Entries from October 2007 ↓

Steve Krug, a usability expert, gave a presentation in Seattle tonight on web site usability entitled, “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Perfect Web Page.” He says usability comes down to two main things:

1. Use effective “You Are Here” indicators to let readers know where they are in a site. These should be ubiquitous and consistent, and they should be LOUDER than parallel but less important elements on the page. See the way StumbleUpon uses “live” tabs that are brighter than other navigation choices and that blend into the main content background color for a good example of what he’s talking about.

2. Use prominent, well-placed page titles to let users know what the page is about. These titles should, of course, be consistent with the link you clicked on to get there (e.g., if you click on a link that says “Green Blocks” you should land on a page with a prominent title that says “Green Blocks”).

That’s it. Use those two elements consistently across your web site and your site visitors will happily navigate your site.

In the “Stump the Chump” part of the session, he took a look at my new web site, Bodywork U, which he found no major flaws with (though I did leave the presentation with a to-do list of ways to better apply his advice to the site).

In the Q&A session after his presentation, someone asked about the best way to use breadcrumb trails. He said that any one page on a site should have only one breadcrumb trail and that if you link to it from some other place on the site think of it as a cross reference. I love this observation. For one thing it’s the way I’ve always used breadcrumb trails. For another, I love that this now well-established usage works differently than the source of the analogy - that is, a real breadcrumb trail would be a list of the pages you had visited previously to get to the current page.

I also made a small-world connection with Steve after the session. He had mentioned that he went to Boston College, and I know a bunch of BC alumni from my East Coast days, so I asked and, what do you know, it turns out he’s good friends with my pal Jim in Boston.

I ran into a Google ad sales rep at a web usability presentation in Fremont tonight. He offered these tips for creating effective AdWords ad:

1. Use a call to action in your copy. This is a basic ad-writing concept, but it was good to be reminded of its importance.

2. Use dynamic keyword insertion. The syntax is {keyword:_________}. This will put the keyword that the searcher used to get to the page in your ad headline (if it fits; if not, your default copy will appear). This can dramatically improve your click-through rate. One caution I would add here. High click-through rates aren’t all you’re looking for from these ads. Be sure to monitor the conversion rate of these clicks, too. Reflecting the searcher’s interest by putting their words in your headline will certainly improve the CTR, but if your landing page doesn’t actually offer what they’re looking for, it may not get you the conversion you want.

3. Do a lot of A-B testing. Again, this is a pretty basic tactic for evaluating any ad campaign, but it’s so easy to do with AdWords, and the results can be so effective, that it’s good to be reminded to always have this technique in mind.

Yes, it’s completely crazy to do this even as I launch Bodywork U, my new massage education web site, but here it is: 80/20 Internet Marketing.

You know how when you have the exact same conversation approximately two thousand times you realize that maybe there’s something you need to do? In my case the conversation has been with friends who are independent professionals and small business owners, and it typically goes something like this: “Oh, you know about online marketing. Can you build my web site and get it listed at Google?” These are inevitably people I like, even love, and it kills me to leave them at the mercy of their web-developer nephews and other ill-prepared marketing advisers, but I simply don’t have the time to do internet marketing consulting these days (two full-time jobs is plenty).

Theoretically, I could help you get the kind of results that I have with the web site for my Seattle massage therapy practice, but it would cost several thousand dollars and take years. More to the point, it would drive me crazy and impoverish me to do this for you at rates that small businesses are typically able to pay, so the goal of this site is to empower you to do internet marketing yourself. I’ll do this by posting as much info here as I can on how to do the myriad of activities that comprise internet marketing, always focusing on how to do the 20% of work that will give you 80% of the internet marketing results you need.

Qualifications

Why should you pay attention to what I say here?

I’ve been intrigued by, and involved in, the small-business and indie-professional market ever since I developed a magazine prototype for “Home Business” magazine at a summer publishing course 20+ years ago. Since then I have built my own book publishing company, launched or been a principal in several start-up businesses, and run both an internet marketing consultancy and an independent massage practice. I have also hosted regular networking events for independent business people (the Fremont Noodle House Group) for the past ten years. Most of my friends are entrepreneurs, massage therapists, personal trainers, dance teachers, musicians, real estate agents, free-lance writers and editors, and computer consultants. So I know a fair amount about being an independent professional and running a small business.

I have been marketing online since 1989, browsing the web since before it was invented, building web sites since 1994, producing big database-driven publications since 1996, and practicing and writing about search engine optimization and other internet marketing topics since 1998. From 1998 to 2001 I was a senior manager at an internet start-up called workz.com, where I wrote about web design and development and internet marketing and managed several marketing initiatives. After that I was Director of Marketing at another start-up that delivered internet marketing services to small software development companies. And from 1997 to 2003 I consulted with a number of internet start-ups on business planning and search engine optimization. All of this experience has given me a broad and deep background in the business, creative, and technical aspects of online publishing and internet marketing.

What to expect

The idea/hope/plan is to share with you my internet marketing expertise in the form of informational and how-to articles, case studies, and random blog entries. I’m having a lot of fun getting back up to speed on state-of-the-art internet marketing as I launch Bodywork U, and I hope I’ll be able to quickly share many of my findings here for you to use. I’ll also try as often as possible to address the many questions and requests I get from friends (hang on, Michael - help is on the way ;> ) .