Here are my top 6 reasons I may hate your website:

1. Slow Load Times – If your site takes more than 4 seconds to load, then chances are I’m not waiting around. Google hates slow page load times too and is starting to incorporate it into their ranking algorithm.
2. Splash / Intro pages – These pages were cool in 2000 but now they just waste my time. I do not care to see the same intro every time I visit your site. An exception would an intro where you’re really telling me something new or making an offer.
3. Poor Web Design / Confusing Layout -  I use the 4 second rule on this one too. I should be able to quickly determine the following: Am I on the right site? Do you have what I need?  What do I need to do next?  Don’t make me think about it.  Your web design needs to lead traffic down a path that leads to conversions.
4. Too Little Information – Give me as much information as I need to move to the next step. If I cannot find the information on your website, then it is likely that I will move on to the next site. A good rule of thumb is to give your visitors as much information  as you can in a manageable format. Give me a quick overview and then give me a link to more detailed information if I want it.
5. Lack of Contact Info – Seriously?  Are you a real business? I’m very skeptical about doing business with a company that doesn’t give me easy access to contact them, if needed.
6. Too Many Google Ads – I really hate sites that are littered with Google Ads. I understand their value but a home page with Google Ads throughout it screams spammer to me. Google hates spam in their search results, yet many of the spammy sites I run across are littered with Google Ads…go figure.

Most of my reasons are common sense, yet I still see websites everyday that I hate. How does your site stack-up?

Good, clean web design is one of the most important factors for site usability.  Every design aspect of your website should be understandable and clear to the visitor. Our attention spans are extremely sort when we’re searching  and  a good design doesn’t require visitors to think too much about navigating a site.

Here are a few simple guidelines:

• Navigation links should be clearly visible and easily understood.
• The most important information must be above the fold (the fold is the bottom of the site that is visible on your pc screen).
• There should be clear Calls To Action on every page.  What is it that you want the visitor to do next?  What if they are not sure- where should they go to get more info?  Tell your visitors what they should do next – don’t make them think about it.
• Provide multiple avenues for visitors to get information. Some people just want the highlights or a product compared to others that want to read reviews or technical specifications.
• Your visitors should be able to quickly find all the information they are looking for.

By following these guidelines, your visitors can immediately find their way around your website.  You are essentially putting them in control of the experience with a well-defined course that you have defined.

Website usability is all about giving the right information to the visitor at the right time.  The “right time” is different for each person and a good web design addresses your visitors varying needs and buying processes.

Remember, visitors will enter your site on different pages if you’re doing effective search engine optimization and they should always be able to tell what to do next (or more importantly, what you want them to do next).

We’re spending a lot more time these days digging deeper into web analytics with clients.  Visitors and Pageviews are great to look at, but the real effort should be focused on conversions.

A “conversion” is a user-defined event. It can be anything you want it to be. Some common conversion events are:

• Contact form submission
• Phone call
• Request for quote
• Newsletter signup
• Online purchase

One of the goals of any Internet Marketing strategy is to continually improve the results of your key metrics and conversion rates. In doing so, it is helpful to know how other companies are doing so you have a sense of what is attainable. Google Analytics provides some useful data for benchmarking standard metrics within your industry. However, one thing they are not currently benchmarking is conversion rates.

Do you wonder how your conversion rates measure up when compared to other websites?  Check out the chart below to see typical conversion rates for paid advertising (PPC), organic search (SEO) and online shopping engines, broken out by conversion type.

The data supports what we already know – organic conversion rates are typically higher than paid conversion rates. The reason is that organic searchers are often already familiar with the brand.  They have spent time searching for specific products or services and are more likely to be closer to purchasing. However, the conversion rate for PPC is not that far off at 5.8% for lead generation (contact forms, emails, etc) compared to 7.0% for organic search.

My take away’s are:

1. PPC advertising should not be discarded. When used effectively, PPC can deliver highly targeted, relevant traffic that converts on a scale close to SEO.
2. Search engine optimization (SEO) should be the number one tactic in your internet marketing strategy.  Organic results are more trusted, provide the opportunity for much higher traffic and generally convert higher than PPC search.

So, how do your results compare?