Poor navigation: Navigation is one of those crucial things that you really do have to get right. In fact, when it comes to usability, almost everything revolves around navigation. Getting the visitor from Point A to the conversion is the ultimate goal of any website. Navigation, of course, consists not only of the top, left, right, and footer navigation areas, but also the links in the body of the text as well. But for now let's consider only a site's primary navigation. How easy is the navigation to follow on your site?
Recently I've seen a few sites that have their navigation links alphabetized. The "Home" link would fall in the "H" Section and the "Contact Us" link fell between "Books" and "Digital Downloads." There is nothing wrong with an alphabetical navigation for some items or categories, but not for everything. This is a clear example of navigation gone wrong. The Home link should be one of the first navigational items, as should the Contact Us link. These navigation links shouldn't be mixed with the rest of the product links.
I won't go into how to build a user-friendly navigation, but let's just say that if you don't consider how your customers might find stuff then you may not be giving them the best navigation options possible.
Confusing site layout
If you're dealing with a large website it's important to make sure the visitor has a sense of where they are at any time. When you go to the mall, at each entrance they place a map of the mall with a big "you are here" label. This allows you to find your way to any store you want based on your current location.
Now imagine if you found one of those mall maps with all the stores nicely laid out but there was no icon telling you where you are at the moment. You'd feel quite lost (at least I would... I haven't been to a mall in years!) In addition to the actual site layout, you simply need to make sure you make the shopping process clear and easy to follow. When it comes to things like your shopping cart check out process, there is very little room for error before you start losing customers.
Lost calls to action
One of the most important things you can do on a website is to tell your visitor what you want them to do. Do you want them to call now? Add to cart? Sign up? Order now? These are all important calls to action. For some reason we often think that people will figure it out on their own. Some will, but most, without that call to tell them what you want them to do, simply won't move forward in the process. You'd be amazed at how adding a simple text or image link that says "click here to..." can make a huge difference in your conversion rates.
There are two kinds of call to action you can use: visual and textual. Both are important. We often see the visual calls to action in the navigation. These are the "contact us" or "order now". These calls are necessary so as to provide a single, permanent, easy to find location for your visitors. But what often gets missed are the visual calls to action in the body content. These can be created by adding a button image of some kind within the body content area. Not only do these help break up the text, but they also grab the attention of the reader when they are scanning.
Textual calls to action are just as important as the visual calls. Instead of always using a graphical image to convey the call, you also need to have calls to action linked in your body copy. Some visitors get image blindness and start skimming or reading the content. These hyperlinked calls to action jump out and helps propel your visitors forward.
Little internal linking
That last point brings us to one more usability issue that affects the user's experience. That is using your text to link to other areas of the website. All too often we try to let the main navigation do the job of getting the visitor from one page to the next. This is very short sighted.
Just like textual calls to action are important, so are textual links to other relevant portions of your site. If your content references something else that you do or provide, why not add a link to that something else right there? If you look at sites like wikipedia.org, you'll see they are powered by links. You can get stuck on that site for hours as you keep clicking links that interest you. Your website doesn't have to be all that different, though the ultimate goal is the conversion, not just information.
You want to provide a clear path to the "goal," but you also want to be sure that the user can easily get to any bit of information they need that will help them make that conversion decision. Don't rely on them to know what they need and then hunt through the navigation to see if you meet it. Link to it in your body copy and let them navigate through the site as needed.
Poor user experience = visitor loss
The main thing you need to understand about not meeting the usability needs of your visitors is that for every usability issue that remains on your site, that's another chunk of visitors you'll lose. Your website isn't a movie where people will stay until the end regardless of how bad it might be. You're not going to convince them that it's "going to get good."
On a website when a visitor has a bad experience, they leave. When they can't find what they want, they leave. When they get confused or frustrated, they leave. Your job is to create a path of least resistance. To build a site that essentially greases their wheels, allowing them to flow through it with little or no friction or thought. You want them to glide effortlessly from page to page on to the conversion goal.
When your site is a hassle it becomes annoying. That's when you start losing real customers. Many people will go through great expense to go out of their way avoiding things they don't like. A website is no different. If you leave a bad taste in their mouth, you've lost that visitor forever. You'll rarely get a second chance to prove your value.
Poor usability experiences are just as often sub-conscious as conscious. Sometimes visitors don't know why, or perhaps don't even know at all, that they had a bad experience. They just know they were not able to find something that they thought they should have.
Your goals, in building a more usable website, are to find areas where visitors are not finding what they need, or are abandoning your site, understand why and then to correct the problem. In order to become a Destination Website, you have to have a site that users enjoy returning to time and time again.
Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It's Not Just Marketing as Usual
Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google
A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds.
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Publ.Date : Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:01:11 -0600
by Stoney deGeyter
!["Destination]("http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/destination-sem.jpg")
In the last installment of this series on Destination Search Engine Marketing we discussed a few things that you can do to build a site that truly deserves to be ranked well in the search engines. Starting next week I'll discuss each of the seven specific building blocks in building a Destination Website, but before we jump to that let's look at what it means to actually employ a Destination SEM Campaign.
Marketing a Destination Website is really not that much different from marketing any other kind of site. We look to the same effective strategies that are employed time and time again by the most successful websites:
- Strong on- and off-page SEO that thinks beyond search engine rankings
- Excellent content that delivers on-page customer performance and persuades visitors to take action (conversions)
- Exceptional offline marketing efforts that merge seamlessly with the online efforts
- Superb business management and customer satisfaction that goes well beyond the sale
The difference between a Destination Website and any other is that all of the strategies above must be used together and you have to be at the top of your game with each one. Too often businesses focus on only one or two of these areas simply looking for a quick boost in traffic or sales. These boosts are often effective, but are also just as often very short-lived.
Once you get all four of these areas working together you don't just get a boost in traffic or sales, but you get a website that functions like a well-tuned machine. Each piece of the campaign does it's job but also helps the other parts do theirs. Your website effectively becomes more than the sum of its parts.
But there is still one more essential component to building a destination website. It's what we discussed in the previous installment. With all the marketing elements in place and working together, you still need to provide something unique, interesting, compelling and valuable. You have to give your visitors something that they cannot find anywhere else.
Driving traffic doesn't create customers
Most site's rely on marketing alone to increase traffic. Marketing drives traffic and traffic is really nothing more than more eyeballs on the site. The site still has to do it's job in selling the product or service you offer. And it has to do it effectively if you want to be profitable. Building a Destination Website rockets you beyond the competition in several key areas.
Why does building a Destination Website do?
Drives traffic: The marketing components work together to drive traffic to the website. Whether its from SEO, PPC, magazine ads, radio, TV or whatever avenues you choose, they all work together to drive traffic that has an expectation of what they will find on the website.
Improves conversion: Because you're focused on the customer's wants, needs and desires--not just on building traffic--this translates in more satisfied site visitors that are more easily persuaded to take the action you wish for them to take.
Repeat customers: Not every customer is a loyal customer, some just always like to hunt for the best deal. But many are more than happy to return time and time again to a place they are comfortable with. They might still shop around, but ultimately they'll return to familiar ground where they've established a good experience.
Builds loyalty: True destination websites go beyond getting repeat customer and actually build a loyal customer base. These are customers that wouldn't think of going anywhere else. You become the default destination first and foremost.
Makes your site sticky: It's nice to have customers come back time and time again, but when your site is sticky, it becomes more of a magnet. Your audience finds it hard to pull away and are often returning far more often than even they would expect.
Creates word of mouth: When your website is truly exceptional, you get more than repeat and loyal customers. You get brand evangelists who go out of their way to tell others about you. This can be in the form of conversion, blogs, reviewed, etc. Good word of mouth can be an excellent source of new business.
Improves ROI: Once you have your Destination Website doing most of the work for you, you'll find that your return on investment improving significantly. That's not to say it's not a lot of work to maintain a Destination Website, but each effort creates a more powerful than the effort going in. This reaps exponential rewards.
With this understanding of what destination marketing is and why you want to build one, over the next several posts I'll discuss the seven building blocks of a Destination Website. This will revisit some of the things we discussed briefly in the first parts of this series but will also provide even more detailed information on how to creating a website that becomes a Destination for your industry.
Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It's Not Just Marketing as Usual
Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google
A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds.
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Publ.Date : Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:25:03 -0600
by Jennifer Laycock
I scan a few hundred feeds and read dozens of articles a day so you don't have to. From egommunication to controlling the message online to a great recap of the fundamentals of paid search advertising, check out a roundup of five posts I classify as "must-read" for the day.
- Matt McGee has a great reminder over at Small Business SEM that if you are a small business looking to generate word of mouth buzz, you simply must be remarkable. You don't necessarily have to have the world's most remarkable product, but you do have to create one of the world's most remarkable experiences. It's simple really and almost anyone can do it, if they're willing to put in the work.
- The idea of appealing to the ego has long been a common tactic for link baiting. With the rise of social media communication, it's fast becoming a way to catch the eye of someone who might not read or respond to your emails as well. Rohit Bhargava dubs this action "egommunication" in a blog post over at the Influential Marketing Blog. Having used this tactic dozens of times myself, I can attest that it works.
- In this month's issue of Diversity Magazine, Jonathan Bernstein claimed that if you knew how to effectively use blogs and web sites, you could "control 100% of the message." Becky McCray called him for that comment on Twitter and put some of the thoughtful (and more accurate) responses into a blog post at her site. Control 100% of the message? Not a chance. (And why would you want to?)
- It's always good to go back to the fundamentals. If you're just starting off, you need to learn the foundation of good marketing practices. If you're an old hat, and your campaigns aren't performing as well as you'd like, it's often one of those fundamentals that slipped past you in your complex planning. Either way, There's a nice series on the fundamentals of PPC Campaigns over at Search Engine Watch. Be sure to catch part one and part two, then keep your eye out for more.
- And finally, wrap up your day with a humorous take on the "Twelve People You Meet on Twitter." I can think of half a dozen names for almost every "person" on this list. Of course if you aren't on Twitter yet, I need to add a disclaimer explaining these aren't the ONLY people you'll meet on Twitter.
Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google
A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds.
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Publ.Date : Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:14:44 -0600
by Stoney deGeyter
Yesterday I started a new series on Destination Search Engine Marketing, discussing the first of the seven building blocks in creating a Destination Website: Expert Information. Before I move on to the second building block I wanted to discuss the different types of expert information which can be added to your website.
There are a number of different types of expert information that can be developed for your website as a means of providing your visitors with additional, quality content. Depending on your site, some types of expert information are more applicable than others and not all will be a good fit for you. Each site must be evaluated to determine what kind of expert information will best serve the audience's needs and expectations. By finding ways to add additional expert information to your site you'll begin to build a site that can stand up above the competition.
Sales and marketing copy
When most people think of adding content to their website they think mostly of adding sales and marketing copy. This is the information they use to describe the product or service and then, hopefully, to convince the site visitor to purchase their products or services.
The content of most sales-oriented websites revolve around this kind of expert information. You understand that in order to sell whatever it is that you sell, you have to be truly knowledgeable about it. Page after page after page is dedicated to providing product descriptions, specifications, features, and benefits. Upon reading the on-page content we want the customer to be able to taste the food, feel the comfort, experience the thrill, and see the results. All in a few words.
When your words are able to make the visitor see, feel and understand how the product or service is going to meet their needs, then you're better able to make the case that you are the expert they should ultimately buy from. That's the job of the sales and marketing copy, to not only sell the product or service, but to sell you as the one to deliver it.
Non-marketing information
While the sales and marketing copy is an important part of most business websites, it's not the only kind of expert information that helps set you apart as the authority on your topic. There are all kinds of of other, non-marketing oriented, information that can be added to a site that does just as good a job at selling it as the sales and marketing information.
Product comparisons
When most people think of product comparisons they think of the charts that shows two or more products at the top, a list of features or benefits down the side, and a few check boxes that show how one product (the one trying to be sold) is superior to the other (the competitor's product.) This type of product comparison would fall more squarely into the sales and marketing copy. That makes for good sales copy, but the reader expects already expects the information to be biased.
There is another way to do product comparisons that's not part of the sales hype that you typically see. And that's just a straightforward, honest assessment of how two products compare with each other. You can use the side-by-side format mentioned above or find another format that fits your purposes. Particularly, this type of comparison lends itself well to video, which is a great way for additional exposure in the "blended" search results.
Regardless of what format you use, be sure that the comparison of the products is honest, unbiased and clearly states the flaws of the product you wish to sell. One way to do this is to run both products through a number of tests and document the results. Make sure the tests are fair and as closely resemble real-life situations as possible.
Product reviews
Product reviews are similar to product comparisons, except you're not obligated to compare your product against a competitors, or even your own. But a review of your own product, using the same methods of those mentioned above can be incredibly valuable to the site visitor.
While the site visitor will undoubtedly expect the review to be positive, you can lend yourself credibility by pointing out some of the flaws of the product. If possible, take the flaws and spin them into a positive. By doing that you're not only showing credibility in your truthfulness, but you're also minimizing the negative point at the same time. The visitor knows what they will be getting, warts and all.
If you have too many products to review, then find a way to generate customer product reviews. These are becoming more and more important in helping shoppers make sales decisions. They'll expect you to sing glowing praises about your products, but what do other actual buyers have to say? Give them a voice and help them sell your products. Just be careful. If you're known to delete bad product reviews you'll get a reputation for dishonesty.
Tips and tutorials
There is a significant searcher base that isn't necessarily looking to buy anything, but they are looking strictly for information. Providing tips and tutorials in various formats (text, video, diagrams, etc) can help you create a site that is not only visited for the things that you sell, but also for the quality of information you provide.
This may seem counter-intuitive for a site who's main purpose is to make money. After all, why try and bring in an audience that isn't going to buy? That philosophy is short sighted. Certainly, we want our conversion rates to go up, not down, but providing this kind of information is an investment into future customers.
This kind of information builds loyalty, repeat visits and promotes branding. If a visitor is known to frequent your site for your information, then it's not to big of a leap to realize that you'll be the first place to they go to when it comes time to become a customer. They are familiar with your site, your information, and they trust you (which is why they keep coming back in the first place.) That goes a long way to beating out the competition that may well be unknown to them up to this point.
Helpful opinions
Another great form of useful content is industry opinions. People spend hours a day doing nothing more than reading opinions on the web from people they don't know. If the opinions are reasonable, well-considered and backed up with facts, then an opinion maker can become an opinion leader. You can use this not only to bring people back time and time again, but to engage with them in conversation. By building that relationship, you're building trust and respect which, again, bleeds over to the products or services that you sell.
Company and exec background info
Typically, we call this the "about us" page, but unfortunately, most of these pages are lacking the type of quality information that helps establish trust to the ordinary shopper. Many visitors look to the about us page to get a sense of security. They want to know more about the company they are considering dealing with, how long they've been around, their credentials, etc.
Don't make the mistake of letting the PR department be the only ones to have their hands on these pages. Avoid being "corporate". Let the personality of the company come through in this information and show the true faces behind the company. Visitors are not looking for a list of education credentials, they want to know they are dealing with real people that won't hide behind a corporate veil when they are in need of a solution.
"Ask the expert" section
This is a great way to not only provide expert information, but also to get some user generated content. Give your visitors a forum in which they can ask questions that get answered on the website. You can not only establish yourself as an industry expert but also build relationships with your potential customers. One note, don't be afraid to answer difficult or critical questions and don't ever be defensive. Doing so will only hurt your credibility.
These are only a few ways to generate content for your website that goes beyond the boundaries of traditional sales and marketing copy. Use this information to establish trust. Many visitors will gladly pay more for a product from a site they can trust vs. paying less on a site where they really aren't sure. Even if the competition is bigger and more well known, the information you provide can really help you establish that relationship with current and future customers.
There really is no shortage of what you can do or how you can do it. As noted above, you can invest time in building a library of videos, articles, and even image tutorials that will bring your visitors back for more, and build a solid, long-term customer base that'll have no need to go anywhere else.
Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It's Not Just Marketing as Usual
Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google
A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds.
![]("http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/searchengineguide/~4/342562932")
Publ.Date : Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:40:37 -0600
!["Photo]("http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/messy-office.jpg")
When you don't consider usability as an important part of your website's marketing effort then you are doing little more than relying on your own personal preferences to get the job done. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) not everybody prefers the same things as you. Have you ever seen a movie that you totally hated but was wildly popular? One comes to mind for me, but I dare not say for fear of being tarred and feathered! (coughshrekcough) That's personal preferences issues at work. 
