Warmest Greetings,

Put the Human in your Web Site Tank  

:: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 ::

Put the Human in your Web Site Tank

Remember the old slogan (in the USA), "Put a Tiger in your Tank"? For me, usability and web sites are like cars and gas tanks. There's a blah-like web site that you stick the hose into to get it to go. And then there's the really interesting web site that sells something you didn't know you wanted. That's the web site filled with premium gas and most likely was tested and built for usability and desirability, with lots of persuasive architecture tossed in as well.

Gerry McGovern writes in his article, How much human support does your website need?, about converting "lookers" to "bookers". In other words, how to increase ecommerce sales. I recently tested a site for a brand well known in the UK. The web site scored well in nearly all areas of usability. The emphasis they gave to special needs users was extraordinary. But, it lacked pizazz. It's designed as a self-serve site that essentially says to the user, "We're here. We sell this stuff we know you need. Call us if you need help, otherwise, order here. Have a nice day."

There's one picture of a human being on the homepage, yet the services are very human oriented, concerning life, death, home and health issues. The company information is tucked away and there's no information about why they're supposedly the best at what they do. You can pretty much stick in some information and get what you want from this web site, but there's no presence of Life, or Energy or heck, even a staff. You can call customer service representatives, but why go to a web site to do that? This company likely has representatives with an office up the street where you can shake someone's hand and talk about your needs, and how their services might fit.

McGovern writes, "One way to create more lookers into bookers is to offer some ‘live help’. If someone is going through a purchase process, or filling out a form, being able to get instant support could be the difference between success and failure."

I've heard pros and cons for live help. Personally, I think if the web site design shows passion for its subject, and testimonials from satisfied customers, I'd be more likely to use this "live help" service. The key is to find ways to put that Tiger in your web tank. Jazz it up. Show love for your products. Show interest in your customers. Answer their questions by providing click paths that are designed to direct them and be productive as well.

The People Part of Usability

Reach out and task someone. Web design going in the wrong direction?

     "UI designers are making the same old fundamental “forgetting about the human being on the other side” mistakes — except this time their code looks better. Humans — not code validators — use interfaces."

Other Usable Stuff:

Pure CSS. SEO Consultants have redesigned their website. Its foundation is CSS. In fact, one look at their source code and you can see all the classes. There's a lot! And, the JavaScript is placed at the bottom of pages, or linked to a file. The page code is really clean and organized. If you haven't been to SEO Consultants lately, it's time to return. This site is fully loaded with resources and very well organized for excellent usability. This page of related blogs may contain some you haven't seen yet, Marketing blogs Kudos to Edward Lewis and the entire team there!

Use this, and your website visitors will thank you. Usability Guidelines from MIT.

This article is helpful, Shopping Cart Usability, especially for those new to website building and small or home business ecommerce sites. The basics for a usable shopping cart are covered. Unfortunately, we all have less control when we use 3rd party shopping cart or order systems. Suddenly our customers are forced to leave our site, and often everything recognizable. Sometimes they can't find their way back. In these cases, don't hesitate to put user instructions on your pages to warn your customers things will look different. Let them open up a new window to the order system you choose. Make sure that after they make a purchase, there's a link to bring them back to your site. Thank them for their purchase if possible. In a less than perfect buying scenerio, you can remain supportive, service oriented, friendly and considerate. This will instill user confidence and help establish trust.

In case you missed these. Shari Thurow offers great tips in her 2 part series on web site architecture. This is an area that's often overlooked, mostly during the rush to "get a website up". Like anything else worthwhile, it's important to plan it out. Set goals. Design a solid foundation that will withstand growth and not limit you.

Check out Shari's Web Site Architecture And Search Engines – Part 1
and Web Site Architecture And Search Engines – Part 2

This was fun. How did they get the job?

     "HOW does a company -- who doesn't have the first clue about HOW websites work, function and are used -- win a website usabiliuty contract? "

Search Engines and SEO

I played trucks in my sandbox. New Sites Put Into a "Sand Box" by Google
     "There is a large amount of discussion on this topic given the name, "sand boxing". It appears that Google is holding out on new domain names for a 2 - 4 month period of time. So a new domain name might rank very well a few weeks after the site is launched, but soon after it will get bumped down in the results for a 2 - 4 month period for no apparent reason."

Marketing

Blame it on the boss. Tips to get through email filters
     "My boss has instructed me to nip the evil."

     "My suggestion for those starting out is to first read three papers published by a group called the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) dealing with Netiquette, Don't Spam and How to Advertise responsibly through Email."

     "Before people start charging per e-mail, based on Microsoft's Penny Black proposal, or any other concept, there are some underlying issues which need to be sorted out.

At present, SMTP is wide open to abuse. Proposals like SPF, Caller-id For Email and Domain Keys need to be thoroughly tested and implemented. Also, the Turn Tide router holds some interesting promise."

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/28/2004 11:57:42 AM

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:: Friday, April 23, 2004 ::

It's Miscellaneous Friday

More on fonts and being considerate to eyes ...and then I switch to sheer, total, blab.

Something I want to try. Power To The People: Relative Font Sizes

     "Here’s a simple solution for text resizing that respects users’ choices and also gives them an additional option for resizing."

Fun:

Okay then. Most Advertising Sucks. You Could Be The Reason

     "Rule #3 - You are not the audience.

Something you can play with now. Colorblind Web Page Filter (Thanks Glyn!)

In the "Adults Don't Understand" category, The Little Prince' Author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Plane Found

The part about math and the Bible went right over my head. Gematriculator. Compare your results here in Cre8asite is 39 percent Evil!

Why did it seem so strange to see Google advertising on something *I* use, instead of the other around (me using Google to advertise)?



Cre8asite honors culture. Happy St. George's Day



Congratulations to Blitz Promotions for joining the fast-qrowing list of Cre8pc Partners. Tim Hamblin, owner, made a really nice page too. Blitz Promotions has an excellent reputation among small to medium size businesses for their SEO, link, PPC and other promotion services.

Love letters I love. Cre8asite PRAISE! - Methods Proven

     ""I came to this forum believing that it would be impossible for my website (www.frunder.com) to generate any significant amount of hits a day. Thinking it would take months and months to optimize and then get SE to even glance at my site. But thanks be to Cre8asite and its devout posters! www.Frunder.com went from 2-4 unique hits a day to 50-150 in a matter of 1 1/2 months!"

Rumors:

Just days away from never. Google's IPO ("Just days away" this story says.)

It's not dead yet? May to Bring Netscape Update?

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/23/2004 03:08:42 PM

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:: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 ::

Can You See Me Now? Web Site Usability Is a Font Size Away

Much is written about what web site usability is. Sometimes what makes a web site usable is simply a matter of designing pages people can see.

I often am given a web site to test that is obviously done with great care and thought by a dedicated and talented web design team. Therefore, it always amazes me that the only major problem I find is that I can't read the content. It's not that I'm picky.

I have eyesight problems that have played a large part in my life. First it was "pussycat" glasses in the second grade. Then it was realizing later that the John Lennon round frame style looked terrible on my face. Once, at a party when I was 24 years old, I removed my glasses to clean them and the whole room suddenly became quiet. A woman broke the silence and blurted out, "My gawd Kim. Do you have any idea how pretty you are?" I was quite embarressed and said I had no idea what I looked like. I grew up seeing myself as a blurred reflection.

She took my picture so that I could see what I looked like. I cried. It wasn't quite the same thing as a blind person suddenly seeing for the first time, but it was still a vital life changing event for me. Soon afterwards, I found a doctor who could correct my eyes with contacts. I've worn them ever since. The second biggest thrill was the first time I bought sunglasses and wore them. I was 25 years old and honey, I looked GOOOOODDDDD!

Anyway, all this has led to a greater awareness and compassion for people with eyesight troubles and their struggles to see web pages. I decided to share my thoughts in Fonts. Please, have a heart. Enlarge them.

Sure. We can mess with our browser preferences. But when I see teeny tiny font sizes with no contrast, I know the web builder(s) can see when they wake up in the morning and have never seen a busy seaside beach of blankets and umbrellas the way I do.

Tag Me

If you've ever wanted to know what goes into the making of a tag line, now's your chance. Cre8asiteForums has opened the gates and asked forum members to help create a new tagline. It's become quite an education! A Tagline for the Forums? has so many great suggestions and the thought processes, pros and cons of choices and the reasons for taglines are all in there too.

I Suggested the Round Table

One of the few times somebody listens to me, ha ha. The new layout for the search engine coverage blog, Search Engine RoundTable has been launched. I had the idea of King Arthur's famous round table for an image. I also want to live in a castle, but that's another story.

Usability Mentionables

The secret of managing a successful website by Gerry McGovern

     "On a day-to-day basis, a web team can get caught up in the pressure of keeping a website running. Getting out and talking to those visitors who read the website can seem like a luxury. It is not a luxury. It is a necessity if you want your website to work well."

(BRAVO! Kim jumps up and down, clapping and looking very silly.)


Fix Navigation to Improve Conversions, Part 1 By Bryan Eisenberg

     "Visit your own site as if you knew exactly what you wanted to buy (start with a search engine query, if you like). Start clicking. Ask a colleague to count your clicks. How many does it take to complete your purchase or inquiry? The number is your minimum-clicks-to-buy metric. This works only because of two inherent assumptions: you know precisely what you want (your brain already performed the specific-to-general categorizing) and the retailer implemented that path in top-down categorization.

What about people who shop without knowing precisely what they want?"

I want Bryan's autograph someday.

Brands, Value, Usability, People

     ""Branding is psychological warfare at ground zero, the individual level. It is about satisfying people, not markets. It is about building value one customer at a time, and understanding customers one at a time."

I can bring home the bacon, and fry it up in a pan. I can write in my blog and create my own brand. I am Woman.

W.O.M.A.N.

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/21/2004 09:21:58 AM

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:: Friday, April 16, 2004 ::

Wear Your Black or White Hat To the Search Engines

Cre8asiteForums members take a look at what the terms "white hat" and "black hat" search engine optimization techniques mean.

Here are some comments so far:

     "I associated black hat stuff pretty much with the equivalent of Viagra email spam."

     "Black Hat SEO techniques work fantasticly ... ... right up until one of your competitors notice and report you. That is far more likely and happens far more often that the SE filters detecting it for themselves."

     "If you are going to pour your heart and soul into a site, then whitehat is the only option. If you want to make money and are prepared to practice 'crash and burn' then 'blackhat' works just fine."

     "Doorway pages, gateway pages, hook pages, landing pages, informational pages, topical focus pages, or even zebra pages (that last from Jill Whalen)."

The Usability Effect

For those who wonder why I haven't been posting as much, both in the forums and this blog, I have a good excuse. I'm "expecting" my fourth website child.

My first site back in 1995 was Dancing Thunder's Playground, since my Internet name in those days was "Dancing Thunder", inspired by my Native American roots and inner connection to Tribal Ways. I buried that baby years ago, but the experience took me forth into Cre8pc.com and later, this blog. I own Cre8asiteForums, but don't take credit for much more than that, as that site is a group operation and inspiration comes from its members and the volunteers who manage it every day. So, technically, UsabilityEffect.com is my own personal 4th website and it's a doozy.

I always build my own sites. This means I'm stuck in a time-warp as far as design and coding are concerned because since dropping out of the web design field (I was a User Interface Engineer and before that, a WebMaster, for several companies) I don't have time to keep up. Thankfully, Cre8asiteForums is there to help. Yesterday I posted this Photoshop question, and it felt good to know I could ask my "dumb" questions, and get answers in a short time.

I have the site planned, requirements laid out, target market decided on and a homepage design pretty well locked in. I've spent months worrying about colors and picked up Bryan Eisenberg's great book, Persuasive Online Copywriting: How to Take Your Words to the Bank to help me write better copy for it. Now I'm working on the inside page template.

And I must tell you, even though I test websites and review other sites for a living, I'm the very first one to panic when it becomes MY turn for a site review. Like writing articles, I have to have an editor. Mine is Bill Slawski, who makes sure my articles and ebooks for sale make sense, and when I write for Jill Whalen's High Rankings newsletter, she edits my work. Her suggestions always make perfect sense!

When I launch the new site, things here will get back to normal. I owe articles to places I write for and dear Barry Schwartz (RustyBrick) hasn't fired me yet for not having had time lately to write my Guest posts for his Search Engine Roundtable Blog

I wrote an article about usability and Picasso, which Bill is editing now, for Scottie Claiborne's Successful-Sites newsletter. Look for it in the next month or so...

It's been a long rainy, snowy Winter where I live and Spring has been cold and rainy. I'm grumpy every day. But, now they say tomorrow it will go into the 70's and by Monday, maybe even hit 80 degrees! A bit drastic and dramatic, but I'm not complaining. Pass the tanning butter! I'm ready!

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/16/2004 10:19:18 AM

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:: Monday, April 12, 2004 ::

The Color Orange

There's nothing like a little drama in web design. At Cre8asiteForums, several members of the Moderating Team have been working on testing some design changes and forum enhancements. In one demo, the color orange was used. I didn't like it. Others didn't like it. But, as someone told me, "Orange is THE fad these days." Where have I been, I wondered? I didn't know this.

Eventually, after some playing around, the Cre8asite Network, which is a series of web properties built to support the forums community, and interested non-members, nailed down shades of orange for its Resource Library and Cre8tive Flow blog. We got used to the color orange. You may even find it creeping into the forums someday.

All this ruckus over a color...and so wouldn't you know!

Design By Fire starts Gurus v. Bloggers, Round 1. Andrei Herasimchuk does this light-hearted, fun comparison between blogs and the website designs by notable gurus. The blogs win 100%. Why? The color orange was a contributing factor.

     "Switch it over to Zeldman, whose recent compliant, standards-based redesign is smart and snappy. Zeldman uses orange, which everyone knows is the new black, so that wins major points already."

     "As mentioned from the get go, we all know orange is the new black. So I score major points there."

     "But wait… Williams not only uses orange, but yellow and every other shade and compliment one can find for his design of Yellowland.com."

My web designer friend, Diane Vigil, from DianeV.com, once told me to add "happy blue" to my website, Cre8pc.com. I took her advice, as well as other great design tips she offered, and the effect was nearly instantaneous. Both traffic and sales increased the moment I redesigned Cre8pc.com. She was right. Color matters.

Here is an article that talks about the meaning of colors, written by Scott Harris. It's called Thinking About Color

     "Gone also are the days of using color for the simple joy of it. Colors have cultural meaning. You as a designer, have a responsibility to be aware of not only their meanings but their trends."

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/12/2004 10:42:21 AM

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:: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 ::

Unwrapping the New Holistic Marketing Package

Fans of Barry Welford will love the launch of his new blog, "BPWrap". Barry's reports on Strategic Marketing from his new blog, as well as the new Cre8asite Network Cre8tive Flow blog are pointing to his daily roundups from the 7th International Internet Marketing Conference - Montreal. Thanks also to the Search Engine Roundtable for supporting the launches of both BPWrap and Cre8tive Flow, by allowing us to feature Barry's conference journey.

Some of Barry's observations include:

     "E-commerce has more than tripled over the last 4 years to reach 17 billion $ US in 2003."

     "There was a widely shared optimism (or perhaps realism) about the enormous returns that most companies can achieve by having a strong online (Internet) core to their marketing."

Link Schmink:

Ammon Johns (aka "Black Knight") writes about the The Real Meaning of Links

     "It is a mistake to think that the search engines invented the idea of links carrying meaning. Modern methods of semantic analysis are simply based on the assessments we make for ourselves all the time."

A Cre8asiteForums thread asks in Linking to higher or lower Page Rank?

     "Which is better, 50 sites with low PR, or 15 sites with High PR?"

Other:

Are you bi-lingual, live in London, an SEO, and need a job? See SEO job vacancy at an SEO/SEM agency in London, UK

Stock (Grumpus) gets excited with Farscape and Feeds in Yahoo News Rocks! Here's Why...

To blog or not to blog. Some people still ask. What is the purpose of blogs and people still answer.

     "I'm too sexy for this blog" Five pages and still singing. Yesterday's Music is Better, Kids Say

Honorable Mention:

A special thank you to Edward Lewis and staff at SEOConsultants.com for their continued support to Cre8asiteForums, Cre8asite.net, Cre8pc and all related blogs.

To everyone who contributed to the SEMPO thread at Cre8asiteForums, including Barbara Coll and Christine Churchill from the SEMPO Board, out of which SEMPO formulated a new FAQ. What Does Sempo Mean To You?

     "Today we launched a SEMPO Frequently Asked Questions section that was developed from many of the questions presented here and in other forums. The SEMPO FAQ is located at http://www.sempo.org/faq.php."

Disappearing Act:

I will be away for a brief hiatus to focus on a web project and write for Scottie's Successful Sites newsletter.

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/07/2004 04:15:58 PM

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:: Monday, April 05, 2004 ::

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't: Website Design for Search Engines and People

Quick! Find the search field on the Yahoo! homepage! You know it's there somewhere, amongst the directory, ads, news, business services, "More Yahoo!", marketplace, etc. Now, compare this busy page with Google's homepage. It's obvious which one emphasizes its SEARCH function.

Both sites link to all kinds of related hubs. But only one makes its site truly user friendly, by being focused on one main task, not 35, as soon as you arrive.

You can quickly tell what Google has to offer. Nicely tucked into the page, surrounded by lots of white space, are links to some, but not all, of the sections that Google provides. Everyone is so used to the most vital properties being listed on any homepage that they assumed that when Google replaced their ODP-fed Directory with Froogle, as a key homepage link, this meant doom for the Directory.

Not so. Google offers not one, but TWO ways to find the other things it provides. There is a "more" link, and "New Google tools help you find things even faster." One link is more descriptive than the other. "More" jumps to a page that's a top level hub page to nearly all the goodies inside the Google site, including "About Google" and "HelpCenter". This page is how most webmasters would design a homepage. The more detailed text link, on the other hand, takes the visitor to a differently styled page, called "Whats New", which is narrowly focused on just the various search-type tools and approaches to search Google offers.

Either way, the visitor will quickly find something useful, and will remain true to their original task. Which is searching.

To understand how this relates to your website, ask yourself two questions. What is the MAIN purpose of my website. And, what is the MAIN task I want them to perform from my site? If the leading reason for the website's existence is to sell goods or services, then call to action links and content are required from the homepage. Start selling when they arrive, not as an afterthought or once they've navigated several pages deeper into the site. And, don't start chattering about different things all at once or linking here, there and everywhere. This is confusing to people and search engines.

Note how Google stayed on task and subject with very little content or distractions.

Most website owners are torn between meeting the needs of their website visitors and those of search engine crawlers. It's especially heartbreaking to fall in rank, or suddenly disappear from SERPS. Ecommerce sites with user traffic that plays hide and seek are struggling to find the right mix for customer satisfaction and search engine rank.

If you were a search engine crawler, what would you think is the main purpose of the Yahoo! site? You would likely say, "Duh, it's a search site." Now, ask yourself, what can I search for from Yahoo!? Here is where Yahoo!'s user interface breaks down. There are countless types of tasks that can be performed, from finding stores to news, and a mind boggling variety of ways to accomplish these tasks.

Google offers the same functions, but eases the searcher into it. The visitor is led down the yellow brick road with suggested possible stops for related tasks that may useful or interesting. For example, Google's About Us page looks more like a sitemap, with descriptions placed beneath categories. This is persusasive design. The key is that the user won't get lost, distracted, confused or frustrated. Google is guiding their visitor or doing the "May I interest you in..." type of design, not throwing them into hompage quicksand.

A related article to what I'm writing about is Are you publishing too much on your website?, By Gerry McGovern

     Most organizations do a relatively poor job of managing their core content. Adding non-core content eats up precious time and money that could be better spent. The cost to readers is that such content distracts them. Generally, when people come to your website they are on a mission. If the mission is to buy your product, you don't want to distract them in any way."

Elsewhere:

Interview with Andy Beal of WebSourced Inc.

     I also see personalization of search results becoming the next step in search technology. I'd love to have the option of letting my favorite search engine remember what type of results I prefer, where my location is and how does my search relate to the other tasks I have been doing on my computer. Some people get nervous about letting the search engines know too much, but I personally want a better experience. If that means giving the search engines more information, in a secure way, why wouldn't I want to do it?

Yahoo! is riding Google's beh...oh, never mind. Yahoo promotion upgrades e-mail for some

WMW still does it in pubs. Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Informal Conference in Marbella, Spain - April 23-25

     The first edition of “Webmasters in the Sun” conference is to be held April 23 – 25 in Marbella, Malaga, Spain. Envisioned as a more laid back, relaxed and informal version of a webmarketing get-together type conferences, Webmasters in the Suns’ aim is to bring together like minded internet marketing professionals from across the globe to meet “on the beach” over a weekend, exchanging the tips and tricks of the trade.

Best wishes Brent, Susan and gang at WebPosition. NetIQ (WebTrends) to purchase WebPosition

     "FirstPlace Software(tm) has entered into a definitive agreement with NetIQ Corporation whereby NetIQ will acquire the WebPosition(r) product line and business. The transaction is expected to close later this week."

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/05/2004 10:37:18 AM

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:: Thursday, April 01, 2004 ::

Google's New SEO Forums

Hats off to SearchGuild




Cre8asiteForums is Tracking April Fool's Fun

This is not an April Fool's joke - Soople is a neat way to get directly all the zillion features Google offers, on one nifty page.

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/01/2004 11:26:12 AM

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I'm Too Sexy for My (Ego) Blog

Morae Customers Can Reminisce and Win Prizes

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That's Me, in Step Two and Mike with Long Hair

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The Future of Website Design. It's Called a Blog.

Where are the Women Bloggers?

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Pondering Your Search Engine Marketing Navel

No Awesome Usability Experience Ecommerce Trend This Year

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