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3 Point Website Usability Checkup

August 27, 2013 by Rosemary

By James White

When it comes to Internet marketing, many people get so caught up with how to bring visitors to their site that they forget about what to do with them once they arrive. Since traffic isn’t all that useful unless it can be converted into leads, registered users or customers, you want to ensure that every visitor has the best experience possible.

If you’re interested in improving your site but simply don’t have time to go through the process of a complete redesign and overhaul, the good news is that’s not necessary. Instead, there’s plenty of low-hanging fruit that you can knock out. And even though the changes may not seem huge, they’ll have a significant cumulative impact.

To get a better idea of what usability changes you can handle on your own, here are three options for getting started:

Break Up Content

Having lots of useful content on your site is definitely a good thing. The only problem is if most of that content is in the form of big blocks of text, the majority of your visitors may click away before ever reading any of it.

Luckily, there’s a simple remedy to this common problem. All you need to do is break up your content into shorter paragraphs. Include images or graphics to get your point across. And since usability studies from different sources have all shown that online readers do a lot of scanning, use subheadings so they can get the key points before diving in any farther.

Make Everything Easy to Read

Small font sizes can look cool and sleek. And while you want people to think that your site looks good, it’s even more important that they’re able to read your content. If you’re currently using very small font sizes on your site, strongly consider updating your CSS style sheet to utilize larger fonts that are easier for people of all ages to read.

It’s especially important that all your tabs and links are obvious that they link to another relevant page. Easy to read font also means color consideration. Create attractive contrasts with your text and background but remember not to go too crazy. Lime green or similar bright colored backgrounds will turn people off to your site. Use calming colors that reflect the style of your brand.

Rethink Your Navigation

There’s a chance that your site may already have the perfect navigational structure. If that’s the case, feel free to give yourself a pat on the back. But the reality is most sites have room for improvement. Even if there’s not a major problem, small tweaks can make it easier for your visitors to get where you ultimately want them to end up.

If you’re not sure where to get started with this change, looking for patterns in your Google Analytics data can give you an idea of how visitors are getting around your site and if there are any parts of your navigation that don’t fully address your visitors’ habits.

Another way to decide on navigation is to look at websites you like. For example 12 Palms addiction rehab center has an excellent navigation system that only goes three layers deep and their interlinking is perfect.

If you have the money or talent to go big, Coca Cola’s revamped site is a great example to follow if you are looking to push your content marketing. For more e-commerce sites, check out Empire CAT for how they organize and group their products without having the site cluttered.

You’ll notice in all three examples, there is a simple and clean feel to the design. It also has just a few links on the homepage to help you get started finding what you want. Study your favorite sites and then apply what you learn to your own.

Author’s Bio: James is a freelance writer and founder of InfoBros. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, cooking, and blogging about health, tech and communication. Connect with him on Twitter at @JGtheSavage.

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, navigation, UI, usability, website design

Great Headlines on the Web Always Win … Except When They Don't

May 18, 2009 by Liz

how to blog series

Got Traffic? Want Traffic?
Why Do the Clickers Come?

If you’ve been studying How to Get Literally Everyone’s Attention on the Internet, you probably know that headlines count.

An attention-grabbing headline is everything. Whether it is something completely original and novel, ultra-specific and geared towards a niche, or just incredibly compelling, good headlines on the Web always win.

They always win, except when they don’t.

A great headline will get traffic and attention, but what sticks? What turns a click into a subscriber? Strong businesses are built on strong relationships. What transforms a clicker into someone who hangs around?

It starts with with the reason the clickers came. People come to a website for information, entertainment, and communication / engagement. When they click through on that headline they’re looking for one or more of those three.

Our greatest achievement in building a Web site is helping a person achieve his or her goal. During our research our biggest discovery proved to be that navigation and content work best when they are wed tightly together. “It seems that you can t really separate content and navigation” says Jarod Spool, “without losing something important in the process.” How to make your Web site fast and usable

If folks who click find something that delivers on that promise in that headline they stay and possibly return. If not, they feel thwarted and leave. Here are five things you can do to make it more likely they get what they came for.

Five Ways to Deliver to the Clickers Who Follow a Headline to Your Blog …

  1. Deliver what your headline promises.
  2. Deliver it in short paragraphs using subheads surrounded by lots of white space so that people have room to think and breathe.
  3. Deliver it without making folks jump over ads or through hoops to get to the prize that the headline promises.
  4. Deliver it by recognizing the people who take time to comment.
  5. Deliver it by making it easy for folks to stay..

The most important thing is deliver — do what we say we’re going to do.

It’s not the click that doesn’t come that’s a loss. It’s the click that comes to find that we’re not what we suggested we would be. A great headline followed by something less doesn’t win. It doesn’t even finish.

Great headline, lame blog post — you’ve been there. What’s your response when you end up on one of those?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Filed Under: Blog Basics, Marketing /Sales / Social Media, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, blogging, business-blogging, Content, How-to-Blog, navigation, Writing

Mini-Session 4: (Why) Navigation is Important to You and Your Readers

March 12, 2007 by Liz

Joe Hauckes

Liz has invited me to be a “speaker” at this Virtual Version of SOBCon07. I’m not really sure why she picked me, but I was more than happy to accept. So, whether you are able to attend the Conference in 3D in May or in 2D Now, Everyone is Welcome to join in Today at the SOBCon07 Virtual Version.

(Why) Navigation is Important to You and Your Readers

What’s the most annoying thing you encounter when you are looking for something specific? Let’s say you already found a Blog that looks promising as a place to get some answers to some questions you may have. You see the original article you landed on, but you have more questions.

You go through “Archives”. You hit the “Previous post” and “Next post” links in search of some specific information but you can’t seem to find what you are looking for. You know it should be there somewhere (and it very well could be) but you just can’t seem to find it.

What do you do next? You go somewhere else to find what you need.

That’s where NAVIGATION comes in…

When someone visits your Blog, especially for the first time, you need to give them a way to find other things that could be of interest to them. You want to draw them deeper into your site. In order to do that you should give them access to the places they can find what they are looking for by providing things like Series You Have Written, some of your Most Popular Posts and Posts related to the subject of the post they landed on.

Show them your Recent Posts so they can get a better idea of the overal Theme and Subject Matter of your Blog. Provide a Category List covering the various topics you have covered previously.

Put links to the Most Recent Comments and any Special Projects you have running at the time. Invite visitors to join in, let them know you want them to be part of your community. The more Intra-links you provide the deeper new readers might dig to find information and possibly become Loyal Readers and Friends.

The only way I can achive my objective to help out others working at home is to makeit easy for them to READ what I’ve WRITTEN. And this can Best be accomplished by providing really Good NAVIGATION to other posts on My Blog.

What are your thoughts about NAVIGATION? Can you think of other reasons NAVIGATION is important to you? Your Readers?

Thank you, Joe!
__________________
Visit Joe’s Blog Working at Home on the Internet where his main objective is to help others through my experiences in Working at Home by writing helpful articles. .–ME “Liz” Strauss
______________________

Let’s open the Q&A . . .

I’ll go first, Joe, what’s your biggest frustration when navigating blogs?


SOBCon 07 link

During the Virtual Conference today, you can take $100 off registration to SOBCon 07.

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, joe-hauckes, navigation, Working-at-Home-on-the-Internet

Blog Design Checklist

December 8, 2005 by Liz

A successful blogger is always asking the question, How does this serve my readers?

To many of us design is the fun and “creative” part of building our blog, talking and tweaking design can take up more time than writing content–if we let it. A checklist can help keep my creativity at uptimum levels and keep my focus on how my choices will ensure my readers enjoy their stay well enough to return again and again.

Blog Design Checklist.

      1. Title and Subtitle: Are they here? Are they clear? Could any reader understand what they mean? Turn off the blinkers, the sliders and slinkers. They distract me when I’m trying to read your post.

      2. Bio: Can I find it? Does it tell enough about you that I feel a connection with the person behind the screen? Did you give me a way to contact you, if I have a genuine reason to? Is there a photo, or at least a visual, there to represent you?

      3. Fonts/Text: Are they readable? Are there too many? too few? Are they in readable colors? Is there moving, blinking, twinkling text to distract me and annoy me? When it comes to color, size, and number less is always more.

      4. Comments/Permalinks/Trackbacks/Email: I expect to find these after the post? Please don’t get creative and make me look all over to find them.

      5. Navigation: Can I find my way around in a glance? Can I find your Classic Posts? Do your links really work? Is it easy to get back to the home page? I don’t like feeling lost.

      6. Sound/Gadgets/Plug-ins: Do they really need to be there? Are you sure they won’t irritate me? When in doubt, take them out.

      7. Technical Issues: Does the blog load fast in my browser? Does it load accurately? You may hate IE but most folks still use it. If you pretend they don’t exist. You can be sure for you they won’t.

      8. Images: Are they clean, clear and crisp? Are the files compressed so they load quickly? Fuzzy pictures hurt my eyes.

      9. Organization: Does the page feel in proportion? Do things seem where they belong? Is there enough white space and a lack of clutter? I like a little room to breathe.

      10. Marketing: Is the presentation of subscriptions, ads, and other marketing integrated into the design? Do ads become too interruptive? Are there pop-ups or pop-unders? Ads that make themselves too annoying will drive me from your blog forever. No pop-ups or pop-unders–they break your trust with me.

Use this checklist to remind yourself not to let too much design creativity take the “fun” out of reading your blog. Then get started. Have fun tweaking.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

And don’t forget the other checklists in the set:
Blog Review Checklist
Editing for Quality and a Content Editor’s Checklist
Checklist for Linking to Quality Blogs
A Blogger’s Personal Narrative Checklist
Checklist for Starting a Directory Listing

Filed Under: Audience, Blog Review, Checklists, Design, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, blog_promotions, blog_review, checklist, Content, Design, navigation, quality_content, usability

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