Warmest Greetings,

:: Thursday, October 16, 2003 ::

Killer question of the day.
Punishment. - "On one of my gaming sites, I added around 50,000 keywords to the bottom -- now my question is is it possible to get punished for spamming?"

It must be killer because it was asked again, in a different way, with different answers. Is this Spam?

Down on my luck. I've tried for days to put up a Google Ad, but Google won't let me. This is what I get: "We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are unable to process your request at this time. Our engineers have been notified of this problem and will work to resolve it. Please note that using your browser's back button in AdWords can increase the likelihood of errors. If you think this was the cause of your error, please try again without using the back button."

I'm not sure why businesses choose to ignore usability issues on their websites during this time of the year, but that's what they do. Ecommerce sites are scrambling for your dollars during the holiday season. How many of those websites actually get sales is largely determined by how easy it is to navigate the site, find products and make purchases. (That is, once they're even found!) For good customer service, I prefer smaller businesses, but the drawback is often their sites aren't user friendly.

*** If you own a small business website (home-based preferably), I'm conducting discounted usability evaluations specifically designed for ecommerce for $120. ***

If you can't swing that fee, email me and we'll work out something that you can afford that focuses on what you know you need checked. A little task analysis might be all you need.

For totally free Do-It-Yourself help, visit The Cre8pc Website Usability Testing Center

Not to be left out. (Everybody will be linking to this.) SearchDay #639 - A "Fireside Chat" with Google's Sergey Brin.

You saw it here first, right?

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 10/16/2003 10:27:50 AM

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