In 1997, Jakob Neilson was writing on his UseIT.com site saying quite simply, that people don’t read webpages.  He has since said that people read email newsletters even less….

People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. (Update: a newer study found that users read email newsletters even more abruptly than they read websites.) (Source: UseIt.com, October 1997 – 13 years ago)

I am a big fan of Jakob Neilson. He goes on with more imperical research…

On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely. (Source: UseIt.com, May 2008)

Facebook invites, Twitter rubbish, old marketing emails from the sportshop you bought a t-shirt from a year ago… our Inboxes are being bombarded with information and demands for attention.  Despite striving to have an empty Inbox it just never happens.  So when a newsletter pops up, my decision to read or click is usually made up very quickly.

 Yes, context plays an important role…  you can hope that email newsletters being sent to a subscribed list will be a ‘warm’ audience.  Blog posts should be punchy and engaging.  Web page content should be prioritised, specific and abbreviated.  (/cheer bullet points!)

Ideas for newsletters:

• Brand newsletters with your logo, slogan, and contact details  (checking compatibility when images are not displayed)
• Break up content with images
• Subtle use of colour (but do use colour)
• Lead with an engaging newsletter title
• Provide a synopsis at the top of the content
• Topics should be in the form of extracts – avoid lengthy subjects
• Consider using a 3rd party service to provide a template, manage email lists (sign ups and unsubscribes)
• ALWAYS remember the objective of a newsletter
  • The objective of a newsletter is to inform, capture attention and drive people to your website.  The newsletter should be part of your online offering enouraging people to click to the site. 
  • Therefore, avoid writing tombs of newsletter-specific content, only to have curious readers find a static site of different information
  • Why not focus efforts on site updates and blog posts and simply use the newsletter to summarise whats been posted in the last month… its the best use of your time.
  • Search engine ratings focus on site content not stand alone newsletters – putting the effort into the site makes for a more specific newsletter and boost the opportunities to people to find you

Just a few ideas.  Ensuring you avoid the pitfalls of having your newsletter go straight into Junk boxes, is another area of concern.  However, I’ll put some more information soon; I found a very good book over Christmas which will lead on from the rambling above!

Is 2010 getting on top of you already?

With the UK facing a decent freeze at the start of 2010, Fullscope and Surveylab both have a busy January and February planned.  I had a number of clients contact me in December expressing an interest in updating and reviewing their websites.  This prompted me to make a couple of posts and I’ve more drafted so watch this space.

Fullscope’s branding work is keeping me busy this week and I’ve at least three websites in the pipeline.  I was pleased to launch the Moore Adamson Craig website this week  – more to be unleashed onto the online public in the next month.

My work PC is being upgraded so in amongst the work I’ve been visiting a number of online shops building a decent spec that will last for another 4+ years.

Other piece of news is that I am planning/hoping to confirm 2-3weeks off work towards the end of February.  If anyone does have any 2010 plans for websites, whether it is to revamp/relaunch or create, please bear in mind that I will soon be out of action for a few weeks.

Visit the new Moore Adamson Craig website.

Website quick hits or "low hanging fruit"

In these recent weeks running up to Christmas, I have had a number of clients contacting me asking about updating their website.  Paid adverts in publications and listing magazines are proving just too expensive, whereas the steady contacts from the website are proving that the investment in the website was good decision.

I am expecting more emails and calls from clients in the New Year, when thoughts are re focusing on 2010 and how they can make their website work more effectively for their bottom line.

Websites need managing – having a website is not a magic wand for new business.  I’m not retained as an online marketing manager, I am a web designer but do remain on hand to help, guide, advise and when possible act on my clients requests.  My point is that the ongoing success of website remains with the client.  The more work you put into it, updating services, new images, adding content, the more you will be rated by search engines and the more traffic you will attract.  Then, depending on the presentation and layout of the website, its then a combination of the designer and website owner, for how visitors are then converted into customers.

Yes, there is inevitably a cost to commission work from the designer, but first steps cost you nothing.  I’ve put a quick list of things to think about.

• First step (at no cost except your time) is for you to sit down and go through each page to update copy… edit and insert more!
• Can you revise the images on the website at all – any new services or jobs recently, before/after images etc?
• Services pages especially can have limited or dated copy… explain whats involved, who does what, example jobs (the steps involved).   Remember that the images should be complimenting/supporting the page, not leading as they often can be
• Also, there can also be limited prioritisation of services – what do you want to promote, which are the most profitable or any new services you are planning.  Its often been months or a year since the site as been running – what has changed, whats higher value to you?  By all means provide a list of services but direct people into your sales funnel… establish which are entry services and then apply cross skill techniques… dont expect people to be hit over the head with a list of 15 services and fully understand what you do
• Do you have any seasonal (or quarterly specials) you can spice up front pages to give a sense of energy and motivation to buy/contact
• Consider adding some images of you the business owners.  (Don’t baulk at this – its important!)  My point is that with small businesses, personalising the website would be a good help.  Websites are often impersonal, devoid of the human side and you are looking for every opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competitors.  Allow visitors to put a face to your business, a personal touch on who they speak to when they call… break down those barriers preventing people from getting in touch!
• Similarly, consider a group picture of you all together on the Contact page – all helps to give a sense of welcome… encouraging visitors to make a call and perhaps become customers.
• Don’t forget the About page.  I’ve suggested a photos of the business owners being employed, but people want to have confidence in knowing who you are, your experience and a feel-good factor of understanding what they will get when/if they call.  Consider editing copy, adding new info and without being too tongue-in-cheek, dont be afraid to add some humour or at least personalise it.  Small businesses offer what large businesses cannot, the personal, human touch so bring it out on the website.
• Review and request testimonials regularly and be aware that customers may want to contact your testimonials to ask a question (and they dont need your permission to do so!)
• Testimonials are a great idea yes. But you can go further and consider putting together some case studies. These can be posts or pages of customer success stories… by that I mean “Customer A had this problem, spoke to us, we did this, did that and ta daaa this is the result“.  I can give more info but it’s an easy illustrative tool to add depth to your website and brand, and helps positions visitors into what they can expect if they become customers.
• Registering on local business forums is a good idea – get involved in your industry, network with suppliers and customers… anyway at all you can push your domain name.

Search engines rate websites on a number of factors. They rate websites with changing content higher than static ones (hence the updating is a good idea in the New Year).

Internal work as described above could really help, even before you consider online advertising.

Both traditional and online advertscan cost a lot, and are not always very useful or effective. One great service to consider is Google Adwords.  It allows you to set your own monthly budget and you create a small advert to then be presented on the right hand side of Google search pages… searches that are related to your business and local area. Very flexible and puts you in control.

Oh and don’t forget offline and traditional marketing – small ads, letterbox drops, gifts, offers etc!

Thats all for now – a quick post ran into something longer!

A word of caution though – always try to get a second opinion.  Being blinded somewhat by your good idea, you might miss something important.

Mathieu is a client who is an osteopath in Ealing and Uxbridge .  Their 2008 brochure, featured on the left here, was designed by them in-house.  However, without the benefit of another point of view, the result was a nice picture of a happy man standing on a rather large phallic outcrop of rock.

So, the ideas of freedom and relief certainly shine through, but those with a more devious sense of humour, will see something else other than what Mathieu & co had in mind.

Some great advertisments found on OneExtraPixel.com (via Smashing Magazine) – definitely worth a visit.

Well, its been a very busy year!

I think a few weeks in July were fairly quiet and even had a chance to breathe… Since then its been client deadlines, moving back up to London, looking after existing clients and managing new projects for both Fullscope and Survey.  Busy busy.

New webites are booked and hoping to launch early 2010 and recent the logo/branding work has proved both interesting and challenging.  Two recent projects are nearing completion whilst one client has sadly gone awol after commissioning a design that I thought would work very well for them. Watch this space once final designs have been delivered.

One of the most exciting projects will be using the very impressive Business Catalyst software, a one-stop-shop website design/management service that I intend to be launching in 2010.  This service will allow for live client page editing, news/information blogs, contact database management and email campaigns, as well as fully integrated e-commerce services and product management… as well as many other bells and whistles.  I’ve barely had time to learn all that it can offer, but with three sites already planned to launch using this platform next year it will be a fantastic new service to offer Fullscope clients.

December will be busy again and no doubt a fair amount of time over the holiday will be spent trying to get a head start for next year.   Fullscope will effectively be closed from 22nd December to 4th January.

Finally, huge thanks to all my existing clients for their support, and lets see what 2010 brings.

Hew

Having a website does

Its a popular misconception, likely to be held by those new or not experienced on the Internet, that by simply having a website you will have lots of visitors and instantly be topping the Google search engine.

This is not the case.

A few quick points to remember:

• It can take several weeks for Google and other search engines  to crawl your site (if if you submit your site to them)
• Every website is competing for search engine ratings
• Existing websites, like your competitors, are very much on the search engine radar… don’t expect to compete with them straight away
• Poorly designed websites are less receptive to search engines
• Web designers are not marketing managers

Websites are great.  It is relatively small investment to market yourself to a potential global market.  However websites take time and effort to work.  The job of the designer is to design and style a website that works both aesthetically for your audience and technically for visitors and search engines.

My own view is that designers should help and support preparing content, but they aren’t there to write copy for you.   We don’t know your business, but we know the web.

This isn’t being defensive but hopefully shedding some light on the challenges for both designer and business owner in putting a site together…. that the business owner avoids the trap of thinking that website = profit.  A client will often commission a website, not edit it for months/years… and then wonder why its not working for them.

So a few questions to ask yourself… not just at the start of commissioning a website, but regularly throughout the year and beyond…

• Why are people visiting your website?  Why should they come back – what are you offering that causes them to bookmark or return?  List these reasons and review them regularly.
• A website is a tool, its not a solution.  If you think of a website as a shop, you dont just open the doors and expect profit… it takes time, ongoing work, management and effort.  You really will get out what you put in.
• If your website operates in isolation to the rest of the Internet you wont be found.  Hunt out local business listings, insert your website into your Yell entry, join forums and contribute to your marketplace… promote your domain at every opportunity
• Revisit the reasons why you have your website.  Does it still send the same messages you want?
• Is it up to date?  Are the images still relevant, have your services changes, have your business priorities changed?  Don’t put off these vital site updates.  Google values new content and site updates.
• Keeping content dynamic – use blogs if you can, regularly content… keep it alive.
• If you have a blog use it!  Such a great tool, make sure you take time out to write posts.  It doesn’t take much time but by not posting you are turning visitors off… why should they spend time on your site if you havent looked at it in 6months.  If in doubt, remove the blog.
• Measure traffic – Google Analytics is your best friend.  Analytics is a free tool from Google, a wealth of information that can help tailor, streamline and inform you on what visitors are interested in and what they want to get out of your website.  It provides the all important information on keywords – the words people are using to find your site.
• Consider Google Adwords – an affordable and effective way of targeting visitors by having your short ad appear next to related Google searches
• Do not ignore traditional forms of marketing.  Flyers, business cards, word of mouth, posters, newspaper ads… do whatever it takes to get your website address in front of people.

I’ll stop there.  This short list is just off the top of my head – its by no means exhaustive and I could go on and on.

Just remember that websites take work, and once it is launched forget about it at your peril… make the most of your investment and make it work for you.

The interface does take some getting used to, but not long as many editing functions are similar to Word.  Beyond that, the main thing to learn is creating the all important links and either uploading or linking to images.  Learning time 30mins?

Other key benefits concern the blog.  Visitors need a reason to visit your website… not just once but again and again.   Take a step back and ask yourself, why should a visitor [or potential customer] visit my site, what am I saying in my posts that would encourage them to bookmark/link/revisit? Do this before you hit the big purple ‘Publish’ button!

Following on from that is the search engine rating opportunities of having more dynamic content.  Internal links to parts of your website (new services, new documents uploaded) are a big thumbs up, as well as inserting as many links as you can to other sites on the website in your posts.

Boooooring Blogs?

The golden rule is to realise you are writing for the web… not an essay, not an article.   You are also not writing for yourself… but I guess you are, as it is your own personality and style that helps makes an engaging blog.

Top Tips

These top tips are from Problogger’s blog, written in 2005.  These are as true today as they were in 2005… simple, short and clear.

Make your opinion known

Link like crazy

Write less

250 Words is enough

Make Headlines snappy

Write with passion

Include Bullet point lists

Edit your post

Make your posts easy to scan

Be consistent with your style

Litter the post with keywords

1. Make your opinion known
People like blogs, they like blogs because they are written by people and not corporations. People want to know what people think, crazy as it sounds they want to know what you think. Tell them exactly what you think using the least amount of words possible.

2. Link like crazy.
Support your post with links to other web pages that are contextual to your post.

3. Write Less
Give the maximum amount of information with the least amount of words. Time is finite and people are infinitely busy. Blast your knowledge into the reader at the speed of sound.

4. 250 is enough
A long post is easier to forget and harder to get into. A short post is the opposite.

5. Make Headlines snappy
Contain your whole argument in your headline. Check out National newspapers to see how they do it.

6. Include bullet point lists
We all love lists, it structures the info in an easily digestible format.

7. Make your posts easy to scan
Every few paragraphs insert a sub heading. Make sentences and headlines short and to the point.

8. Be consistent with your style
People like to know what to expect, once you have settled on a style for your audience stick to it.

9. Litter the post with Keywords.
Think about what keywords people would use to search for your post and include them in the body text and headers. make sure the keyword placement is natural and does not seem out of place.

10. Edit your post
Good writing is in the editing. Before you hit the submit button, re-read your post and cut out the stuff that you don’t need.

A good starting list which can apply across almost any blog.

I’d add a few things.

• Images often help illustrate points and add some visual interest to ‘wordy’ posts… just ensure that the image is apt to your subject.  Don’t insert images for images’ sake, but Google is your friend!
• Have an objective in mind when you post.  Keep what you want to get across in your mind and see you’ve done it before you publish
• Frequency of posting is vital.  If visitor sees that the latest post is months old then you dont have much to say.  “Ticking the box” of having a blog can do more brand harm if the flurry of initial posts tail off into stagnation.  Set time aside each week/fortnight/month.  I often have a little text file sat on my desktop that I drop links and notes into which helps flesh monthly/bi-monthly posts.  Conversly, Blogging isnt like Twitter, overload people and you will bore then, so have clear ideas, put them together in a short punchy, engaging way… and give it a meaty title.
• Have fun.   Enjoy blogging, encourage people to contribute and add comments if you want.   Get it into the routine and have the blog work for you and your business!

More useful links (open in new windows)

How to craft good blog titles – Problogger

What makes for a good blog – 43folder

Good blog writing style – Blogoscoped

Its all there now and a bit of pre-planning and I was able to hit the ground running.  Surveylab has been very busy with projects and new clients keeping everyone on their toes.   Not really back against walls time but we’ve certainly put the time in… never a place for complaining about being busy.

Fullscope is going well – a number of projects in production, five sites in development and two brand jobs have been commissioned.  Nothing to publish just yet but watch this space!