Web Moves Blog

Usability & SEO
Today, I will slightly steer away from the subject of search engine optimization and instead present what should be the most important considerations when designing or completely rebuilding an existing site.

While usability features are primarily intended for your end users, you should also think of the search engine robots (spiders) that will regularly come to visit your site, in an effort to index and refresh its pages.

To make a site that is both friendly to your users and to the search engines, you always have to think in terms of usability. In order of priority, the five most important usability features you should always implement in your website are:

1. Ease of navigation
2. Simplicity and intuitive
3. Clearly indicated menus and links
4. A well-designed site map
5. Clean, uncluttered design

Ease of navigation
Your site should always be designed in a way that it’s always easy to navigate, no matter where you happen to be in the site. Always include a ‘Back to our Homepage’ button or link, either at the top or at the bottom of the page. If your visitors get lost, as some of us do at times, clicking on the Home button or link will at least make them come back to the beginning of your site.

It’s also a good idea to place a ‘Back to the Top’ button at the bottom of the page, to help them come back to the top. Also, when you are building or ‘renovating’ a website, always include a contact button or link, either at the top or bottom of all your pages. The contact page is often the only way they can reach you, either by email, by phone or in person.

Make it simple and intuitive
Did you ever try a new software package or tested a new program application for the first time and found it to be so easy to use and friendly? You seem to know in advance what effect on the program every button or menu function will have, even before you click on it. Your website should have the same ‘look and feel’. Make it easy for them and take every step necessary to make their experience as enjoyable as possible and they will come back for more.

People today are always in a rush and they have less and less time to figure out how something works. They came to your site because they typed a keyword or two in a search engine and they expect to rapidly find on your site what it is they are looking for. Make sure they find it fast and they will certainly be repeat buyers.

Clearly indicated menus and links
I still sometimes come across websites that seem to have been designed for the person that originally built it and nobody else. What may seem to you as self-explanatory may not be as simple to figure out for some users. Having a button called ‘Knowledge Base’ may not mean much to some people. Instead, if that button would simply be called ‘Help’ it probably would assist them better.

A well-designed site map
A good site map has two functions: it helps your users find what they are looking for and it also helps the search engines better index all of your site. It’s always a good idea to group your site’s pages under topics. If you are selling both physical products and actual services on your site, it might be a good idea to place them into two different groups. Avoid the temptation of cramping all your pages together to make it go faster.

Take the time to design a good site map where people will easily find the page or section that interests them. Also, make sure your site map is directly linked to your homepage. This last step is important, since one of the first things a search engine robot looks at when it arrives at a website is the site map link. Also, make sure that your site map link is a text link. Remember that most search engines cannot read or understand Java scripts or image maps.

Clean, uncluttered design
For some people, nothing is more frustrating than arriving at a site and not having a clue what to do next or where to go. They usually leave as fast as they came too! For that reason, avoid putting heavily animated graphics, background music or Flash movies in any part of your site. What’s more, most search engines today penalize websites that make a heavy use of animated graphics or Flash movies, since they cannot read them or understand them.

A clean and uncluttered design usually wins hands down. The most simple and ‘clean’ websites are usually the ones that are visited the most, since many people seem to know they will find what it is they are looking for, and they usually come back often too.

Conclusion
You are investing a lot of time, energy, resources and money in your website. Make sure you maximize all of your investments in keeping them on your site for as long as you possibly can. Once they have bought from you, and if they liked the experience, statistics prove they will come back.

Give them a reason or two to come back. Offer them a free weekly or monthly newsletter in which you will talk of the subjects that interests them. Another way to create a lot of interest is to regularly write ‘How To’ articles, similar to this one. Most people are usually interested in learning more, and the Internet is the perfect place for this.

Make your website THEIR focal point of interest by offering your visitors what truly interests them and you will largely increase your chances of success.

Author:
Serge Thibodeau of Rank For Sales