by: John Krycek
Do you have to sacrifice all of the creative and artistic elements of your web site to rank in the search engines? Later in this article I’ll show you a real case scenario and the design and SEO approach used.
Thanks to the birth of professional search engine marketers the top ranks are saturated with the pages of companies that can pay for such insight. That said, it’s certainly possible to employ high ranking tactics in your own website. Actually, the most basic tactics can move you up from an 800 position to a 300. However, it’s the top of the scale where efforts seem almost inversely exponential or logarithmic, you put a ton in to see a tiny change in rank.
How do you meld the ambitious overhauls required to attain significant ranking and NOT compromise the design of your site?
Design Can’t Be Ignored
If you have an existing site, you’ve probably tied it into your existing promotional content. Even if you’ve allowed your website to cater to the more free form of the net, it should still be designed as a recognizable extension of your business.
The reasons for doing so are valid, and can’t simply be ignored for the sake of achieving a first age position, can they? If your research into search optimization leaves you shuffling around thoughts of content, keyword saturated copy and varying link text, you are correctly understanding some of the basic pillars of search engine optimization.
And, you aren’t alone if you have this disheartening thought—If I do all this SEO stuff and reach number one across the board, who would stay at my site because it’s so stale and boring I’m even embarrassed to send people there!
There are two ways to successfully combine design and SEO. The first is to be a blue chip and/or Fortune 500 company with multi million dollar advertising and branding budgets to deliver your website address via television, radio, billboards, PR parties and giveaways with your logo.
Since chances are that’s not you, and certainly not me, lets look at the second option. It begins with some research into your market, some thoughtful and creative planning, and a designer who is a search engine optimizer, and understands at least basic CSS and HTML programming techniques. Or a combination of people with these skills that can work very well together.
Design is for brochures, instant results are for the web
That’s not the whole truth, but it will help compare and contrast design and SEO. In reality, SEO needs the quantity and detail of supporting text that a brochure has, but good web design has to catch a viewer’s attention in 5 seconds. It’s pretty difficult to read and absorb the content of an entire brochure in less than 5 seconds.
Search engines need rich, related, appropriate, changing and poignant content. And for them to rank you, all of that must be on your pages. But if it’s not well organized and broken down into bite size chunks, no one is going to bother learning about what you’re offering.
Construction 101- Attractive Design and SEO
Sadly, it’s very difficult to optimize a site without completely overhauling it. You’ll soon understand why. Design and SEO must be strongly rooted into every aspect of each other, possessing a true, symbiotic relationship. Lets look at a simplified example of this. Lets say you are optimizing a page for the keyword phrase, “pumpkin bread recipe.”
>From a design standpoint “Pumpkin Bread Recipe” would be the heading for the page, in a nice, readable font with the words perhaps an orange-brown color. And lets add a fine, green rule around it.
There are many ways to create that simple, colored heading. However, there is only one way that is best for both design and SEO. That is to use Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS. In addition, that line of code containing “Pumpkin Bread Recipe” needs to be as close to the top of the page as possible (which CSS also allows).
To a viewer, the recipe text might be read more if it were located to the right of a photo of a buttered piece of pumpkin bread on a small plate next to a lightly steaming cup of coffee.
SEO needs to read that ingredient list and baking instructions. Search engines now understand on a rudimentary level that the ingredients are indeed related to the optimized words- pumpkin bread recipe.
Additionally, it would take many extra lines of code to make a table in this example if you didn’t use CSS. Search engines don’t like extra code. In fact, given enough times, that “extra” code will make the keyword phrases seem less important and hurt rank.
Note: In the page code, a few thousand characters more than you need to get all of that content organized would normally just add to your page load time, and might be acceptable. But to a search engine, that time can really add up. It wont read through page after page, site after site, billionth after billionth character of unimportant code to find the relevant text. Therefore, the less code, the better your chances. Moral- Less code, more content.
SEO usually means REDO
In the previous pumpkin example, CSS will eliminate the need for almost any extra code at all, and provide the means to place the text to the right of the photo.
Now, imagine that someone had already created this page, but done so using other programming methods. The page could very well be W3C compliant, well programmed and got the job done. However, without designing and programming for optimization as in the above illustration, the end result would have no significant rank compared to others that do.
You can be sure that there exist at least 30 web sites built to rank for the keywords “pumpkin bread recipe”. Note- why did I use the number 30? It’s safe to assume if you’re not on the first three results pages of a search, you’re not being seen.
While this is a simple example, hopefully you understand that it would be impossible to optimize this simple page without redoing it. This isn’t always the case, but extrapolate this into detailed, multiple pages in an entire website and the issue is greatly magnified.
Aesthetic Importance vs. Traffic
Everyone has an idea of what they want their site to look like. The pretty factor- splash pages, cool flash and graphics must now be justified as to their importance to the bottom line. If you want/need to establish an online presence, you will have to make some compromises in these areas.
Understand exactly the role your site should play in your company marketing.
Ask- What is the goal of your website and who is its audience? Is it for existing clients to see? Is it to reach new clients? To venture into yet untapped market segments?
Ask- How strongly do your other marketing efforts promote your site?
Ask- Is your website an extension of your existing collateral that must reflect the same graphical look?
Ask- Is your website meant to assist to your sales force or is it your sales force?
Chances are you wont have any single answers. That’s ok. It will give you some meat for your designer/SEO to digest and develop a solution for you.
Real case of Design balanced with SEO and salability
If you sell jewelry solely online, you must have a catalog of exceptional photography and detailed, high-resolution close up images. But, you must be optimized and rank well if you want to sell any of that jewelry.
If such a company approached me with this project, my recommendation would be this: If you sell a product, people have to see that product. Lots of good images. The site should be slick and sheik and easy to navigate. The home page has to capture the buyer’s attention. If it’s very expensive jewelry, the site should have a lot of class and elegance. If it’s home made jewelry, the site shouldn’t look home made.
However, as you have no store front, if the online community can’t find you, you’re business will fail. So I’d have a very optimized home page with some discussion of the quality of your product, the history of your company, etc. This is also great sales copy. Ad a few special catalog pieces with descriptions below some smartly placed gifs, jpegs and readable type graphics built out of CSS and you’ve got a cool to look at, content rich, well optimized layout.
I’d make the link to your catalog very obvious and prominent. Note the catalog is not the homepage. I’d also include subsequent well written, in depth pages about the history of some specific pieces. Load them with targeted keywords and a few images. Again, make your catalog link very prominent. In doing so you’re creating relevant content for search engines AND providing additional pages that can rank.
The catalog can be database driven, simple and changeable, and you have the foundation to build your search rank.
Planning Your Site
If your designer is not a search engine optimizer, hire one to work with your designer from the initial development stage of your site. If you would like a visible presence that is not dependant on traditional marketing efforts to get your name around, then you will have to optimize.
However, with advances in html and css, text itself can be a very flexible and attractive design element with endless possibilities. Site optimization consists of some rigid, unbendable rules. It can be intertwined successfully with very creative and attractive design. If your Designer and SEO aren’t the same person or company, make sure they have the same, close working relationship.
About The Author
John Krycek is a creative director at theMouseworks.ca Toronto website design. Learn more about search engine optimization, internet marketing, web development and graphic design in easy, non-technical, up front English at http://www.themouseworks.ca
Friday, June 22, 2007
Without Multiple Domain Hosting, Your Web Host Is Making You A Fool!
by: James Clark
If your web host only allows you to host 1 domain name with 1 hosting account, please read on to learn why you have been taken advantage by your web host!
Also, if you own multiple websites and you are hosting each of them with a different hosting account, you are paying too much! You can actually host all your websites into one single hosting account and save a lot of money. This type of hosting account is called “multiple domain hosting” account, which just get popular recently.
The web hosting industries are now switching to the next important trend. Many web hosts have started to offer multiple domain hosting account. What that means is that you can host multiple websites under 1 hosting account! You don't need to pay for a full account if you want to host more websites.
This is a very important trend because nowadays, most web hosts are offering incredible amount of disk space and bandwidth with their hosting account. Unfortunately, the client is only allowed to host one website with each giant hosting account. And the reality is that most clients don't even use up to 10% of their disk space and bandwidth!
If you already have a hosting account, think about it, how much percentage of the disk space and bandwidth are you utilizing now?
I strongly believe that these web hosts are throwing in the big offer as a marketing strategy to attract the consumers by exploiting consumers 'the more the better' mindset. Consumers don't realize that the 'large space' and 'large bandwidth' is practically useless, as they will probably never use most of the 'advertised' resources. They are simply being lured into the marketing gimmicks.
However, the story is rewritten when many web hosts begin to offer multiple domain hosting account. They allow you to host a few domain names under the same hosting account without the need to pay for more. These add-on domains that are hosted under the same hosting account actually shared the same disk space and bandwidth of the main hosting account. This way, you can fully utilize your allocated resources and receive full value of your invested money.
I don't need to be an oracle to predict that sooner or later, most other web hosts, including those big web hosting companies will have to follow the trend by offering multiple domain hosting accounts. It's the future of web hosting as domain names are very cheap nowadays and many webmasters will usually want to have more than one website.
When the traditional '1 domain per account' web hosts are not getting the same amount of sales they are getting today, they will have to consider offering multiple domain hosting accounts. If they don't keep up with the trend, they will be eliminated.
About The Author
James Clark has used more than 30 different web hosts. If you do not want to risk your business by picking the wrong web host, visit his website now to find out the best web hosting companies you can trust.
http://www.10-cheapwebhosting.com
If your web host only allows you to host 1 domain name with 1 hosting account, please read on to learn why you have been taken advantage by your web host!
Also, if you own multiple websites and you are hosting each of them with a different hosting account, you are paying too much! You can actually host all your websites into one single hosting account and save a lot of money. This type of hosting account is called “multiple domain hosting” account, which just get popular recently.
The web hosting industries are now switching to the next important trend. Many web hosts have started to offer multiple domain hosting account. What that means is that you can host multiple websites under 1 hosting account! You don't need to pay for a full account if you want to host more websites.
This is a very important trend because nowadays, most web hosts are offering incredible amount of disk space and bandwidth with their hosting account. Unfortunately, the client is only allowed to host one website with each giant hosting account. And the reality is that most clients don't even use up to 10% of their disk space and bandwidth!
If you already have a hosting account, think about it, how much percentage of the disk space and bandwidth are you utilizing now?
I strongly believe that these web hosts are throwing in the big offer as a marketing strategy to attract the consumers by exploiting consumers 'the more the better' mindset. Consumers don't realize that the 'large space' and 'large bandwidth' is practically useless, as they will probably never use most of the 'advertised' resources. They are simply being lured into the marketing gimmicks.
However, the story is rewritten when many web hosts begin to offer multiple domain hosting account. They allow you to host a few domain names under the same hosting account without the need to pay for more. These add-on domains that are hosted under the same hosting account actually shared the same disk space and bandwidth of the main hosting account. This way, you can fully utilize your allocated resources and receive full value of your invested money.
I don't need to be an oracle to predict that sooner or later, most other web hosts, including those big web hosting companies will have to follow the trend by offering multiple domain hosting accounts. It's the future of web hosting as domain names are very cheap nowadays and many webmasters will usually want to have more than one website.
When the traditional '1 domain per account' web hosts are not getting the same amount of sales they are getting today, they will have to consider offering multiple domain hosting accounts. If they don't keep up with the trend, they will be eliminated.
About The Author
James Clark has used more than 30 different web hosts. If you do not want to risk your business by picking the wrong web host, visit his website now to find out the best web hosting companies you can trust.
http://www.10-cheapwebhosting.com
Using the Web Accessibility Toolbar
by: Trenton Moss
Testing a website for accessibility can be a time-consuming and laborious process. The free Web Accessibility Toolbar can do most of the hard work for you though and is an indispensable tool for anyone interested in accessibility.
The toolbar is not an automated testing tool so does require manual work from you. It's therefore able to avoid the many problems with automated accessibility testing tools. It doesn't require any technical knowledge so even the biggest technophobe can check their website for accessibility!
Installing the Web Accessibility Toolbar
You can download the toolbar for free from http://www.nils.org.au/ais/web/resources/toolbar, and after you install it, it will sit in the toolbar area of Internet Explorer. The total file size is just 550kb so the download won't take too long.
The toolbar only works on Internet Explorer on Windows, so if Internet Explorer isn't your first-choice browser you'll have to switch browsers when using it. (Alternatively, you can download the Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox which offers similar, but not identical, functionality.)
Using the Web Accessibility Toolbar
Now you've downloaded and installed the Web Accessibility Toolbar you can start using it! There are 12 buttons in total on the toolbar, each with a down arrow to the right of the text. If you click on the down arrow for any of these buttons then a dropdown menu appears with all the available options (alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut keys assigned to each button).
Checking for document structure
One of the most useful buttons is the seventh, Structure. It's essential that the structure within the HTML code accurately reflects the visual structure of the page. This is so that visually impaired web users using screen readers can gain an understanding of the page structure.
Some of the most useful items in the Structure dropdown menu include:
Headings - Shows which items on the page are labelled as headings within the HTML code. The main page heading should be an (heading level one) and other headings should be s (heading level twos). Any sub-heading of an should be an , then and so on. Heading numbers should always be sequential - an shouldn't follow an if there's no . Headings are especially useful for screen reader users as they can call up a list of headings and jump straight to the section in which they're most interested.
List items - Shows which items on the page are labelled as lists within the HTML code, by displaying next to any list item. Lists can be horizontal or vertical, and all navigation should be marked up as a list item. Lists are very useful for screen reader users as the screen reader will announce the number of items in the list before reading the list items.
Fieldset / Label - Shows which items on the page are called labels within the HTML code. After selecting Fieldset / Label, the text next to each form should say the word label next to it - if not, that text hasn't been called a label in the code.
Table border - Places a border around each table. Nested tables within tables can cause huge difficulties for screen reader users. After selecting this item, the first table will have a black border the second blue, then green, yellow, orange, red and purple. If you see any of these last four colours it's time to take a good look at the code behind the page.
Table cell order - Shows the order in which the page is read out to screen reader users (if a table is used for layout). Hopefully, the order should be reasonably logical.
Checking the site works under all circumstances
It's important that your website doesn't depend on any one type of technology, or users whose browsers don't support that technology may be unable to access your site. You can check to see if your site depends on any one technology:
Images > Toggle Image/Alt - One of the most useful functions on the toolbar, replaces images with their ALT, or alternative, text. Alt text is read out to screen reader users or displayed to web users with images turned off, instead of the image itself (e.g. users on dial-up modems may turn off images to speed up the download time of pages). It's essential that the ALT text provides an adequate description of the image.
IE Options > Toggle JavaScript - Turns off JavaScript. After selecting this option, work through the pages on your website - is the whole site still accessible to you?
IE Options > Toggle ActiveX - Turns off ActiveX controls. Again, after selecting this, work through your website to see if the whole site is still accessible to you.
IE Options > Toggle CSS - Turns off CSS. Are pages still legible? If CSS is used for layout then you will see the page content in the order that it's read out to screen reader users. (If you toggle image/alt after this, you'll have a complete visual representation of what screen reader users will hear.)
Other useful accessibility checks
There's a huge amount of functionality available on the Web Accessibility Toolbar, but some of the other most important accessibility checks you can carry out with the toolbar include:
Validate > W3C HTML validator > Validate HTML - Checks whether the page is based on valid HTML or not. If the page is not valid, you'll be told why.
CSS > Deprecated HTML > Deprecated elements & attributes - Checks for code that shouldn't be used and is being phased out. A new window will open containing the HTML code - anything in red is deprecated and should be removed.
Doc info > Page speed report - Examines all the files used to display the web page and prepares a report on the average download speed for that page for different Internet connections.
Doc info > List links - Displays a list of all on-page links. Screen reader users can call up a list of links and jump straight to the page in which they're most interested, so it's essential that link text makes sense out of context. Link text such as ‘click here’ should be avoided at all costs!
Colour > Greyscale - Shows the page in greyscale. Great for checking colour contrast.
Other functionality
Other functionality
The Web Accessibility Toolbar offers some other interesting functionality:
Resize - See how your website looks for users on 640 x 480px, 800 x 600px and 1024 x 768px screen resolutions.
Tools > Simulations - Put yourself in the shoes of a special needs users with these fascinating simulations.
Conclusion
The Web Accessibility Toolbar offers an enormous amount of functionality. Download it for free from http://www.nils.org.au/ais/web/resources/toolbar and start using it. Without any technical expertise, you can perform a mini-accessibility audit on any site in just a couple of minutes.
About The Author
Trenton Moss
This article was written by Trenton Moss. Trenton's crazy about web accessibility and usability - so crazy that he went and started his own web accessibility and usability consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk ) to help make the Internet a better place for everyone. He also knows an awful lot about the Disability Discrimination Act.
Testing a website for accessibility can be a time-consuming and laborious process. The free Web Accessibility Toolbar can do most of the hard work for you though and is an indispensable tool for anyone interested in accessibility.
The toolbar is not an automated testing tool so does require manual work from you. It's therefore able to avoid the many problems with automated accessibility testing tools. It doesn't require any technical knowledge so even the biggest technophobe can check their website for accessibility!
Installing the Web Accessibility Toolbar
You can download the toolbar for free from http://www.nils.org.au/ais/web/resources/toolbar, and after you install it, it will sit in the toolbar area of Internet Explorer. The total file size is just 550kb so the download won't take too long.
The toolbar only works on Internet Explorer on Windows, so if Internet Explorer isn't your first-choice browser you'll have to switch browsers when using it. (Alternatively, you can download the Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox which offers similar, but not identical, functionality.)
Using the Web Accessibility Toolbar
Now you've downloaded and installed the Web Accessibility Toolbar you can start using it! There are 12 buttons in total on the toolbar, each with a down arrow to the right of the text. If you click on the down arrow for any of these buttons then a dropdown menu appears with all the available options (alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut keys assigned to each button).
Checking for document structure
One of the most useful buttons is the seventh, Structure. It's essential that the structure within the HTML code accurately reflects the visual structure of the page. This is so that visually impaired web users using screen readers can gain an understanding of the page structure.
Some of the most useful items in the Structure dropdown menu include:
Headings - Shows which items on the page are labelled as headings within the HTML code. The main page heading should be an (heading level one) and other headings should be s (heading level twos). Any sub-heading of an should be an , then and so on. Heading numbers should always be sequential - an shouldn't follow an if there's no . Headings are especially useful for screen reader users as they can call up a list of headings and jump straight to the section in which they're most interested.
List items - Shows which items on the page are labelled as lists within the HTML code, by displaying next to any list item. Lists can be horizontal or vertical, and all navigation should be marked up as a list item. Lists are very useful for screen reader users as the screen reader will announce the number of items in the list before reading the list items.
Fieldset / Label - Shows which items on the page are called labels within the HTML code. After selecting Fieldset / Label, the text next to each form should say the word label next to it - if not, that text hasn't been called a label in the code.
Table border - Places a border around each table. Nested tables within tables can cause huge difficulties for screen reader users. After selecting this item, the first table will have a black border the second blue, then green, yellow, orange, red and purple. If you see any of these last four colours it's time to take a good look at the code behind the page.
Table cell order - Shows the order in which the page is read out to screen reader users (if a table is used for layout). Hopefully, the order should be reasonably logical.
Checking the site works under all circumstances
It's important that your website doesn't depend on any one type of technology, or users whose browsers don't support that technology may be unable to access your site. You can check to see if your site depends on any one technology:
Images > Toggle Image/Alt - One of the most useful functions on the toolbar, replaces images with their ALT, or alternative, text. Alt text is read out to screen reader users or displayed to web users with images turned off, instead of the image itself (e.g. users on dial-up modems may turn off images to speed up the download time of pages). It's essential that the ALT text provides an adequate description of the image.
IE Options > Toggle JavaScript - Turns off JavaScript. After selecting this option, work through the pages on your website - is the whole site still accessible to you?
IE Options > Toggle ActiveX - Turns off ActiveX controls. Again, after selecting this, work through your website to see if the whole site is still accessible to you.
IE Options > Toggle CSS - Turns off CSS. Are pages still legible? If CSS is used for layout then you will see the page content in the order that it's read out to screen reader users. (If you toggle image/alt after this, you'll have a complete visual representation of what screen reader users will hear.)
Other useful accessibility checks
There's a huge amount of functionality available on the Web Accessibility Toolbar, but some of the other most important accessibility checks you can carry out with the toolbar include:
Validate > W3C HTML validator > Validate HTML - Checks whether the page is based on valid HTML or not. If the page is not valid, you'll be told why.
CSS > Deprecated HTML > Deprecated elements & attributes - Checks for code that shouldn't be used and is being phased out. A new window will open containing the HTML code - anything in red is deprecated and should be removed.
Doc info > Page speed report - Examines all the files used to display the web page and prepares a report on the average download speed for that page for different Internet connections.
Doc info > List links - Displays a list of all on-page links. Screen reader users can call up a list of links and jump straight to the page in which they're most interested, so it's essential that link text makes sense out of context. Link text such as ‘click here’ should be avoided at all costs!
Colour > Greyscale - Shows the page in greyscale. Great for checking colour contrast.
Other functionality
Other functionality
The Web Accessibility Toolbar offers some other interesting functionality:
Resize - See how your website looks for users on 640 x 480px, 800 x 600px and 1024 x 768px screen resolutions.
Tools > Simulations - Put yourself in the shoes of a special needs users with these fascinating simulations.
Conclusion
The Web Accessibility Toolbar offers an enormous amount of functionality. Download it for free from http://www.nils.org.au/ais/web/resources/toolbar and start using it. Without any technical expertise, you can perform a mini-accessibility audit on any site in just a couple of minutes.
About The Author
Trenton Moss
This article was written by Trenton Moss. Trenton's crazy about web accessibility and usability - so crazy that he went and started his own web accessibility and usability consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk ) to help make the Internet a better place for everyone. He also knows an awful lot about the Disability Discrimination Act.
8 Guidelines For Usability Testing
by: Tim Fidgeon
In professional web design circles, the usability testing session has become an essential component of any major project. Similar to focus groups in brand development and product launches, usability testing offers a rare opportunity to receive feedback from the very people the website is aimed at - before it's too late to do anything about it.
But how can you get the most from these usability testing sessions?
1. Choosing Your Subjects
As with any market research project, the results will only be as good as the people you test. Do not test people from your own company, or friends and family. Go to a market research firm or temp agency and ask them to source participants to a certain profile. Make sure the market research firm does not provide the name of the company or any other details that will cloud the judgement of the participants.
2. Before The Usability Testing
As with everything in life, first impressions are vital. Each participant must be put at ease. Remember, the usability testing session is often an extremely artificial environment and, for the most beneficial and informative results, we want them to behave as if they were using the site at home or work.
Provide clear instructions on how to get to the usability testing location, and if necessary meet the participants at local stations. Do not use terms such as ‘usability testing’ or ‘market research’, as these can confuse and put people on edge. Also, ensure that participants know how long the usability testing will take, and the type of tasks they will be expected to perform.
After the initial greeting and welcoming drinks, there are always legal forms that must be signed. It is essential that these are written in plain English, and are as short as possible. The last thing any nervous usability testing subject wants is to be given a contract that looks like they're signing their soul away. All you want is for them to be reassured that the tests are completely confidential, and for permission to use the data generated during the test as part of our results. So tell them that.
3. Beginning The Usability Testing
Before diving into key tasks, get the user familiar with the environment. Tell them the website's name and URL, and ask them for initial feedback on what they would expect from the site or what they would like the site to be. Make note of any terms or phrases they use - this not only demonstrates you are taking their feedback seriously, but may provide useful tips as to possible labels for key functionality or navigation.
Next, let them look at the website they are testing. Gauge their first impressions before allowing them to familiarise themselves with the site.
These few simple tasks will help convince the participant that the usability testing will not be difficult and, perhaps most importantly, that they're not the ones being tested.
4. Choosing Tasks
Set tasks that are essential to the new site's success, such as:
Buying products
Paying bills
Contacting the client
Remember, you're not looking for an ego massage. The site was built for a reason - can your target audience do what you need them to do?
It's also a good idea to ask the user to suggest tasks. While this gives another indication of their expectations and requirements, it may suggest new functionality or priorities.
5. How To Word Tasks
People tend to perform more naturally if you provide them with scenarios rather than instructions. When giving them tasks, you should use phrases like ‘Scenario A has occurred, and you need to ring the company urgently - find the telephone number’. This is far better than ‘find the contact us section of the site’.
6. Presenting Tasks
Only give participants one task at a time. More than this may intimidate them, or alter their approach to the test.
If the user is required to use inputs from outside the test (e.g. an email giving them a password to the site), give them these inputs in the form they will be presented. This will provide useful feedback on all elements of the process, rather than simply the site.
7. How To Behave During The Usability Testing
It's essential that you remember that it's the website that is being tested, not you or the subject. Any feedback you get is valuable - make sure the participant knows this. If they can't do something, make sure they know it's not their fault.
You must stay quiet and out of sight during the test. You must not alter the test results by providing clues, suggesting directions or by reacting to things they say or do. All feedback you give must be neutral. Do not start shaking your head or huffing, however tempting it might be!
The only time you should speak is to help the participant give an opinion, or to clarify a response. If in doubt, shut up!
Given the investment made in the project, clients often find it difficult to be quiet during tests. If your client wants to be present, put them in another room with an audio/video link.
8. After The Usability Testing
After all the tasks have been completed, you should gather as much information as possible. Asking for overall impressions of the site will allow you to judge whether expectations have been met, and whether the participant's view of the client or site has changed during the process.
Always ask for suggestions - this not only demonstrates the value you place on their thoughts, but may provide insights into how the site can better support the user.
Finally, ask the participant what they remember about the site structure and functions of the site. Clear recollection will confirm that the site is structured logically and help identify any labelling issues you may have missed.
About The Author
This article was written by Tim Fidgeon. Tim's crazy about web usability - so crazy that he's head of usability with Webcredible, an industry leading web usability and accessibility consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk ). He runs Webcredible's web usability training and writing for the web training.
In professional web design circles, the usability testing session has become an essential component of any major project. Similar to focus groups in brand development and product launches, usability testing offers a rare opportunity to receive feedback from the very people the website is aimed at - before it's too late to do anything about it.
But how can you get the most from these usability testing sessions?
1. Choosing Your Subjects
As with any market research project, the results will only be as good as the people you test. Do not test people from your own company, or friends and family. Go to a market research firm or temp agency and ask them to source participants to a certain profile. Make sure the market research firm does not provide the name of the company or any other details that will cloud the judgement of the participants.
2. Before The Usability Testing
As with everything in life, first impressions are vital. Each participant must be put at ease. Remember, the usability testing session is often an extremely artificial environment and, for the most beneficial and informative results, we want them to behave as if they were using the site at home or work.
Provide clear instructions on how to get to the usability testing location, and if necessary meet the participants at local stations. Do not use terms such as ‘usability testing’ or ‘market research’, as these can confuse and put people on edge. Also, ensure that participants know how long the usability testing will take, and the type of tasks they will be expected to perform.
After the initial greeting and welcoming drinks, there are always legal forms that must be signed. It is essential that these are written in plain English, and are as short as possible. The last thing any nervous usability testing subject wants is to be given a contract that looks like they're signing their soul away. All you want is for them to be reassured that the tests are completely confidential, and for permission to use the data generated during the test as part of our results. So tell them that.
3. Beginning The Usability Testing
Before diving into key tasks, get the user familiar with the environment. Tell them the website's name and URL, and ask them for initial feedback on what they would expect from the site or what they would like the site to be. Make note of any terms or phrases they use - this not only demonstrates you are taking their feedback seriously, but may provide useful tips as to possible labels for key functionality or navigation.
Next, let them look at the website they are testing. Gauge their first impressions before allowing them to familiarise themselves with the site.
These few simple tasks will help convince the participant that the usability testing will not be difficult and, perhaps most importantly, that they're not the ones being tested.
4. Choosing Tasks
Set tasks that are essential to the new site's success, such as:
Buying products
Paying bills
Contacting the client
Remember, you're not looking for an ego massage. The site was built for a reason - can your target audience do what you need them to do?
It's also a good idea to ask the user to suggest tasks. While this gives another indication of their expectations and requirements, it may suggest new functionality or priorities.
5. How To Word Tasks
People tend to perform more naturally if you provide them with scenarios rather than instructions. When giving them tasks, you should use phrases like ‘Scenario A has occurred, and you need to ring the company urgently - find the telephone number’. This is far better than ‘find the contact us section of the site’.
6. Presenting Tasks
Only give participants one task at a time. More than this may intimidate them, or alter their approach to the test.
If the user is required to use inputs from outside the test (e.g. an email giving them a password to the site), give them these inputs in the form they will be presented. This will provide useful feedback on all elements of the process, rather than simply the site.
7. How To Behave During The Usability Testing
It's essential that you remember that it's the website that is being tested, not you or the subject. Any feedback you get is valuable - make sure the participant knows this. If they can't do something, make sure they know it's not their fault.
You must stay quiet and out of sight during the test. You must not alter the test results by providing clues, suggesting directions or by reacting to things they say or do. All feedback you give must be neutral. Do not start shaking your head or huffing, however tempting it might be!
The only time you should speak is to help the participant give an opinion, or to clarify a response. If in doubt, shut up!
Given the investment made in the project, clients often find it difficult to be quiet during tests. If your client wants to be present, put them in another room with an audio/video link.
8. After The Usability Testing
After all the tasks have been completed, you should gather as much information as possible. Asking for overall impressions of the site will allow you to judge whether expectations have been met, and whether the participant's view of the client or site has changed during the process.
Always ask for suggestions - this not only demonstrates the value you place on their thoughts, but may provide insights into how the site can better support the user.
Finally, ask the participant what they remember about the site structure and functions of the site. Clear recollection will confirm that the site is structured logically and help identify any labelling issues you may have missed.
About The Author
This article was written by Tim Fidgeon. Tim's crazy about web usability - so crazy that he's head of usability with Webcredible, an industry leading web usability and accessibility consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk ). He runs Webcredible's web usability training and writing for the web training.
Bargain Web Design Services
by: Steve Hill
Many people are looking for a bargain, when it comes to finding themselves a person or company to build and design them a website. In this article I write about where to go to find this website design bargain.
The market place for website design is very competitive, for this reason there are plenty of bargains to be found. There is no longer any reason why people should pay huge amounts of money to obtain a website.
The next question is trying to find the bargain of course. This would be my advice:
The search engines
The search engines is the first place I would try, searching under the search term of bargain web design service. The results on the right hand side of the search engine Google are the paid advertisements and are called Google adwords. These companies are actively seeking business and are therefore likely to offer you a bargain. The results on the left hand side are normally the more established companies who will probably try to charge a lot of money for their services. It still could be worth sending them an email however, if you do not ask, you will not get.
Internet auction websites
I know of many people who have found themselves a bargain on auction websites, like ebay. People or companies at times offer their services for a very cheap rate, normally to drum up some very much needed business. This is especially true around Christmas time.
Other areas to look are in places like the yellow pages, bargain pages, newspapers or by asking family or friends.
In my opinion for a basic website you should not be spending over £100. There are many great deals to be had out there for people who are willing to make lots of phone calls or send lots of e-mails and who are patient.
When finding a company or person to build the website always take a look at their portfolio as this will give you an insight into the work they do. Obviously if you are not impressed, there is no point in carrying on, even if it is very cheap.
Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:
http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk
http://www.std-symptom.co.uk
http://www.coach-life-london.co.uk
About The Author
Steve Hill
Are you looking for a cheap web design company? If you are, you should go to http://www.internet-webdesign.co.uk. I have two other websites at:
http://www.eradicate-depression.com
http://www.stress-relief-info.com
Many people are looking for a bargain, when it comes to finding themselves a person or company to build and design them a website. In this article I write about where to go to find this website design bargain.
The market place for website design is very competitive, for this reason there are plenty of bargains to be found. There is no longer any reason why people should pay huge amounts of money to obtain a website.
The next question is trying to find the bargain of course. This would be my advice:
The search engines
The search engines is the first place I would try, searching under the search term of bargain web design service. The results on the right hand side of the search engine Google are the paid advertisements and are called Google adwords. These companies are actively seeking business and are therefore likely to offer you a bargain. The results on the left hand side are normally the more established companies who will probably try to charge a lot of money for their services. It still could be worth sending them an email however, if you do not ask, you will not get.
Internet auction websites
I know of many people who have found themselves a bargain on auction websites, like ebay. People or companies at times offer their services for a very cheap rate, normally to drum up some very much needed business. This is especially true around Christmas time.
Other areas to look are in places like the yellow pages, bargain pages, newspapers or by asking family or friends.
In my opinion for a basic website you should not be spending over £100. There are many great deals to be had out there for people who are willing to make lots of phone calls or send lots of e-mails and who are patient.
When finding a company or person to build the website always take a look at their portfolio as this will give you an insight into the work they do. Obviously if you are not impressed, there is no point in carrying on, even if it is very cheap.
Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:
http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk
http://www.std-symptom.co.uk
http://www.coach-life-london.co.uk
About The Author
Steve Hill
Are you looking for a cheap web design company? If you are, you should go to http://www.internet-webdesign.co.uk. I have two other websites at:
http://www.eradicate-depression.com
http://www.stress-relief-info.com
Cheap Web Design In London
by: Steve Hill
Due to the large number of people offering web design services in London, there is always a bargain to be found.
Website design firms in London are in a very competitive market and some offer some great deals at various times of the year.
People who are just starting out in a career building websites will often offer their services at a very reasonable rate, basically to build up a portfolio. Once they have established themselves they then tend to increase the amount they charge.
I have even heard about one person who for a very short period of time was building websites for free! This is an extreme case though.
A friend of mine called Dave was looking to have an internet prescence for his small business a number of years ago. He did not have a huge budget, however was looking for a person or company to create him a professional looking website which would be search engine friendly.
He tried looking in many areas including yellow pages, ebay, bargain pages and also by asking his friends, to see if they knew of anybody.
He also searched in Google for the search term, very cheap website design in London. There were many different websites listed, after a few phone calls, he managed to find a very good deal.
There are plenty of people offering quality website design services, who do not charge huge fees, just keep looking and you are sure to find them.
About The Author
Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:
http://www.aromatherapy-blend-essential-oil.co.uk
http://www.meditation-symptom.co.uk
http://www.insomnia-symptom.co.uk
Due to the large number of people offering web design services in London, there is always a bargain to be found.
Website design firms in London are in a very competitive market and some offer some great deals at various times of the year.
People who are just starting out in a career building websites will often offer their services at a very reasonable rate, basically to build up a portfolio. Once they have established themselves they then tend to increase the amount they charge.
I have even heard about one person who for a very short period of time was building websites for free! This is an extreme case though.
A friend of mine called Dave was looking to have an internet prescence for his small business a number of years ago. He did not have a huge budget, however was looking for a person or company to create him a professional looking website which would be search engine friendly.
He tried looking in many areas including yellow pages, ebay, bargain pages and also by asking his friends, to see if they knew of anybody.
He also searched in Google for the search term, very cheap website design in London. There were many different websites listed, after a few phone calls, he managed to find a very good deal.
There are plenty of people offering quality website design services, who do not charge huge fees, just keep looking and you are sure to find them.
About The Author
Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:
http://www.aromatherapy-blend-essential-oil.co.uk
http://www.meditation-symptom.co.uk
http://www.insomnia-symptom.co.uk
Web Based Application Development, Software Development Resources
by: BluEnt eSolutions
Hi All!
The World Wide Web (WWW) has changed how today's businesses communicate. WWW is not anymore only used to get and disseminate information but employed as a tool for performance. Today's websites are not just static pages but interactive tools that enhance your business capabilities in real time. These responsive sites are powered by the web-based applications that are capable of responding and interacting with the user and allow skimming the information that is relevant and is up to date.
To be more precise, a web-based applications is the one that uses a website as a front end and you can access this website viz application from any computer connected to the internet. The web applications is delivered to users from a web server. The most common web applications you must be using almost everyday is an e-mail like hotmail, yahoo etc. Other web-based applications that are used frequently to interact with clients, partners and other businesses are:
Custom Relationship Management
End-to-end web based recruitment
Online customer support software
Online data collection, analysis and reporting
Online quote software
Online product database development
Online ordering systems
Personalization of web page content
SMS messaging integration
Secure client areas
Secure areas to allow collaboration with business partners
Web Content Management Systems
Web based applications are all about convenience and getting the combined power of desktop and server applications with the accessibility of 24 hrs, anywhere and anytime.
Let's see how they become the most strategic business tools: No installation and maintenance of the software: These web applications run on a web server, which you can access through internet. You don't have the hassles of installing and configuring a program. So, one does not need to worry about the maintenance and troubleshooting or on heavy backups on the disk space.
Cost effective: Since you are running the program from someone else's computer and no license and space management on your disk is required, so save heavily.
Latest updates available: Since someone else is hosting the program and maintaining it remotely for you, so whenever there are latest updates you just need to click on your web browser as usual and avail the latest features of a web application.
Readily available data: To access your data you just need to be connected to internet through your PC, which is no more a novelty. So, wherever you are, you can get connected to your data anytime. So the accessibility to your data is 24x7.
Multiple platforms: Almost all the web based applications are suitable for every web browser like Internet Explorer, Netscape etc or whichever operating system you have on your PC. The web application will always look and function uniformly.
Hope you guys will find the above article resourceful.
About The Author
BluEnt eSolutions-your one stop destination for all your professional web related requirements catering to website design, web development, SEO, corporate training, web hosting, VoIP services, flash presentation and other web related applications.
bluent.co.in
webmaster@bluent.co.in
Hi All!
The World Wide Web (WWW) has changed how today's businesses communicate. WWW is not anymore only used to get and disseminate information but employed as a tool for performance. Today's websites are not just static pages but interactive tools that enhance your business capabilities in real time. These responsive sites are powered by the web-based applications that are capable of responding and interacting with the user and allow skimming the information that is relevant and is up to date.
To be more precise, a web-based applications is the one that uses a website as a front end and you can access this website viz application from any computer connected to the internet. The web applications is delivered to users from a web server. The most common web applications you must be using almost everyday is an e-mail like hotmail, yahoo etc. Other web-based applications that are used frequently to interact with clients, partners and other businesses are:
Custom Relationship Management
End-to-end web based recruitment
Online customer support software
Online data collection, analysis and reporting
Online quote software
Online product database development
Online ordering systems
Personalization of web page content
SMS messaging integration
Secure client areas
Secure areas to allow collaboration with business partners
Web Content Management Systems
Web based applications are all about convenience and getting the combined power of desktop and server applications with the accessibility of 24 hrs, anywhere and anytime.
Let's see how they become the most strategic business tools: No installation and maintenance of the software: These web applications run on a web server, which you can access through internet. You don't have the hassles of installing and configuring a program. So, one does not need to worry about the maintenance and troubleshooting or on heavy backups on the disk space.
Cost effective: Since you are running the program from someone else's computer and no license and space management on your disk is required, so save heavily.
Latest updates available: Since someone else is hosting the program and maintaining it remotely for you, so whenever there are latest updates you just need to click on your web browser as usual and avail the latest features of a web application.
Readily available data: To access your data you just need to be connected to internet through your PC, which is no more a novelty. So, wherever you are, you can get connected to your data anytime. So the accessibility to your data is 24x7.
Multiple platforms: Almost all the web based applications are suitable for every web browser like Internet Explorer, Netscape etc or whichever operating system you have on your PC. The web application will always look and function uniformly.
Hope you guys will find the above article resourceful.
About The Author
BluEnt eSolutions-your one stop destination for all your professional web related requirements catering to website design, web development, SEO, corporate training, web hosting, VoIP services, flash presentation and other web related applications.
bluent.co.in
webmaster@bluent.co.in
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