understanding (artsy-fartsy).  If Geeks and Graphic Designers don’t design for the user your web site can quickly leave the user dazed and confused.  Users aren’t going to embrace confusing or difficult to use web sites. This happens when a company tries to present information in corporate terms.  Bring it to the user’s level. Create a web site that focuses on the user’s ego in both verbiage and design.

• Using 40 Million Dollar Words

Not By Chance
Usable web sites don’t happen by chance.  They are usually a result of a well thought design combined with a smart web strategy.  Too many companies approach their web site with the “if you build it, they will come” attitude.  The most successful web sites embrace an Edisonian approach.  Successful web sites are always testing and evaluating their progress.  The web is not a fire and forget environment. You must always seek to understand and evolve, or else you will never be successful online.

• Thomas Edison and the Internet

Decision Makers
There are too many times when the wrong people within a company are making crucial decisions about a web site. Yes, this even includes upper management. Ego can quickly destroy any web site. The number one decision maker regarding web site policy is the web site user. Get into your user's psyche. You can also learn a great deal from looking at you web stats. I cannot think of one successful web site that isn't catering to the user.

• How to Destroy Your Web Site

Poor web usability doesn’t happen because of just one thing.  It is the combination of small things that add up.  Keep the issues in check to ensure your site is usable.

Source: Pearrow, Mark. The Web Site Usability Handbook.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites and Sound
• Web Page Layout Suggestions
• Reading the User's Mind and Then Doing Nothing About It
• JPGs & GIFs: Optimizing Your Graphics and Images
• Web Usability Versus Internet Marketing
• Where's the Web Site Link? ( I'm confused . . . )
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Keeping Your Web Site Simple . . .

Technology tends to complicate things.  This is especially true online.  With all the technology available it is difficult to know where to start.  Anyone with a web site should strive to keep things as simple as possible for the user.

Web Navigation
Consider how web navigation has evolved. Originally it was just a simple HTML link.  Developers then transitioned from HTML to Javascript image rollovers.  Javascript wasn’t about to be outdone by Flash navigation and all the bells and whistles that followed.  Thankfully the web is coming back around to being simple.  Developers are realizing that users seek out simple over being cool.  Many web sites are reverting back to simple CSS navigation.  Simple navigation is easy for users to understand and also helps with search optimization efforts.

A KISS Mentality
The old adage “Keep It Simple Stupid” is great advice when it comes to all aspects of creating web pages.  Users will always choose the simplest route.  Provided a web site could be trusted and provides you what you were looking for, where would you spent your money?

1. A web site that is complex and difficult to use.
2. A web site that is simple and to the point.

Always put yourself in the user’s frame of mind.  Is there something that you can do on your web site to make it easier to use or understand?

Simple usability questions to ask:

• Can the users easily understand the web site in under 15 seconds?
• Is the navigation easy to use and intuitive?
• Do the pictures and photographs match the context of the web site?
• Does the navigation placement and function stay constant throughout the site?
• If you have an online store, is the checkout process short and streamlined?
• Can users easily determine what’s clickable on each page?
• Is the user provided easy to find and reliable contact information?

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Web Usability ISN'T . . .

If you ask ten different people the same question, you’re most likely going to get ten distinct answers.  Even among the experts it is difficult to get a straightforward definition or explanation of web site usability. Instead of concentrating on defining what web usability “is,” we’ll look at what web usability “is not.”  Two critical components for any web site are accessibility and marketing.  Each is unique and distinctly different than usability.  It is important to know the differences and how each aspect is ultimately important to any web site.

Accessibility
In Mark Pearrow’s Web Site Usability Handbook, he makes several distinctions about what isn’t web usability.  One of the most common misconceptions is viewing usability and accessibility as the same thing.  Accessibility specifically concentrates on making a web site available to as many people as possible.  People with disabilities are an important focus of web accessibility.  Web accessibility allows people with disabilities such as hearing or visual impairment to access a web sites.  Web standards and technology are used to compensate for people's disabilities. Accessibility also delves into the challenges of delivering a web site over a variety of devices.  You can access web sites from PDA's, Smart phones, Laptops, etc. Accessibility ensures that users can get to a web site regardless of the type of device they're using.

Marketability
Pearrow also points out that “usability is not marketing research.” Online Marketing focuses creating awareness and interest for a product, service, or web site. Usability focuses on making sure that the product, service, or web site is easy to use.  A marketing centric approach might try to guide users along a predefined online path or compel them to purchase something.  Usability ensures that regardless of whatever path a user takes, they’ll find the information easily. 

Accessibility and Marketing are both important to online success.  Yet they shouldn’t be confused with usability, which focuses on making something easy to use and understand.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Focus Groups versus Usability Testing

This post is for my friend Peter who feels so passionate about focus groups.  Steve Krug makes some excellent points in Don’t Make Me Think regarding the differences between focus groups and a usability test. There are a number of people in the business world that confuse focus groups and usability testing.  Each discipline has its own unique approach, but the type of information collected and methodology are different. 

Focus Groups
Mr. Krug points out that focus groups are “a group process, and much of its value comes from participants reacting to each other’s opinions.” In a previous post, Beware! Dominant Users and Focus Groups, the dangers of a dominate user are briefly explored. This is in contrast to a usability test in which testing is usually conducted one on one. Krug believes focus groups are beneficial in obtaining quick feedback. This involves a better understanding of user needs, wants, likes and dislikes. I believe that focus groups are also great for brainstorming ideas.  An argument is made against focus groups in regards to determining if a web site is easy to use and what requires improvements. This is where usability testing comes into play.

Usability Testing
Usability testing concentrates on making sure a web site is functions properly and where to make improvements.  Krug argues focus groups “won’t tell you whether people can actually use your site.” This is best accomplished with usability testing. The one on one usability testing can help you refine how individual people interact with a web site.  Individual people won’t have their opinions modified by what someone else might think.  That’s the beauty of one on one test.  Users usually don’t surf the Internet in groups.  Individual usability tests also all you to concentrate on finite tasks and details.

Both focus groups and usability testing provide you with valuable information.  Use each accordingly and wisely.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Where's the Web Site Link? ( I'm confused . . . )

How many times have you clicked on something thinking it was a link?

I ran across the article pictured to the right today.  The article about falling ice from the CN Tower in Toronto easily prompts one to watch the related video.  At the end of the short article the reader is prompted to “Click on the video icon to see the ice falling.”  My first natural inclination is to click on the picture to the right of the article.  I quickly found out that this isn’t the link for the video.      

One challenge is that I’ve trained myself to ignore advertising on the screen.  Many users have learned to tune out anything that looks like advertising, including things that aren't advertising. In this case the video icon is directed above the advertising block on the right.  Did I completely miss the link because it was right above advertising?  Two things made finding the video link difficult: informational relationships and linking to the most logical piece of information.

Informational Relationships
If you’re presenting information on a page to the user keep related items grouped together.  It seems logical enough, yet web developers break from this simple standard all the time.  Think in terms of informational relationships. In the case of the CN Tower article having the video link immediately after would have made the most sense.

Making It Linkable
If it looks like a link and it should be a link, make it linkable.  When designing web sites it is very easy to detach form a typical user’s behaviors.  Sometimes a link is put into a page without giving much thought to how a user might interpret the link.  Always look at links from the user’s perspective.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Don’t Pollute Your Web Site

Advertising is an important aspect for most web sites.  If a web site has decent traffic it can drive additional revenue from advertising.  Some web sites base a significant part of their online business model around online advertising.  If there wasn’t online advertising revenue some web sites wouldn’t exist.  The challenge becomes delivering advertising without interfering with content delivery. Remember that the primary reason users are coming to your web site is for content.  Users are not visiting your web site for advertising.  Are you polluting your web site with excessive advertising?

Sticking it to Ads
There was an article published years ago citing user reactions to excessive advertising.  Some users became so annoyed with advertising that they put stick it notes on their monitor to cover up annoying ads.  An important advertising fundamental from a usability stand point is balancing content and advertising.  Make sure that online advertising doesn’t diminish the content you're trying to present.  It is less of a matter of "how much is too much?" versus "Is the advertising getting in the way of delivering quality content?"

High Quality Content
Focus on keeping the dominate page element the content.  Advertising shouldn’t get in the user’s way when it comes to getting through web site. Web sites that keep the advertising layout consistent site wide are good examples to follow.  Many of the larger new organizations follow this model. There are predefined areas that are reserved as advertising space. Many of the larger portals have gone so far as to label the areas as advertising.

Matching Ads with Site Content
Be vigilant about the advertising you have on your web site.   Does the advertising match the context and theme of a site web?  Users are less apt to get annoyed with advertising if it’s at least related to the subject matter found on a web site or article.  Also be careful to ensure that site content isn't confused with advertising.  Users have modified their surfing habits to ignore anything that looks like advertising. Is there something on your web site that a user might confuse with advertising?

When it comes to advertising and usability, make sure the advertising isn't clouding the message.  Keep the focus on content.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites and Sound
• Web Page Layout Suggestions
• Reading the User's Mind and Then Doing Nothing About It
• JPGs & GIFs: Optimizing Your Graphics and Images
• Web Usability Versus Internet Marketing
• Where's the Web Site Link? ( I'm confused . . . )
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Web Usability ISN’T Buzzworthy

Usability is a concept that every web user embraces. Who doesn't like an easy to use web site?  Combine an easy to use web site with some smart Internet marketing fundamentals and most companies have a decent chance of being successful online.  The problem is that the term usability confuses many people. 

Why Isn't Web Usability Buzzworthy? 
Unless you’re in the technology or web industry it is doubtful that many people can comprehend “web usability.”  When someone asks me “what do you do?” I reply with “web usability consultant.”  Their response is either “what?!?” or “I’ve never heard of that before.” Those words are almost instantaneously followed by a look of confusion.  After a brief explanation, some people might understand the basic premise of usability consulting.  Ask ten different people inside the web industry to define web usability and you'll get ten different explanations. I’d argue that in order to be buzzworthy people need to at least understand the basic term.

Then There Is Being Blunt
Here is the ironic part. If the description is diluted down to “I help companies make sure their web site doesn’t suck,” (an ode to Vincent Flanders) people know exactly what you’re talking about.  Is it professional? Absolutely not!  Do people instantaneously understand what you are talking about? Yes.  There are other words and explanation that someone could use to describe web usability, but it seems like the blunt approach is the most effective.  The blunt description is easily understood by upper level management to the casual web user.    

The problem of a good buzzword is problematic in other Internet segments. “Linkbait” is a term that many people in the SEO industry are trying to change.  Linkbaiting involves compelling people to provide a backlink to a web site or certain web page.  Unfortunately the term sounds like something bad or nefarious.   

The term concept of usability is great, but the term is far from sleek or catchy.  If people don’t easily understand the term “usability” how is anyone suppose to buy into the benefits of usability?

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Are You Opting-In Above the Fold?

Tamar Weinberg over at Techipedia posted an interesting question, “Should the Subscribe Button be Above the Fold?”  In her post she asks two important questions:

“I am curious to know whether the placement of the “subscribe” button on the top of the page has actually yielded more conversions than if it was in the middle of the page. I’d also be curious to know whether people fall victim to searching in the wrong textbox or if I am the only zombie to do such a silly thing.”

Email Subscription (Opt-In) Above the Fold
I would argue that there is enough room above the fold to give proper attention to both a search box and an email subscription opt-in.  Screen resolutions are going up and users are getting bigger monitors.  Web designers are getting more work space.  At the same time, just because there is more room doesn’t mean you need to abuse it.  Don’t forget about the importance of white space.

Subscription Placement
In terms of placement of a subscription box, I’ve read several recommendations on placing the subscription box into the upper right corner above the fold.  Offer the user good information and try to tempt them with great information.  From a usability standpoint one could argue that an opt-in box isn’t supporting good usability.  The Internet Marketer would probably take the stand that people who aren’t interested in additional information won’t enter an email address.  I’m torn between usability and marketing in this case.

There are a number of web sites that make use of adding a subscription text link to the end of each post.  If the author delivers quality content to the user, the web site owner might be more successful with asking for personal information after a good post.

Confusing Search and Subscription Boxes
Though I can’t recall falling victim to filling in a subscribe box with a search query it does bring up an interesting point.  The question should force any web designer to carefully think out the placement and presentation of search and subscription entry boxes.  Make sure your user won’t get confused by either selection.  Sometimes it's easy to take such simple things for granted.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Usability and Not Leading Your Questions

Have you ever been asked a leading question?  It’s one of those questions that are phrased a certain way to get a certain response out of you.  The last place you want a leading question to show up is during a usability study.

If you are facilitator usability test of your web site or another web site make sure you aren’t leading the test user.  Leading is very easy to do.  Leading comes as a result of asking a question that already contains bias.  The question, “don’t you think the navigation is difficult to use?” is an example of a leading question.  Another example of a leading question: “Don’t you think that background color is inappropriate?”  Biased questions can have a negative impact on collecting good data.  You can skew the test user’s opinion either intentionally or unintentionally.  The end result is that your usability testing data and trends become inaccurate. 

How Do You Prevent Asking Leading Questions?
It is all about how you frame your questions. Always think ahead before you ask your questions. Make sure you aren’t loading the questions with any sort of bias.  The usability test facilitator should be as highly objective. 

Stay away from questions you can answer with a “Yes” or “No.”

• Do you like this color? 
• Isn’t that a great picture?
• Don’t you think the navigation is difficult to use?

Ask questions that require the user to think or interact with the page to find and answer: 

• What are you’re likes and dislikes on this page?
• What services does company X offer?
• How would you go about contacting company X?

Follow The Feedback
In some cases you can turn the user’s feedback into a follow up question.  If a test user indicates that something on a web page is difficult to use, ask them for additional feedback. Like and dislike questions are a great way to bride into additional questions.

Give Them a Scenario
Use scenarios to examine the usability of a given page or web site. Have the test user move through the site with a predefined goal.  One scenario can be having a test user try to use an online calendar to find specific information.  Get the test user lost in the site and have them navigate back to the home page.  Think of simple scenarios to test the usability of the web site.

If you can keep your questions and scenarios highly objective you’ll get better data.  Better data will assist you in creating an easier to user web site.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Why Test A Company Web Site Outside The Office?

Have you ever tried to get a consensus on something amongst various departments in a company or small business?  A number of companies that create their own web sites utilize internal usability testing for reviewing their site.  They pool their testing users directly from the company.  The information collected can become a liability to the company.

Different Viewpoints
In Steve Krug’s, Don’t Make Me Think, he illustrates the various viewpoints different departments can have on a web site.  Many graphic designers skew their desires toward visual design.  Web programmers can be very application driven.  Then bring in management and you have yet another viewpoint.  Pretty soon you have a multitude of ideas fighting for attention.  The web site gets pulled in every possible direction with each new opinion.  In many cases, the end result is that the user gets left out.

Why test with users outside your organization?
Web usability testing should be highly objective. You need to start with identifying users that fall inside a web site’s demographics.  If you are looking for participants to conduct a usability test look outside of your organization.  Users outside of your organization are less likely to have organizational bias.  Look towards people who aren’t in the Internet at the professional level.  It is very easy for one web developer to find faults in another web developer’s work.

Leverage the Testing Data
The data collected by testing with users outside of the organization is great for leveraging inside an organization.  If there is an internal company dispute over something on the web site outside user testing might help in identifying a solution. The data and presentation is based on user opinion. Users are the people who are going to be using a web site on a daily basis.

In several years of usability testing the feedback from outside user testing has been extraordinary. It has prevented more than a few embarrassing moments.  This includes small things like grammar and spelling mistakes.  It’s the small things that can prove to be embarrassing online. Use testing to make sure you're putting your best foot forward.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

• Concentrating on User Centered Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN

Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups

There I was … sitting in a room full of decision makers for a web site review meeting.  The review meeting was the culmination of months of work. On one side of the table was our development team and on the other side of the table the client’s team.  The review was conducted one page at a time in order to be meticulous and not miss anything.  After a few minutes of reviewing the site there was a distinct change in atmosphere.  The senior representative of the client’s team started making a series of comments and suggestions regarding the web site.  His subordinates acknowledged almost every single remark he made with a nod of agreement or vocalized their support.  He could have said anything and the client’s team would have accepted the suggestion without question or comment.  I sat there in disbelief as one bad suggestion followed another.  Most of the client’s suggestions were the complete opposite of good web design.  The suggestions that were implemented diluted the quality of the web site.  It was my first experience with a dominate user focus group.

Using Focus Groups
There are a number of people in the Internet development industry who make use of focus groups.  One specific use of focus groups is for web usability testing.  The above scenario is a perfect example of a dominate user focus group. It involves user testing of a web site, not idea generation.  In the scenario one person’s opinion influences or overshadows everyone else in the group.  Dominate users can have a negative impact on collecting good data and thus diminish the impact of the testing group.

One on One Testing
Focus groups for usability testing can be highly effective if you abide by one simple suggestion, break up the group.  When testing a web site make use of individual testing sessions. Sit down with your test user and go through a web site one on one. It is more time consuming, but the data you collect is significantly better. Users are much more likely to voice their opinion in an individual scenario as opposed to a group. 

How many times have you been reluctant to ask a “silly” question in a group or make a suggestion?  That reluctance changes when you get people one on one. It takes a little additional time to get test users to open up.  For all the usability tests I’ve conducted, I have yet to come across someone who has been reluctant to open up.  When users do open up you usually can’t take notes fast enough.  The feedback collected will be significantly better.

If you are considering doing a small usability test on your web site stay away from focus groups in the traditional sense. Use individual sessions to collect your data.  It is more time consuming, but the quality of data collected increases significantly.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites and Sound
• Web Page Layout Suggestions
• Reading the User's Mind and Then Doing Nothing About It
• JPGs & GIFs: Optimizing Your Graphics and Images
• Web Usability Versus Internet Marketing
• Where's the Web Site Link? ( I'm confused . . . )
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Are Your Online Forms Usable?

It is difficult to go online and not come across an online form. From short to long, online forms are everywhere.  My most recent experience required me to fill out a long form just to watch a video clip.  Where is the justification in taking five minutes to fill out an online form to watch a two minute news video clip?  Before using forms on a web site spend some time thinking through the process from a user’s vantage. 

Questions you should ask yourself:

• Is the form easy to use?
• Has the form been tested?
• Am I building enough trust to compel someone to fill out my form?

Ease of Use
Keep online forms short and easy to use.  Shopping carts are a perfect example.  Users abandon shopping carts because of poor usability factors.  Check your web log data to make sure people aren’t bouncing out during checkout.  Shopping cart forms can be too long or cumbersome for users.  Always think from a user’s perspective. Let the user know if the item is actually in stock before filling out any information.  Use an indicator bar on each page to show checkout progress.  Disclose shipping options up front.  Users can be quickly turned off by high shipping rates.  Make the checkout process as painless as possible.  If it isn’t a shopping cart keep the form short and too the point. Only ask for minimal information, name and email.  Asking for more without user trust is very difficult.

Test Your Forms
Always test online forms with your user base.  Take a few people from your demographic and have them go through your online form.  Take note of where users are encountering usability problems and make applicable corrections. The benefit of usable forms speaks for itself.  More users will fill out more forms if they’re usable.

Build Trust
A number of web sites are now requesting you to fill out personal information to watch video or listen to audio.  Trust and credibility are large factors in determining if users enter their personal information.  Most people are reluctant to enter any personal information.  Can users really be blamed? Everyone has felt the effects of SPAM.  SPAM is beyond annoying and a waste of time.  The user needs a very good reason to give up personal information.  One of the easiest ways to overcome this hurdle is with a privacy statement and promise not to SPAM.  Let people know exactly why you need their information.

The bottom line on forms is this: build enough trust with the user to have them fill out an online form.  When you’ve established the user’s trust, make it an easy process to collect their information.  The Internet is an interactive medium, keep that interactivity usable.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Point, Click, and Follow - Usability

After a plethora of usability studies you start to pick up on some of the finer details. Each day there are great technologies that emerge and make usability testing increasingly more accurate. It isn't always easy to make something simple, especially on the Internet.  One tremendously helpful piece of technology is eye tracking software. The software produces overlays of individual web pages indicating which areas get the most attention. Check the Importance of Organic Search post for an example of a heat map. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the budget to utilize high end eye tracking equipment to improve the usability of a web site. There is a simple alternative.

Usability Eye Tracking Done Inexpensively
The underappreciated mouse can give you great information about what the user is thinking. It is
analogous with body language.  You can learn a lot from watching the user's mouse actions.  Where is the cursor going on the screen and what is it doing?  The mouse pointer is an on screen discovery tool.  If a user is unsure of something they'll usually hover over an on page element (links, images, and other interactive elements).  Take note of user mouse pointer behavior.

Try it Out
Sit down with a friend or family member and take them through a web site of your choice. Watch their mouse pointer behavior. If a user gets confused about navigation they’ll roll the mouse over areas on the page to see if they’re clickable. Mouse pointer movements go up during active interactions and navigating. Users will point and click on various areas of the page to discover interactive elements.

One exception to the tracking is when the user is reading or skimming information on the page. If a user is reading the cursor is usually at the side of the page.

If you do sit down with a user and test your site, encourage them to vocalize their experience. You’ll find that they use the mouse to point to various elements are important or confusing. Make note of their feedback.

When taking someone through a simple usability test, always note the simple things. You can learn a lot from simple things in life.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Why Think Globally?

When thinking of user demographics how often do we think globally?  A quick look into an established web site’s log files can provide you with a tremendous amount of information.  A web site allows anyone to push the confines of geography.  Anyone in the world can become a potential customer.  Knowing that the Earth is a global market place is quintessential to almost every web site.

Where to Start
The first place to start is with a frame of reference.  We’re all creatures of habit. If a familiar market place is local in nature we tend to think locally.  The easiest way to start thinking globally is to put yourself into a foreigner’s frame of reference.  Assume that a particular person reads your (web site, email, brochure, sales letter) and is fluent in the language used.  Do they know your location?

One client sends out an electronic newsletter on a regular basis. One particular newsletter was for a workshop announcement.  An interested participant responded from out of state wishing to participate not knowing the workshop was being held locally.  Always make sure to include details such as full address, plus telephone numbers with area codes and country codes.

Geographic Search Engine Optimization
The same methodology can be applied for search.  Ask yourself, are you listed properly in a geographical context?  I reside in Rochester, New York.  If an Internet user were to enter the search phrase: “Rochester Restaurant,” is that person searching for a “Restaurant” in “Rochester,” New York, Minnesota, New Hampshire, or United Kingdom?

The Internet gets new people every day.  Presenting the user with finer details can help you better focus your message and marketing efforts.  Remember your users could be coming from anywhere in the world.  Plan accordingly.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

The Internet and User Demographics

Users are an essential ingredient to any online venture.  Without users web sites have no means of survival.  Concentrating on just any user won’t suffice.  Web site users need to be qualified.  What makes a qualified user?  Qualified users are those who fit into the profile of your Internet User Demographic and have an affinity for what you have to offer. Each web site will have different demographics.  Knowing your user demographics is an important part of facilitating web site success. If you know what a majority of users want it is easier to provide for them.  It also helps you keep your marketing more focused.  More focused marketing can help reduce wasted advertising budget.  The Internet is brutally simple with respect to demographics. Web Sites that don’t provide for their users won’t survive.  Do you know your user?

User Demographics and Psychographics
Start looking at traditional demographic factors such as age, gender, education, etc.  Who are the people using your web site or purchasing your product or service?  Fill in the blank for each variable. When considering user demographics you should also take into account psychographics.  User psychographics refer to the values, attitudes, and various interests of the user.  The combination of demographics and psychographics should allow for a decent understanding of a web site’s target audience.  All efforts on the web site need to focus on the target user. From a marketing standpoint there is little value in targeting a market that lacks an affinity for what is being offered. 

Use "In the Can" Demographics
In many industries the user demographic has already been identified.  A quick glance at an industry guide or trade publication should provide you with the necessary information.  Look at the advertisements and articles. Take a visit to the library and see if they might have some information.  If the product or service is new there might not be a predefined demographic. If so, is there a closely related field that can provide a demographic starting point?  If you can’t find any information you have to do your own research.

Who's Our Demographic?
You can determine a demographic by using your existing web site.  Log files and online surveys are great resources to better understand a web site’s demographics.  They contain potential data for building a sketch of your web site demographic.

Analyze Log Files
Web site log files can be a gold mine of demographic details.  Data such as referrals and keywords used in search can help paint a better picture of your user. Look where users to your site are being referred from. Send off a simple email to the referring site owner asking for demographic information.  Make sure you are cordial in the request and explain why you are seeking the information.  You might be able to form a strategic partnership with other web sites.  Do the keywords in your log files give you any additional hint?  Certain phrases might point to one gender or another. E.g. “hot pink ipod.”

Conduct an Online Survey
If there are only a few people visiting a web site that might be enough to conduct an online survey.  Ask simple questions in the survey based around standard demographics (age, gender, education, income, etc.) Include some psychographic questions (general interest, values, and attitudes.)  Surveys should be short and sweet. 

Build Your Web Site For the Target Audience
Any web site should be built and presented for the benefit of the user.  Too many companies try to put their interest in front of that of the user.  Don’t make the same mistake.   If you have good target data on your users and adhere to their needs you're a step ahead of most people.  Always concentrate on the user.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

The Shift in Internet User Demographics

For the longest time people believed that the Internet was a playground for the young. “Older people don’t use the Internet.”  It was too difficult for them to understand or they’re computer averse. Times are changing. One of the emerging Internet user markets belongs to older Internet users. As people age the older demographic of Internet users will be supplemented by the generation of users who grew up online.  Are older users part of your demographic?

The Silver User Demographic
A recent article from the UK's Telegraph titled "Surfing Net is Top Pastime for Elderly" illustrates the shift in Internet user demographics. This is an important trend that every web site owner should understand. Many companies currently focus on creating their online experience around younger Internet users. Lots of bells and whistles that can task saturate even the most adept surfers. They rarely take into consideration the “silver surfers” of the world.

According to the Telegraph’s article 41% of retirees said using the web was one of their favorite activities.  Internet usage exceeded their time for gardening, walking, and other hobbies. Of those surveyed, 40% also indicated that they shop online regularly. Are you aware of the demographic and psychographic profiles of your users?   

The article also identifies some of the particular online activities for older users. Emailing and searching are some of the top activities. This incidentally mirrors some of the activities of younger users.  The older demographic of users will open up brand new markets and online opportunities.

Small Simple Changes
My experience with older surfers reemphasizes the need for web sites with better usability. If you identify part of your demographic as older Internet users make sure you take the time to accommodate their needs. Things like small type and complex navigation turn off older users. Even if you make some simple usability changes to your web site, your users will be appreciative. I cannot recall the last time someone complained about a web site being too easy to use.

There are inherent challenges when it comes to accommodating for a number of different demographics. Some web sites don’t have enough older users to justify changing their approach. Take MySpace into consideration. Almost everything is geared toward young surfers. Ultimately it comes down to knowing your online demographics and making the necessary changes.

As times passes you will have more users who are older. Make sure you accommodate for their needs.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Merging Web Usability and Online Marketing

Did anyone else find the Superbowl commercials boring yesterday?  There wasn't anything really memorable.  In previous years I recall people chatting about the Superbowl commercials for at least a day or two afterward. It seemed like the commercials didn't connect with as many people. Yet, the commercials did get me thinking about the relationship of usability and marketing.   The most successful ads are those that are simple to understand and connect with the audience.  You should use the same methodology with your web site.

Usability and Marketing
A few years ago I really didn't consider Usability and Marketing related fields.  Several people would always ask me if our firm did any marketing. We didn't. For the longest time I believed that usability focused on making things easy to use and marketing concentrated on promoting products.  Regardless of some of the similarities, I always grouped the usability and marketing into two different categories. Over the last few years I've started to change my perspective.  Through people like Ken McCarthy, Seth Godin, and Joe Vitale my feelings in regards to online marketing changed.  Business people should view the Internet as a permission based direct marketing channel. Part of the success of marketing focuses on targeting the right market and testing with that market. 

Web Usability Marketing
Today I see online marketing and usability having a synergenic relationship.  Each discipline takes from the other and enhances the other. Companies who understand and utilize the merge of usability and online marketing are going to be more successful online.  Well thought out and tested marketing can drive people to your web site and promote conversions.  Web usability can be leveraged to ensure that your web site is easy to access, clear, and concise.  The two elements are essential for a successful web site.

Rooted in the Past
The history of direct marketing hasn't changed much in decades.  There was a book in the library, published in 1936, by John Caples that covered many of the techniques marketing firms use today.  Aside from the medium used, the fundamental marketing principals have undergone little change. You still utilize the simple techniques like a compelling headline and well written copy that relates to your audience.  Unfortunately many companies refuse to follow some of the the most basic marketing and advertising tenants.

Usability starts to intersect marketing when you get to the process of testing your ads and copy.  The method of split testing was used to find the best ads.  Today we use some of the same principles to conduct usability testing.  Always try to test different combinations with your users and see what works better with your web site and your ads.   Companies have a very difficult time letting go of their ego and focusing on their audience.  Your focus needs to be on the user/consumer. This is a fundamental of usability testing and good marketing. 

It can be anything from an individual ad or marketing piece to an entire web site.  Concentrate on delivering a message that is targeted to a certain audience and easy to understand.  The process involves using usability principals and traditional direct marketing techniques.  Your message should be believable and easy to quantify.

Both Usability and Marketing are so important to your online success.  Make sure you explore ways to integrate both with your web site

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Cashing in On Online Speed

This post is a small side note to "The User Attention Span" post.  The "Attention Span" post briefly discusses how users want their information faster than ever. If you cannot load your web site quickly users will find alternatives. Your web site load time can also translate into dollar signs either positive or negative.

Money and Load Time
Lee Dodd had an interesting comment from a user on the relationship of speed to revenue. "It’s only been a few days, but I’ve already noticed an increase in traffic, page views, and ad revenue. What does that mean? Simple: Slow Servers = Less Traffic, or more importantly, Faster Servers = More Money“. It is true that search engines and end users DO NOT like slow loading sites."  Is your web site performance hindering your online revenue potential?

One place you don't want to have an extra load time is with your shopping cart solution.  There are already a number of factors that increase shopping cart abandonment.  Don't give your users another reason to abandon your cart.

Determining Page Size 
This past week someone asked me if there was an easy way to determine page load times. During some perusing of the Internet I found a link on Lee Todd's Blog that gives you size and web site load time information.  The utility allows you to enter multiple domains at one time.  This allows you to do a simple compare and contrast between your site and other web sites of your choosing.

• iWebtool - Web Site Speed Test

Users like web sites that are quick and to the point.  The quicker you load your web site, the faster you have an opportunity to make money. Make every effort possible to decrease your page load times.

Additional Resources:

• User Attention Span
• Optimizing Web Graphics

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites and Sound

Marketing and Usability
Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting to a small audience on "The Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites." It was nice being able to get out of the technical web world and focus again on fundamentals.  In today's world it is very easy to get caught up in all the "bells and whistles" the web has to offer.  The smartest thing anyone can do online is keep it simple.   My presentation concentrated on Marketing and Usability.

If anyone is interested in notes from the presentation click below:
Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites  (.pdf)

On Sound
During the presentation a gentleman asked me a great question regarding sound on a web page.  In today's multimedia driven Internet sound is becoming an important part of the online experience. Web site sound can be great or get annoying depending on the user.   

One particular experience rings in my head.  It was late at night and I was surfing through some airshow web sites.  Next thing I know there are fighter jets screaming over my head.  My speakers were turned all the way up from earlier in the day.  I neglected to turn them down after listening to some music.  I've heard the same frightening/embarrassing story from other users.

Set Your Default to OFF
If you are going to load sound on a web page make the default setting OFF.  You'll notice that many companies do this with advertising.  They know how easy it is to annoy users and decide to take a careful route.  Don't annoy your users with forcing by audio on them.

Give Users the Choice
Don't load sound files automatically when the site is loading.  Give users the option click and listen to a recording or audio track.  Your users enjoy being in the "drivers seat" for their online experience.  Another problem with automatically loading sound or music is that you'll get repetition each time someone comes to a page.  This happens frequently on home pages that automatically load sound.  Each time you go back to the home page the same music or sounds start to play over and over again. That's sure to turn off your users.

Sound is great online, just use it wisely.  Let people have the option of what they hear and when they hear it.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Online Learning Made Difficult

A few weeks ago my mother asked for my help with an online learning course.  I've seen a number of online courses over the last few years.  Unfortunately most of the online courses leave much to be desired.  The online course that my mother was taking ended up being a jumbled mess.  My mother is not a computer savvy person.  She experienced a number of difficulties.  When I tried to help her, I quickly became frustrated.  If you are creating an online course make sure you concentrate on a user centric approach.  Below are some quick points to ponder if you are creating an online learning environment.

Take the time to test you online course with users.  Too many online courses suffer from poor usability.  This creates an environment that is not conducive for learning.  When you are trying to train people online make sure that your emphasis is on learning the course material, not how to learn to use the online system.  There were a number of snags that made learning the system my mother was attempting to use very difficult.

Keep your fonts legible and writing concise.  Even though my mother's online course offered adjustable font sizing, the largest setting was too small to read.  Many online users are in an older demographic.  Concentrate on providing enough flexibility so that both young and old can easily absorb the information.

Always have a support area available and have good contact information.  If I wasn't around to help my mother, I doubt she would have been able to complete the course.  There were a number of features that needed to be explained in more detail.  Offer your users a tutorial to acclimate them to your online learning environment.

Online learning is going to eventually become a great powerhouse, but it still has a long way to go. When you try to teach people online keep everything you do simple and to the point.  Let your users concentrate on learning the material, not on learning a new system.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

The Mystery of Online Customer Satisfaction

In the two weeks since my visit to Epcot, I have yet to experience an equivalent level of customer service.  Customer service is paramount in any business and especially online.  For the purpose of this post I’ll look at customer service from a web site usability perspective. You constantly need to ask yourself “are your users satisfied with the online experience you are providing them?”

One of the most difficult services to provide online is customer service.  In over ten years of developing web sites, I cannot recall seeing a customer complaint that specifically refers to the usability of a site. This has little to do with the level of development or usability used.  If a user is unhappy with their experience at your web site they probably aren’t going to say anything about it.  In most cases they just won’t return to your web site or use your online service.

Users Rarely Indicate Dissatisfaction
Your users might not always be telling you they’re not happy.  Here are some interesting statistics I found in reference to customer service in the offline world.  The data comes from an older report but I believe many of the problems to hold true today :

• 96% of consumers do not complain about rude or discourteous service.
• 90% or more of consumers who aren’t happy with the level of service will not buy or come back again.
• The cost to acquire a new customer versus keeping an old one is five times greater.

Source: Technical Assistance Research Programs (TARP)

When you take this data and apply it to the Internet far few people are likely to complain. It is far easier not to visit a web site than follow up with the company and try to resolve the problem.

A Place To Start
Make sure you go out of your way to ensure your users are happy.  One of the easiest places to start is with emails you’ve collected.  You should be conducting follow up on almost everything you do.  It can be anything from a product purchase follow up to answering a complaint.  Both positive and negative emails are a great opportunity to gain valuable insight from your user. You can make use of automation to collect survey data and other valuable information.  Use that information to improve your online experience.

A Quick Second Chance
There was one very important piece of actionable information that TARP provided.  95% of unhappy customers will do business again with you if their issue is resolved immediately. Your window of opportunity might be narrow and short, but you still have time to do sometime. Use the speed of technology to quickly recover from a customer service issue.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Simplicity: A Great Place To Start

If you are looking to redesign your site or start a new web site spend some time researching the Internet’s old guard for ideas.  Too many web site creators and developers have this burning need to complicate the web process, “We’re going to do it better!”  The battle cry should be “We’re going to make it easier!” Remember that people like cool, but crave simplicity.  The two simplest yet most popular web sites are Yahoo and Google. You can learn a lot by studying these two giants.

Straightforward HTML text
Both Yahoo and Google are primary HTML text based.  They include some pictures, but they let the content lead the way.  I’ve heard many people criticize Yahoo for being too simplistic in design.  Yahoo’s approach to design might be simplistic, but it is also the most popular web site in the world.  Is your site serving up high quality HTML content?

They Spend Millions on Testing
Yahoo and Google spend millions on testing their sites before releasing it to the public. Recently when Yahoo redesigned its home page it offered users a sneak peak. They always “teased” you with the new design and encouraged feedback.  That feedback was used to further improve their site before launch. Companies should take example of their approach. Don’t rush to launch your web site just to meet an arbitrary internal deadline.  Most users don’t know a new site is going online until it gets launched.  At the same time realize there are no perfect web sites.  Don't get bogged down in analysis-paralysis. 

The Simple Search
You don’t need to look any further than Google’s search page.  To search you enter a term and click search or refine your search with one of the simple category selections. There is no distracting adverting and they deliver nothing but high quality results.  Is the interactive process on your web site simple and easy to use?

Always Something New
Yahoo is an example of high quality content generation.  Almost every time you visit their home page you are presented with something new.  They use multiple sources to bring information to the user. You might not be able to keep up with Yahoo’s frequency of updates, but you can emulate the process.  Ask yourself, how often do we update our site?  New information keeps users coming back.

Page Layout
When it comes to type layout and information architecture Yahoo does a great job.  Look at any of their news stories as an example, clean and simple.  They capture your attention with a headline and then present the article.  At the end of the article you can vote on recommending the story to others or select for a bevy of other related stories. Yes there is advertising.  But advertising is the primary revenue channel for both Yahoo and Google. They at least do it somewhat tastefully.

The old cliché goes “Imitation is the Greatest Form of Flattery.” Why spend time, energy, and effort researching what’s already been researched?  Study examples from the most popular web sites online. There is a reason why they’re the most popular.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

   

LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing

When you conduct any sort of usability test you always want to concentrate on your user demographic.  Users from your demographic are the people that need to be able to understand and easily navigate your web site.  Web sites rise and fall upon the support of their user base. For of our usability studies we also include a group of people from outside the demographic. These outsiders are commonly known as Least Competent Users (LCUs).  In many instances they provide some of the most insightful feedback and suggestions.

Who Are Least Competent Users?
When people first hear the term LCU they usually jump to a false conclusion. Don’t confuse the least competent portion of the LCU acronym to be indicative of a user’s intellectually ability or personality.  The “Competency” refers to the user’s computer or the Internet skills.  Their computer skills are novice at best.  This makes them an ideal candidate to test almost any web site.  One of my favorite LCUs is a family member.

Why Are LCUs Good Usability Testers?
If the LCU understands the purpose of your web site and navigation you're testing, there is a high probability that regular users shouldn’t have a problem with the site.  LCUs don’t tend to get down in messaging or other features that would annoy a seasoned web surfer. Because of their rudimentary approach they don’t need to be within your testing demographic.  You’re looking for them to provide very basic feedback.

When To Utilize LCUs?
We find the best time to utilize Least Competent Users is after completing testing with usability participants from the site’s demographic.  By the time we’ve finished testing with users from the site’s demographic most of our trends have been identified. 

What To Test With LCUs
Concentrate on testing the most basic functions of the web site. 

• Do they understand the point of the site? 
• Can they use the navigation to get around the site?
• If you try to get them lost on the site can they find their way home?

Take them through very simple routines.

Be Gentle With LCUs?
There are times when it is very easy to get frustrated with LCUs.  You always need to remember that Least Competent Users don’t use computers or the Internet on a regular basis.  Don’t give LCUs overly complex tasks.  Have them concentrate on a macro view of the web site.  Encourage them to give constant feedback.  You should reinforce that there are no right or wrong answers.  Tell them the more feedback they give the better. Most people open up to you with a deluge of comments.

If you are looking for great usability feedback, consider a Least Competent User.  You’ll be surprised what you can learn.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites and Sound
• Web Page Layout Suggestions
• Reading the User's Mind and Then Doing Nothing About It
• JPGs & GIFs: Optimizing Your Graphics and Images
• Web Usability Versus Internet Marketing
• Where's the Web Site Link? ( I'm confused . . . )
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Web Page Layout Suggestions

Recently I’ve been researching a number of web sites.  There are few sites that hit the mark when it comes to delivering a usable and compelling online experience. Today I have a few short musings about page layout.

The first place most users enter a web site is the home page.  It is important to note not everyone will enter your site through your home page.  Ask yourself this question: Are your users able to quickly orient themselves while entering other pages of your site?

Just because you can make your site look like Vegas, doesn’t mean it needs to look like Vegas. Many companies and developers feel compelled to cram as much onto the home page as possible.  Users are presented with so many options they don’t know where to start.  How many times have you visited a web site and quickly become lost?  It’s similar to a cover of a book or first impression. Smartly limit the number of options you present to the user. 

Headline Suggestions
There are certain simple steps anyone can take to help their user get more from their web site. One of the easiest ways to draw users into your web site is with a compelling headline on your homepage. Headlines are a great way of quickly orienting your users. It is an invitation to read further if the user feels the content is relevant to their needs.  Frame your headline to appeal to the interest of the user, not your self interest.  Many people use headlines to determine if it worth clicking on a link and reading further.

More Screen Real Estate to Use
Our displays are getting larger and people are using higher screen resolutions.  Several people think that you should maximize the use of your on screen real estate. Because you have the space to use doesn’t mean you must use the space.  Use an appropriate amount of white space around text and images. White space is like breathing room or a margin around elements.  It assists in keeping the page from being overcrowded and helps create a balanced design.  You don’t need to fill up the entire screen with content.

Consistent and Intuitive Navigation
Keep your design and navigation consistent throughout your web site.  Standard places for navigation are horizontally along the top or vertically along the left. One of the quickest places users get disoriented in usability tests is navigation testing.  They read a link title and click on the link based on their expectation. They become disoriented or disappointed because the link didn’t accurately reflect the content. When users click on the navigation they should be taken to a page that reflects the navigation title. Navigation headings should be succinct and to the point.

What Looks Like Advertising
There are very few web sites you can visit without being inundated with advertising.  Several web sites need the advertising to generate revenue.  I recall reading a case study years ago regarding pop ups and advertising.  Some users actually placed stick it notes on their monitors to cover annoying advertisements.  Today many users have trained themselves to ignore ads.  News sites are one type of web site where people seem less averse to advertising. One common suggestion in the usability and design world is to make sure your links and images don’t look like advertising.  Your users might ignore important information.

Make sure your web pages are easy to use and easy to understand. The information you present needs to be relevant to the user and shouldn’t overwhelm them.  You want to create an experience that compels users to return or take action.

Additional Resources:

• Top Ten Guidelines for Home Page Usability

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

A Simple Usability Indicator: The Back Button

How many times have you clicked the back button when you were lost or confused on a web site?

A person's use of the Back Button can give you a very rudimentary indication of a web site's usability.  The back button is the Internet's version of an ejection seat.  It makes people feel safe. If users want to quickly leave a web site they can easily do so using the back button. Jakob Nielsen refers to the back button as "lifeline of the Web user and the second-most used navigation feature." It's a backup navigation feature for every single web site.   

Paying Attention to How People Use the Back Button
I pay particular attention to use of the back button if I'm testing web site navigation.  If the web site navigation is intuitive and easy to use users are less likely to click on the back button.  It is an automatic indication of usability.

A Simple "Back Button" Usability Study
Here is a simple usability study you can do with just about anyone.  Pick a site you are familiar with that has easy to use navigation.  Try to find another web site with poor navigation.  (They aren't that difficult to find, trust me.)  Sit a willing participant down in front of a computer and have them navigate through the two sites.  A friend or family member is an ideal choice.  Sit next to them and tell them what you are going to do.  Stress that it isn't a test and there aren't any right or wrong actions.  Participants give much better feedback when you put them at ease. Pay close attention to where their cursor goes on the computer screen.  It is really fascinating what you can learn just by watching people surf the web.

What can I do with the back button study?  Perhaps you are redesigning your small business or personal web site.  Using the above technique can help you refine or correct your navigation.  The technique can also help you identify other usability problems on the site. It is in your best interest to make your site as easy to use as possible.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Concentrating on User Centered Design

Users have their mind set on the information they seek.  If you can align your web content with what your users desire you'll be more successful online.  This seems logical to everyone, but few people actually follow through on the logic.

One of the biggest mistakes a company can make online is not providing users the information they desire.  How many times have you visited a web site excepting one thing only to get another? Many companies decided what their content is going to be via committee. Upper level management has meetings and creates a strategy based on their desires.  What they are really doing is imposing what they think is important on the user.  This process rarely proves successful. In many cases it frustrates the user.

Successful web sites concentrate on user centered design.  They focus on providing high quality content and take extra strides to deliver that content effectively.  Theses companies take their egos out of the equation and focus on delivering high quality content to their users.

How do I provide users with relevant content? One suggestion is to take a survey of your users. Setup a simple survey via email.  If you're web site has been up for a while you should have more than enough user email addresses.  In the email, ask users what type of information or content they seek. Tabulate the data and find the top requests.  You'll usually find that what you think the user needs and what they actually want are two different things.  Make sure you provide the user with what they need and enjoy your online success.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

The Mobile Web Experience

Today is a quick overview of my brief mobile web and smart phone experience.   Yesterday I decided to upgrade my LG phone to the Motorola Q.  The first few hours were quite the experience.  I'll delve into some simple points about smart phones and designing for the mobile web.

It all started with holding for customer service to for an hour and a half.  I was having an issue restoring my contact list. For whatever reason they inadvertently hung up on me three times.  In the end, a nice gentleman was finally able to straighten me out.  All I was looking for was an honest answer. Not someone telling me "you're doing something wrong."  It shouldn't be this difficult for a geek!

Here is the big point for today: I've been hearing for years about how the mobile web is going to explode and that everyone should jump on board.  This day is eventually coming, but I think we still have a way to go. 

Companies are pushing "up to near broadband speed." with specialized service. Unless you are standing outside next to the cell tower with perfect atmospheric conditions, you won't be getting anything near broadband.  Only one person from the company I have service with has actually admitted to me that the technology is far from perfect.  And I'm not expecting perfect. But I do expect you to deliver something close to the service you advertise for your company.  There is a good article on 37signals.com that addresses my I've had it up to here with "up to" issue.

There is still a learning curve for me to figure out how to surf the web with my phone. But given my personal experience it should have been a bit easier.  Most sites don't render properly because they weren't designed to be displayed on mobile phones.  I fully understand that.  The easiest sites to access were those sites that were primarily HTML based. 

If you are designing for the web, especially the mobile web, keep it simple!  Use a sub domain: mobile.mywebsite.com or redirect users to a mobile optimized page of your site. It should contain more HTML text that images. I don't recommend Flash or video within your mobile pages. Mobile  Flash content delivery is very archaic. The big companies are pushing their own technologies via their networks for video.  I have yet to see a personal site or small business site that delivers quality video to mobile phones. There is a reason why everyone likes big computer monitors!

The new generation of smart phones are best suited for the power users.  If you are looking to purchase a smart phone they do have their limitations.  Surfing the not mobile web is very tedious. Email and messaging seem to work the best. Do you homework on which phone might best suit you.

The mobile web is still waiting in the wings.  If you don't need a smart phone, I would recommend staying away for a while. Good luck!

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

How Web Users Navigate and Read

On the web users have a certain way they navigate and view web pages.  The two most common ways users navigate web sites is either known-item searching or surfing.  When users are on your web site they don't read every word, users scan text.  Keep these facts in mind when creating your user's experience.

Known item searching involves a user looking for very specific information.  This is typical of a user that is doing research on a product or service, or looking to make a purchase.  The process involves use of search engine to find the companies that offer a certain service or product.  Chances are that when a user visits your site they are known item searching.

Surfing is most analogous with going through a web site or series of sites with no particular purpose.  The user might jump from topic to topic and visit a variety of different sites.  It is just like channel surfing on television or the radio.  When they find something that is of interest they might stay around or go elsewhere.  Users who surf tend to be the minority online.

After getting to your site users probably aren't going to read every word. They will most likely scan the text.  The user will pick out keywords and look at dominate elements on your page.  Known-item searching comes into play with this process.  The user wants to find information online quickly and painlessly.  You can assist the user by making your copy user friendly.

Online Copywriting Tips:
Writing for the Web, Kilian

• Group your text in chunks, 100 words in a group
• Orient users with headlines and subheads
• Break down information into bulleted lists
• Don't try to impress the user with your vocabulary
• Use simple sentences: Subject + Verb
• Organize information into a hierarchy, use navigation as supporting tool
• Print out the page to proofread

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• What is Web Usability? And Why You Should Care . . .
• Web Usability: The Importance of Balancing Content and Graphic Design
• Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site
• Don’t Pollute Your Web Site
• Do You Make These Usability Mistakes?
• Objectivity Paves the Way to Online Success
• LCU (Least Competent User) Usability Testing
• Web Usability - ALERT! Dominant Users and Focus Groups
  
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Hitting a HOME RUN with Your Web Site

When it comes to web usability, we subscribe to the concept presented by web usability expert Jakob Nielsen on the essentials in successful web sites. In his book, Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, his concept is summed up in the acronym HOME RUN. Users look for High quality content, that is Often updated, with Minimal download time, Easy to Use, is Relevant to the users needs, Unique to the to online world, and Net-centric to corporate culture.  For the purpose of this article we will concentrate on the HOME portion of the acronym.

High quality content
“Research has shown that web users generally prefer writing that is concise, easy to scan, and objective (rather than promotional) in style. We incorporated these and other attributes into a redesign of web content. Doing so required trade-offs and some hard decisions, but the results were positive. The rewritten website scored 159 percent higher than the original in measured usability. Compared with original-site users, users of the rewritten site reported higher subjective satisfaction and performed better in terms of task time, task errors, and memory.” In Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages - by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen, it is established that well written content is high quality content.  Make sure your website is loaded with high quality content.

Often updated
The reason news sites are visited frequently is because they always have something new to offer. Because there is not as much information to disseminate on company web sites as news sites, releasing new and compelling content is the best way to keep people coming back to your site.  Whould you return to your favorite news site if it didn't update regularly?

Minimal download time
Your web site needs to load in the minimum amount of time. In the past, the average attention span of a web user was eight seconds. If they could not load a website in that time, users were very likely to leave that site. Try to keep your home page and individual pages under 100 KB.  Around 50% of home users have a high speed connection.  Hence, attention spans are getting shorter.  You only have a few moments to get a point across to users.  Make sure the information is at their fingertips.

Ease of use
The more information you can provide the user, the better, right? Not necessarily. Your principle tool for organizing information and making it accessible is your navigation or menu bar. I recommend keeping navigation items organized either horizontally along the top of the page or vertically along the left hand side. Make sure the information and navigation follows a logical progression.  Your navigation needs to make sense to the user.

One of your top priorities on any web site is to keep navigation consistent and above the fold. Some people might ask, “Above the fold?!?!”  This phrase comes from our friends in the newspaper business. If a newspaper is folded in half, the most important headlines and articles are found on the top half. The same is true on the web. In the case of the web, “above the fold” is the all information that appears in a user’s browser without needing to scroll down.

Make your web site easier to use by following the HOME RUN acronym.  It is the easiest way anyone can make their web site more attractive online.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Fundamentals of Successful Web Sites and Sound
• Web Page Layout Suggestions
• Reading the User's Mind and Then Doing Nothing About It
• JPGs & GIFs: Optimizing Your Graphics and Images
• Web Usability Versus Internet Marketing
• Where's the Web Site Link? ( I'm confused . . . )
  

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training