Website to Wonderful 2: Usability, or How not to make your visitors’ eyeballs bleed
If you read Part 1 of the series, then you now should have a neat set of goals and wishes to think about. But before we go any further, let’s take a look at your site and see if there are any things which are actively preventing your site visitors from taking a promising relationship any further. This is pretty much Usability in a nutshell. To illustrate, I want to talk about my dog Alfie. Usability lessons from pet sites Alfie is a teenage dog now, about 8 months old. He is my first dog and so the past few months have been a flurry of training and problem-solving. And shopping: finding a...
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 More7 reasons to join your online health communities
How do people decide whether to join an online health community? I posted late last year about my search through food allergy websites after my daughter had several severe food allergy reactions. As always, the search made me try to identifywhat exactly I’m looking for when I seek out health communities. Here’s what I think influences me. 1. Recency The site should have posts from the (very) recent past – if I’m posting to a health forum, I’m hoping for a reply quickly. A site with no posts in the last week is not likely to be a great source of advice. 2....
Read MoreValentine selection: five from the archives
I’m cheating today. On the assumption that you’ll be swamped by Valentine-themed content of all types, I am going to dig through my archives and blow the dust off some older posts that deserve more love. Hopefully something for everyone. Fair warning: some of these are from 2007, which is like 1850 in internet terms. 1. Practical usability How to Evaluate Your Website What it says on the tin. 2. Going beyond the polite and acceptable when talking about internet use Are We allowed To Talk About Downloading Why research may barely scratch the surface: things that people will...
Read More10 things I hate about your business blog
Usability – the fine art of designing a site so that readers can use it easily to achieve their ends – is usually considered something more relevant to big businesses. Unfortunately, no matter what size of operation you run, your web presence can delight or utterly frustrate the people who stop by. Here are my Top Ten peeves. I believe that every one of these nasties make your site less easy to use, or less professional in image. Your mileage may vary. 1. Messy, cluttered, confusing layout. As I land on your site, what do I see? Multiple menus, strange badges from...
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.