Website to Wonderful, 5: Are you losing your customer at the checkout?
My son’s worst shopping moment with me took place last Christmas. We were out shopping in the January sales, and I went into WH Smith (a newsagent) to buy a few things. They had some brand new self-service checkouts. I ignored them (hate them with a passion) and queued up to pay a real live person. Then one of the sales staff wandered up and pointed out the self-serve checkouts. I said I didn’t want to use them. He said they were really easy to use if I would just try. We had a little stand-off. A little voice in my ear started going ‘Nooo please Mum nooo, don’t make a...
Read MoreSix great information lessons from Amazon.com
Amazon were one of the first truly online retailers and you can still learn a lot from looking at their site. These days, the product lines are vast and the site seems sprawling, but the core information display is still golden. Here are five things that I think Amazon does brilliantly, and some tips on how to apply these in your own context. 1. The ‘Look Inside’ feature The Number One problem of any online retailer is giving people a real sense of the product from a distance. In a real life bookshop, customers pick a book up and flick through the pages to help decide...
Read MoreAre you welcoming people in, or warning them off?
Your website acts as a hallway of possibility. Recently, I had to send my CV to a company that I’d like to work with. I ended up using their job application software and I was honestly shocked by the poverty of the online experience. The software gave terse, bald instructions laid out in small blue text on a plain white background. An automated response told me that my upload had worked and that someone might contact me. Eventually. Maybe. (But don’t count on it). Quite honestly, they might as well just have sent a reply that said ‘Don’t call us,...
Read MoreAnnouncing: The Loop, and the Checkup
This week I’m launching my newsletter, The Loop. The Loop is going to go out more or less weekly, and it will have short tips and inspiration on building an online presence that helps you develop stronger connections with your audience. Probably the odd joke. When you sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be able to download a copy of my workbook, The Website Checkup and Cure. This has been a long time in the making. Back in January, I started offering professional website review and planning to businesses as a coaching service. This is pretty much my system, presented in a...
Read MoreHow to create rich product information, in five simple steps
I’ve been trawling Etsy, the handmade craft website, in search of nice stuff for a friend’s new baby, and I noticed a real variation between the mini-boutiques. Some I’d be happy to buy from straight away, no question. Others are sending lots of worrying little signals that the product or the service simply aren’t going to be up to much. There are a million and one reasons why a physical product may not sell well online. A lot of these (like current trends and your competition) are well outside your control. The one that is firmly in your control is the way...
Read MoreWeb usability for blog-based businesses: 5 problems
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been doing some test website audits as I develop my web clinic service. Much of my professional work has been for large organisations who want to understand whether their users can successfully complete important transactions on the site. In terms of the marketing funnel, a lot of this testing is focused near the narrowest part of the funnel, as prospects try to become customers. Poor usability comes with a high price: it means no sales or disgruntled customers. What does usability mean for business blogs? Blog-based businesses typically use...
Read MoreManifesto
Some of us find it quite simple to put our real organisations and authentic selves online.
Others - well, let's just say that some of us can't bear to look at our own websites.
My mission is to help you transform your online presence so that other people understand and appreciate what you really have to offer. So that you can achieve what you want - whether that's better engagement, more readers, or more sales.