Usability and SEO are Worth Paying Well For
I get all excited when I write up free quotes and proposals. It takes a chunk of time to put together a plan, estimate the hours, plan for sub-contractors if needed and their fees, figure their project into my timeline and review their web site to make sure I allow enough time to meet their needs. So when an RFQ is ignored or refused, that time is gone forever and I have nothing to show for it. I have a friend who spent literally weeks and her vacation trying to come up with a proposal for a...
Read MoreUsability/UX Design Insights You May Have Missed
Clicking back through my mountain pile scattered mess of TO READ links, are some juicy bursts of brilliance from the usability and user experience design community. User experience is not just a result of UX design; rather, design directly affects user experience. - Is Design the Preeminent Protagonist in User Experience? Typically, anything that moves and bounces detracts from Web usability; when navigation moves while users are trying to find their way, it’s deadly. Users should focus...
Read MoreWeb Site Usability: The Cult of the Critically Obessed
The conversation was tense, to say the least. Two web designers, who designed and built a web site for my client, who is the stakeholder, were on a conference call with me to review the usability/user experience site audit I’d prepared for their web site. One web designer says, “Judging from the report, you don’t like the homepage, right?” “Oh no!,” I replied, “I LOVE it.” Truth is, it’s gorgeous. I review hundreds of sites and this one...
Read MoreNeuroscience Meets Mysticism Meets The Web: We Investigate Emo-Web
Twelve-plus years into the Internet Marketing and Usability/UX Web Design fields, I’m deeply entrenched in what I call Emo-Web. How much of our responses to web sites is planned before we ever arrived? Taking a nudge from my article at Search Engine Land, How Does Your Web Site Make Visitors Feel?, a few people who resonate with what I presented are discussing the topic in Neuroscience Meets Mysticism. Although my first piece on the topic didn’t catch the imagination of those at...
Read MoreSite Owner Intent Can Be Sensed by Web Site Visitors
Have you ever worked for a website or software development company with departments and management who remind you of The Three Stooges? Do some e-commerce web sites make you feel energized while browsing? Computer users feel. I wrote How Does Your Web Site Make Visitors Feel? for SearchEngineLand’s Just Behave column and it’s out today. The one question rarely asked in site clinics and by usability companies is, “How does this web site make you feel?” Sphinn it...
Read MoreWhat Is Usability?
I love how Dr. Pete Myers, of UserEffect.com, created this educational 4 minute video called What Is Usability?. It’s part of his experimenting with a new “Ask Dr. Pete” section on his web site. Dr. Peter J. Meyers (AKA “Dr. Pete”) is the President of User Effect, a former start-up executive, cognitive psychologist, and lifelong programmer. For the past 11 years, Dr. Pete has worked directly with business owners and executives to understand their goals, get to know...
Read MoreUsability and SEO – Let’s Make an Exceptional Web Site, Shall We?
In the space of a few days, two separate articles were published on the same topic, but from different perspectives. The writers discuss Usability/User Experience, Project Management and Search Engine Marketing practices, where they collide or fit like a glove. Each article is eye opening for those of you who work in enterprise development. You know the politics and difficulties in something as basic as communication between departments and the different skills and practices brought to the...
Read MoreCre8pc Usability Tip: Avoid Losing This Customer
Here is a tip for e-commerce web sites with shopping carts that indicate “Out of Stock” for items that are sold out. You may avoid cart abandonment by answering this question: “Are you getting in any more?” When testing shopping carts, I’m always happy to see a back-end that communicates product availability. It’s too frustrating to get to the end of the purchase process, submit the order and then receive an email that the item is unavailable. Using the...
Read MoreWhere To Go For Usability Resources and Support
The following are my recommendations for usability, user experience, captology and accessibility resources and support. Companies UsabilityEffect.com, Kim Krause Berg, Full Service Usability, SEO and Web Design UserEffect.com, Dr. Peter J. Meyers Joe Dolson Accessibility, Joe Dolson UIE, Jared Spool FutureNow, Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg UserCentric Closed Loop Marketing, Lance Loveday Blogs Cre8pc Usability and Holistic SEO Experientia, Putting People First Functioning Form, LukeW OutofmyGord,...
Read MoreWeb Application Usability Help
I love testing web applications. As you might imagine, I’ve seen many in my work. I admire web designers who create beautifully understandable, user centric procedures. One application that never fails to drive everyone crazy are travel sites that try to do it all. Their applications attempt to book a flight, hotel room and rent a car. Alone, these tasks can be confusing to do online. Add them all together and something is bound to be a source of confusion or abandonment. For...
Read MoreChicago SES 08 – Creating Momentum With Organic SEO and Persuasive Usability Heuristics
My presentation at Chicago SES 2008 was a bit awkward due to the fact that I chose a different font style, that when loaded on a different computer for our panel, did not render properly. What appeared were a series of empty blue boxes. I know my stuff, but I didn’t feel in sync with my brain and felt many points I wanted to make were missed. In addition to that, we were a panel of 5 and limited to 8-10 minutes. That forces us to be rushed and graze a topic rather than delve into...
Read MoreWeekly Picks on SEO, Design and Usability
I leave for Chicago SES next week to join the Usability and SEO panel. I’m very excited about this panel because after a conference call, it’s clear we will all compliment one another very well. The topics each of us will discuss focus on SEO and User Experience Sesign, the reasons why this powerful relationship works and how to implement practices that will provide long term successful results. Our panel is moderated by Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner & Founder, Beyond...
Read MoreRequirements Gathering for Web Sites: Do People Want What You’re Building?
In my guest post at Search Engine People on requirements gathering for web sites, I gently attempted to show the importance of business, user interface, functional and search engine marketing requirements to their SEO/M readership. One area not covered in that piece is considering the question, “Do people want what you’re about to build?” So many times a web site’s purpose is to do something for you. For example, when “flipping sites”, the entire reason for...
Read MoreSearch Engine College Celebrates Four Years
Kalena Jordan and her husband celebrate their fourth year as founders of the Search Engine College. What began with a few courses and high hopes has evolved into an online school offering certification for SEO’s. Kalena had the forethought to include web site usability in her course lineup. Like my friend, Jill Whalen, whom I also credit as understanding years ago the importance of usability design and SEO, Kal wanted to make sure her students had access to usability basics. I remember...
Read MoreThe Key Ingredient for SEO and Web Design is True Passion
While presenting a class on web site usability in New York for Internet Marketing Ninjas Marketing Training, my husband was in the audience as cheerleader and teacher. I wasn’t connected at first and I could feel it. I wasn’t inspired. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be because the first part was the boring stuff I had to discuss, like business requirements. I said “um” 340 times. However, once I pulled up the screenshot of a web site I’m working on for an...
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