Re-Lit and All Fired Up
After taking a sorely needed break from Stuff and doing lots of chilling with “Mom, can we go shopping” daughter, I’m back – poorer but happier. My office was moved and expanded to a new section of our finished basement and repainted. My old space is now the 16 year old’s “cave for the dudes”. I have a docking station with 3 monitors for testing and space for my laptop, so I can feel geeky. To my left is a whole bunch of exercise equipment that I...
Read MoreWhat Will You Do With Your Facebook Page?
Once again Facebook has outraged its user base with the result being another round of calls for worldwide boycotts. Listening to users is not a Facebook principle. Run a search on “Facebook boycotts” and you’ll find some going back to 2006. Clearly, beta testing is not done before rolling out any new functionality or user interface changes. It’s absurd to call Facebook a “social networking” web site when in reality, it is anything but social or community...
Read MoreLists of Usability Testing Tools
Usability tools are being introduced at a fantastic rate these days. They help us do our jobs just like SEO tools do. Check out: Remote Usability Tools Elizabeth Bacon’s testing Google Docs spreadsheet 10 Completely Free Wireframe and Mockup...
Read MoreWeb Site Beauty is only Skin
I used to have a quote taped to my bathroom that read, “Beauty is only skin.” I knew that no matter what I did or said, I would first be judged by my skin. So are web sites. Position, color, font, style, and length of important elements on pages within a site benefit from standardization because each page then “looks familiar” and adds to the effects of mere exposure. The site visitor’s comfort that “I’ve been here before” has empirical value...
Read MoreCompetition is But a Click Away
Luke Wroblewski, in the quote below, backs up my frequent statement to clients that competitors are only a click away. “Barriers to entry in digital products are very low. There are now so many websites that functionality and technology are baseline features and users differentiate on the basis of how something works – the experience they have with it. When competing services are a click away, managing that experience and giving people something they really want to use goes a long way...
Read MoreA Quiet Historical Step for SES Chicago 2009
As I head into my 15 year (February 1995) of working in the web design, marketing and usability space, it has been this year that has been the most unique. What finally happened, after years and years of writing on the friendly relationship between SEO and Usability, is that the message is understood and gaining acceptance. I’ve been partnered with a select minority of forward thinking SEO’s for 6 or so years. It’s taken that long for the rest of the industry to catch on to...
Read MoreLearning From Conference User Feedback
I spend most of my days in my office with 2 cats and 2 dogs as my office-mates, dual monitors and a laptop. For me, “talking” to people is all done virtually. When I tap into what’s happening in the industries I work in, the feedback is limited and based on my “friends” and “followers” living in the land of the Internet. This is one reason why I enjoy industry conferences. They get me out of the house and office. They’re far more exciting than...
Read MoreSearch Marketing and Social Media Camp This Weekend for $21
This weekend a special event takes place in Philadelphia for those who want to learn more about search engine marketing, web site usability and social media. It’s called Search Camp and Social Media Camp. For a small attendance fee of $21 (no catch. That’s all it is!), you get a weekend at Temple University with a small group of like-minded folks and experienced speakers. There are 5 time slots, beginning at 10am, with 4 choices of sessions to pick from. The last one ends at...
Read MoreMy Talk For SMX East
I am scheduled to speak at SMX East in New York City, October 5, in the Analytics & Conversion, “Increasing Conversions Through Better Usability” afternoon session. There are several questions I’m commonly asked by web site owners, friends or prospective clients. One of them is, “Can you prove that usability improvements increase conversions?” Yes. In nearly every case that comes to me for help, they don’t have a site plan. Most of the money and time...
Read MoreContent Sites Satisfy Users Needs Best
I thought this was an interesting, strong statement by Jakob Nielsen: When people have questions or want to accomplish tasks, they turn to their preferred search engine — which is why search engines collect billions and content sites collect peanuts, despite the fact that they’re the ones actually satisfying the users’ needs. Source: Social Media Outsourcing Can Be Risky His article offers good advice and solutions regarding adding videos to web sites. ...
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