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Visitors to your website shouldn't have to work very hard to find the information for which they are looking. However, as website owners, it is easy to forget that not everyone understands our product, be it widgets, jewelry, insurance, or health services, for example. Unfortunately, what may be obvious to you, may be confounding to your customers or potential customers. At this class, we will discuss the impact of usability on customers and how your website and website content should be crafted for your customers and/or potential customers, not for ourselves. Isn't it time to be more helpful to your customers and potential customers? Wouldn't you like to guide them through your website to help them find the information or products they want? Ready to stop making usability mistakes that might be costing you a return on your investment? Topics Covered What are "usability" standards and practices? Understanding your website visitors and what they are looking for Content layout and formatting Writing to engage visitors Online reading patterns & increasing readability Using images Search and navigation Making your content and website shareable via social media Contact Ally to sign up. (509) 252-5060
Citation preview
The Impact of Usability on Your Website
Allyson Shoshana, Project Manager, Design Spike®, Inc
Agenda
■ What’s usability?■ Understanding visitors to your website■ Writing & formatting for the web■ Images & layout■ Search & navigation■ Social media
What is Usability?“Usability is all about making a website easier to use for a customer…creating a usable website will make customers happy…[and] will make you more money
as a website owner.”Neil Patel – Crazy Egg
Why do you care?
■ 94% of people reject a website based on bad design○ Only 6% of rejections were content related
■ 75% of people will leave your site for a competitors if they can’t find what they want quickly
■ 88% will not return
Photo from NOTCOT.com
Photo from Optimum7.com
The Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
Thou shalt not forget mobile users
■ 45% of companies rely on desktop sites only■ 25% of web users only use smart devices■ Some say by 2014 mobile internet use will trump desktop■ Local mobile searches will exceed desktop by 2015 ■ Mobile traffic is increasing by 3.5% per month
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
Thou shalt make links obvious
■ Users scan pages for links “What can I do next?”■ Use a color that is reserved for clickable links only■ Change color of visited links
Bonus: use appropriate link text: “Download Map” vs “Click Here”
Warning: don’t overuse keywords text as link text
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
Watch this link!
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
Nothing happened, did it?
Thou shalt use high-contrast text
■ Your content is your message; make it readable■ Difficult reading > frustration > negative association with
brand■ Not just elderly: poor screens, lighting■ What does your site look like in greyscale?
Bonus 1: Backgrounds behind text: only when fadedBonus 2: contrastrebellion.com
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
Thou shalt use clear navigation
■ Be conventional (seriously)■ Be terse■ Use your words, not your icons (mystery meat navigation)■ Streamline (minimize items)■ Highlight current nav item > reinforce user’s model of site
structure
Bonus: reinforce navigation with breadcrumbs, headings
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
Thou shalt not commit the sin of visual noise pollution
■ Too long to find what you are looking for■ Your customers will leave and shop elsewhere■ Visitors get lost■ Not scannable■ Ugly
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
Thou shalt not veer from thy site’s established typography
■ Too many fonts, too distracting■ Not readable■ Confuses visitors■ Visitor cannot figure out what content is valuable and what is
not
Bonus: avoid “bad” fonts; don’t use display fonts in body text
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
via Laura Jean Karr
So, what’s your website visitor looking for?
Image via University Of Mexico
Ask Yourself:
■ Who’s your customer?■ What do they want from you?■ What service do you provide to them?■ What do you want them to do once they get to your site?■ How is your content helping them?■ Is your website about you, or them?
Humans don’t read,On the web that is
■ 79% scanned■ 16% read
Why should you care?
Well………they’re ignoring most of what you think they are reading.
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
We spend 69% of our time staring at the left side of your
website
We spend 80% above the fold (wherever that is, these days)
So what’s a website owner to do?
■ Important content goes first (paragraphs & sentences)■ Skip the fluff - NO ONE READS IT■ Capture their attention, fast■ Don’t center text (this drives Will crazy) ■ Keep headers left
Are you writing for the web, or for
yourself?
■ Visitors read less than 20% of the words
■ Higher literacy = more the scanning, SNAP!
■ Lower literacy = more plowing through the text
Formatting Content:Use Headers and SubHeaders
Formatting Content:Include Keywords in Headers or Bold Text
Formatting Content:Use Numbered or Bulleted Lists
Formatting Content:Use Significant Words in Headings
Formatting Content:Use Images of High Quality
Formatting Content:Images Control Where We Look
Formatting content is the new black
Tips to remember
■ Use H1, H2, H3 for headings, sub-headings■ Include keywords in headings or bold (some of the time, use
restraint!)■ Use numbered or bulleted lists■ Omit words
Leverage Social Media with Your Website
■ Use social sharing buttons - make ‘em visible■ Make your content shareable and easy to share - click to
tweet■ Use social media where it makes sense■ Set up Google+ profile and Rel+”Author” Tag ■ Use images people want to share
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
The 10 Commandments of Website Usability According to Will Hall
Thanks!
