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Some of the most expensive websites in the world are completely useless.
The internet can be an economical, yet powerful, generator of brand awareness and resulting business, or it can be an expensive waste of time.
I recently focused my web development efforts on one critical aspect "User Experience". Back Story
If you are not satisfied with your return on your internet investment, there is something very wrong.
My particular expertise relates to figuring out how users interact with your site, and then removing the barriers to your success.
Simple as that.
So why do I have my picture on each page? Back Story
User Experience
Keeping your eye on the ball
Are you getting a lot of traffic to your website, but few conversions?
Compare your results with this complex chart
Your site may be suffering from FUS.."Frustrated User Syndrome". Don't be embarrassed...it happens to even the largest sites. Fortunately it is easily treatable if you follow these easy steps:
1. Click the "Contact Me" tab at the top of this page
Okay, only one step, but if you have a website, you are obviously somewhat internet savvy. You have no doubt surfed the web many times looking for various things and in your travels you are bound to have encountered many websites suffering from FUS. Maybe you wanted to sign up for a newsletter, but could not figure out how. Maybe you spent 20 minutes looking at a webpage trying to find the Login button to access an account. Maybe you have screamed expletives at your poor monitor while trying to figure out how to cancel something. Or maybe... you discovered that the entire internet has conspired in a grand scheme to keep you from getting what you want!
It's True! Website developers everywhere are going to curse me for letting this secret out of the bag, but they intentionally design websites so that you cannot figure out how to use them. Okay... maybe not "intentionally". But while these techno-geeks are experimenting with the latest whiz-bang "spinning logo" technique on your site, many lose track of the most important aspect...protecting your site from FUS.
To help you diagnose whether your site is infected, look for these symptoms:
- Silly animations users are forced to click past to get to your real site
- Music or videos that launch themselves on unsuspecting visitors
- 7000 links on your main page, but not a single one to contact you
- A signup page that requires users to enter some hieroglyphic image they can't figure out after 14 tries
- Asking users to provide you with dozens of personal details just to receive a brochure via email
- Leading users into a web labyrinth for which the only escape is a re-boot
- Conveying important information in off-white text on a white background
- Conveying important information in text so small it looks like a horizontal line
- Not providing users with an "I Give Up" button when there is no FAQ
There are many more symptoms, but you get the idea. Some of the biggest sites on the internet suffer from the above symptoms. But yours doesn't have to be this way if you just follow the simple step above.
B2?
To be or not to be... that is the question, and I have the answers.
If you exclude porn, social media and Brittany Spears sites, 80% of what remains is your standard business to business or business to person IB, "Internet Brochure" (yes I know, I like acronyms).
It doesn't really matter what your business is: attorney, furniture store, widget manufacturer or restaurant; your web presence is only there for one reason: to get customers or clients. If you actually sell stuff online, go to the eCommerce tab. For the rest of you, listen up.
To get customers/clients from the internet requires three things (yes I know, I like lists too):
- Providing a product or service that people might actually want
- Presenting your product/Service on a reasonable looking website
- Making it as easy as possible for users to get your product or service (assumes you comply with item #1)
Let me detail these further: first, providing a product or service that people actually want. This seems obvious, and unless you are trying to sell a product that makes Christmas tree ornaments out of earwax , or provide a glove box organizing service...I'll assume that people want your product/service.
Second, a reasonable site. You do not have to spend a fortune on the latest web technologies, unless of course your business is web technologies, and then well.. I guess you do. But I will assume most of you are not web technology companies.
A quick Google search of the internet will reveal approximately 3 trillion web designers, of which about 5% are competent web designers. Not to worry, that still leaves thirty billion competent web designers. By "competent" I mean they are at least capable of putting a page on the web for you. To get a "reasonable" site however, the number quickly reduces, and to get a "reasonable" site that provides a great "user experience" the number of web designers drops to zero. Okay.. maybe not zero, but it makes my services seem a lot more indispensable... I'll concede that there are many qualified and capable firms out there making terrific sites that offer a superb user experience... just probably not the firm you hired.
This brings me to the most important part of a web presence, the part where at least 75% (made-up number) of all sites fail somewhat, and 50% (also made-up number) fail miserably: Making the experience work for your customer.
How do you fix it? Easy, click here and refer to Step 1.
eCommerce
Revenue less than Projections? Maybe your users hate you.
Maybe "Hate" is too strong. But then again, I "Hate" my cell phone provider, and mostly because their website is unusable.
If you operate an eCommerce site where you derive revenue online, whether it be products you sell, or memberships you offer or services that are purchased online, the User Experience is all that matters.
This is still true if you are wildly successful; Amazon, Ebay and Facebook are all successful, in spite of many user experience inadequacies. While Facebook may still have some flaws, their attention to the User Experience was the primary reason they annihilated MySpace. So, don't be a MySpace.
If you operate an eCommerce site, then you are obviously more advanced than the average internet user. I would bet that you have access to various statistics and metrics regarding your website traffic. Maybe you have been dismayed by the number of visitors who do not convert. If you are like most eCommerce operators you will start running promotions. When promotions fail to produce, you may add one of those "Click here to speak to a Live Person" pop-ups into your visitor's faces. Again, presuming you have a product/service people actually want, and your SEO efforts are not drawing hopelessly unqualified visitors, your problem is your User's Experience.
How do you fix it? Easy, click here and refer to Step 1.
Online Employee Training
Online Employee Training, a User Experience mine-field.
I know... this is a pretty niche area, but a wave of the future to be sure, and if you own a company, or run the education department in one, you need to understand what this can do for you.
Every years billions of dollars (made-up number) and trillions of man-hours (made-up number) are wasted training employees to perform rudimentary tasks.
HR Procedures, Workplace Safety, Data Entry, Customer Service etc., are typical of the types of tasks for which your employees probably require some degree of training in order to perform to your company's standards.
If you are like many companies, you probably bust out the tablet and chisel and create some kind of Powerpoint presentation. Then you arrange a place and time for the trainees to meet and take someone away from their real job to go and read the Powerpoint presentation to them. All this effort and time, while the internet is sitting right there on everyone's desk at work or at home.
How do you fix it? Easy, click here and refer to Step 1.
Other Services
Making things work.
I like to think of myself as facilitator, interpreter and de-mystifier of internet technologies. Don't get me wrong, many geeks will be involved in any web marketing effort, the problem comes when they are expected to lead that effort.
Too often I have seen firms make large expenditures for technologies that, while possibly really cool, do not enhance their business. While at the same time, other technologies that would significantly enhance their business are not implemented. While Geeks may understand technology, they do not usually understand business.
You WILL understand what is being done and why it makes sense, a novel idea, I know.
