I’m pleased to help announce that my friends Bill and Li are going to be working with another good friend, Christine. I know how much this joining of talent, skills and experience has meant to each of them.

Full press release: Online Marketing Experts Bill Slawski and Liana Evans Join KeyRelevance Search Engine Marketing

Christine discusses this in her SEM Clubhouse blog.

Congratulations. This is great news for KeyRelevance.com, an already highly reputable search marketing company, which by the way, includes usability site reviews as part of its services.

That makes it perfect, of course.

Holly Buchanan from FutureNow has a fun blog post called Would You Buy A Bra From This Man? I watched it and no, I would not.

She’s seeking comments on the video advertisement. I responded with mine. But I’m really curious about ads like this one, where I’m convinced the advertising agencies don’t get away from their desks enough. For starters, hand gestures about a woman’s knockers is something guys do when describing their pick of the hour. It’s not a great selling technique with women.

When it comes to breasts, I can vouch that having a large rack is not everything its cracked up to be. For starters, I can’t tell you how many times, when talking with men, I need to draw them a map to my eyeballs. At least these guys are confident in their gazing. The guy in the ad Holly wrote about had no idea what to do with his eyes or hands when discussing the topic of bras with a woman.

Why should she trust him? Why would she purchase from the company he represents?

Trust

Trust is something we’re still learning how to do with our websites. We need to let our customers know we won’t sell or trade their personal information. As site visitors, we need to know when we’re being tracked by search engines and why. Our credit cards are sometimes ripped off no matter what kind of policies there are because hacking is alive and well. “Trustmarks” are viewed as signals that a site is a credible business.

How many of us actually click on them to see if they contain up to date, authentic information? How often do we stop to verify it? Does the Better Business Bureau really know the company?

Testimonials are another sore spot. Can they be verified? Are they real or fabricated? Are the personal stories on travel sites real or paid content used to help sell services?

Can you trust paid content? Do you prefer user generated, objective content?

I trust whatever feels natural and familiar. I believe the more we know our site visitors, the better we can become at understanding what is natural and familiar for them. What is it that they relate to and how can you put them at ease, based on what you know about their lives?

A nerdy guy in a lab coat asking me questions about bra sizes is not something that occurs in my everyday life experience. Confident women hired to help women customers with sizes and merchandise are activities that do happen in the real world.

In those instances, we give them permission to look because we need their help in determining the right size. I’m one of those women you hear about who is always in denial, trying to stuff the motherload into a smaller boat.

As for that ad Holly writes about, if it had used a topless hunky man to walk up to women and ask them questions about their breasts, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

I’m no dummy.

While on a plane heading home from a conference I happened to meet the mother of a Human Factors employee for a well-known global Internet software company. As we chatted, she noted that when I spoke of my work, she could tell I wasn’t the critical type.

She’s a human behavior specialist. In her practice, she helps people who have suffered trauma. There’s a way that you listen. A way you offer support. I realized she was paying me a huge compliment if she noticed something about me and how I conveyed bad news to my clients.

I love to share my passion for usability. I can tell when a client is infected with it because during phone calls their voices change from sounding hesitant, shy and worried to excited, positive, and they start coming up with new ideas for their sites on their own. All I did was ignite their fire and help them fall in love with their web site again.

I’m working on a site now that doesn’t need me. Whomever is assigned to coding it knows what they’re doing. The text links contain title attributes. It’s table-less CSS. There are alternative ways to search and several ways of categorizing their information that meets different target customers. Their customer service phone number is above the header in a large font size for easy reading. Near the phone number is a small text link that if clicked on, will display their customer service hours.

It displays in all browsers and pages hold their integrity when windows are sized under 800 pixels. They made sure to put critical elements on the left side so that when the right side disappears, vitals still appear. In the case of this site, this is important because they sell parts and have strong competitors. Customer habits include price checking. This means several browser windows open on a screen or tabbed browsing back and forth between web pages. The company that doesn’t understand this kind of user behavior is the one that is less likely to sell the part.

Sure, I’ll still find things on their web site to report back on. For a site that’s doing so well to begin with, what I often find are tiny details that may make the user experience smoother or more logical. It’s also my job to consider visitors with disabilities, eyesight struggles with contrasts or font size, their emotional state and environment.

Every courtesy can pay off sooner or later.

Web site evaluations aren’t intended to be like a final exam in school. There’s just too much to know and consider to be absolutely perfect. With changes in technology and user behavior, it’s come to the point where I’m doing usability checks for the same clients every year, just so they can make sure they’re still on the right track. These site owners take their businesses seriously but what impresses me even more is their enthusiasm and devotion to their site visitors. They’re willing to invest their time and money to improve customer or visitor satisfaction. This, in turn, increases their conversion rate and ROI. It helps with search engine rank, branding and traffic.

For me, with these types of web site owners, it’s a relief to know I’m not causing them anxiety. They truly want to learn.

It’s nice to be able to tell a web site owner they’re doing a great job.

Hot off our tour of Google, Mike McDonald of Webpronews caught up with Bill and I to essentially shoot the breeze about the conference. We say nothing earth shattering, but I think Mike captured the spirit of Bill and I perfectly. He’s the brains. I just get to stand around and giggle.

Funny video…Bill and Kim on Cre8asiteforums, SES San Jose, Google and the Most Talked About Session of the Week

Discuss video here or view feedback.

I should have seen it coming. I hadn’t planned on going to Search Engine Strategies, San Jose. There was no logical reason for a forums owner, usability consultant, ex-SEO to fly across the country to report on sessions.

Stranded overnight on the way there and on the way home, I decided there was no use in getting upset. Although my first reaction was to go back home last Sunday after the missed connection and no more flights to San Jose; since they canceled my flight home I figured there was far more to this adventure. I needed to stop trying to control anything. Obviously I was intended to be the student.

All my shyness, lack of confidence and fears of the unknown had to shut up. Once I was finally on a plane to San Jose, I leaned against the window, exhausted and slipped into sleep. Some time into the flight, I was to meet Nate Eslinger, Senior Marketing Manager from NetShops.com, who was sitting next to me. We finally introduced ourselves after I woke up because they were offering food and drinks. I couldn’t eat or drink. But the kind man sitting to my right was also going to SES and he had heard of me. We continued talking until we touched down several hours later.

It could’ve ended there. However, the SEO industry has a reputation for taking care of their own. When one is down, there will be search marketers from the industry who will sweep in, take care of what needs to be done and protect you if necessary. Since my luggage was already in San Jose in the United Baggage Claim office, Nate waited while I retrieved it. Since I was scheduled to be at the SEO Women’s Luncheon, which had already started, he offered to drive me to the Fairmont where I was staying and where the lunch was also held, in his rental car.

In return for his generosity, I offered to introduce him to people. All he had to do was call my cell phone. He did. Smart guy. In the days to come, he became known as my “savior”. My friends and husband were thrilled someone was looking out for me.

I arrived during the last 20 minutes of the lunch at about 1:40 Monday afternoon, wearing the same clothes I’d left home in at 4am Sunday morning. Too dazed to meet everyone, Liana Evans and Christine Churchill made sure I tried to eat something (I could stab at a salad). Thankfully I sat with Mike Grehan, who is a good friend and I needed that then. I was so tired Diane Aull guided me to the lobby to check in. I’d have never found it that day, I’m sure. I’d missed the sessions I wanted to get to, so the only thing left was to get my press pass so I’d be ready for the next day.

From that moment on, I didn’t stop moving. Sleep? Maybe 4 hours a day, on average.

Parties

I wasn’t invited to any but somehow I ended up at several anyway. Twice, I was walking on the sidewalk and was pulled into gatherings I didn’t know were going on. This is how I spent some time at the Ask.com party, where I made sure to add Nate to the SearchBash party on Wednesday night, co-hosted by Ask.

The other time was when I was heading somewhere and was diverted to the SearchEngineGuide gathering. Robert Clough, whom I finally got to meet in person, has published my writings for years, but I’m not a member of their blogging team, so it felt weird being in the official picture of their writers holding SearchEngineGuide laptop bags. I’m so grateful I was given one, however. It passed every test when I used it on the way home and was stranded in the O’Hare again.

By the Google Dance, Tuesday night, it was pretty clear Nate and I were inseparable. This, of course, made for some lively gossip. The only thing missing were the paparazzi and tabloids. For the record, there’s no story to tell. Sometimes two professional people get together and become fast friends. He, me and my other good friend, Bill Slawski, did a lot of things together, including a night time drive up to the Googleplex, “just because”.

Bill and I were interviewed together twice. Once by Joe Whyte for the Search Marketing Standard and the other by Mike McDonald for Webpronews.

(See video Bill and Kim on SES, Google, Cre8asiteforums and more)

The Google Dance was nothing like what I’d imagined. It was far better. We’d seen them setting up the night before when we drove up. I have some pictures of the crowds waiting to board busses to go there. I later learned that not only were thousands of search engine marketers and companies there, but Google strongly and repeatedly encouraged all their employees to attend. Every Google employee I met, from the famous to the unknown, was vibrant, warm and happy.

A row of us sat eating behind the volleyball players. It was a stupid place to sit, but getting hit by a Google volleyball was an easy way to start conversations. Later that evening I finally got to meet Matt Cutts, which was hilarious. I didn’t think he knew who I was. Boy, was I wrong! I also got to spend more time with Brett Tabke of Webmasterworld. I don’t think we had a photo together but he was quite gracious with helping Bill and I celebrate our 5th birthday at Cre8asiteforums. I met Adam Lasnik too. What a hoot! He’s a lot of fun. I also had the honor of meeting Gillian from SEOMoz. She’s everything I imagined the boss woman at SEOMoz to be. My only regret is that we didn’t have more time together, despite our efforts.

The WebmasterRadio SearchBash party on Wednesday was another memorable experience. Bill and I were given V.I.P. status. There was some talk of our getting up on stage and dancing with the pole dancers, in honor of Cre8asite’s birthday. There was a big announcement about Cre8asiteforums’ birthday and we felt so honored by that. Nate’s choice of drink made me and Lisa Barone feel great. ‘Nuff said there.

Thursday night was party-less but no less fun. I went to JapanTown for dinner with a group of people that seemed to grow as the night went on. It was the first time I was able to spend time with Amanda Watlingtonand Chris Sherman. That dinner was the last time I ate until Saturday evening Eastern Standard time because of the travel nonsense.

Connecting the Dots Between Usability and SEO

For all the discussions over the past few years about SEO and Usability and whether or not the two should get married or just live together, I can attest to the fact that when speaking with experienced search marketers, they not only “get it”, they want more attention put on the user experience.

There was nothing user friendly about my trip to cover it for Search EngineRoundtable until I got to the part where I met a friendly person willing to help me navigate the rest of the way. He cared about my experience once I got there.

That’s a sign of a really damn good search marketer.

Self shot of me in Fairmont, Thursday night.

Photos:
Mine
Christine Churchill
Li Evans
Matt McGee
Tamar Weinberg
Lee Odden
Simon Heseltine