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HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
Show your site or blog a little love
...it will love you right back, I promise.
How are your resolutions holding up? I'm proud to say, most of mine are intact. I am inspired to see a 2010 carpe diem epidemic amongst my clients and happy to be very busy helping many of them embrace their new year resolutions of finally starting that blog, or redesigning that "site my nephew did for me three years ago" or starting up an enewsletter.
From new years fresh start vigour to valentine's love glow - as promised in my last newsletter, here are a few ideas to improve your usability and reach:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
1. Improve optimization of copy, titles, and headings to improve your organic search results. This doesn't require a site overhaul. Many designers actually ignore the very simple benefit of optimizing page titles or even creating them at all - such a waste. Consider variations on your top keywords, interview some clients to find out what language they use to describe relevant topics (often not what assumed) if two are commonly used, use both so search engines will still find the site no matter which users prefer.
2. Add a free Google search tool to your site and track the results to
find out what users (potential clients!) are looking for on your site
that may not be there now...and add it if it makes sense.
3. Sub-divide long pages into logical, shorter focused, optimized pages - each focused on a specific idea or product. This enables targeted optimizing for each page increasing your sites reach.
Usability
4. Review and refine e-commerce making purchasing or registering as easy as possible. Review any checkout processes and clarify your language and eliminate any unecessary extra elements. Review web analytics data to determine your most common drop-off spots. Try to identify and correct what might be causing them.
5. Improve navigation and calls-to-action particularly on your home page. They should support key goals like shopping, contacting, and self-service. Expose subcategories, for example, a left sub-navigation column in addition to the main horizontal navigation creates awareness of your breadth of product offerings, which promotes cross-sell and upsell opportunities.
6. Reduce load time. Reduce the number of images and reuse images where possible. Break long pages into multiple shorter pages. Optimize images for web, reducing the size of your images, especially if your images are actually
larger than the size displayed on your site - being reduced to
fit each time a page loads. This is common on blogs or template sites as the option to 'resize image' is often built into image upload tools. Update images to be exactly the size needed
for their placement (and built at proper web resolution) and replace.
7. Add location Cues. Users often come in through the side door from search engines. If a user ends up on a second or third level page, she could be disoriented. Make sure every page follows usability best practices by providing location cues like breadcrumbs that allow users to quickly and easily determine where they are and find related content or find your home page.
More site improving tips...
Love your site and it will love you back!
Susan Ward
susan@boostbusiness.ca
416-729-8945
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