In this issue:
- Small Changes, Big Improvements: Three Steps & Three Suggestions for Enhancing Your Site
- Reading Roundup: Simplifying RSS (Real Simple Syndication)
- The Lighter Side of the Web: Etch-A-Sketch
- About Web Insights
Issue 28original publication: June 18, 2004
Feature Article:
Small Changes, Big Improvements: Three Steps & Three Suggestions for Enhancing Your Site
by Deborah Christie, POP Interactive
Of all the things your company's site is designed to do, chances
are three of your most important objectives are to:
- Generate online sales or leads that will produce offline sales
- Disseminate information about your company, products and services
- Build customer relationships and provide customer service
I can tell you from my experience working with many different
types of companies on their websites, that with regular fine-
tuning, your site can excel in these and many other areas.
The biggest obstacles many website and marketing managers face
in achieving their website goals are time and budget. But, even
with a large site, it is possible to make significant improvements
in a short amount of time and with limited resources.
Here's a practical, three-step approach that focuses on small
changes that will lead to big improvements:
- Keep a formal ongoing list of site enhancement "must-haves"
and "wish list" ideas. A little organization and a lot of
discipline are the keys to success in this step.
- Regularly review and prioritize this list. Depending on the
importance of your site within your overall marketing strategy,
this review could be weekly, monthly or quarterly. Just make
sure it's a timeframe that you're comfortable with.
- Pick one "lower effort, higher value" item to address. Each
time you review the list, identify one item to address that
won't require a lot of work but that will have a big payoff.
You'll find that making small changes regularly will have a big
impact on the success of your site. Equally important, you won't
be loosing ground to your competition.
To help you get started, here are three examples of lower effort,
higher value enhancements that may belong on your list.
1. Optimize Your Forms for Optimal Results
How often do you run into cryptic questions or error messages on
forms? Or find yourself forced to re-enter information? Do you
get annoyed and discouraged?
If generating leads and sales is an important objective for your
site, you don't want your visitors experiencing similar issues
with your forms. Especially when you consider that many users
will give up and some will never come back.
It's just too costly not to improve your forms. And modifying
them is definitely one area where small changes can lead to
big improvements.
If you'll spend fifteen minutes reading the following three-part
article, I'm sure you'll find at least three ideas that you can
use to immediately improve your forms:
Do Your Web Forms Show Good Form?
2. Link Colors ARE Important
Have you ever found yourself trying to get back to information on
a site but unable to figure out which pages you've visited because
the links didn't change color? If you have, you're not alone.
Link colors and underlines may not seem like a big deal, but
website visitors still rely on them heavily to find their way
around. And ensuring your links are usable is one of the simplest
ways you can improve your site.
To understand just how important link colors and underlines are,
I recommend reading the following articles by usability guru Jakob
Nielsen. He offers valuable insights and helpful guidelines for
improving the usability of your links:
3. Missing Content Can Mean Missed Opportunities
We all have expectations when we visit a site. We're looking for
answers to questions and solutions to problems. Websites that do
a good job of meeting these needs create a more positive visitor
experience. And providing a good experience is the first step to
building customer relationships--online and offline.
However, if your visitors are looking for information that you
don't provide on your site, they may form a negative impression
of your company. They'll also waste time trying to find
information that isn't there--and be left wondering if they just
aren't looking in the right place.
Obviously, you want to avoid creating these problems. At the same
time, you may not always be able to--or may not choose to--provide
the information your visitors will want. But, with a little
creativity, you can avoid frustrating your visitors without much
effort.
Simply let your visitors know what information they will find and
what information they won't find on your site. For example, if you
don't provide pricing, a client list, or product availability
information on your site, you should provide details on how to
request it.
Take a few minutes to identify the one or two (I know you thought
I was going to say three) most important pieces of information
that your visitors will be looking for that you don't provide.
Then add content to address these expectations.
This goes hand in hand with making sure that it's easy for your
visitors to find the information that you do provide, as further
illustrated in the following articles:
Whether your site just needs a little polish or a complete
upgrade, I hope the above approach and examples will at least
encourage you to make a plan that will work for you and your site.
Remember that even small, simple enhancements are all you need to
start moving in the right direction and that sometimes the
smallest tasks can have the biggest payoff.
Reading Roundup: Simplifying RSS (Real Simple Syndication)
There's a lot of talk recently about RSS (Real Simple Syndication),
the relatively new way to syndicate your website content.
Hopefully the resources and articles below will help you feel like
it's living up to its name:
The Lighter Side of the Web: Etch-A-Sketch
This site won't help simplify improving your website or setting up
an RSS feed, but it's definitely reminiscent of simpler times:
Copyright © 2004 POP Interactive, Inc.
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