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Is it good website usability if I can't remember where everything is?
What are two telltale signs of poor website usability? How about when you find yourself mumbling, "Now where was that section I liked . . ."? Or you notice an interesting website feature -- and then you try to find it again. When you hear yourself saying, "Oh, you just have to KNOW that "Wish List" and "Design Board" are in the "Store," that qualifies as telltale sign #2.
Shop.CCS.com product sorting options improve usability
If you're looking for some great product sorting options to add to your e-commerce site functionality, check out Shop.CCS.com. The visitor can "sort by" and "filter by" a number of very useful options, including best seller, what's new, alphabetical, low price, and high price.
It's hard, though, for the first-time visitor to get past the busy main menu system. Special offers and utility-type menu choices are inter-mingled with e-commerce main menu choices stretching over 3 to 4 rows of real estate. And the use of numerous type treatments makes it look all the more jumbled.
OprahStore.com scores a 7 on e-commerce website usability
Have you ever taken a look at some e-commerce websites to see what you could learn about good and bad website usability features?
I recently reviewed the OprahStore.com website -- which scores high usability marks for its clean design and easy-to-use menu and sub-menu system, but totally fails with its search function.
How Much Content Does Your Website Need?
When you visit a website that has few pages, doesn't that make you think this is a very small company?
What if those few pages featured very little information? What if the copy really didn't answer the all-important "why should I buy yours?" question (or even the simpler "why should I stay on this site and look around further?" question)? Wouldn't you think this company wasn't worth your time?
The question of "how much copy is enough copy?" is actually an easy one to answer from a make-the-sale perspective. Here's the standard we use:
- Say everything you would say to me if you were face-to-face and had to convince me to take the next step.
How to Review Web Site Design Concepts -- the Right Way
When you embark upon a new web design -- and a new web strategy, certain things should happen . . .
You should talk about your brand look and feel with your web strategy team. And you should review the look, feel, and elements of competitive sites.
You might provide examples of some web sites that you like. It's useful for you to review with your web strategy team exactly what you like about each site -- is it the overall visual look of the site, do you find the navigation particularly easy to use, do you like the use of video or Flash on the site, etc.
It will be important to talk about what strategy might be appropriate for the type of site you need, if the sites you provide as examples aren't the same type of site you're looking to create. You'll want to talk about logical elements of the site that should be included.
And it will be critical for all to understand the types of target customers -- or personas -- the site will be built for.
So we'll assume your web team understands the brand image you wish to create online, what elements of other sites you like, what elements should be included in the site, and who your target personas are. And they've proposed a web strategy for your site, in terms of navigation and specific elements to be included. Now you're ready for some design concepts -- what could go wrong?
Website navigation gone wrong: flash in all the wrong places
As the website turns, episode three . . .
When last we left Company C, they had hired a web design firm that focused on great Flash effects to create an e-commerce site. ( Yes, someone should have seen this train wreck coming, but they didn't . . .).
The web design firm created an all-Flash site that was supposed to sell. Unfortunately, the resulting site was frustrating to visitors. The all-Flash menu system kept disappearing. Visitors had no idea where they were within the site. And the copy panels featured reverse type that was very dim -- until you figured out that you had to move your mouse over the copy to "brighten" it and make it readable (no, I'm not making this up).
Flash can be a wonderful tool to make a web site come alive and dazzle and involve visitors. But web designers need to use Flash in the right places -- Flash, essentially, needs its own strategy.
The Dangers of Copying the Look of Someone Else's Web Site
As the Web Site Turns . . . episode two . . .
Company C told the web design company they wanted a site modeled after the Prada site. The web design company was experienced at creating visually beautiful web sites with lots of Flash effects. Unfortunately, they weren't very experienced at developing the right web strategy for each client.
The resulting site draws the eye away from the copy and focuses on the visuals. The visitor can't always locate the navigation. And there is no way to tell what area of the site you're actually in.
But beyond the visual, there is no clear point of differentiation to make the visitor want to spend money on this premium -- and unknown -- product. How did this happen?
Web Sites Gone Wrong: Copying a Look Without a Strategy
As the Web Site Turns . . . starring Company "C" . . . episode one . . .
"When we started the project, we told the web designers we wanted a site similar to the Prada site."
And so, the project began, seemingly without thinking about whether the overall approach of the Prada site made sense for Company "C". The web design company was experienced in creating sites in Company "C"'s industry. What could go wrong?
Who would have thought that copying the overall look of another site, without thinking through your own strategy, could be a recipe for disaster . . .
Keys to Effective Search Engine Marketing
Lately, I've been getting a lot of emails about search engine marketing -- and it seems that maybe we've forgotten that getting the basics in place is still a good idea. Have you examined your page titles, keyword focus, and description on each page lately? If you've recently changed or added content to some of your pages, it's likely your page title, keywords, and description for that page also need to be changed.
Have you recently checked your ranking for your most important keywords -- and then checked out what all of the sites ranked above you are doing in terms of SEO? SEO isn't a "set it up once and forget it" effort -- it should be addressed at least monthly.
What about your keywords themselves? Have you checked their search volume lately? Have you looked to see what other keywords may be hot right now and generatng more search volume?
Selecting the keywords your site will focus on is now a much more far-reaching decision that it has been in the past. Every press release you send out, every blog post you make, every Twitter tweet you make -- all should be supporting those keywords on which you focus.
Web Marketing Discoveries: Everything Old is New Again . . .
- By: Karen J. Marchetti
- On: 09/25/2008 18:53:11
- In: Websites
"Web visitors don't read -- they scan."
"One effective technique when you have a lot of information on a web page is to organize it into 'chunks.'"
"When testing various search engine pay-per-click programs, you should always allocate some funds for 'exploring' new options."
Speakers at an online marketing conference made these web marketing "best practices" pronouncements. But is this anything new? Aren't these the same "best practices" that direct marketers have been using for decades in magazine ads and direct mail?
Architectural Digest Offer to Drive Web Traffic Falls Flat
- By: Karen J. Marchetti
- On: 12/17/2007 20:37:05
- In: Websites
A pitch in Architectural Digest magazine recently attempted to drive readers to the magazine's new web site. The copy calls it:
" . . . Architectural Digest's new marketing website . . ."
To the average consumer, what does a "marketing website" mean? It's likely not a positive connotation, and may actually prevent readers from visiting the site, as most consumers don't want to be marketed to.
Can we help Architectural Digest with some better copy? I'd suggest they: 1) Get some "you" into this copy; 2) stop talking about "advertisers" and start talking about more of a product source list (readers could care less about "advertisers", they only care about where they can find products); 3) include the hottest features of the site that actually work; and 4) be as specific as possible about the benefits to the visitor:
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