One thing you can count on when it comes to “usable” web site design is that nobody can agree on what that is. Is the perfect user experience when a web page comes up near the top in search engine rank? Is it high conversions? Is it a site that blind persons can use?

One of the quirks of Twitter is that you can participate in spontaneous one on one conversations and your “followers” can “listen” in. The other day my friend Elizabeth Able picked my brain with questions like “Is marketing like war?”.

I replied with my 147 character limit,

War? no. War is forceful, no choice. Marketing is ideas, persuasion, suggestion, competitiveness…

Thinking about marketing, she asked about war vs. competition. Are they the same or different? I said,

I think to compete is to lose with grace and war is a fight that never ends.

Competition allows for negotiation and permits the wise ones to learn from the experience. War teaches more war.

Liz wondered if marketing can work without hype?

I felt that,

Marketing w/o hype? Yes. It’s called value proposition and that has to be honest and real, not fake.

How do these marketing questions relate to user experience design?

The other day I visited a site that claimed to do online usability reviews of various web sites as a weekly feature. I read their critique. I hope the company didn’t pay for it. The feedback was “The colors are boring”. It was designed for 640 resolution. First of all, for a weekly feature, I would choose a web site built in the present century to review.

There was no information on conversions or traffic. Nothing about value proposition, credibility or accessibility. Clearly, there are parts of the planet that aren’t on the usability train yet or don’t understand WHY a heuristic exists.

The search engine marketing industry is often at odds with one another about setting best practice standards. Obviously, for an industry made up of people who tend to be quite independent thinkers, the very idea of rules or being told how to do their job by some governing entity isn’t going over very well.

The same standards idea exists on the usability side. No two usability companies, when given a site to test, will come back with the same results. When Jakob Nielsen came out with “discount usability” and testing heuristics, he may as well have stood on a mountain top reading from tablets. His Alertbox posts are still often considered usability gospel.

I consider his advice as guidance and observations. His data is often really helpful, if even only to add insight or understanding into a common practice or behavior. Most practitioners, in both the SEO and user centered design houses, test practices and theories. They have to. Nothing on the Internet stays the same. Human/computer behavior changes as we adapt to the latest technology or cool-web-thing, like social networking.

Why the Dark Ages?

Matt Bailey wrote an exceptional blog post on real estate web sites that shows just how far behind one niche remains when it comes to web site design. He nails point after point in Online Marketing in Real Estate - Fast Start to Stagnation

Not only does he point out all the ridiculous usability errors, but as someone trying to use real estate sites to find a new home, he’s a potential customer who is finding the user experience to be infuriating.

When I was looking to buy a new house in 2003, I ran into the same thing. I wasted untold hours on real estate web sites that didn’t know how to sell online, but were chomping at the bit to get my personal information so they could call me.

Finally, it was the photography that worked. I swore I’d never buy a cape cod style home. I never liked them. Then one day I went onto my local realtor’s web site, which is barely tolerable, and found 10 rotating views of a cape style house interior located nearby that looked move-in ready. The pictures showed all the living space on the inside, but they forget to add some other value proposition points.

Therefore, when my kids and husband-to-be drove down the long driveway and saw the built-in pool in the back, it was a real shocker! Then, there was the huge half circle garden leading up to the deck coming off the back of the house that was designed as a private paradise. The house was loaded with extras and had room for my home office and organic vegetable gardens. None of this was mentioned on the real estate web site.

I made an offer that same day. It may not have happened if the site didn’t at least have professional photos on it. I could have cared less what the resolution was. (However these days, a mobile phone ready real estate web site is a strong competitive design choice.) I’ll always wonder why the Realtor didn’t include the pool in the house description or place any emphasis on the outside of the property. Some buyers, like myself, are gardeners or like trees and fields around them. These are selling points.

It can seem to some as though online marketing has to be cut throat and in your face to be noticed. To me, there’s nothing more frustrating than “get rich quick” schemes and affiliate template sites that show no character or USP. I’m uncomfortable with boldface text yelling at me to buy something. Who has the time to read a mile-long scrolling corn field of endless content?

Bad web site design is not a good teacher.  One person’s bad design is another person’s perfect web site. The true measure of success is brand trust, customer satisfaction, word of mouth referrals, continued business and steady sales leads. Search engines notice.

When usability reviews are presented from the perspective of marketing, it becomes easier to understand the importance of user experience design. Boring colors will not make or break a sale. Neither will flexible or fixed width pages. These are user annoyances and factors to consider for your business requirements but in no way should any design review settle for limited fixes like these.

Today’s user experience enabled web site is an honest and frank design. It’s friendly. It’s easy to understand. The experience includes what happened to find it, how your visitors feel when they arrive and leave and especially if they feel persuaded to come back.

I turned 50 years old this morning at 7:12 am. In some cultures, the moment a baby is born, everything is recorded. The sounds and sights. Who was there or not there. The position of the moon, sun, earth and stars. Whether or not the wind blew or the coyote sang.

I awoke this morning to the springtime chorus of birds, who are likely mating and watching their nests. On my 40th birthday, a crow literally perched outside my bedroom window and screamed at me to wake up that morning. I likely picked up my tree devoted, bird loving, nature oriented qualities from my mother, who emailed me today that, “Waiting for you to arrive, I couldn’t hear the birdsong, but instead was treated to the first and most glorious sunrise that I recall ever seeing.”

She tells tales of my independence and deep spirituality that appeared clearly by the age of 4. I still remember not wanting to be born. I was born a month late. I tried to come feet first and mom said the procedure would have been a C-section but she had a doctor who gently turned me around. They drugged women back then and the fathers weren’t allowed to be present. Alone, disoriented and quite young, she had no idea what to name me. So, she asked her nurse, who liked the name “Kimberly”. And so this is how I was named.

I wasn’t pretty. Mom says I looked like a wrinkled “wizened, mysterious little elf.” For the first 4 years, I had dreams I couldn’t explain to anyone. I kept wanting to “go home”. Everyone who watched me grow up found it very curious that I kept walking into walls, falling, having stupid accidents. The doctors said I “grew too fast”. I was a total klutz and to this day can’t walk in heels. I spent enormous time in my own head.

In the third grade, I wrote an anthology of short stories and poems called “Let’s Create”. Now, isn’t that wild? I later founded Cre8asiteforums and Cre8pc. I am working on a brand new web site called “Akesana”, which will take creation to new levels. I’m not finished exploring.

Gemini’s are born communicators and “doers”. I’m in amazing company, with Joe Morin’s birthday yesterday and Rae Hoffman and Gillian Muessig celebrating their birthdays tomorrow. All three are powerful people who have impacted the search marketing industry. I’ll never forget how much Joe believed in me back around 2001 or 2002. I was still very green about being self-employed, but that didn’t stop him from hiring me for a project.

Lately, I’ve been reading everything I can about “growing old”. I got my AARP membership and it didn’t upset me. In fact, I was more upset at turning 40! I have to say, it’s 10 years later and I feel younger, not older. The things you hear that “end”? BAH! My god, just try slowing me down honey. And I mean that in every way. (Nudge nudge, wink wink.)

Thank you to my friends and family for putting up with me and a special shout-out to the Cre8asiteforums Cre8tive Community, who are my “family” as well. And if you’re in the King of Prussia area on Saturday, Li Evans has joined my husband in planning a party near the Mall. I already know of one friend who is flying in! Pictures next week, for sure.

I was talking to some folks at an art gallery last weekend where I knew one of the artists being featured. The topic of what I do came up and how long I’ve been doing it. When I mentioned Cre8asiteforums, its being a global community and the huge membership, it sounded really impressive and cool.

I saw their eyebrows go up. There was that familiar, “Wow, she must be famous” look on their faces. I explained that while I’ve been around since 1995 and in the Internet public eye, I’m nobody at home. Though I’m the volunteer head webmaster for my town’s Little League web site, when at games, I’m just my son’s mom. Hardly anyone cares what I do for the League and I don’t talk about it at games.

Locally, I’m the volunteer webmaster for web sites belonging to two popular people in my community, but nobody would know it unless they somehow read my bio.

I wanted to explain to those people at the art show that I’m a nobody/somebody, but they’d never understand.

This week I was turned on by:

Chris Garrett’s, When to Answer Critics.

The first thing to determine is what the intentions of the criticism is. Some criticism is meant to help, some to just to vent, other times criticism is more about the critic than the criticized. It’s impossible to mind read but you can try to work out where the critic is coming from. The more crazy the attack the less likely you are to find any logic but it is worth trying.

I saw someone call dissenters “children” the other day. Whenever someone feels their opinion is the only one that matters, the conversation is over.

Why Do People Whine by Neil Patel gets into it too.

You’re more likely to succeed if you think about things from a logical perspective instead of an emotional whiny perspective.

Why Consumer Data Isn’t Telling You What You Need from Holly Buchanan on “smashing stereotypes” is a great read.

Feelings? I loved this. Getting Emotional With… Lorraine Justice interview on the topic of design and emotion.

I have been very critical of a lot of American design mainly due to the corporate view of design and the lack of support for design in American universities. There are some wonderful designers and some wonderful design firms, but they never get a chance to “fly”! By the time corporate America gets done with a design, you have in some cases “technology meets marketing” substituting for what the designers can actually do. It is such a tight fisted waste of what could be going on in the US in design.

Need another shove off the couch? Try inspireUX . It may trip your trigger.

Conscious web developers may like How to Build a Green Business to get new ideas.

Breaking Down the Silos: Usability Practitioners Meet Marketing Researchers is almost as good as a back massage for usability folks.

I once proposed to a financial services client that I present the results of a recent user experience evaluation to the broader marketing team and the Web teams of other divisions whose sites were tackling similar UI challenges. “No one is going to show up to that meeting,” he replied. “I can send them the report, but they won’t read it.” Not only did the product marketing team not care what was going on in usability, the sister site’s Web division didn’t care about issues that were directly relevant to the overall design and presentation of similar content on their site!

The next Internet Marketing Ninjas SEO Class will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland and be taught by some highly esteemed marketers like Ammon Johns, Brian Turner, Barry LLoyd and more. Having taught a usability class for them, I can vouch for the perks of smaller learning environment, contact with the instructors, relaxed environment and advanced content.

Finally…stay tuned for my next web project. It’s called “Akesana”.

I may be getting older, but I’m just getting started.

As one of the instructors for Search Engine College, I sometimes get to see web sites my usability course students are working on. They’re permitted to use that site for their final assignment project. One student presented a web site that I really thought captured what a local site can do.

The Coffs Harbour City Council web site was the first local government related site I’ve seen that captured my attention, made me feel good, and convinced me the community is passionate, caring, interested in their area and believe they have something to show off. Most local town sites I see are dry. Their content is sleepy. The use of color as a playful vibe for the Coffs’ site really jumped out in contrast to the typical beige, black, grays and greens that are more commonly used.

From the homepage, they show true understanding of the top leading tasks visitors want to do. Things like making payments, subscribing to the newsletter and buying tickets are easy to quickly locate.  Font sizes can be increased, indicating knowledge that not everyone has 20/20 vision or may run into a struggle with the smaller font size. Keywords are in the navigation labels. Navigation is also designed to address different user needs and addresses them by what they want to do. If you need building permits, it’s easy to figure out what click path to follow, rather than being forced to hunt.

Every community has a chance to present itself on the web. Some of them are uninspiring to look at. They’re packed with ads. The Coffs Harbour site is huge, but never overwhelming. They offer a forums, directory, learning center, media center, publications and quick access to forms. None of these elements are obstructed by blinking ads or FLASH images of the town. If I wanted to get an idea of what the area looks like, I could, in only two clicks and by choice, when I was ready.

I live in an area that boasts artists, writers, colonial history, and beautiful countryside. And yet, none of the web sites, whether it be for our towns, or townships and boroughs, has ever done the area justice. This has always surprised me. They somehow lack the desire to inspire newcomers or anyone considering moving here.

With the Coffs Harbour site, they want to welcome you and show you around every nook and cranny of the place.

I can almost feel them taking my hand.

I received an email from the CEO of a company who chooses to remain anonymous and this is how it shall be. What touched me about the gesture was the high compliments paid towards Cre8asiteforums.  Myself, the Moderating team and Cre8tive Community were all noted for their outstanding attitudes and for producing a welcoming web space.

With the buzz the past few weeks on high alert concerning reputation management, both company and personal, I’ve been giving his email lots of thought. I, the Moderators and Administrators, have periodically received thank you notes over the years. And of course, we’ve ticked people off who, for one reason or another, simply didn’t fit or understand what we wanted to create at the forums.

What makes it work there?

I ask myself this question all the time and still have no solid, one answer.

I can offer this small insight, however.

Recently, I started a thread where I ranted in anger about my old web host. They dumped me, with no warning and lots of accusations. They claimed I did something against their Terms of Service. I could prove I didn’t, but they refused to listen. They refused to return my phone calls. They forced me to move my web site and blog within 72 hours and there was nothing I could do about it. In my fury, I named this host in the thread, which is against our House Rules.

I knew it. I did it anyway. I wasn’t thinking clearly.

Some of the Moderators and community members came to my side with support and time to not only help me find a new host and move, but also upgrade Wordpress.  Meanwhile, one of my Site Admins privately PM’d me with a calm sanity check, and suggested, not ordered, but suggested I edit the thread to avoid slandering the offensive old host.

I listened to him, calmed down, and moved on to a new relationship with a new site host.

There are forums where the head honcho makes all the decisions and what they say is how it goes. We’ve never done it that way at Cre8asiteforums. The only staff who ever survive there are those who can tolerate having a voice and accepting decisions by consensus vote. It’s very hard to do it that way, but that’s how I wanted it because I view the forums as a group effort.

This means I have to listen and be willing to be told what to do or follow advice based on trust and the expertise of someone else.

In some forums and blogs, there is zero tolerance if someone comments and dares to disagree with the point of view of the blog owner or a community member. I’ve seen bloggers say one thing, but their actions are the complete opposite. I worry that I might do this and I wouldn’t like it. If I have a bad day or am feeling overly sensitive, I need to have the strength to step away from the keyboard, or have someone at my back.

I think this is one bit of advice that I rarely see. We are often successful not because of what we’ve done by ourselves, but as the result of someone watching our back for us.

This is someone who has the guts to tell us that we’ve overstepped our bounds, written something cruel, didn’t make sense, or in some way caused public pain to another. Granted, some people absolutely have no qualms about outing others, making people squirm, hurting feelings, having their say, getting the last word, needing to be right all the time, and not caring about the long term. What they feel is what is and if people disagree, that’s their problem.

I think there are two sides to every story and am willing to admit the right side isn’t mine because my experiences may be different. My conclusions are different. I want to hear other experiences. Who cares if I agree or not? For me, that’s not the point of sharing. It’s not a contest.

Many times someone will come to Cre8asiteforums to ask how they can start their own forums and what is the magic formula to make it successful?

I think if you start something as a way to carry on a one way dialog, you’re doomed from the start. If you’re willing to listen and have an open mind to ideas and suggestions that aren’t your own, you may be more likely to be respected because people will find you approachable and warm.