Web Usability: The Basics
March 10, 2010
What is web usability & why is it important?
Web usability is about making your website in such a way that your site users can find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently. A usable website can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business.
* Every £1 invested in improving your website’s usability returns £10 to £100 (source: IBM)
* A web usability redesign can increase the sales/conversion rate by 100% (source: Jakob Nielson)
Your website has to be easy to navigate
Users have gradually become accustomed to particular layouts and phrases on the Internet, for example:
* Organisation logo is in the top-left corner and links back to the homepage
* The term ‘About us’ is used for organisation information
* Navigation is in the same place on each page and adjacent to the content
* Anything flashing or placed above the top logo is often an advertisement
* The term ‘Shopping cart’ is used for items you might wish to purchase
There are numerous other conventions like these that enhance your website’s usability - can you think of some more?
Increasing Conversions Through Action-Oriented Copywriting
February 28, 2010
I do site reviews. Needless to say, I see a lot of Web copy. One thing that always befuddles me is the lack of focus many site pages have. It’s as if the writer assumes the site visitor will read the copy and automatically know what to do next. The fact is you have to know what action you want visitors to take before you get them to take that action. That means knowing what the preferred action you want visitors to take is, before you write the copy.
Think About It
Before you pen one word (for the Web or any other marketing medium), stop and think. “After reading this copy, what - specifically - do I want my site visitors to do?” Maybe you want them to click deeper into the site. Perhaps you want them to buy right then and there. It could be that you’d like them to call to discuss your product or service. Make a donation. Subscribe. Download. There are thousands of possible actions. Give some consideration to the question above and choose the action you most want your visitors to take.
Signposts Point the Way
Does Your Website Induce Seizures?
February 19, 2010
QUESTION: We promote our web site in all our ad campaigns, but according to my website statistics program, we are getting very few visitors who click past the first page. The site has a cool Flash introduction page that the designer said would impress visitors, but it doesn’t seem to be working. What can we do to get people to spend more time on the site? — Christopher O.
ANSWER: The first thing you should do, Christopher, is find that designer and beat the living Flash out of him. It won’t increase the time visitors spend on your website, but it will make you feel better after you’ve read this column.
What your designer thought would appeal to visitors is probably the very thing that is driving them away. A Flash introduction page (Macromedia Flash is a software program used to create animations for Web pages) may seem "cool" to you, but from a website visitor’s point of view, they can be about as appealing as sitting in the front row of a Pokemon movie with four hundred screaming six year olds (and here comes the segue, folks).
Discover 7 Proven Shopping Cart Enhancements to Increase Your Sales
February 8, 2010
For online businesses with their main goal of selling products, shopping cart abandonment can mean the difference between profitability and loss. But since recent surveys suggest that less than 50% of retailers know their shopping cart abandonment rate, let’s review what it is and why it is important to know.
What is "shopping cart abandonment"?
Basically, shopping cart abandonment is when a visitor initiates your checkout process but leaves before completing their purchase.
Why is it important to know?
Industry publications report a 70% average shopping cart abandonment rate for the majority of retailers. Since, on average, websites convert visitors-to-sales at a rate of 1% to 2% then 98% to 99% of the visitors to your website leave without purchasing!
These percentages identify an enormous improvement opportunity for online businesses.
A Traditional Retail Example of Shopping Cart Abandonment.
Let me illustrate shopping cart abandonment using a traditional department store.
Imagine walking into your local department store to pick up a gift for a friend’s wedding.
You find the three items you want but together the price exceeds your budget so you drop one of them and head with just two to the checkout counter.
Quality of Your Text Layout and Design
January 29, 2010
Why is the quality of your text layout and design important on your web site? For the simple reason that people tends to stay longer on a web site that radiates quality and simplicity.
Why?
Because it gives you a more professional impression and the text is easy to read.
On the web today there are many web sites with a cluttered design. The amount of text that is gathered in one place is too big, therefore it’s more difficult to read and focus on text phrases.
If you separate coherent text in boxes, then you hekp the reader to read more easily. Make space between text boxes. Always use a text font size that is not smaller than 10. Organize the text with headings. Make headings with a bigger font size than the body text and you may use a different font.
It’s recommended that you use borders in black around the text.
It should be easy for the eye to focus from one group of text to another.
If you follow these guidelines, then you will be able to read faster and the eye will be less strained. You will be rewarded by spending more time on the text design and layout of your site.
Web Advertising: 10 Little Known Tricks To Help Convert Your Traffics To Buying Customers
January 20, 2010
You may not believe it, but people still judge things by their appearances.
How does your website look?
The appearance of your web site text can actually increase or decrease your sales.
The size, font, style and color of your text can easily affect your reader’s buying decision.
Below are web advertising ten points to consider when designing your web site.
1. Easy To Read- You want to make it easy for your visitors to read your text. You don’t want to use a light colored text like yellow on a white background and you don’t want to use dark blue text on a black back- ground.
2. Create A Mood- You want to use the color of your text to create a mood for the reader. If you want to create excitement, use some red text. If you want to create greed, use a some green text. Use colors that would put you in a mood to buy your product.
3. Grab Their Attention- You can grab your readers attention by using headlines. Make the headline more noticeable by using a different colored headline than your ad copy. This offsets the headline and pulls the reader into the rest of your ad copy.
Online Advertising: 10 Tricky Secrets To Keep Visitors Glued To Your Website And Increase Sales
January 10, 2010
It is common sense.
The more time people spend at your web site, the more likely they will know more about your products and services.
The more time they know about your products and services, the more the chances of them buying from you will increase.
Below are ten online advertising powerful ways to keep visitors at your web site longer.
1. Provide your web site visitors with content they can’t read anywhere else. People will stay longer at your web site to read the original content.
2. Remind your web site visitors they can print out your content. They may browse around your online store while it’s printing.
3. Offer your web site visitors a freebie if they take the time to fill out your online survey. They’ll be at the site longer and might buy something afterwards.
4. Offer your visitors free software that they can download right from your web site. While they are waiting they might read your ad.
5. Provide a huge online directory of information that your visitors could search. The directory must contain information your visitors would want.
Copy Editing: 10 Powerful, Mind Blowing Secrets For Writing A High-Impact Ad
December 31, 2009
No matter what product or service you’re promoting, unless you are able to write and use a highly persuasive Ad, you may not generate a lot of traffics and sales.
Writing a high impact Ad that will deliver truckloads of sales requires some skill and practice.
Below are a few professional copy editing secrets to help you improve:
1. Publish a picture of yourself in your ad. This will show people that you’re not hiding behind your web site and you’re not afraid to backup your product.
2. List how many famous or respected people have purchased your product in your ad. These people should be fairly known by your target audience.
3. Publish the results of any tests your product has passed in your ad. Your product may have passed a durability test, safety test, quality test, etc.
4. Publish the results of any positive surveys you’ve taken from your customers in your ad. Just survey your current customers and list the results.
5. List any publications that have written about your business in your ad. It could be a product review, on a top ten list, an article, etc.
What Does Your Website Say About Your Business?
December 21, 2009
QUESTION: My business is very small, just me and two employees, and our product really can’t be sold online. Do I really need a website? — Robin C.
ANSWER: Congratulations, Robin, you are the one millionth person to ask me that question. Smile for the cameras, brush the streamers and confetti from your hair and listen closely, because I’m about to answer for the millionth time what has become one of the most important and often-asked questions of the digital business age.
Before I answer, however, let’s flash back to the very first time I was asked this question. It was circa 1998, during the toddler years of the Internet, just after Al Gore laid claim to having given birth to the concept a few short years before.
I was giving a speech on the impact of the Internet on small business at an association luncheon in Montgomery, Alabama. My motto then was: Feed me and I will speak. I have the same motto today, but I now expect dessert to be included in exchange for the sharing of my vast wisdom.
Concentrate On Web Content Instead Of Search Engine Optimization
December 11, 2009
For many webmasters the title of my article may seem like bad advice and contradict what most search engine experts say and advocate. However the proof is in the pudding. As a webmaster with 4 websites trust me when I tell you that I haven’t got a clue how to optimize my web pages in order to be on the first page for a particular search phrase. Instead I work on adding new content to my web sites. This technique has allowed me to consistently earn 4 figures a month in additional income and usually I start making money within 3 weeks of making my websites.
With Google doing its many algorithm changes on what seems like a daily basis and with MSN finally launching the search engine I feel compelled to just focus on adding quality content to my websites and finding beneficial link exchanges from other content rich websites. This allows me the opportunity to make my website bigger with more information and yes, keyword rich pages, which eventually do make it into the search engines on their own.
