The Diablog - it’s Diabloglical™

Business success or failure is tied to how you work the web (part 2 of 2).

14 July 2010

I’m always surprised when I hear a company’s decision-maker downplay the importance of search engines. Google is like Oprah - if they like you and call attention to you, you will succeed.

Here are some common misunderstandings about how to build a successful web presence as it relates to search engines.

The only reason I need a website is to publish my phone number. This logic is flawed. It assumes that you already know everyone you will ever need as a customer, and you have given each one your web address. To compete and succeed, your website needs to bring you customers you’ve never contacted. These new faces will use Google (and other less popular search engines) to find you.

I won’t need to change anything on my website very often. We don’t get to make choices like that. Google calls this shot. Google equates content revision with relevancy. If your content changes, you must be paying attention to your message, and if you’re paying attention, your message must be relevant. If you never change your content, Google will move you down the list of search results, and you will never be found. I know it can be a lot of work. I know you will have to assign that responsibility to someone. You have no choice. Change your content (even by a little bit) every week. Google demands it.

A picture is worth a thousand words - all I want on my website is pretty pictures. Wrong again. A picture isn’t worth anything to Google. Google only cares about words. Specifically, there is compelling evidence that Google likes 350-500 words per page. Your website can be cool and have words. Tell your designer that. If this were easy, you’d be doing it yourself. That’s why your designer went to school - to learn how to create good design and meet all necessary criteria.

I know that search engine optimization (SEO) can be mystifying. That’s why you should partner with a creative agency that understands and has proven success in SEO.

Our Dialogs Professional Services team has seen a lot of websites. Plus, Dialogs includes an SEO toolbox that will help you succeed - see what Website Grader thinks of Dialogs.com. We’re happy to show you how easy it can be to work the web.

Business success or failure is tied to how you work the web (part 1 of 2).

13 July 2010

A strong presence on the internet is a non-negotiable necessity if you are going to succeed. Look at the Fortune 1000 list. Every one of those companies has invested in making their name known by as many people as possible. Lists like the ones published by Fortune make it easy to identify and analyze successful branding strategies. Use them as case studies to help you prioritize your own marketing decisions.

It can also be helpful to analyze businesses that are failing or have failed. We can learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately, published lists of failures are harder to come by. Keep your eyes open for faltering businesses. Perhaps you hear that one of your direct competitors has announced a layoff. Maybe you see that a retail store is going out of business. Notice if a nearby restaurant is always empty at lunchtime.

Pick one company that you know is succeeding and another that you know is failing. Ask yourself the following questions about both companies.

• How easy was it to find each company’s website? Did you already know their web address or did you rely on Google to find it? If you already knew it, try to recall how you learned it.
• When you read each company’s website, do you quickly and clearly understand what the company does? Is it an easy read, or do you find yourself skimming over copy and clicking through the navigation looking for something that holds your attention?
• Once you understand each company, can you find them on Google using logical but generic search terms? In other words, don’t just search for the company’s name - imagine that your are looking for whatever product or service the company sells, but you’ve never heard of the company.
• Does each company’s website convey professionalism and trustworthiness? Be honest about your ability to make this assessment. If you don’t have an eye for design, ask your creative agency to give you their opinion about the two companies’ websites.

I know that a company can succeed with poor quality communications, and a company with a great website still might fail, but if you run through this exercise a few times (pairing different companies each time), you should start to recognize trends that lead to success.

Our Dialogs Professional Services team has seen a lot of websites. We’re happy to show you how easy it can be to work the web.

Why does everything have to be so difficult?

9 July 2010

I bought a Toyota Prius last year. It’s a well-designed car overall, except for one part. To put the car in gear you use a small shifter on the center console. To make the car go forward you pull the shifter backward. To move backward, push the shifter forward. The first few times I drove the car, I moved the shifter in the wrong direction.

Our office is on the fifth floor of an office building. We have three elevators. In one of these elevators, the “5” button is in the right column of buttons. On the other two elevators, the “5” button is in the left column of buttons. Of course this inconsistency is present for all tenants in our building. Every time anyone gets on an elevator, they have to search for their floor in the panel of buttons.

For us Mac users, Windows has a glaring flaw we like to pick on: to stop a PC, you click the “Start” button.

All of these examples have a flawed user interface (UI).

The primary difference between print design and web design is UI. Print designers have well-established UIs. The book UI - a cover wrapped around pages with content that flows from one page to the next - has been largely unchanged for millennia. Many print design projects use the book UI. Even projects that aren’t books are likely to follow other well-established UIs like gate fold, tri-fold, or poster. Very few print projects require the invention of a new UI. The biggest difference between print design and web design is that web design always requires layout design and UI design.

Awkward website UI can be caused by inconsistency.

• When a site visitor moves from one web page to another, the UI changes.
• One nav link has a page assigned to it while another nav link only has sub-pages.
• Some nav links move the site visitor to different content in the same window while other nav links open new windows.

Difficulty using a website can also be caused by unconventional UI techniques.

• The nav system is in an unusual location in the layout.
• The nav system isn’t easily recognized as nav.
• Content is displayed differently each time the page loads (through randomization or frequent design changes), which makes it difficult to return to specific content
• Invented words and jargon force site visitors to learn your terminology before they can comprehend you message.

When a site visitor first lands on a new website, they must learn the UI. The harder it is to learn the UI, the more likely it is that the site visitor will become frustrated and bounce away.

The term UI is most commonly applied to computer interaction, but the UI concept is part of everything we do. Imagine the frustration we would feel if every door had a unique mechanism for opening it. There are minimal variables with doorknobs - knob vs. handle (but both turn) and left vs. right (but both swing on hinges). There is even a standard height for doorknobs.

Standardization does not mean that design has to be compromised. An architect can create a memorable environment even if the doorknobs follow customary standards. Web design can still be creative even if the UI is familiar.

Part of our Dialogs Professional Services offering includes design consulting. We have seen a lot of UI design. We can help you create an intuitive UI. Take advantage of our experience on your next web design project.