When I was in college, there was a class that occurred every semester where we always knew when its most popular exercise was taking place. Students would be everywhere on campus with blindfolds on, being led by their guide person to classes and lunch.

I’m reminded of this class experiment when I visit web sites with clumsy navigation. They may start off with a simple “walk forward” link and think this is good. However, it’s not. If you’re blindfolded and someone tells you to “walk forward”, you may ask, “Where are you taking me” or “Why?” We have the same questions when we walk around web sites.

The “scent of information” is a funky phrase that means, “Give me a strong hint about where you’re going to take me next”. We’re more likely to take the step forward if we know we’ll be rewarded with something we want or need, and if we’re confident we’ll get there intact.

Getting Lost

I was on Twitter’s web site today and, being curious as to why the “older” button is deactivated, I decided to poke around the site to see if it was something I had done. This is typical user behavior. We blame ourselves first when something doesn’t work. I, like some of you, think that while we were sleeping, tiny gremlins went into our favorite sites and wreaked havoc on our personal settings.

I clicked from the Twitter homepage to their Help page. Apparently, they want to keep me on that page forever because they removed the top global navigation, including the user support and frequently used links like “home”, “settings” and “find and follow”. If I hunt for links to get back to where I started from, I find some navigation in the footer, along with a copyright date of 2007, rather than 2008. The only “home” link I found went to the homepage of the “Help” hub. If the way back “home” is on this busy the page, I didn’t want to hunt for it. Things have to be where I can see them without any effort.

Despite the fame Twitter has, it’s also an example of too much hoopla, too soon. If they even have Performance Testing Engineers, those people are battling every day to keep a site up that’s live and “in production” from crashing every hour. As Twitter users know, Twitter’s as fun to use as training a toddler to use the potty. Some days it works. Most days it doesn’t.

Lost in the Hub, Bub

I was hired to test a web site that’s famous around the world. It’s a gigantic site aimed at readers all over the world. Despite its credible reputation, the web site is clunky, chaotic, not consistent from page to page or hub to hub and has an alarming number of big ads on each page that make reading difficult.

It’s broken into categories, which are set up as “hubs”. Hubs are like rooms on a site with windows on the walls.

A typical hub is an About Us section where the hub’s “homepage” explains what’s interesting to see inside that hub, may contain a mission statement and devotes some space to proof of the company’s existence like a picture of the store or office.

Left side navigation takes visitors to the other “windows” in the room, such as press releases, media kit, or contact page.

Sometimes hub windows contain window panes, or another level. This means that if you click from the hub’s Homepage into the Contact page, you may see breadcrumb navigation to “Staff”, “Bio’s, and “Directions”.

On the famous web site I reviewed, there was a weak attempt to create hubs but it wasn’t finished. I couldn’t locate the way out of some hubs to the main site in some cases. I certainly couldn’t jump from hub to hub, or if I could move deeper into a hub, I became stuck there. There was little or no direction on how to escape or move backwards. They also made another common mistake, which is to remove all navigation from pages like privacy policies and terms.

I Love Navigation Cliffhangers

Most web sites are designed for forward momentum. This means if you land on their homepage, you’ll find key, top-level links to move inside the web site. What becomes less obvious is when you want to return to where you were, or move side to side from hub to hub without first requiring a click back to the main homepage first. Try not to force visitors to go home to reorient themselves or find a new hub to explore. This is especially handy advice for landing pages, which have their own requirements for navigation and usability.

Sub-navigation and breadcrumb navigation are planned out during the information architecture stage, not as a last resort. When navigation schemes are mapped out in accordance with IA there is less chance for cliffhangers. I love these. It’s when you get going on a site and you’re rolling along until suddenly you’re taken to a page that drops you off into the Unknown Internet Universe. Typically, the browser’s “Back” button has been disabled, making this trip all the more groovy.

Every web designer faces navigation hurdles. This is why user testing during the design phase or pre-production is so valuable. I grow frustrated with the number of stories I hear from the field by IT folks, programmers, project managers and QA Engineers whose companies completely ignore user testing and usability/accessibility design or standards. They’re not happy to be knowingly building a “piece of crap” and it boggles one’s mind when upper level management encourages them to do so.

The blindfolded students learned many lessons, as did their guide persons. As a user experience web site designer, you play the role of both.

Now, if we could just convince your blind managers and directors to get with the program, we’d have software that works when we want it to and web sites that never drop us off the side of the road.

I got a message from Facebook today. Someone indicated I am “hot” in one of those “Compare” applications. I accepted this word graciously offered to me and clung to it like a cat pouncing a mouse.

Facebook has been interesting to explore. MySpace has a cluttered, chaotic user interface that confuses the hell out of me. Facebook is organized and loaded with more ways to connect with and keep track of friends. Not a day goes by where someone is stuck in a bus or elevator, having a terrible day, promoting a blog post, breaking up, or matching me in my taste for food, sex, life, movies, books, and what I’d do if I could start all over again in life.

If you’re sensitive, not being voted as “hot”, “most desirable”, “pretty”, “handsome”, “most want to date” or “best hair” can ruin your week. Facebook can boost your ego and kick it down. Since I’ve never been voted “hot” before, I’ve had some days where this really ticked me off. Am I too old? Am I not pretty enough? Am I fat?

And then there’s Twitter. I gave it a shot. I don’t think I’m cut out for it. You see, when I “talk” to somebody by name, and they don’t respond to me, I wonder what I did to deserve being ignored. Not everyone is on Twitter when you are. Chances are, I didn’t do anything to be snubbed, but communication online may not be what human beings were designed to do.

Not me, anyway.

I’m one of those energy and vibration persons. For me, I get more information by what’s not spoken. I do the soul-to-soul, look into a person’s eyes kind of contact. For me, the Internet has always been a constant communication lesson. It’s also an experiment in how or if I will adapt.

Maybe it’s younger people raised on the Internet who need less human touch to understand another person?

I’m old school, from the days of hippies and wild, vibrant colors. I hug. I touch. I ask tons of questions of someone who fascinates me. When I really like someone, it’s because I admire something about them and want to learn whatever they’re willing to teach me. This may be why I’ve kept Cre8asiteforums going for so long (it debuted in 1998 in an earlier form). I can’t physically sit with all the people I want to know but I appreciate whatever they’re willing to type and share.

In a forum, people develop a sense of community. They bond. In Facebook and Twitter, I don’t sense this same feeling. In Facebook, for example, there is a Top Friends application. If someone claims you are a “top friend” and you don’t even know them, what do you do? With Twitter, there are “followers” and those you “follow”. You don’t have to follow those who follow you, but if you don’t, doesn’t that feel rude?

And then there’s times when you had a Facebook or Twitter friend, and they suddenly dump you. How do people today define “Friend”?

For me, a friend is someone who talks to me and doesn’t make me guess what the hell is going on. In real life, friends can sit with you. You can look at them. See their face. Study their vibe. You can tell when something’s up. Not online. It just was never intended to work that way.

Sometimes I think I’m not cut out for the Internet. It’s far too easy to be misunderstood when the thing that separates you from another person is a keyboard. Even a user interface can put roadblocks in your way. Twitter doesn’t allow emoticons to help express the meaning behind words, for example.

I can tell that I surprise some people when they meet me for the first time. I can be professional. I can be corny. I’ve noticed that some people will talk to me in person but won’t respond to me online. Mike Grehan recently wrote,

I remember arriving and bumping into the wonderfully warm and huggy Kim Krause (yes, the very same Kim Krause spotted on stage singing in a New York nightclub last week!).

It’s easy to be “warm and huggy” when I’m in a situaiton where I know that Kim won’t freak out anyone. I still make the mistake of touching a knee and scaring the crap out of the person because they’re not used to being touched. It’s not like I just jumped into their lap or anything. It’s a knee and I was likely laughing my head off at the same time, not drooling or begging for a wild night in bed.

Which brings me full circle back to Facebook and not being “hot” enough. How would anyone know if I am or not?

With social networking web sites, we can put up anything we want to. We can present any persona we want to. I like to mix my professional identity with the rest of me because in my work, much of me leaks in anyway. I really do care about the web sites I work on. I really do care about my clients and helping them. I really do appreciate their trust and faith in me. I’m loyal to my return clients and give them discounts. I really do refer my partners to companies seeking good help.

Clients don’t want me to be “hot” and I understand that being hot won’t bring me in new business. User generated content and feedback like games, comments, testimonials, and remarks about you are validating, however. Some days you just want to know you’re more than words on a page.

I often wonder about the “social” web and what we’re trying to create with it. I may never be satisfied with the Internet user experience.

It has yet to be able to give me a real live hug.

(The following outburst is reprinted from a post at Cre8asiteforums by permission of myself because every once in a while it feels really damned good to let it all out.)

In the beginning there was only a gray background. We borrowed (stole) everyone’s HTML so we could learn how to make our own web sites. We lied about our real identities. We were shy in those days. Even our spam was wimpy. Immature. Testing Internet waters.

Spammers started with simple spam emails that were so few and far between that you could hardly tell you were being spammed. In fact, historically speaking, the progression was foretold by none other than Monty Python in the famous “Spam” sketch from 1970.

* Egg and bacon
* Egg, sausage and bacon
* Egg and spam
* Egg, bacon and spam
* Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
* Spam, egg, sausage and spam
* Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam
* Spam, spam, spam, egg, and spam
* Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam
* Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce garnished with truffle paté, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam
* Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam, tomato and spam

But I Don’t Like Spam

It matters not, in today’s in-your-face marketing agenda society, that we like or dislike email spam. As marketers, the bottom line, golden rule is this:

Rush in. Do whatever is the shortest route possible to satisfaction. Never, ever, expect to be fulfilled.

There is nothing ethical about spam. Spammers are the lowest form of life on the planet. In fact, some would go so far as to say spam is not a living thing at all. However, we’ve all seen spam take on a life of its own via the endless incarnation practice of “copy/forward” to friends.

To end this cycle, we could simply ignore junk mail but alas, some email clients have to warn us first. We’re offered a choice. Keep or trash? I’m sick and tired of being asked and yet the moment I don’t, a good behaving email gets tossed in with the low-life scum.

What are the causes of spam? Are spammers’ angry people? Do their egos lead them to believe that we’re all interested in what they have to say? Could they not, before spamming these forums, ASK FIRST, to see if what to do or say is permitted? Do they not know how to read and therefore are too stupid to read our House Rules?

Do they think we get paid to be here, disabling them?

Many days I think to myself…“Kim, you could be doing something good for the planet.” What prevents me from doing so? Spam.

If I and the moderators didn’t come here every day, every hour, and every minute, no one would recognize these forums. Spammers with their naked celebrity pictures would have a field day here. People who still believe in “link farms” would pile in to beg for links. New web site owners would arrive, hour by hour, hawking their sites on everything from porn, to pills, to political statements.

What’s missing from the brain of a spammer?

Compassion for others. Concern for the well being of our society. Wisdom. Integrity. Responsibility. Spammers aren’t interested in dialog. Theirs is a one-side conversation.

Yes. In the global grand scheme of things, there are far, far more important and vital issues to be thinking about. People are in pain. Children are born into lives of slavery and starvation. Women are owned, raped and of less value than all other living things in some cultures. Not a day goes by when my soul doesn’t ache.

Not a day goes by when I must fight off those who use words and images to force me to look at their spam emails, spam blog comments or spam posts. And all I want to do is show every spammer where they could be putting their time, money and energy.

Dear spammer. It is not your desire that matters.

Discuss: Cre8asiteforums Staff Taking Time Off

I’ve been thinking about two popular discussions currently taking place in the search engine marketing industry about “Seo Rock Stars”. First was Lee Odden’s, The Fallacy of SEO Celebrity, which was followed up with Rand Fishkin’s take in The Desire for Fame in the SEO World. Both men flung the doors wide open.

I enjoy any discussion that offers up a chance to look at where we are as people, community or industry.

There are far less rock star personalities in the Human Factors and Usability/User Experience fields, but they do exist. In those industry circles, the so-called fame can be directly traced to their achievements, such as case studies, white papers, books, popular educational blogs, videos or podcasts or events such as hosting conferences. Only recently did My Catalyze quietly launch. It’s no Sphinn. The content at Catalyze tends to be more academic and not self-promotional.

Reading the comments in both Rand and Lee’s highly rated posts, I was reminded of my early days in the 1990’s, when I made the online acquaintance of Jill Whalen, Kalena Jordan, Ralph Tegtmeier (aka “Fantomaster”), and Ammon Johns (aka “Black Knight”). Danny Sullivan was the most authoritative guide for me, followed soon by Mike Grehan.

What struck me as the most positive role each of these people played back then was that they shared what they learned, while they were learning it. Brett Tabke did the same thing by launching Webmasterworld. In those first years, WMW was an online lab where Brett tested theories and practices and freely shared his findings. Members followed up with their testing and feedback. Eventually “best practices” could be flushed out from all this free flow. If you came into WMW believing you were a smarty pants with an attitude of being a guru, you didn’t survive long.

Flash forward to today. I founded Cre8asiteforums, Jill founded High Rankings Forums and many other forums came long before us, like Jim World and DigitalPoint. The one thing you can count on in forums is self promotion.

There are always exceptions. Some members of Cre8asiteforums contribute day in and day out, giving advice, helping figure out problem code, and offering moral support with no link drops or hints that they’re only being nice because they want your business. The moderating staff and I keep track of humble contributors. Some of them are eventually given opportunities to join the team or write in our blog. We look for self respect, hard workers, generosity, and expertise that have been proven.

Power plays are out. A constant presence that says “Look at me! Look at me! I’m over here!” doesn’t work either. I see this happening in Facebook. Everyone has a different use for it. I go there to have fun, but I’m a professional person, forums owner, business owner and tied to many companies who use my services. What I share in Facebook about my personal life is limited.

When people who have seen me online for years finally meet me at a conference, they meet the “real” Kim. I’m goofy. I’m terrible with names. I’m shy and uncomfortable in crowds until I get a sense of the place. I laugh. A lot. I swear after a few drinks if we’re on a hot topic and am more likely to say things that might surprise you. I rarely have the nerve to approach “SEO Rock Stars” I haven’t met yet or if I do, I’ve had to get the courage up for about 20 minutes first. I figure nobody knows me and will wonder who that strange woman is walking up to them.

I suppose being famous in an industry is a head trip at first. It doesn’t always last long in such a socially driven environment. I’ve seen some new people rise to the top by pushing uphill a boulder of content and involvement in all the “right” places, only to write something that’s in poor judgment online somewhere and they tumble back down the mountain. Some of them will align themselves with someone famous and toot that horn, in essence using the famous person to gain notice.

What’s kept Danny, Ralph, Aaron Wall, Jill, Christine Churchill, Mike Grehan and Ammon going strong over the past 12 years is their devotion to their craft, their interest in upholding the integrity and continued growth of the industry, their consistent ability to stay focused on their work and their personalities. Each of them is genuine. You know it the moment you meet them in person and when you see them anywhere online. They are interested in YOU and YOUR success.

True leaders gain loyalty because people can tell the difference between those who really want their peers to succeed and those who are in it for their own personal agenda.

There’s tremendous talent out there, with some exciting new voices and faces. There are also a lot of well known industry leaders, business owners and conference speakers. Eventually they’ll want to move on, retire, or try something else. The SEO/M industry would do well to nurture and guide the newcomers and support individuals who have impressed them.

It makes little sense to wave fingers at so called “rock stars” because time has a way of filtering out the frauds from the real deal.

It’s the time of year when awards are handed out for jobs well done. The search engine marketing industry likes to recognize people and web sites in this way. It’s easy to suggest nominees when the category their work or web site falls into fits neatly into a niche.

Not so easy when the person straddles several industries, or the work they do is exceptional for perhaps their own company or local community, rather than being globally recognized. For the Search Engine Journal’s Search Blogs Awards of 2007, the same sites you see every year are there, with a few new breakout ones. I was pleased to see these few new folks were noted.

The forums I founded, Cre8asiteforums, was nominated in the forums category. I’m happy someone nominated it because the forums Community and the moderating staff deserve acknowledgment for their dedication in time and knowledge share. It’s a group project that many people enjoy being part of.

The web site I covered search marketing conferences for as a volunteer, Search Engine Roundtable, was nominated for a few spots, including “Best Search Conference Coverage of 2007″. Owned by Barry Schwartz, he was the first person to do what is now called “live blogging” at search engine marketing conferences. Several years into it, others have joined in to do the same thing, but none can claim to have the dedicated reporting team that he does. I spent over $5000 of my own money as a volunteer to cover conferences for Barry last year. He’s managed to attract some big name people to report for his site. Several of them are speakers at conferences or persons whose companies were already sending them to the conferences and one of his employees, Tamar, covers sessions.

No Awards for Support or Inspiration

I was disappointed to see no categories for volunteers, support persons and inspiration.

There were plenty of people who did amazing things this year like starting educational programs, forming local organizations, organizing dinners to recognize peers and launching new tools.

I’ve never taken a salary from Cre8asiteforums. Rather, I gave away $1600 in ad revenue to educational programs, search engine optimization internships, contests and student certification sponsorships. Not a lot, but it felt right to help the SEM industry by putting money into improving skills.

I was a volunteer judge and prize sponsor for Marketing Pilgrim’s writing contest. I write for free for a print magazine on usability for the SEM industry and write for several blogs as a volunteer. I’m the volunteer webmaster for two local web sites to help my town.

In a marketing oriented industry, volunteering and donating back to the industry aren’t recognized as honorable deeds. With a few exceptions, what gets attention are those who become overnight millionaires, have figured out how to manipulate processes to earn a ton of money for themselves or those who work for and represent big-name companies.

Inspiration is important. It keeps us feeling positive about our work and who we are. How many awards sites acknowledge inspiration or creativity?

The popular series that Li Evans ran all year about women in the SEO/M industry was started because I questioned why these women weren’t acknowledged for their contributions.

Some other bloggers had a nice run of posts and recognition when I stood up against Digg. I even let one of them have access to my server logs to be written about and used in a presentation.

Usability and user centered, persuasive design are making inroads into the SEM industry and I believe I’ve had something to do with that. When I griped that Danny Sullivan’s new Sphinn social site didn’t have a place for usability for the marketers, he added the category. Our verbal exchange made for some great news fodder for a few weeks this year.

I was featured on video twice at search engine marketing conferences and in one podcast for the SEM industry, as a usability spokesperson. However, there are two people who speak on usability and seo at conferences, who can afford to travel around the world, so they get the recognition that comes with that.

In the marketing industry, it may not be what you do that matters. You have to be seen constantly talking about it to be remembered.

When I reviewed the list of nominees at SEJ, I noticed some missing names of people. A few of them had amazing adventures this year, like when Jennifer Laycock went up against the pork industry. She handled that with such grace and professionalism. Fantomaster came back to help rescue Threadwatch. Bob Massa threw himself into his new advice web site to reach a new generation of folks.

Some old friends are fading away too. I know they’re around, but they’re no longer fighting to be out there in the public eye. Rather, they’re working in the background, taking their time on projects that fill them with personal rewards.

To Shana, Marty and Brendan, I wish you many congratulations on breaking out into the SEM industry this year. It’s been fun watching you. You’re each a winner to me.

Next?

I’ve had weeks of mixed feelings about 2008. It’s the year I turn 50. I was 37 when I built my first web site and started down the SEO path. In 2008 I guide Cre8asiteforums into new territory for its 10th year (it was once a club in Yahoo!, launched in 1998.) My days of paying my own way to “live blog” are done. It’s clear my family needs me here and they need me to be earning money for us, not giving it away to support two industries I love.

So I’d like to end this year by sending a big “Thank you” to Sphinn’s programmers, the many folks who organize, agonize and setup conferences, (Brett, Joe, Danny, Chris and the Kevin’s), the bloggers who write from their hearts (Donna, Tamar, emoms Wendy) and those who churn out constant humor (Lisa, Susan), the brilliant support for small businesses (Matt M., Jen, Robert), the launch of Catalyze, Li and Bill, Jill, Christine and all the Cre8asiteforums Staff for their unwavering friendship and support, Rand, a remarkable friend, and my husband Eric for his extreme feats of understanding and moral support.

…………………..

Agree/Disagree? Cre8asiteforums has begun a discussion - 2007 Awards For Support, Volunteers And Inspiration.