To Underline or Not Underline Links
As visually entertaining the latest trends in web design may be, there are a few usability walls we run into while reading. One is the appearance of a hyperlink. Should you underline a text link? These days it’s not the only way to signal a place to click. Other clues may be a different text color, font size or hover color. Your best choice is to pick one style and be consistent through out your web pages. Does underlining words that don’t link anywhere matter? On the Web, yes....
Read MoreOpportunity: Three Domains for Sale
I’m selling 3 one-time popular domains that were once home to professional and well respected web sites. Usabilityeffect.com was purchased in 2004. The web site used to be where I placed my usability and search marketing consulting information and order forms. After six years, I came to realize that everyone seemed to associate me with Cre8pc and/or Cre8asiteforums. It was too confusing to try and explain how Cre8pc and UsabilityEffect were connected, so I removed the UE...
Read MoreBlended Usability and SEO Practices a Hit
Just when I was seriously considering not writing articles for other publications for awhile, something happened. I wrote an article that poured out in one take for Search Engine Land’s newly renamed “Search and Usability” column and delivered it way past my deadline. Turns out, it was a hit. I’d been pondering lately how hard it can be to describe what online marketers and web site designers and developers do for a living. Ask 10 of us what we do and you’ll get...
Read MoreHow Your Small Business Can Perform User Testing
I like watching people use web sites. Their likes, dislikes, environment, habits, expectations, and abilities to perform online tasks are all unique. Sometimes I think I’ll spend my retirement sitting in a shopping mall doing user testing, for fun. I was interviewed by the famous Ralph Wilson who has long been dedicated to small businesses. In this video, he wanted to know how a small business can do affordable user testing, how to do it and why it...
Read MoreTreat Yourself to the Affordable Online Media Boot Camp
Nothing beats affordable training with reputable teachers and that’s just what’s coming up on November 3, 2011 at the Online Media Boot Camp. Held in the historical Valley Forge area outside Philadelphia, in King of Prussia, PA, you’ll be treated to a day of sessions offered by three lively ladies who love to teach. Liana Evans, Kim Krause Berg and Sarah Doheny are ready to help you learn new skills or update your present knowledge on: Search engine optimization Conversions...
Read MoreTop Ten Must Have Books on Usability and Search Engine Optimization
The only that pours slower than molasses is universal acceptance of how well search engine marketing and user experience design work together. How long have I been writing here on the topic? Eleven years. Five people actually get it. Interest in the Usability and SEO combo is growing but mostly from the search engine marketing camp. Some of the more famous of my friends in the SEO industry have been including usability audits with their services for years. A few won’t even take on...
Read MoreSearch Engines Are Like Home Delivery Trucks
While thinking about recent news surrounding the latest algorithm changes Google made and pondering something Matt Cutts has been saying about search, a picture came to my mind of a Google person arriving at my house delivering search results all packaged up for just me. The only thing missing was a little card. Perhaps someday search will be so intimately tuned in to us that such a personalized delivery of information will be possible. Of course, to do this, we’ll give up our privacy...
Read MoreUX and SEO Blog and Web Finds
I’m an information junkie with a gigantic range of topics I follow – some of which might surprise you, so I don’t share THAT. Here are some of my recommended reads because they impressed me and taught me something new. By the way, did you know that if you press on a BlueJay’s blue wing, the color disappears? That’s because they have no pigment in their feathers and the blue is the play of light on their wings. In no particular order: LOVED this! It’s a 25...
Read MoreUniting SEO and Usability for Successful Web Design
I haven’t written about holistic seo and usability in awhile, so for my latest column for SearchEngineLand I chose it as a topic. Should you wish to read it, here you go…How To Avoid Clunky Web Design With Holistic SEO & Usability I’d also like to introduce Bokimian, where I write about anything.
Read MoreDo You Know The Way to Good IA
Have you ever sat around a large table with a group of people working on a giant jig saw puzzle? Some people are really good at it. They understand the puzzle. Others are content to find border pieces. It takes patience. It brings the group together while they put it all together. What if you have the chance to build your own house? You’ll hire an architect who listens to your goals, likes, dislikes and dreams. From that a plan is established. From the first shovel of dirt to the...
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