Archive for May 2009

I Hate My Website

Posted by Jeb

May

2009

Filed Under: Design

Ok, I don’t really hate my website but I’m more than ready for a new one.

The current SmallBoxWeb.com is only a little over a year old but I feel that we have already outgrown it.

I don’t want to beat it up. It has done a great job of growing our company. It’s got a nice clean look, easy to update (thanks to our CMS) and has lots of useful information on our services and work. But it’s got problems.

Some people find the site confusing. The big blue box in the middle of the site can cause usability issues. We have too many services and too many portfolio items. The whole thing needs to be streamlined and re-thunk.

I didn’t come to this conclusion overnight. It started a few months ago. What triggered it was a closer look at how people are actually using the website. In a way we had built it for ourselves, not really considering how others might use the site. Sure, we thought we were building it with normal people in mind but really we built the site without any real user input.

Lately my eyes have been opened to importance of usability tests. I must give credit to Jonathan Arnold at Tuitive Group for having a hand in this awakening. His company does elegant and highly functional web design based on user testing.

I now have a couple new mantras. “Stop assuming, start knowing” and “Tweak and repeat”.

Stop assuming you know what people are doing, what they expect what issues they run into, etc. Start using the metrics that the web provides along with user testing to know what people are doing, what they are looking for, etc.

Once you get something going in the right direction don’t stop there. Continually fine tune and tweak. Never stop tweaking your site based on real metrics and user feedback.

So, we are in the middle of planning for our new one. To prepare we are doing user tests on the current site. I feel strongly that a web design company has to be prepared to re-build their site at least every 2 years. Do you have any feedback for us as we work on the new site? Be brutal, be honest, tell us what you really think.

I am planning another post that addresses usability more head on including some links to services we use to do user testing. Stay tuned!

Sweating The Small Stuff

Posted by Jeb

May

2009

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Filed Under: Design SEO

Lately I have been shown time and again how important small, seemingly meaningless changes can have a dramatic impact on a website.

I was on a panel recently discussing e-commerce with several local experts on the topic- Brandon Corbin from Sigma Micro, Jon Arnold from Tuitive Group, Kyle Lacy from Brandswag and Jeremy Dearringer from Slingshot SEO. To be honest I was probably the least knowledgeable of the group on this particular subject so it was a learning experience for me as much as the audience.

One of the most striking take-aways for me was how important small changes to a website can have such dramatic ROI. For instance, increasing the size of the search bar, having multiple value propositions throughout the site (Free Shipping! etc), modest design changes to a product page, using “cart” not “basket”, etc. All these items have been proven by multiple studies to result in a serious impact on sales. Sometimes the difference was millions of dollars per month depending on the site!

I just came across this blog via Twitter, thanks to @donschindler, and it reinforced my growing awareness. It’s also a book that you can buy on Amazon, etc.

Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

Let me boil down what I’m taking away from all this:

Don’t assume. That’s the starting point. Stop working from assumptions that have no basis in facts. Stop thinking about how much work you put into your website to get where you are now. Be willing and open to completely re-thinking your project or website. Chances are you won’t have to scrap everything but come into the review process with an open mind.
User tests. Find out what people are really doing, what walls they are hitting and why they aren’t filling out the form, making the purchase, etc. Determine where the issues are before you start trying to fix them. This requires user surveys/tests, watching analytics closely, reviewing what the competition is doing, etc.
Herd mentality. We, meaning humans, are still very much interested in being part of the herd. For instance use “Other users also liked these items” instead of “We recommend these other items”. The first sounds like the cool thing to do the second sounds like a sales pitch.
Fewer choices, more answers. People think they want choices but they don’t. They want answers. Focus on answering questions that you know your users have based on testing and analytics. Anticipate what the user wants and they will be more likely to convert.
Tweak and repeat. Once you find something that works, tweak it, improve on it and then repeat that methodology to other weak areas.

What Branding is and Isn’t

Posted by PJ

May

2009

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Filed Under: Design Marketing

One of the things Small Box has always prided itself on is our web design services, however one of my goals is to take it to the next level. Done well, design:

reinforces brand identity
integrates online and offline content visually
creates a usable and informative display
attracts the right audience to your business

All that is to say that a high level design execution is important to the brand of your business. But the process of branding is about much more than your logo and tagline. For many small businesses they only get a chance to focus on this smallest part of their visual identity because of budget constraints.

But Small Box is looking for clients who want to do a complete integration of their online and offline identity with a true brand exploration process. If your website has outclassed your print materials, we want to talk to you. If your catalog or brochure is first rate but your website is not, we can fix your problem.

And if your online and offline marketing materials are not matching up to your competition, not reaching your target audience, or not promoting your products and services the way they need to – well let’s just say we can do it all.

Let the powerful minds of Small Box put our high level designs to work for you, to build your business identity as a leader among your audiences.

Why would you settle for anything less?

SEO Tip: Google Local Listings for Businesses

Posted by Jeb

May

2009

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Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Search Engines SEM SEO

Here’s a Search Engine tip that many businesses don’t know about but should. It’s really, really easy to have a nice Google Local listing for your business. Also, these local listings often show up above the normal organic listings. Here’s the thing, it’s much easier to get to the top of your Google Local listings than the top of the normal listings. Check out the screenshot below. (click on the image to see the live search, results may differ depending on whether you are logged in or not located in Indianapolis, etc)
Note how our client Antique Helper Auctions is at the top of the Local Business results and then #2 for the organic listings that start below.

Now there are some “tricks” to getting a top local listing but the Google Local listings run on a different algorithm than the normal listings. It is widely agreed that the Local listings are much less competitive since you are only competing against your local competition. Why does this matter? Look below at the results for the search “auctions”. Google knows I’m coming from Indianapolis by my IP address (I wasn’t logged in to my Google account for these screenshots btw) so it gives me local results mixed in with general results. It knows what I want is probably a local service. Most services have a mostly local customer base.

Have you created your Google Local account for your business? If not, do it today, it’s free, easy and will definitely result in business coming your way. Getting to the top of the local and organic listings won’t happen overnight. But we can help….

"I Can’t Find It!"

Posted by PJ

May

2009

0
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Filed Under: Design

“It’s right at the top of the page.”

How many times have I had this exchange when I am trying to tell someone how to find our newest service? It’s a Free SEO Scorecard that tells you exactly how your site performs on a wide array of benchmarks.

“It’s on this page! Go back to the top.”

If you provide the web addresses of your competitors and a few of the keywords you are trying to rank well for this document is an essential road map for your Internet Marketing plan, which for many begins with Search Engine Optimization.

As a side note I am thinking about calling it GEO since Google is the one that matters the most, yet we continue to act like the much smaller players are as important.

But my main point is one of usability. In the half dozen or so usability exercises I have done, I notice over and over that when someone goes to a new site they have never seen before, they automatically scroll down a little bit, assuming that the only thing at the top of the page is some kind of unessential banner ad or something.

And we always talk about designing so that all the most important information is “above the fold” (which in itself is pleasantly anachronistic). Watch for yourself sometime how it happens.

But what are the implications of this innocent gesture on the most artfully executed web designs? Should I tell my clients and designers not to put important information at the top of the page?

Clearly the most important element of design when it comes to usability has to be the focus on the middle of the page not the upper periphery.