Warmest Greetings,

Mars, Moms, Marketing and Making Websites  

:: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 ::

Mars, Moms, Marketing and Making Websites

Do you ever get the feeling that some companies throw up a website with "build it and they will come and buy lots of our stuff" as their main objective? I see this in my work in website usability evaluations. It's often not clear who the site was built for. Or, perhaps, not enough research was done into the buying patterns of certain user types. It's not always easy, or inexpensive, to get this information, which is why articles that cover research and studies are helpful.

This one claims moms do a hefty amount of Internet work. Study Finds Internet Is the Medium Moms Rely on Most
     "Among the study's other key findings: Moms now use the Internet almost twice as much as they watch TV, spending a total of 13.2 hours a week online versus 7.6 per week for TV. They use the Internet primarily as an information resource (86 percent placing it well ahead of TV and newspapers), secondarily as a source of entertainment (63 percent), and thirdly as an activity to engage their kids (43 percent). "

Jumping off the planet for a moment, we find that Mars rover fails to dig hole in rock
     "Meanwhile, on the other side of Mars, Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, traveled nearly 86 feet Saturday, bringing its total odometer reading to more than 822 feet. "

After reading that, I felt really great about the fact that I was able to get out of bed this morning, walk downstairs and get the family off to work and school before I walked the dog and walked down another flight of stairs to my home office.

Marketing:

I guess Yahoo! and Overture have some promoting to do. Small businesses not on the pay-per-click bandwagon yet, says new research
     "Only 11% of small to medium-sized enterprises that have web sites and that responded to a survey report being aware of pay-per-click advertising."

Good news for ecom. Online sales grow 27% for week ending Feb. 22"
     "Online retail spending for the week ending Feb. 22 was up 27% over the corresponding week a year ago, reaching $1.19 billion from $937 million."

Information Architecture:

If you design task oriented software applications like shopping carts, forms, wizards, etc., this Boxes and Arrows article is a feast of information. Wizards and Guides: Principles of Task Flow for Web Applications Part 2, by Bob Baxley
     "Wizards are not simply chains of dialog boxes strung together to make life easier for the user. Rather, they are a particular interface pattern for expressing a precise and rigid procedure that has to unfold in a known and specific sequence. Although wizards can contain any number of required or optional steps, that does not mean users can randomly navigate between those steps."

Credibility and Persuasiveness:

Design to sell. Some inspirational gems.

Persuasion Architecture: A Strategy to MAP the Selling Process to the Buying Process by FutureNow. (PDF File download)

Discussion: It's a matter of trust (credibility)
     "What was interesting in this article was that credibility was related to risk. I hadn't thought of it that way before but when I stop and think about it, this is why we also seek authenticity in websites. If you're going to believe information, what does it need to do to get you to believe? If you're going to make a purchase, do you buy from a site that offers a viable business address or one that doesn't have one at all?"

Web Credibility Org
     "Our goal is to understand what leads people to believe what they find on the Web."

10 Ways to boost your web site's credibility

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 3/09/2004 01:50:40 PM

:: Today's Post Permalink | Back to the BLOG Home
:: Website Evaluations
:: Email this Post  
:.................................

Feed Bin

Learn how to make RSS Feed Buttons

Highly Recommended!
(Read review)
Search Engine Marketing Kit, by Dan Thies

• User Centered Design
• Usability Industry Research
• Increase Website Conversions
• Starter Ecommerce Checklist

• Web Design & The Usability Effect
• Usability and SEO Humor

Crooked sunglasses

My artistic friends love this picture.

• About Kim Krause Berg
• My Articles
• Me Again (My Fave Blog Posts)
• August 2005 : Expanding on Usability - An Interview with Kim Krause Berg
• Kim's Wish List

Recent Posts

Google is Just Soooo Last Year...

The Usability Oven is Getting Hotter

Please Ring Bell For A Server

Usability and Search Engine Optimization Enhance Yahoo!'s Site Match

Double whammy slap courtesy of Yahoo!

The Planet Is Shrinking (Again)

New Cre8pc, New Blog, New Look

Stay Tuned

How Forums Help, Encourage and Inspire Members

Put Your Footer Down

Monthly Archives

It's That Book Again

Conversions Topic is New York Times Best Seller (Seriously)

Kim is a Member of the Usability Professionals Association

"This report exceeded my expectations. After reading it a few times, I went through and highlighted those parts of your actionable advice that I want to implement right away... I ended up highlighting most of the report. Stellar job. I won't hesitate to recommend you to one of my own clients." -- Andy Hagans of AndyHagans.com

"I have implemented the most obvious changes and I suppose the fact that we've seen an immediate increase in sales/conversions is no coincidence. I'd highly recommend your service to anyone running a serious web based business." -- Steve Clay, Plumeriabay.com

"As soon as we get our hands on one of her usability studies, my clients and I have a better understanding of what needs to be done with their sites to make them the best they can be from their site visitors' perspective."
-- Jill Whalen, HighRankings.com

"This is an exemplary piece of work." -- Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz.org

View more Testimonials | Clients
Learn about Website improvement services.