I once complained on Twitter that I could never read the things, and one of my twitter followers suggested I was simply inept because I was unable to read them. So here are a few of the many recaptchas I failed to be able to read today while trying to register for a site.

You’ll notice in that last screenshot, I thought I’d figured out what that one said. I was wrong. That was the point at which I gave up. (Remember, even though I only show 9 screenshots here, I’d actually refreshed the thing over 70 times before I gave up!)

Seriously, the usability of this is so ridiculous that if you try to shove this down my throat, I’m going to just leave your site immediately. There are many anti-spam technologies you can choose from. Some are even worse than reCAPTCHA (though that’s very hard to do), but there are plenty that don’t make me want to throw my computer out the window. Use one of them instead. Please.

And one final note. This is aimed directly at Google. Google, you ride around on your shiny white horse telling webmasters to make their sites better for users, and you systematically punish those that you believe aren’t doing so. Panda, anyone? I wish I had the power you have, Google, because I’d pandalize your sites in a heartbeat just because you own this piece of crap. Get your own house in order, will you?

If you hate recaptcha as much as I do, join me in my boycott! Feel free to use the Boycott image I created above if you’d like. Help me put an end to this madness!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2011. | Permalink | 52 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: anti-spam technologies, boycott, Google, ReCAPTCHA
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However, if that blog had wowed me with a list of well-organized content, laid out in a way that’s easy to see at a glance, the chances of having me stick around would have been much higher. The easiest way to present your blog posts in an easy-to-see format is to add a sitemap to your site. I’m not talking about the kind that is designed for search engines (XML sitemaps), though that’s useful too. I’m referring instead to the kind made specifically for humans (HTML sitemaps).

While there are a few free plugins designed for this, many are old and out of date, so I’ve highlighted only the two that I have the most confidence in. Each of these, once installed, configured, and running, will automatically add new blog posts to the sitemap without any further effort on your part.

Atlas HTML Sitemap Generator

HTML Sitemap Generator has an options page that lets you specify what to include and what to exclude. Once you’ve set the options, you simply create a new page, and place the [sitemap] shortcode into the page content. It uses your own theme’s default styles to display the sitemap, which is essentially a long list of links, sorted and grouped nicely together by category, pages, etc. Here’s an example of what the output looks like on one of my test blogs.

Table of Contents Creator

Table of Contents Creator, like the plugin above, allows you to include and exclude just about anything, but this plugin is more customizable, and can even include links to articles, downloads, or other sites, if the links are already a part of your site’s navigation. Once options are set, you simply create a new page and place <!– toc-creator –> into the page content, or click the option to let it create a page for you. The output is very nice since it doesn’t just display a list of linked titles; it also includes a summary excerpt for each item, which really helps users understand what a post is about. The plugin comes with various attractive styles to choose from, and of course, any of the styles can be edited as well. You can even give users the option to collapse or expand the list, show or hide summaries, and sort by post date, author, menu order, or alphabetically. Although this plugin hasn’t been updated in over a year, it still works well for me on my personal blog that is running the latest version of WordPress, so I have no qualms about recommending it. Here’s an example of what the output looks like on my personal blog:

Either of the two plugins are good choices, with the first being slightly easier to use, and the second being much more customizable and visitor-friendly. Help your visitors see the wealth of content you provide without forcing them to work for it. If you want to see an example of this in action, click here to check out my own HTML sitemap, which uses the Table of Contents Creator plugin.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Site map, Sitemaps
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The webinar was presented by Kim Krause Berg, Search marketing and UX (User Experience) Manager of LiBeck Integrated Marketing, and founder of my favorite forum (where I am also a moderator), Cre8asite.

Kim began by telling a true story about a job she held 11 years ago. That company developed hundreds of websites for different verticals, and Kim’s job entailed doing exactly what she was told to do on those sites, such as, “put this button here”, “place that color there”, etc. Kim’s instincts told her that the tasks she was carrying out weren’t very user-friendly, both from a design and code standpoint, but she wasn’t allowed to voice her opinion on that. One of the sites contained an application, and after it was built, Kim was asked to do some QA on it to test the app. It didn’t take long to realize that this process should have happened before the app was built, not after! The key takeaway for me in this story is that from the very beginning of the process of creating a new site (or a new page or section of a site), the user experience must be a top priority. “It’s all about your end user”.

Key Takeaways

Kim then discussed three key takeways. I’ll list them here, with my own thoughts injected after each.

1. Everything placed on a web page has a reason for being there, and if not, remove it. (Me: I’m as guilty as the next person for not taking this seriously enough, but it’s probably the best advice anyone can give regarding site design or site content. I should record this sentence and play it at high volume randomly during each day, to remind myself of its importance).

2. Stakeholders and management have different and sometimes conflicting priorities for company websites such as ecommerce, services, corporate information and software application based travel sites. Your goal is to always be the end-user’s advocate. (Me: I assume the “your goal” part is because she is speaking to people who are in primarily user experience job roles, but it can be universally applied as well. No matter what our role in a site’s functionality might be, if we become advocates for the end-user, then we’ll very likely make better decisions and we’ll likely reach our goals faster).

3. Holistic search marketing includes usability, information architecture, search engine optimization, social media marketing, mobile web site design focused on marketing, accessibility and content development. The integration of user centered techniques offers trackable ROI benefits. (Me: While I agree with this statement, I’m not sure specific examples were given in this presentation to really explain it. Or maybe I just missed them. But while I definitely agree that adding user centered techniques offers ROI benefits, I’m less sure how to track that. Maybe I can get Kim to come here and give us some tips on that).

Next, Kim reminded us that online marketers and user experience designers have the same goals. Both want to increase conversion rates, and both want to satisfy their customers and site visitors. By following some of the suggested techniques she discussed next, and applying those techniques to home page, landing pages, product pages, navigation, and apps, those goals can be met. Keep in mind that Kim, like me, believes in testing different techniques. The following are just suggestions to help you get more creative with your own sites, and meet the needs of your particular target audience. You don’t have to follow them exactly; just use them as a guide.

Start With Navigation

Begin by looking at your site’s navigation. The navigation (the menu) should immediately establish a “sense of place” when users arrive at the site. Each link in the navigation should give both users and search engines a clear idea of what that link really leads to. Let’s take the example of “Services”. Many site menus have a link with this text. “Services” on a menu is generic and non-descriptive. It gives no motivation to click. That word is a missed opportunity to communicate what the user or search engine will find when they reach the page it links to. By making this link text more descriptive, you can enhance both the SEO value and UX value of the link. She mentions considering using a drop down menu for that item, which is broken down into subpages, with each devoted to a separate category of service. Each services subpage will be a landing page that is specific and focused, and enables you to have more opportunities to take visitors directly to the tasks they are looking to find.

In addition, she strongly recommends using verbs and adjectives in your links. So instead of just “Services” as the link text, consider some options such as “Explore Our Services”, “Affordable Marketing Services”, “Competitive Internet Marketing Services”, etc. Each of these is not only more descriptive, but these verbs and adjectives are additional motivations for the users to click through.

Another tip is to avoid words in navigational links that merely confuse the user. The example she used was a link on their own site with the text of “Thought Leadership”. She looked at that link and thought, “what the heck is that all about?” I agree. I wouldn’t have a clue where that link would lead me if I clicked on it. As it turns out, it’s actually a very important page on their site that lets users receive free information, newsletters, ebooks, whitepapers, etc. None of that is conveyed by the link text of “Thought Leadership” is it? Instead, they plan to test a few different ideas for that link; perhaps something like “Marketing Resources” or “Keep Up With LibeckIM”, etc. The answer isn’t necessarily cut and dry. Testing is key, but anything that helps users understand what’s behind a link is better than text that only confuses them. By testing, you’ll find out what works best for your site, your industry, and your users.

She then tackled the next ubiquitous navigational link – the “About” link. Everyone has one, but that word “About” is boring and overdone. Jazz it up, and again, use verbs or descriptive text. “Meet the LibeckIM team”, or “Learn about us”, “Read more about history” might work well, for instance. And like the “About” page, we all have other supplemental pages such as Contact, Press, Privacy, etc. You need to determine the priority of each of those pages and place them appropriately within the navigation structure.

The last point she made about navigation is to avoid the popular minimalistic approach. Minimalism often works against SEO and persuasive design, so be more descriptive and give search engines and users a better idea of where each navigational link will lead them.

Content Optimization

After discussing navigation, Kim moved on to optimizing your site’s content. She stressed this point:

“Remember that the goal of your web site visitors is to find the object of their desire.”

She begins with focusing on a site’s tagline. Do add a text tagline to the header of each page that includes keywords and describes the purpose of the site or page. The tagline should be in text and contain a clear description what this page or site is about, or a clear solution that this page or site solves. The tagline should concisely explain and address who the site is targeting. This one short line is an opportunity for your users understand the purpose of the site/page and an opportunity to get your message across in seconds. When crafting your tagline, consider ideas such as:

• What solution do you provide?
• How (using what tactics) do you solve a problem?
• Who benefits from this?

My tagline, for example, is “making a living online … and sharing information so you can do the same”. Hopefully, it gets the message across. If you don’t think it does, please feel free to give me suggestions.

While your tagline is a quick concise message, your site’s content will need to get many more messages across to your users. These messages might be on your home page, your product pages, your landing pages, your contact page, etc. Always be cognizant of the types of messages you should be including within your content. You need to address the:

Who, Where, What, Why, How, and When

You can address these by answering questions similar to the following on the various relevant pages on your site.

• Who are you?
• Who are you addressing?
• Where are you located?
• Where are you selling?
• What are you offering?
• What do your visitors want the most?
• What makes you so special?
• Why are you doing what you do?
• Why should anyone believe you?
• Why is your company so special?
• How do we contact you?
• How old is your company?
• How do we subscribe/order/signup?
• How long is this sale?
• How do you pick your products?
• When can we order / call / signup?

Why is answering these types of questions important? If you address the questions that users typically have, you save them the trouble of having to look for the information. How many times have you wondered if an online store would let you use Paypal as a payment method, for instance? When a site shows me that kind of information right on the product page, or in the footer of every page, I’m a happy user. When I have to search around, clicking here and clicking there, hoping to find the answer to that question, I’m usually frustrated enough to leave the site and never return.

How do you know what questions to answer? Kim focuses on tasks. Think of the tasks your visitors will likely need or want to accomplish on your site. If you can guide them to pages that help them complete a task, such as a filling out a sales lead form, browsing categories, purchasing a product, etc., your users’ experience is made easier, and your conversion rate is likely to go up. Fail at making common user tasks easy, and you’ll fail to meet the goals you’ve set for your site.

Next, Kim showed us a screenshot of a web page that she had marked up with some comments as she did an audit of the page. Some of the nitty gritty details that she pointed out on the page involved moving things around, keeping various elements consistent, and making sure users know what’s clickable and what’s not. More tips included:

• Treat product pages as landing pages by making sure they contain content in addition to cart elements.
• Add text captions to your images.
• Use descriptive link text to guide users to important pages deep within the site.
• Use heading tags (H1, H2, etc.) as signals to search engines that you consider this particular information on the page as most important.
• Play with verbs! Use words such as “go”, “find”, “order”, “buy”, “search”, etc. And When using phrases such as “read more”, expand them so they are more descriptive. Use “read more about [blue widgets]” instead.
• Incorporate trigger words in your content, such as “free”, “new”, “limited time special”, “for sale”, and “lowest price”.

Finally Kim gave a list of resources, which I’ve listed below. I’m really happy I took the time to listen in on Kim’s webinar. It rocked! I recommend you follow Kim on Facebook and on Twitter.

Resources:

Customer Focus Calculator – The WeWe Monitor Tool – This free tool analyzes your web page to see how customer-focused it really is. For example, I ran my eBusiness coaching home page through the tool, and it told me that my customer focus rate is 61.45% and my self focus rate is 38.55%. It also let me know that the page talks about my customers about twice as often as it speaks about myself. It graded the page as Excellent! While that’s great, I can see that I could improve upon that score, and I need to run all my main pages through the tool, so I can enhance each one. Thanks to Kim for sharing this cool resource.

Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become by Peter Morville

When Search Meets Web Usability by Shari Thurow

Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg

Designing Search: UX Strategies for eCommerce Success by Greg Nudelman

Audience, Relevance, and Search: Targeting Web Audiences with Relevant Content by James Mathewson, Frank Donatone, and Cynthia Fishel

Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions by Tim Ash

Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? by Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D.

Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day by Matt Bailey

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Search engine optimization, Usability, User experience, UX, web design
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Or you can do what two extremely big sites did today that frustrated and angered its users.

Scenario #1: A huge travel site, which shall remain nameless, had a problem with its payment form. Every time I filled out the form, it errored out saying that I had failed to supply the 3-digit security code found on the back of my credit card. However, there was no place on the form to actually type that in. After many failed attempts, a different browser showed the form field – but only if you typed into that field before any other field. If you attempted to fill out any other field first (you know, like the first field you come to), the security code field disappeared. Much hair was pulled out before that was discovered.

Scenario #2: A huge greetings / ecards site caused me a ton of frustration tonight, and it will likewise cause someone else a lot of confusion tomorrow. A good friend of mine has a birthday tomorrow, so I selected an ecard, filled out the form to personalize it, told the site to send it tomorrow, and clicked the Send button. Nothing happened. I did it again. And again. And then pressed Enter. And again. Then hit the tab key a few times until the Send button was highlighted and pressed Enter again. Well, you get the idea. I kept trying and trying and trying. Then I noticed my email inbox lighting up with lots of email messages, so I checked my email. What did I discover? The ecard was sent out with each and every attempt, despite the fact that it looked as though nothing was happening. So, I spent a few minutes of my time getting highly frustrated, and tomorrow, my friend is going to wonder why the heck I sent him the same birthday ecard umpteen times.

Neither of these things should have happened. The travel site has lost several customers now, because neither I nor anyone in my family will use that service again. I may use the ecard service again, but I’ll definitely be looking for another option as well. Either way, it’s not just me that was frustrated. These sites have millions of users. Imagine all the frustrated people encountering the same problems.

Now, neither you nor I are likely to have sites that are as big as those two, so anything we manage to mess up probably won’t frustrate millions of people. But our users, no matter how many there are, are extremely important to us. Our sites are nothing without our users.

Do your best to try your site in a variety of situations, on as many different operating systems as possible, and within the various browsers that will be used. I know how difficult it can be to make sure everything works for everyone, and sometimes sacrifices just have to be made, but at least make the decisions consciously. Don’t just assume things work, when in reality, your users are getting frustrated and angry because your site or one of its features doesn’t work for them.

By the way, there’s a word for all of this. It’s called usability. If you want to know more about making sure your site or blog is usable, you should subscribe to Kim Krause-Berg’s blog. She’s a usability master. Here’s a link to the usability category of her blog. I’ll touch on usability now and then, but you can get much more detailed information about it from her.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: huge travel site, Kim Krause-Berg, operating systems, travel site
This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this in your news aggregator/reader or on DazzlinDonna, then the site you are looking at is probably infringing upon my copyright.