Archive for May, 2009

May28

When Less is More

By: Ben Kelly

If content is king, shouldn’t we all try and fill our websites with as much text as is humanely possible? Won’t that get us the highest ranking in Google? Why don’t we just write pages and pages and pages of stuff, as much as we possibly can, and we’ll get to number one, won’t we? After all Content is King.

Content is king, but only if the content is high quality and is genuinely helpful to your users. Anything else is indulgent at best, and harmful at worst. Why? Because if you follow every SEO rule, you will have a highly visible website that no-one wants to visit.

Is it better to get 100,000 viewers a month and a 10% conversion rate, or 50,000 viewers a month and a 20% conversion rate? Without a doubt, the latter. It’s cheaper to market to 50,000 people, it’s cheaper to pay for the bandwidth of 50,000 visitors. In fact, the only argument I can think of for the former is "brand awareness" – but that argument falls flat on it’s face – because it’s better to have fewer people who love you than many people who like you.

Content is king when it’s quality content. Quantity is fine if you’re the next Wikipedia, or have an amazonian amount of stock for your online store. Even then, Amazon and Wikipedia have excellent quality (and no that’s not debatable – wikipedia may be a dubious source of real fact sometimes – but it delivers exactly what it promises – an encyclopedia by the people for the people).

Most websites would do better with half the word count. Are there ways in which you can cut down on your content? Remove anything that doesn’t give real value to your customers. Ask yourself the simple question after each sentence – so what? "Alpha Wave Media are pioneers of excellence and employ cutting edge technology to serve our clients needs" – so what? Yawn. I expect that from any web creation company. "Alpha Wave have 8 years experience making websites work for businesses". It’s shorter, but much better.

Go through your website and after every question, ask yourself "So what?". The result will be clear concise text that resonates with the people you can help.

Ben

Posted in: Copywriting, Design0 comments

May26

Good Advice vs Right Advice

By: Ben Kelly

I know a guy who loves to give advice. He just can’t help but have an opinion on everything. We all know someone like that. They aren’t hard to deal with.

What’s far tougher is when we receive really good advice from people who are experts in their field, or whom we consider to be especially wise. But surely receiving good advice can only be a good thing, right?

Sometimes.

Good advice isn’t always the right advice. Making the distinction between the two is what’s difficult. If I listened to some of the very good advice I’ve had, from some very successful people, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today (I’d be earning less, making someone else richer, etc…). Yet, it was still good advice? Why? Because from their perspective, it’s what they would do.

Good advice always comes with two caveats:

  • People are looking at the problem from their point of view.
  • Sometimes you need to make a mistake, learn from it, and get better.

You can tell a child a hundred times not to touch the hot flame – but it’s far better to let him touch it once, feel the heat, and learn for himself not to do it again.

Still, it’s the first point that’s more important to discuss, because it has a direct impact on how you build your web strategy. There are hundreds, thousands, of excellent professionals out there who build really good websites. These experts will be able to offer you very good advice on how to improve your website. Most of this advice will be very good, I truly believe that. But will it be the right advice?

Often times, it will. Sometimes though, it will be very good advice, that’s fixing the wrong problem. A new design won’t help you if your content is poor. SEO won’t help you if your customers rarely buy online, and only use your website for product support.

So how do you know when advice is good or bad?

  • Go with your gut feeling.
  • Become informed.
  • Get as many quotes as possible.
  • And maybe, just maybe, hire someone to sort out your web strategy…

Ben

Posted in: Marketing0 comments

May21

If I notice your design, it’s failed

By: Ben Kelly

A website can be a thing of art. There are an ever increasing number of very talented artists who turn their hand to graphic art, and amaze us with gorgeous design. Ranging from simple black and white layout, to fully animated flash interfaces, there are a world of options available to the website owner when trying to revamp a tired site.

What if your website has so much artistic merit, that you win an award. Isn’t that the highest accolade an audience can bestow on a webmaster – awarding her for creating a work of art? Isn’t that what we should all strive for?

No.

If I notice your website’s design, it has failed.

Art works for the art industry. If you are a creative agency, sell art, offer fashion consulting, or even design necklaces for kittens, art is not only appropriate, it really does help. For everyone else, if your design is the most remarkable thing about your website – it has fallen flat on its face, as have you with it.

Too many people get swept along with the notion that a website must have an artistic design. Nothing could be further from the truth. The design for your website should be the framework within which your content is best placed to appeal to your users. Your content is generally text if you offer a service, or an image if you are selling a product. Design should be good (but not great), and should be lower on your list of priorities than strategic planning, usability, seo and copywriting.

Successful websites rarely win design awards. They count their winnings differently. They tend to be much longer numbers with a £ sign preceeding them.

Ben

Posted in: Copywriting, Design0 comments

May19

Appealing to everyone

By: Ben Kelly

Any business wants to sell its services or products to the highest number of potential clients, don’t they? We all want to find a global audience for what we do, and have as many satisfied (and paying customers) as is physically possible, don’t we? After all, isn’t that the way to make it big?

To this end, shouldn’t we make sure the text we write, the image we display and the language we use as appealing as possible to the highest number of people? Shouldn’t we avoid anything non-PC, that risks being offensive, or really that even takes a stance on controversial issues? That’s the way to appeal to your biggest target audience, right?

Wrong.

If you appeal to everyone, you’ll dilute yourself so much, you’ll end up appealing to no-one. Ultimately, you can never be anyone but yourself. Your business is unique too. No two businesses are the same. They have unique voices, unique ideas and a unique identity. Embrace your difference! Don’t be afraid to show yourself for who you really are. Rather than weakening your appeal to the masses, you will strengthen your appeal to the customers who are ideally suited to your service or product. These are the customers you want.

How do you make this work online? Here are some ideas:

  • Create interesting bio’s with pictures – show yourself, and write something interesting about you (something interesting that’s non-business orientated).
  • Write a blog. If you are going to write a blog, make sure it’s focused on a small number of people whom you can genuinely help or interest. This blog, for example, is focused only at business owners who want to improve their online marketing. Other’s may get some benefit (if you are in marketing, sales, or work for a business), but really I am writing to the informed business owner who wants to improve website strategy.
  • Make your blog personal. Don’t be afraid to let yourself creep into what you write. I love fast cars, and travel. I hate watching TV (apart from The Apprentice) and can’t stand cats (I’m allergic – which is a half-decent excuse). If any of these things put people off me – then they probably aren’t the kind of person I’ll be able to have a good relationship in any case – why try and pretend otherwise?
  • Actively dissuade the wrong type of customer from purchasing from you. This idea may sound off-putting at first, but it is real gold. Tell your prospects when not to buy from you. I make websites – if your budget is less than £1,000 over the course of the year – I’m not setup to help you. There are dozens of very good designers and programmers who can – but I’m not one of them (though I can help you find one if you need it). Why is it a good thing to tell this to prospective customers? If someone only has a £500 budget and I’m not aware of this up front – then we both waste a lot of each other’s time before discovering we’re not a good fit. If you sell flowers in Hampshire and not in Devon, make this clear on your website. You’ll save a lot of wasted time telling people "no, I’m afraid we don’t deliver to Devon", and you’ll also appeal even more to all the prospects in your Hampshire region – if I want flowers and live in Hampshire, I’m more likely to pick up the phone to you when I know you can deliver to my area.

Have a good long think about how you can make sure your unique voice comes acorss on your website. And if you still don’t believe me, take a look at companies such as lush and innocent – they are pretty unique, and last I heard they were doing pretty well…

Ben

Posted in: Customer Service, Marketing0 comments

May14

10 minute improvement: Usability

By: Ben Kelly

What do I mean 10 minute improvement? The idea is, this is something you can genuinely achieve in less than 10 minutes. It’s that simple.

Usability.

What is it? No-one answers the question better than Krug, in his book "Don’t Make Me Think". If you can find the time, read it – it’s well suited to the business professional (short – thus quick to read, condensed, jargon-free). In a nutshell, usability is making your website is user-friendly.

The best way to do this? Ask someone that’s never seen it before, to perform a specific task or find a specific bit of information on your website. To make this work they must be:

  • External to your organisation.
  • Unafraid to give you honest feedback.
  • An average web user (don’t ask a website guru, don’t ask your grandmother – unless she’s a silver surfer).

You are asking them simply to do a specific task (buy a product, find out what your core values are, etc.), and list all the frustrations they encounter along the way.

You’ll be surprised at the results.

Ben

Posted in: Usability0 comments

May12

Why would you want a website?

By: Ben Kelly

This is the most fundamental question you need to ask yourself. Does your business need a website? Sometimes, the answer is no. If I own a fish and chip shop, why would I want a website? People walk in through the door, at best perhaps someone might look me up in the yellow pages and call me up to check i’m open – but really, why on earth would I want a website. I don’t.

Or do I?

I google everything. It’s gone beyond a mere habit, it’s a reflex. Recently, for example, whilst away from home I needed to dry clean a suit, and have some business cards printed at short notice. Did I wander down the high street? No. Did I reach for the yellow pages? No. In fact, even if the yellow pages was on my desk, I wouldn’t have picked it up. I can find something on Google quicker than I can find it in the yellow pages 9 out of 10 times.

My two searches were "print business cards sussex" and "dry cleaners purley". The latter search, specific to a town, gave me a range of results and I picked the closest. It worked fine.

The first search turned up a few, and I found what I was looking for with no fuss. But this is the boring example, because we’d all expect a printers to have a website.

Let’s go back to the far more interesting search for a dry cleaners in purley.

Google, gives me this result.

Yellow pages online, gives me this.

Both times, the same company comes first in the results. With a need to find a dry cleaner, and a desire to get it done asap without fuss, who do you think I picked?

Searches for other "walk-in" businesses show similar patterns for florists, hairdressers, pet shops. The ones with websites show higher in Google.

People will use the yellow pages for many years to come, and the brand may well survive. But you can bet what you like, the paper catalogue is nearing extinction. Perhaps more than ever, it’s imperative that "walk-in " businesses get online and get themselves seen. More and more punters like me (happy to satisfice – combination of satisy and suffice), will pick whichever result is highest in google that we believe will get the job done.

Ben

Posted in: SEO0 comments

May7

Safari 4 – a lesson in how not to launch new software

By: Ben Kelly

Testing to make sure websites work across different browsers is part of the job of making websites. A whole plethora of tiny bits and pieces work different in FireFox than they do in Internet Explorer. In a bid to test a website thoroughly, it’s important to review every website you work on in all the major browsers. This includes Safari.

My laptop is neither fast nor slow. It’s decidedly average. The only things that’s are truly superb on it are the 17" screen and the full sized keyboard with keypad. Apart from that, it’s just plain OK.

I look at a lot of websites. I rely on the tools I use to get me the websites I want to see as quickly as possible. Therefore I want my browser to:

  • Be quick.
  • Have useful tools.
  • Be quick.

That’s it. I certainly don’t want my browser to:

  • Entertain.
  • Excite.
  • Give me an "experience".
  • Do anything else beginning with E.

Safari. A case study in how to give your consumer something they don’t want. My experience went something like this:

  1. I open Safari 4 for the first time.
  2. I wait
  3. I wait a bit longer (by now I am very impatient, although it has probably only been 10 seconds).
  4. The main window loads, but something isn’t right. My computer fans start racing as my CPU goes into over-drive.
  5. After about 20 seconds (nails are being bit, hair is being pulled), I get an animated splash screen "welcoming me". I resist the urge to curse.
  6. My screen freezes. I get the "fatal error" message (see pic below).
  7. I stop resisting the urge.
  8. I hit the "Don’t Send" button and wait.
  9. I’m still waiting, and yet my fan is still (as i write this) going haywire, and my CPU is still going at 100%. My computer is effectively locked-up.
  10. I have to open the Task Manager, go to Processes, and manually end "Safari.exe". For the non-tech savvy person, the only fix would be to restart the computer.

I am not happy. But alas. Once I’ve made myself a cup of tea, and uttered a prayer to the gods of the interweb, I will try again. I will try again, because I have to. Most people don’t have the need I do. Most people would give up, and never try it again (I envy them).

There is no excuse for an experience this bad. Not from Apple, one of the big players. Look at your website and ask yourself, are there elements to the interaction that are driving people away? Forms, logins, registration – these are some of the major pitfalls of some sites. Get feedback from colleagues, employees, friends, relatives – ask them to buy something from your online store, or find a certain bit of information. Do this testing, and do it now. No-one is immune to making terrible mistakes and creating a horrible user experience.

Apple have proven that particularly well with Safari 4.

Posted in: Programming, Usability0 comments

May5

DIY Websites

By: Ben Kelly

There are so many tools out there to allow anyone to make a website. If you are reading this right now, you have the skill to make a website. This is a website – and it took me less than 10 minutes to setup the basics. It might take you a little longer, but really, there is no skill involved in getting some text and images on the internet.

Someone once said of the boom in home video equipment, that "soon every child will be able to produce a Hollywood blockbuster".

Have they? No.

Should you build your own website? No. For the love of god, no.

I can do my own accounts. I don’t.

I can service my own car.

I don’t. I can bake my own bread. I don’t.

Why? Because I lack the skill to do a good enough job. Getting our accounts wrong is something few of us are willing to risk – we get it wrong, we can go to jail (rare, but imagine if you’ve been getting it wrong for the last 15 years and the inland revenue decides you owe them another £100,000 you honestly but mistakenly haven’t paid them). Servicing my own car, I can break it – or worse, realise I’ve forgotten to reattach the break cables after I’ve hit 70 on the motorway. Baking bread, well, the worst I can do is ruin some bread.

But interestingly, bread is perhaps the best example – because should I be using a bread maker, in the best case scenario, I might be able to make bread that’s as good as the bakery down the road – but it will always cost me more. I will never break even on that investment.

Thus it is, with websites. The temptation may be there to build your own – but if you are serious about your business and about making your online presence really work, then don’t. Hire, a professional, in a best case scenario, you’ll bake some bread.

Still don’t believe me. OK. Here are some websites that real business owners have built, with the best of intent. These websites are not only ineffective, they are actually damaging to the businesses that have created them. These companies would be better off with no website at all (and that’s rarely a good web strategy).

www.ski-utah-rentals.com

For more examples, www.webpagesthatsuck.com/dailysucker is an excellent blog. If I’ve not put you off the idea of making your own website, this guy will.

Ben

Posted in: Uncategorized0 comments

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