No Thinking Allowed: Designing a Website For Usability

Making Your Website Usable Have you ever carried on a conversation with someone who wouldn’t come out and say what he meant, but instead kept trying to give you just enough information to lead you to a conclusion? Perhaps you guessed at the point he was trying to make only to have him throw his hands up in frustration at your inability to guess where he was heading. As you tried to play along, in your mind you were probably pleading “Please don’t make me try to figure it out … Just come out and say it!”

Designing For Usability

As a web designer, you should assume that your target audience thinks the same way. When someone visits a web site, most often he or she wants to know exactly how to carry out the intended action without having to guess where he should go next. The user’s ability to carry out his intended action easily and without becoming confused or frustrated is known as web design usability.

Reducing Your Bounce Rate: Why do Visitors Bounce?

You are overwhelmed with frustration as you scan across your website administration page. Business is good, but you are annoyed at your page bounce rate. It is not alarmingly high, but it is enough to be noticeable. Now you are going to spend the rest of your day wondering what the problem with your website may be.

The bounce rate is the number of visitors who exit your website almost as soon as they enter it. This number is not one of the more serious statistics pertaining to your website, but if it is relatively high, then you might need to re-evaluate some things.

Have You Started Testing Yet?

You’re a savvy online business owner and you know the value of pulling customers to your website.  Chances are, you’ve already invested in some sort of AdWords or pay-per-click referral system.  Good!  You’re bringing customers to your door.  Now let’s look at the next step – getting them through your door.  The quality of your landing page makes the difference between wasted advertising dollars and well-spent ones.  Some landing page testing can help you refine your landing page to make sure visitors keep moving toward conversion.

Social Media: What's It All About?

Social Media: Getting More Out Of Your Social Media Marketing ProgramYou’ve got a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a blog, and a YouTube channel. But you’re feeling frustrated because they’re not producing results like you thought they would. Other companies rave about the customer satisfaction they earn through social media venues, but you’ve heard barely a peep from your targeted audience. What’s the catch?

Perhaps it’s a misunderstanding of how social media works and what it’s intended to accomplish. Understanding social media and what it can and cannot accomplish is vital to seeing the kind of return on investment you’re looking for. Take a moment and ask yourself whether you’ve taken the necessary steps to build your social media strategy around these three goals.

Social Media for Small Business Owners

Social Media Marketing StrategyBuilding a social media marketing strategy may sound intimidating if you’re a small business with limited personnel and time.

But the benefits far outweigh the challenges and social media can be a great way to get ahead of your competitors.

Social media for small businesses doesn’t have to consume all your time if you’re careful in your approach and you don’t jump in too quickly.

Have You Identified Your Target Market?

Identify Your Target Market One of the most important things that any business can do is to understand their target market. Knowing the way they think and what they value is very important information for your online business.

But, how do you go about understanding your target market? Everyone’s target market is unique to their business.  However, there are several universals you can apply to help you identify your target market and then to use the information to improve your website’s conversion rate.

Conversion Optimization Tips: Improving Your Home Page

Making Your Home Page Like A Trailhead

Mt Ranier by designateddnaphour

The Pacific Northwest is a magnificent place to enjoy the outdoors, especially this time of year, when the air is crisp, the trees are turning and the days are mostly sunny.  Most of our hikes start at a trailhead, where the different routes are depicted on some sort of a map, along with distances, hiking difficulty and points of interest.

In many ways, your company home page has a similar function to the trailhead. More than likely it is the first place people will come when visiting your website; it is central to your layout; and it gives links to the rest of your website. It also directs potential customers wherever they need to go, either to place an order or to learn more about your products or services.

4 Steps To Starting Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

Like any technologically based marketing operative, social media constantly evolves, presenting new opportunities for exposure and watching the old favorites fall by the wayside.

Because of the dynamic nature of the venue, learning social media isn’t so much about becoming an expert on any one or two popular sites, although you’ll need someone on your marketing team with that knowledge.

Instead, the key to successful social media marketing is knowing how to capitalize on the unique opportunities social media presents and being willing to change your techniques as the technology changes.