Web Design & SEO Articles

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about customising 404 "File Not Found" pages so as not to alienate potential customers. I got quite a good response, so as a follow up on pages taken for granted, I thought I would tackle the upper end of the web marketing scale: the Thank you page.

We've all seen thank you pages when we have bought online or subscribed to a newsletter, but there can be much more to just saying thank you for your purchase, enquiry, etc. Let's face it – as the webmaster you have just captivated someone to take action on your website, so you already have their attention. What more can you do for your visitors? Here are some suggestions:

What happens now: They've bought something, when will they receive it? They've subscribed as a member to your forum, will they receive a confirmation email to verify their subscription and when will this be sent? The visitor is none the wiser and as they cannot see or hear you then you need to tell them what will happen next. This also generates trust, vital for any online customer relationship.

Other Products: So now they've made a purchase, don’t stop there. If someone has just bought for example a football, would they be interested in football shoes or a special offer on Football kits? A great suggestion is made by Kim Roach at SiteProNews in her article last November: Smart Webmasters are Wasting Online Real Estate:

"You could also offer an upsell to a higher-end version of the same product. Don't take this space for granted. Order confirmation pages are some of the most highly responsive real estate on your site because the customer already has their credit card in hand."

Action Required?: You have already got your reader's attention, so what else can they do for you? Quite a lot actually. If you're buying goods in a normal shop, and the shop owner thanks you, do they also leave a leaflet in the bag along with your purchase? Do they say "tell your friends about us"? If they're serious about their business then they should! A "tell a friend" link on your thank you page would benefit as it captures the visitor to take action on the spot and all they have to do is remember their friend's email address as the tell a friend function does the rest.

Furthermore if your site involves the visitor to take action, list their further options for action. What more could they do? Perhaps subscribe to a newsletter, take part in a poll, complete an online questionnaire or sign a petition.

Another effective technique is described by Alicia Forest at Site Reference.com in her article Make your Thank You Pages do Double Duty is to ask a question:

"This is a prime time to gather a little market research from your readers. Ask a simple question, like "What's your biggest challenge with X?" (X being your niche or what it is that you’re offering). Add an email link where they can send their answer, and then use this information as you continue to develop offerings for your target market.

Doing this also helps in starting to build a relationship with your readers, and it keeps you up-to-date as to what they are struggling with right now so you can offer the solutions they most want."


Advertising on other sites: Another more effective way to benefit your customers further is to exchange advertising with related products/services to yours. Both Kim and Alicia suggest exchanging advert links in their respective articles. If for example, you sold golf clubs, you could exchange links with a golf instructor offering personal tuition. Likewise if the golf instructor offered a link on his site selling golf clubs, which points back to your site. Everyone's a winner.

Alternatively are there any newsletters about playing better golf? Include the link. Give them instructions on how to sign up. It really is that simple.

Committing the time and effort to provide this information will pay dividends to your business, whether it increases online sales or free marketing information to better your site, or both.

In the wonderful land that is the blogosphere, we also have our widgets and gimmicks. The latest one is a blog tag, a kind of "Get to know you chain blog". And my old friend from the forum circuit, rumblepup so I have to give you 5 things you didn't know about me and then tag 5 other bloggers. So here goes:

1. I started my web design company in 2000 (after the dot bomb) as I was shocked at the local competition. I was mainly peeved off by their sheer arrogance especially towards small businesses (there are many small businesses in Essex).


2. I am a country girl by nature and I have been known to eat stinging nettles in the early spring (cooked of course!).


3. I met my husband when I was 17. We've been together 15 years this March.


4. I am not a girly girl: I wear combat trousers, watch football and swig beer. However, I do scrub up well when it matters (if I do say so myself).


5. Don't mention trees to me for the moment. Last Thursday part of a tree came down and wrote my car off (picture follows). I am now, in effect immobile for the next 3 weeks.

Ok so here are my unsuspecting bloggers:

Tamaloo
khurramali
Prawn Cufflinks (Gareth and LouMoo)
Quality Matters (Chris)
WebProBlog (Another Chris)

Labels: 5 things, blog tag

I love getting involved in any article or mere snippet of information that lays out in black and white exactly how companies should be designing their websites.

I was fortunate to come across an insider report at WebProNews written by Jason Miller: Web Design when the End User is a Person.

For so many years I have tried to convince many customers that to just copy their printed brochure online is simply not enough. Even worse are the companies that concentrate their efforts in all the wrong places: using cheesy Flash Movies, unnecessary registration and bold layouts that have the average visitor reaching for the paracetamol before the page has even finished downloading.

And its not just advertisers or online newspapers by any means: This internet is a new concept (only 13 years old) and how long has the business world been printing on paper?

Jason states out the cold hard facts of what the people really think:

“In a nutshell, old world thinking plus intrusive content equals fewer, angrier eyeballs. That's because neither has the end-user in mind.”

What We Know About People:

1. People are judgmental and make judgments quickly.


2. Annoyance and inconvenience are people's chief enemies.


3. People have things to read, places to go; they're busy.


4. People don't like having to relearn navigation.


5. People don't really care what you're selling, but will listen if you approach them correctly.


6. For the majority, easier is better than harder.


7. People like things to work and keep working.


8. People have trouble paying attention.


9. 70% will abandon a site for any annoyance


10. Only 25% will say what the annoyance is

The Cold Hard Facts:

1. 83% dislike registration log-on pages blocking free content


2. 83% dislike slow-loading pages


3. You have four seconds to get that page loaded


4. You have 50 milliseconds to make a positive impression


5. 89% don't like installing extra software


6. 80% are annoyed by ineffective site-search tools


7. Whitespace is your friend


8. Sans-serif fonts are essential; it takes 25% longer to read from a screen than from paper


9. Nobody likes to be pestered, invaded, or obstructed


10. 93% are annoyed by popup ads


11. 86% hate dead links


12. 84% are annoyed by confusing site navigation

A lot of this we should already know. For example, how often do you tolerate a website that takes ages to load; uses migraine-inducing colours; adverts that pop-up unexpectedly and get in the way; impossible navigation that is full of dead links? Probably never I would guess. So why should your customers have to tolerate the same thing on your website?

So here are a few guidelines to a good website:

• Make an impression: Remember, you have about 50 milliseconds to make an impression. So its got to look pretty impressive to capture the attention of the visitor and make them want to read on. So concentrate on catchy and informative titles, good use of colours and general accessibility.


• Keep it simple: Despite everything I said above, it should also download pretty quickly. Furthermore the navigation should be easy to use, images optimized to keep the filesize low and there should be no need for the visitor to have to download extra software.


• Test any functions: Site search, forms e-carts, you name it. These should all work before your site even becomes live. The general rule of thumb is test, test and test again.


• Don’t intrude: Pop-up ads are intrusive, information that you have to register for is intrusive and windows that pop up when you try and leave a site are also intrusive. If you run a business website, there is a distinct possibility your visitor will buy from you. Seize that chance, don’t flog them Adverts or sponsors on the side. Most browsers have options that block pop-up windows, so if anything, most people won’t get to see it.


• Use Whitespace: Compared to print where more on the page makes an impact, when reading on the screen a bit of whitespace can go a long way. Line spacing makes text easier to read and space around images relaxes the eye and gives an overall lighter feel. Mark Boulton hits the nail on the head, in his article Whitespace.


• Easy to read font: Whatever font you choose for your site, make it clear and easy to read. Sans-serif fonts such as Arial, and Verdana are easy to read on screen whereas Serif fonts such as Times New Roman, and Georgia are more appropriate for print.


• Condense your Text: With print you can afford to waffle on a bit, on screen it is best to condense text down to just the important bits. The average visitor doesn’t read whats on screen - they scan. So get to the point quickly, emphasise the main point first and then elaborate, and use short paragraphs and bulleted or numbered lists.

Jason goes on to summarise all of the above in a rewrite of a simple acronym:

"To amend an earlier acronym, when designing a website or page for the people, remember the elements of the READ:"

Reliability
Ease of navigation
Aesthetics
Discovery speed

Labels: end user statistics, user-friendly, web design

Some of you may have heard of 404 Pages They look a little bit like this.

Not very interesting to look at, I think you’ll agree, but some thought has gone into this standard document. The page might not be gone altogether: it might only be temporarily unavailable or had its name changed. But all is not lost, try checking the web address is correct or if still no luck, be sure to tell the owner of the site that they have a broken (dead) link about their site or click “Back” on the browser and start again.

You’ll also agree how infuriating it is to find one when you are browsing a website. Picture the scene: you are on a website and you see something on a page you would really like to buy. You click on the link clearly marked “More on this product” and instead of being greeted with the widget, you are greeted with a standard 404 page suggesting that you check the web address for any errors.

Well the average surfer will not even bother to let the web owner know that they have broken links on their site because they would be off the site, onto a competitor's and the web owner would be none the wiser that he’s losing business.

So how do you stop the same thing happening to your website?

• Check your links regularly: Even if you only have a few links pointing to a couple of resourceful pages, there’s always a chance that the page will be renamed or be removed. If you are an online shop, then all the more reason to run a check. There are excellent link checker tools available in both web editor software and online. A good one is W3C’s link checker This goes through every link on your website and picks out the broken ones.



• 301 Redirects: If you really have to rename a page that has been established for a while, setting up a permanent 301 redirect will both redirect visitors onto your new web page and preserve the search engine ranking from the old page. A 301 redirect can be easily set up in an .htaccess file on an Apache server (check with your hosting provider if unsure).

But should the worst happen and your client has to be faced with a 404 page (e-commerce or not), creating your own 404 page template for your site is a must. Here are some basic tips on what you should include on your custom page to keep your customer’s inconvenience as brief as possible.

Brand your page: Keep your page consistent with your site, but only use a basic template. Strip the template of adverts, movies and other fancy stuff. By keeping your template as minimalist as possible ensures the page downloads quickly and emphasises that something may not be right, encouraging the visitor to read on. Que Publishing uses their page template so it blends in with the rest of their site. This works as they have a minimalist design with emphasis on the main heading. For the same reason Tesco.com also have a simplistic 404 page.

Keep it polite: It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is: Your fault, their fault or whatever. The bottom line is that your customer has been presented with a 404 page from your website and you want them to do business with you and not your competitors. So apologise to them, reassure them. Firebox.com do both of these. They also bring me onto my next tip;

Offer helpful links: If the page isn’t there, where do they go now? Now you need a few useful links to get your customer back on track. A few more links to your categorical pages would be useful. A site map when designed properly can serve as a great help page or if they get really stuck, can they contact you by email or phone? Firebox.com also offer a list of their latest products, a list of categories or a link back to their home page for the really lost. First Fairway also list their categories to help confused customers back on track.

On one final note, 404 Area is a list of 404 pages that are not at all dull, just funny, shocking or downright peculiar.

Labels: advice, custom 404 pages

Anyone that uses Internet Explorer is only too aware of the regular updates released by Microsoft Central to patch over the latest critical flaws discovered in the browser.

According to an article by Brian Krebs in the Washington Post on Thursday reveals that Internet Explorer was generally vulnerable to attacks for more than 9 months of 2006. To quote from Brian’s article:

"For all its touted security improvements, the release of Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7 browser in November came too late in the year to improve the lot of IE users, who make up roughly 80 percent of the world's online community. For a total 284 days in 2006 (or more than nine months out of the year), exploit code for known, unpatched critical flaws in pre-IE7 versions of the browser was publicly available on the Internet. Likewise, there were at least 98 days last year in which no software fixes from Microsoft were available to fix IE flaws that criminals were actively using to steal personal and financial data from users.

In a total of ten cases last year, instructions detailing how to leverage "critical" vulnerabilities in IE were published online before Microsoft had a patch to fix them. "

The Table listing all the Internet Explorer vulnerabilities from when they first arose to their final resolution makes for disturbing reading. Not only is there a lot of overlaps in reported security holes, but in 4 cases Microsoft had to issue patches to fix 0 day flaws. In one instance an exploit was left unfixed for nearly 3 months!

Brian also made the comparison to Internet Explorer’s nearest competitor:

"In contrast, Internet Explorer's closest competitor in terms of market share -- Mozilla's Firefox browser -- experienced a single period lasting just nine days last year in which exploit code for a serious security hole was posted online before Mozilla shipped a patch to remedy the problem."

So are the hackers and identity fraudsters exploiting Microsoft for all its crimes or, because they are the most used browser – used by roughly 80% of the online world?

If the comparison of Browser Statistics at W3Schools.com is anything to go by, then the previous year’s events could prove to be worrying for Microsoft. From December 2005 – when all the problems began. IE5-6 usage totaled 74.5%. On November 2006, IE version 5-7 totaled 59.9%.

Whereas since its release at the end of 2004, FireFox has steadily risen over the last 2 years to 29.9% in November.

Labels: ie6, internet explorer 6

First of all, happy new year to all of my readers. May 2007 be more prosperous (and much better than 2006) for everyone.

But 1 January 2007 has another meaning to it if Outlaw.com's article at TheRegister.co.uk is anything to go by. Basically if your website isn't providing certain regulatory information on both your website and your email footers, you risk being in breach of the Companies Act and therefore fined.

Although this law is expected to be passed last Thursday to implement a European law, the Ecommerce Regulation passed in 2002, required this information to be listed on a service provider's website so it is easily available to the public. However, (and I feel I must stress this) now this information must be provided to all UK business websites and not just online retailers.

As stated in the Ecommerce regulation, The minimum information required under this new legislation includes:

• Name and geographic address of the service provider. If applicable, the organization name with which the customer is contracting. e.g. "XYZ.com is the trading name of XYZ Enterprises Limited."


• An operable email and postal address. "Contact us" forms that can be completed online are no longer enough. P O Boxes are also unlikely to be acceptable as a postal address. For registered companies the registered office address must be included


• If your company is registered, Your company's registration number and place of registration (under the Companies Act)


• If your company is a member of any trade or professional associations, any membership details, including any registration numbers


• VAT Numbers if registered. This information must be included for non-ecommerce companies


• Prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous. Prices that are inclusive of tax and delivery costs must also be stated

With this "minimum information" also being stated in email footers, the future email correspondence will be identical to the average company letterhead. As quoted by outlaw.com:

"The information is likely to appear in the footer of every email sent from a company, to avoid having to decide whether each email amounts to a "business letter" or not. Many companies do this already because the term "business letters" was thought likely to include emails even without this new clarification."

To target both websites and emails in this legislation, is definitely a good thing as this further emphasises the difference between the spammers and the scammers who wish to appear faceless and the genuine companies that want to make a honest living.

Labels: 2007 legislation, business websites, companies act