Pulling Levers Blog
Archive for the ‘Web Site Optimization’ Category
Email from Company Admits Usability Problem
Posted by Jennifer Davis on August 3, 2011 within Conversion Optimization, Email Marketing, Web Design, Web Site Optimization. | No Comments
I recently signed up for a website to interact with fellow bloggers. Upon sign up I was confused as to what to do next, and gave up as I had more pressing tasks to deal with. But no worries, I got an email from the company admitting they have usability problems:
Hey jendavislever,One of the most frequent complaints I hear is that our site is hard to figure… which is partly true because we have too many quite unique features. Today’s step will help you make sense of the service.
Interesting approach to a usability problem, but obviously not one that helps me use the website. Granted, admitting the problem is the first step, but they have justified it by indicating they have “too many quite unique features.”
The next part of the email introduced their remedy to fix the problem:
We are doing our best to create a clear, easy-to-understand structure, therefore we have introduced “Categories” to somehow categorize and organize new offers.
But I’m not convinced categories are the right answer, even without looking at the site again because their own wording does not convince me: “to somehow categorize…” The word somehow does not show confidence in this fix.
The email continues by telling me how to use the categories in the different areas of the site. But it adds to more confusion as in one area I am supposed to “look for ‘Category’ drop down” but in another area I am supposed to browse by category using the “icon navigation on top of it.” In looking at the website, and sure enough, one area it is drop down, the other it is a set of icons, but the categories are the same. There is no apparent reason for the difference.
Next, there are four different search options on the website. In some ways this may be good if using advanced options but in this instance there are literally four separate search pages which is not good. Give the user one search, and provide advanced options to search the site vs. user forums for instance.
And this point I have pretty much abandoned even attempting using the site, as it isn’t worth my time to try and navigate it. And even it I was still considering it, the next paragraph of the email completely turns me off:
Reporting users and threadsWe are a friendly community and we are willing to welcome everyone. However some people want to abuse our tools and we can protect ourselves by reporting those users:When do I report users and forum?
What follows is more text about reporting others, more text than was used to explain their usability problems. If bad user behavior is such a problem that it has to be address in an email, this is not a community I want to part of.
This email is listed as the second of a five-step course. I’m already turned off at step two and have completely given up on this service.
Making a great user experience should be the number concern of running any website. Using email to apologize for user experience is not a way to overcome any usability issues.
Subdomains and SEO in a Post-Panda World
Posted by Eileen Buleza on July 15, 2011 within Lever Interactive, Search Engine Optimization, Web Site Optimization. | No Comments
Like everything in SEO, the value of subdomains has been up for debate for many years. (Just Google “use of subdomains for SEO” and scroll the millions of results to get a slew of varying opinions.)
Since Google’s 2011 Panda update, impacted sites have been scrambling to uncover the method behind the madness and gain insight into the algorithm changes. This week, HubPages.com, a site that was heavily impacted by Panda, announced it may have found a piece to the algorithm puzzle with the use of subdomains to break out content.
HubPages reported seeing a 50% drop in traffic after the Google Panda updates this year and during preliminary tests some newly created subdomains returned to pre-Panda traffic in a few short weeks. After discovering the subdomain difference on accident, HubPages reached out to Google and received a response from search engineer, Matt Cutts, which affirmed HubPages’ discovery to try subdomains as one way to improve rankings.
Some are looking at this successful as the first “work around” to Panda, but to me it seems to reiterate Google’s long-time algorithm goal to provide the most relevant, quality content to its users. I think it may be a helpful fix for good-quality content that was wrongfully hurt by the Panda update, but not a work around for sites that still struggle with poor content.
Through HubPages’ recent tests, the subdomain switch has reportedly helped those authors with high-quality content and not improved authors with low-quality content. (You can read about the varying results in the comment section of a recent HubPages blog post.) So whether this is a universal fix is unknown.
How this information translates to helping ecommerce, retail and standard business sites is also up for discussion. Most sites should not disregard previous best practices on subdomains based on HubPages’ initial success. Restructuring a site to include subdomains is not a small switch for most, and shouldn’t be done without considering its impacts across your site. Subdomains are a powerful tool for topics of importance to your company but can also dilute the strength of main domain content.
I recommend… as with anything related to SEO… sites looking to set up subdomains for SEO purposes should do their research and make the best decision based on their own site, goals and past experience.
Don’t Second Guess Results – Advantages to Null Testing in Google Website Optimizer
Posted by Jennifer Davis on June 14, 2010 within Conversion Optimization, Web Site Optimization. | 1 Comment
If you have ever run a Google Website Optimizer test, you have probably heard a similar question at the end of the test, when a winner is declared:
“How do I know it was really the winner and not just chance that visitors converted from that page?”
10 Quick Tips for Running a Website Optimization Test
Posted by Shay Howe on January 21, 2010 within Web Site Optimization. | 1 Comment
Running website optimization tests can be a very rewarding process. You are able to see firsthand the fruits of your labor. You may be surprised how the smallest of changes can have such large impacts in the overall outcome of a website. Many times, once you get started testing different elements of a website it is hard to stop. You will keep looking for things to test and ways to improve your website. This is great but it is also important to make sure that every test you conduct is worth your time and effort; not simply testing for the sake of testing.
Walk the Line: Building Stickiness Mixed with a Subtle Sales Pitch
Posted by Lever Interactive on July 10, 2008 within Search Engine Marketing, Social Marketing, Web Site Optimization. | No Comments
Stickiness is anything about a web site that encourages a user to visit often and stay longer. Stickiness examples are:
- Content that is updated frequently and provides ongoing assistance or relevancy to the user (e.g. tips, blog entries)
- User ability to personalize the site to suite their needs (e.g. iGoogle, My Yahoo)
- Online communities/forums
- User feedback (e.g. product reviews, ratings, surveys)
The Mechanics of Web Content
Posted by Shay Howe on June 26, 2008 within Web Design, Web Site Optimization. | No Comments
Research shows that reading on screen is tiring on the eyes. In addition, reading online is 25% slower than reading print. In other words, users don’t “read” web pages, they scan.
“Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe. F for fast. That’s how users read your content. In a few seconds, their eyes move at amazing speeds across your website’s words in a pattern that’s very different from what you learned in school.” (Nielsen, par. 1-2)
Don’t Under Estimate Content on eCommerce Web Sites
Posted by Shay Howe on June 18, 2008 within Web Design, Web Site Optimization. | 1 Comment
Your web site was created to sell products. Your call to action, navigation and easy checkout system are important, but don’t under estimate the power of well-written, compelling content. When customers go online, 4 of 5 of their senses go offline. Customer can’t touch, smell, taste or hear your product. They can only rely on the image(s) and the product description.