Were you aware back then that search engine technology has undergone several scientific studies to help determine the effectiveness of search results for Internet users? What helps search engines understand what we want? Conversations. Why do we want anyone talking about our web sites? Conversions.

Who got the better deal?

One day I was running errands and a woman stopped me to admire my Teva flip flops. She said she had a pair and loved them but hadn’t seen them in the color combination I was wearing. We compared notes about how we learned about this product and who got the better deal.

Teva www.teva.com

Based on the high praise of testers and member feedback, I followed the affiliate link and bought two pairs, one for myself and one for my daughter. I paid full price and was taken to a web site that offered over 30 choices of the product to select from. The whole process went well. I felt good about the purchase based on the type of customer conversations that followed the site’s review. I was also able to add my own feedback to the discussion when I received my flip flops.

The woman I met described her experience. She was browsing online shopping sites and followed a link that took her to a sale on flip flops. She wasn’t so concerned with the brand name as much as she was with the price. The page she landed on displayed two pairs of flip flops, at a buy two-for-one price that was 60% cheaper than what I had paid for mine. She was happy with her bargain, until she saw mine and realized there were other patterns nicer than what she bought. She asked me to show her the manufacturer tag and this is how she learned it was Teva’s that she had purchased. Her experience satisfied her need for the right price, but she had no recall of the name of the flip flops, couldn’t remember the web site where she purchased them from, and she was never prompted to visit the Teva site to see more choices. She also had no opinions to help inform her purchase. She simply went with the bargain price.

She got the better deal. She paid far less than I did. But I had the better interactive customer experience. I was never a number or a body-less sale. I also not only remembered the name of the site where I made my purchase, but I returned to it again to leave a comment. I’ve also recommended it to people. Most people will never hear about the other woman’s Teva experience, because she wasn’t really sure she had even bought that brand. She was certainly not inspired to share her experience online anywhere. She will not help sell the shoes or refer the web site she ordered hers from.

Conversion optimization

From the perspective of the web site owners whose site I purchased my shoes from, they made out well. They used social networking to get the word out about their web site and each new product they test. They selected images to help illustrate experiences with products. When optimized for image searching, these pictures may take searchers directly to their product pages. They created a community with free membership. Feedback is strongly encouraged. And it’s not just words. They figured out the emotional connection that’s also needed for conversions. A product used to remove cellulite showed real members’ before and after photos. Women love to know they’re not alone with some sort of perceived “body imperfection.” The site owners understand how trust increases conversions by using genuine photos and comments instead of marketing hype. How fun it is to respond to a “me too!” moment.

They also earned money for all their focus on conversion optimization, although they most likely don’t come to work everyday calling it that. More likely these site owners ask themselves what would work for them and their community. What would sell to women like them? What have other web sites missed by targeting baby boomers or marketing to women? Or, what doesn’t work? What have women been miffed about for so long? Could it be images of size zero women models? Perhaps altered images or just the fact that we know so many diet and health product marketing relies on fake and touched up photos? The owners of this site set down to optimize for emotion, trust, momentum, credibility and findability.

Most search marketers focus on keyword marketing, keywords in domains and quantities of inbound links. This is important, but search engines are also strongly invested in our web usage behavior. Truly, it is how we search, make choices and interact online that matters most to conversion optimization, and it always has been.

Sure, some of us call this usability, user experience, persuasive architecture and search usability. The unifying thread is the human to human connection or “social conversation.” Perhaps you’ve heard this term too and toss it aside as just another fancy name for social networking. However, consider semantic search. Consider all the ways we define words. Keywords can no longer rule the stage because there are so many definitions for certain words. “Green” is a color, and so much more. “Cougar” is an animal, and so much more. “Cup” is something that holds coffee, and so much more. After years of search results’ leading to re-searches, today’s search engines know that to present us with accurate search results will take a mix of magical mind reading and a more practical study of our brains and human-computer behavior.

We can help by creating conversions that help search technology understand the context in which words are placed. Someday, you will be able to type, “lump found in breast,” and search engines will know we’re not talking about a chicken, perhaps it’s a woman who is conducting the search, and it will bring up medical sites and supportive sites, such as those put up by survivors. Search engines will know what results to give you based on your search history, your location and, remarkably, by whom you converse with and how you network.

Your mission is to optimize to be remembered, design for effortless ease of use and accessibility and to be honest, authentic and well, human.

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This article was originally written by Kim Berg and published by Search Engine Land, September 11, 2009

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What might this mean for online marketing and user experience web design? Should social networking development cycles be investigating usability? Might they also be considering the impact of social media web sites on human behavior and society?

The CNN poll was inspired by a piece they ran called Do You Suffer From Internet Fatigue?, which focused on a PEW study called The Mobile Difference. Pew found that only 7% of people use the Internet as their primary means of social communication. Yet, some of them feel guilty if they can’t keep with all the various forms of the social Internet.

According to John Horrigan, Pew Internet Project’s associate director of research:

“The most high-tech group we labeled the “digital collaborators.” The digital collaborators are the ones with the most technology, doing the most with it and loving it the most, and really are about not just using technology to communicate with others but to cultivate their creative lives.”

Horrigan discussed young people and their usage of cell phones for texting and Internet for social networking with sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This is how they communicate and socialize, and when they have to go “off the air,” they apologize for not being there.

Do we need a break? According to Horrigan, the answer is yes.

“I think it’s fairly well known in the tech community that traffic for blogs and so-forth dives on the weekends, so I think people tend to use the weekends as a way to take a little bit of a breather.” SciTech blog writer, John D. Sutter , who invites discussion on the topic of Internet fatigue (see resource below), shares that many are indeed fed up with information overload, or feel that “online social networks are ruining our society.”

It’s Google’s fault

One thing you can always count on with humans is that they will always find someone or something to blame for whatever they dislike. The July/August 2009 issue of The Atlantic has a technology article called Get Smarter that presents the perspective that human beings are an evolving species and one of our natural triggers is “How do we cope with this?” The author, Jamais Cascio, explores whether the “hive mind of the Internet” can influence everything from personal growth, entertainment and communication to scientific discoveries, because we now have a tool for visualization and simulation. We’re adapting to the Internet by way of “fluid intelligence,” which is the “ability to find meaning in confusion and to solve new problems, independent of acquired knowledge.”

By contrast, others such as Nicholas Carr who wrote Is Google Making Us Stupid? for the magazine presents a different view. He argues that our brains are being rewired and it’s harder for us to relax due to information overload.

Linda Stone, a technology thought leader, likens what we as web developers call “hyperlinking” to “continuous partial attention.”

“To pay continuous partial attention is to pay partial attention — CONTINUOUSLY. It is motivated by a desire to be a LIVE node on the network. Another way of saying this is that we want to connect and be connected. We want to effectively scan for opportunity and optimize for the best opportunities, activities, and contacts, in any given moment. To be busy, to be connected, is to be alive, to be recognized, and to matter.

We pay continuous partial attention in an effort NOT TO MISS ANYTHING. It is an always-on, anywhere, anytime, anyplace behavior that involves an artificial sense of constant crisis. We are always in high alert when we pay continuous partial attention. This artificial sense of constant crisis is more typical of continuous partial attention than it is of multi-tasking.”

We’ve spent a good deal of our energy creating usable web sites that make it easy for people to find where we put everything, but we focus far less on their physical and emotional experiences. We may take it for granted that site visitors will follow every link. Search engines follow hyperlinks. Persuasive site design calls for making links compelling, noticeable and worthy. When was the last time you thought, “I want my customer to rest for a minute and gather their thoughts before they purchase from my web site?”

Design for future

The future came yesterday. Internet technology isn’t going away. We’ve adapted. We’ll keep finding more ways to use it. It’s estimated that 2 billion people will be on the Internet by 2010. That’s next year.

In a very short time, we’ve made quantum leaps in how we think, share and interact with one another, both as individuals and as consumers. With social networking we share ourselves in ways we never dreamed of doing face to face. We don’t have to leave the house to purchase products. We can call or send a text message to someone from wherever we happen to be, rather than hunt for a telephone booth. The line between our personal and public information has nearly disappeared. Our values, beliefs and human behavior are changing as a result.

In a white paper, A Road Map for the Post-Web 2.0 World Jerome Nadel, MS, CUA, CPE / Chief Experience Officer Human Factors International, Inc., writes:

“In the era of interactivity and user-created content, user experience is changing the very way we do business. There was a time in which digital technologies was just another asset of the enterprise, a tool used to execute strategy developed by management, and delivered to customers. That model has been flipped on its head. As we zoom past Web 2.0 into the realm of Web 3.0, customers are using technology to drive products, marketing and strategy.”

Are we worn out with social media? Do we really suffer from Internet fatigue? I think the answers depend on several factors, such as your age, where you live, personality, income, work life and personal values. To be sure, Internet marketers are having a blast and can’t quite figure out what all the fuss is about. And yet, in private, some of them admit they’re indeed worn out.

I believe we’re learning to cope with the technologies we’re inventing and people still prefer simplicity. Google shot past the other search engines because its interface was simple. The takeaways for us, regarding usability and SEO, is that our value lies in our fascination with and understanding of Internet technology and usage. We know how to “work it.” Could we wreck a good thing? Sure. We can contribute to the chaos and as result, drive people away from wanting to interact with social networking web sites. Companies can continue to develop applications and tools that invade public privacy. We can support adults sites or consider how what we are doing affects human civilization in the long run.

Or, I was just visualizing sitting on the beach with a frozen strawberry daiquiri on sunny day with a light breeze messing up my bangs, watching a school of dolphins off in the distance, breathing in coconut mango suntan lotion and letting the ocean waves lull me into total relaxation.

My computer, video, camera and cell phone are nowhere to be seen.

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This article was originally written by Kim Berg and published by Search Engine Land, June 19, 2009

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As Lance pointed out, nobody said, “I don’t have enough information to make that judgment.” I’m willing to bet in that particular setting, those who wanted more information felt too intimidated to ask, but his quick test is still fun to try and think about.

Like Lance and my usability consultant peers, we’re presented with hundreds and hundreds of web sites. We’re asked, “What do you think?” Thinking has nothing to do with usability. In fact, if we have to think, that’s often a problem. The better question might be, “Are you compelled to do something on this site?” Or, “Do you trust the claims?” Or, assign users a task to see if you successfully planned and designed the site so they could easily complete it.

We bring our judgments with us

Truth resonates and we’re impatient

It’s fascinating to think about Lance’s audience responses because they had no time to evaluate authenticity, truth, genuineness, credibility or great customer service in half a second. They did what we all do when we enter a room filled with strangers. We look for the best dressed. The pretty women. The handsome men. The story teller. The joker. The flirt. The rich guy. The sexy older woman who loves quantum physics and tests web sites for a living.

It isn’t until we use a web site or interact with a person that we begin to understand on a deeper level what, if anything, we can do with it, or with them.

With web sites, we need a few things immediately. Right away, we must know we arrived at a page that will meet a need or want. Therefore, the information hierarchy must state a page’s purpose right away, rather than tease someone or waste their time waiting for flash animations to load. There is a time and place for flash, just like there’s a time to ask where the beer is or asking the host to introduce you to the hot woman in the corner petting the Shitzu.

We sense authenticity, but can be fooled. So, presenting something like testimonials is a weak attempt at credibility, unless they can be followed up on by contacting the person. Health product sites that claim a secret ingredient with a fancy name but offer no data, research, FDA approval or valid way to prove you won’t lose your eyebrows if you try it are suspect. Sure, someone will be desperate enough to try it, but the moment the lawsuit comes out, the brand is finished.

Interestingly, user engagement does not always equate to conversion or even desired results. At any moment during a task, web designers sabotage the process with unnecessary navigation, off-site ads or new topics that lead their visitor on a new adventure. Sometimes the experience of a site is just that. An experience. For some people, even after experiencing the experience and even liking it, they return to their most trusted brand because that one has already earned their trust.

Aesthetics

We judge aesthetic value by our ability to discriminate at a sensory level. We arrive at sites with our personal set of economic, political or moral values, as well as our technology, skills and credit card. What are the connections between the mind, emotions and beauty? Can we expect a web page to transport us to our happy place? Sure. Some of the newer site designs are like polished gems that you want to stare at and hold in the palm of your hand.

Sadly, these visual beauties are using their looks to make a sale, rather than the quality of their product or service. It’s in the area of customer service that a less attractive web site beats out the high class model it competes against. And it’s here that an audience making a decision on whom to do business with in under a second may make the wrong choice. They need more than a peek. They need to hear a site’s heartbeat.

The web site that succeeds is the one that can prove it’s alive.

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This article was originally written by Kim Berg and published by Search Engine Land, May 22, 2009

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In my latest column for Search Engine Land, I describe the risks of not performing site testing during the developmental stages of web site design. The testing I recommend is not just on functional or server performance. I would like to see every department, from search engine marketing, to software application development to user interface engineering planning and testing together. This means adding more skills and practices such as information architecture and accessibility testing to QA departments.

Nothing bangs you over the head with an “Ah Ha!” moment better than when you realize that to truly make your client or employer’s Web based project successful, you must understand how search engines index and rank, and how people search and make choices from search engines and webpages.

Read the full article – The Value Of Testing Website Usability & Search Engine Performance

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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. The first reason is convention. Or, another way to say it – conditioned behavior. We know that since the beginning of Internet time, a procedure was invented to signal a way to get from point A to point B. Most probably that direction is an underlined word that when clicked, changes color or the underline disappears in response to the click action. The easiest links to find in a body of text are the underlined words. If you decide to not use underlining and replace that with a different color instead, be very sure the color contrasts well against your page background color.

Another user behavior we’re aware of is the placement of navigation elements. The majority of web sites follow the same map depending on the type of site. Ecommerce sites have certain navigation patterns that we’re used to, whereas blogs have a different set of layout patterns. After a time we learn that links are often found in certain areas of a page.

In today’s web design, color as a link indicator is no longer a valid, confident clue. For starters, screen readers don’t note color changes. In addition, web designers have wanted creative freedom, and this has meant color changes that occur only when a word is moused over. Or not. I’ve seen black text links with no form of link identification used along with black content text. Sometimes headings and sub-headings are the same color as colored hyperlinks, making it impossible for users to understand what is clickable or just standard text.

Credibility and authenticity are vital elements in user centered design. Sometimes it seems as though creativity interferes with this. That’s a shame. If the purpose of a site is to sell products or services, trust is important.

Proof of good honest service starts with usable and readable web pages.

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