Email LinkedIn Twitter

Archives for March 2010

Online conversions and usability: “Put your mom in front of your site and see if she can figure it out” — Tim Ash at Search Engine Strategies New York

23 Comments

 

 

 

Tim Ash — author of Landing Page Optimization Book
Siteturners Multivariate Testing Website Optimizers
@tim_ash

I’ve somewhat deconstructed Tim’s blitz “Conversion Engine Toolbox” session at Search Engine Strategies last week. It really was about tools for testing (see below). For me, and I hope most of us, these side notes (mostly regarding landing pages) may be more helpful.  Let me know what you think. I do have incomplete notes on the pros of the tools and would be happy to share … lemme know and also make sure to click here to get the best ideas 

Conversions = sales, forms completed, sign-ups, whatever your call to action or desired outcome is

 

The purpose of your home page is to get people off your home page

  1. Let them discover: Who are you?
  2. Then guide them here and there to get into more relevant content

 

Website design formula for conversions

2 columns only
Left column = your content, what you want visitors to do
Right column = validation, why you’re trust-worthy (see 4 types of trust, below)

 

Left column content

  1. Headline: What is the page about? Underneath have 3-5 bullet points that summarize
  2. Action block: colored box with pastel background call to action
  3. Desired visitor thought-process: “What do I get if I push the button?

 

Finer details to keep in mind

  • Guide the user from general to specific
  • There has to be a clear visual hierarchy
  • Don’t give everything
  • Don’t surprise
  • Have a tagline that actually says what you do
  • How far do people scroll? put trust symbol near the top
  • Do they actually reach the bottom of the page?

 

Don’t do anything unexpected or surprising

  • No hoverovers
  • No whitebox popovers for testimonials
  • No scrollbar
  • Only supply them when someone asks for it

 

How to determine whether your forms killing your conversions  (recommended tools, below, enter in)

  • Which form fields are left blank?
  • Which forms/fields causes the most delay?
  • Which links are hovered over but not clicked?
  • Funnel: Landed on the page, filled out the form, finished the form
  • Look at how long it’s taking to fill out each field?
  • Do we need to ask that?
  • Are we asking in the right order?
  • Why is this happening?
  • Which fields are blank?

 

More design and usability take-aways

  • All visual elements distract from goals
  • Determine exact amount of emphasis for key elements
  • Don’t let others’ logos take over attention, don’t make them full color

 

Improve a landing page design before you publish it

  • Why go live with a page you’re unsure of?
  • Think about wasted time
  • Provide a cleaner visual profile
  • Streamline your content

 

4 types of trust

  • General clean site
  • Appeal of authorities
  • Social consensus: 1 million downloads
  • Trust marks, not a trust mark if it’s not recognizable, use most relevant

Bottom line: Your visitors don’t care, have 8 seconds to get them to care

 

Recommended tools

 

 

Crazyegg

Mouse heatmaps
ClickTale.com

 

UsertesTing.com
Mosquito Interactive
 CrossBrowserTesting.com
AttentionWizard.com

Stemming from a recent comment on the post: “Blog and content strategies with Stephen Turcotte of Backbone Media at the Boston SEO Meetup”

2 Comments


Perhaps it’s not who should be creating businesses’ web content, but is it the right person or team?

Please participate in Designated Editor’s survey on successful company blogs.

Stemming from a recent comment on the post: “Blog and content strategies with Stephen Turcotte of Backbone Media at the Boston SEO Meetup”

Comment: seo wrote:
Thanks for sharing your notes here. The thing is, a “company blog” for
a larger company is very different than a blog from a small business
owner. The company bog hires someone to write regular entries who
considers it a job, and their heart isn’t in it. A small entrepreneur
is writing what they live everyday – their company, their baby. Much
different animal, and different rules have to apply.

Suzanne of Designated Editor wrote:
Hi
and thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. As with anything, I’d say
it depends. I agree with you: It’s probably not reasonable to expect
passion from a far-flung, minimally paid writer. Perhaps posts like
that are the new keyword-stuffing? Shoveling out content that’s
relevant but not especially useful.

On the other hand, there are key factors, to successful company blogs:

  1. The employee’s passion
  2. The corporate culture.

You might be interested in my Southwest
Airlines post “Scattered by thousands of miles, but online we can be
right next to each other” Employee Engagement & Social Media on a
Low-Fare Budget -Southwest Airlines’ Millie Richter.

Meanwhile, Designated Editor creates content for many entrepreneurs, small businesses, and some larger companies.

What we find: The business owner or the marketing team faces a variety of challenges:

  • Limited time/staffing, busy working on other things
  • Writers’ block
  • Unable to transition from “sales” communication to information-based that users expect for online content
  • Can’t create enough content quickly enough to fulfill SEO or other campaigns

Launching
Designated Editor as a small business provides a great deal of insight
to the passion that enlivens corporate blogs. Like a great actor vs a B
actor, we’re able to transfer that experience and “heart” to our
clients’ online presence.

SXSW posts forthcoming!

Next Page »