Usability

Whilst we have known this for a while, on Friday Google officially announced that site speed is a factor in how websites are ranked.

Often little more than an afterthought, a "Thank You" page is an opportunity to leave a good impression on your customers, cross-sell them relevant products, and reassure them that their order has processed OK.

This report from Snow Valley is an excellent guide to what makes a Thank You page work, and what to avoid.

Here are some common pitfalls:

There are two methods to get and retain customers. In this post, I'm going to look at how Credit Experian attract and retain customers, and then I'll look at Highrise HQ.

I'm going to try something a bit different, do a short book review.

The one in question, is one of my favourites, "Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability" by Steve Krug.

No. This is not a post on firearms (real or fictional), or about the best way to take down a Storm Trooper. This is a post on making sure your website reflects your company's approach.

There are two kinds of company: the ones that try to do a wide range of things, and the ones that focus on a single area of expertise, or a single product, and focus all their energy upon this like a laser. Here's two examples of what I mean:

1. Shotgun

Breadcrumbs are very easy to add to a website. They very simply tell the user where they are in relation to the other pages of a site. i.e.

Home > Products > Awesome Product 1

It's very easy to forget that people come to your site from a variety of means and angles. It's rare that all your visitors will end up on your "home page", especially if they find you in a search engine. Adding the extra layer of help adds tremendous value.

Websites are dynamic things. Now that most internet users are on broadband (I'm even on broadband when I'm sitting in a café on on a train), we're able to experience the internet in a fantastic content rich way that we could never have done 5 years ago. YouTube, the iPlayer, .com - all these sites offer sound and video and people love them. They are very popular sites, and we're going to see more like them pop up this year, next year, and forever more.

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.

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.