Hey, Get to the Point!

You know who you are. You write and write and write and think, wow, that’s good writing! That is, if you’re writing for a magazine. However, you’re writing for the web, and that’s a different animal.

We see it all the time; tell the whole story and include all the dirty details. But the web is different, and its readers are different. They don’t necessarily want the whole story. They only want what they want.

In today’s mass migration to responsive web design, writers can no longer write long content. Imagine that beautiful and long story you wrote yesterday. Now imagine it on an iPhone screen. That sucker will scroll for miles. And you might say, well, people are used to vertical scrolling on a phone. Yes, but not pages and pages of text. They scroll when the content is easy to scan as it wizzes by, like photos.

That leads me to experience. Sit back and think about the experience you are giving a reader with long content. Think they’ll stay on your site? Think some will bounce?

Here are some tips regarding writing for the web:

• Write for quick user engagement. Get them hooked right away
• Keep content short and concise. A paragraph or two with most pertinent content in the first paragraph.
• Use bullet points to emphasize content.
• Make text links longer so they’re easier to tap on
• When you embark on writing, try this. In Microsoft Word, insert a one cell table. This is where your writing will be. Grab the right table border and drag it to the left so the table is about the size of a cell phone screen. Now you have an idea of what your content will look like on a phone. You can then expand it to tablet size, then desktop size

HTML Vocabularies: Because Everything is a Thing, and Things are Related to Other Things.

Let’s talk about the structure of your HTML markup. I recently read an article from Search Engine Land that only 0.3% of websites are using structured markup. If you don’t know, and by that 0.3%, many don’t, a collaboration exists between Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google (yeah, believe it or not), and Russian search engine Yandex to adhere to a standard vocabulary within HTML to help search engines better understand and index content to provide search results that are most pertinent and related to your search phrase.

For Google, its Knowledge Graph gathers data based on this vocabulary and creates connections between things. For example, in Google when you search on “Rush the band,” you’ll see pertinent results on the right side of the SERP providing information about band members, albums recorded, and the ability to listen to some of their songs (which, I highly recommend). You’ll also see a list other bands that other people have searched for creating relationships. Clicking on any item gets even more specific about that result. So it provides a great list of factual data for things and things related to those things that are pertinent about your search. So how is this accomplished?

Schema.org serves as a dictionary for this language providing microdata syntax; that is, attribute-value pairs that live within your HTML tags (e.g., div or span) to describe each piece of content.  For example, a dictionary has been created that provides vocabulary common to higher education (universities and colleges).  You can view it at the schema.org website.

So head on over and start reading about your industry’s markup vocabulary because changes to your markup will benefit you, your users, and your SERP.

Some helpful tools:

Google's Structured Data Markup Helper

Google's Webmaster Tools: See Data Highligher under Search Apperance

Google's Structured Data Testing Tool

Web Workers: understanding all the pieces

Not so long ago, web programmers programmed, web marketers marketed, web writers wrote, and front-end designers designed. The roles were pretty well defined with little crossover. That is, until driving web traffic from multiple channels became such a force.

In this day of inbound marketing, anyone working the web should have a big picture understanding of how their work contributes to SEO, engagement, readability, and conversions. That means these workers just can’t live in a vacuum and pump out their work assuming it’s effective. The entire team on a website must understand how their individual contributions can help SEO, SERP, engagement, etc.

Here's a list of some very basic understandings that everyone on a web team should have: 

• The ability to look at HTML and understand what is wrong. For example, alt tags missing or not properly describing the image 
• Meta description not optimized for each page or not 150 - 160 characters
• Photos not optimized for the smallest file size
• Understanding the use of keywords to engage visitors and enhance SEO.
• Understanding of how to chunk content and the proper use of white space
• Load time: understand what changes on a page can decrease page load time.
• Understand the semantic web and what this means to web accessibility and search engines
• Recognize that code needs to be minimized whenever possible

Not everyone on a web team understands the importance of these bullets and how they impact user engagement and SEO. Maybe it’s time to take a step back from your highly focused work and think about the big picture. Ask yourself each time you finish programming or writing an article, what can I do to make this better? It can only benefit you, your team, and your web presence.

Gracefully Responsive: Responsive Web Design 2.0

Responsive Web Design is the hot topic, but in it two years or so since its inception, designers and marketers are learning a thing or two about it; that Responsive Web Design 1.0 needs some change.  Those changes are the gradual and attractive change from breakpoint to breakpoint.

If you Google the word graceful, you may come across a SERP from Merriam-Webster’s definition: 

Graceful (grās-fəl): moving in a smooth and attractive way.

Then, if you look up words that are synonymous with graceful, you have words like:  beautiful, supple, agile, nimble, flowing, and smooth. 

So what a perfect word to describe the need! It became clear that the reason for using this adjective as a design objective is because responsive designs can have fundamental flaws that can decrease user engagement. The objective in responsive design should be to make the experience into a friendly flow from screen to screen, keeping as much as possible in place (navigation, photos, etc.). Screen to screen can’t be disruptive and must make sense to the user. Don’t make them figure out simple things like the navigation from screen to screen! 

This article from Website Magazine will explain more of the whys and the wherefores and also links to Todd Lerner’s original article on the topic

Design responsively!

Lost Signals: Staying on Top of User Engagement

I was at the gym today working out on an Adaptive Motion Trainer listening to music. Playing on the TV mounted from the ceiling was Fox News. Glancing up at it from time to time, I noticed at one point the screen had turned blue and had text that said, "lost signal." Now, interpret that as you may, but it got me thinking about engaging users and how difficult it can be to stay on top of the rate of change in users expectations.

For many us of, we are the spoon that feeds decision makers with pertinent information about what our audiences find engaging; the most important aspect in driving traffic to our websites. This allows managers to make the best decisions to help drive business. Whether the use of a cool jQuery plug-in, or perfectly formatted and concise content in a world of 140 characters or less, we must constantly evolve to understand what our audience finds engaging. With all the available information users now have in the palm of their hand, if your content isn't engaging, they’ll quickly become bored and go elsewhere to be entertained. 

Those writing web copy for products or services need to understand this. Too many times I see website content with the text equivalent of a magazine article. This is not keeping up with today’s user expectations of 140 characters or quick Facebook posts. Not saying your copy should be 140 characters or less, but you need to make content short and very engaging. If your content is long and drawn out, users are outta there and the signal is lost.

You may be thinking, well, this blog posting is pretty long and drawn out. Maybe so, but I've gotten you this far, right?

How does one stay on top of the latest trends in user engagement? How do you continue to transmit a strong signal that your readers will receive loud and clear? Here’s some sources that can help maintain peak transmitting performance.

Web Design Magazines: I have a few favorites here that I read regularly. Website Magazine, Six Revisions, and Smashing Magazine. I suggest subscribing to their RSS feeds and read them daily. Lots of good older articles too that are still pertinent.

Inbound Marketing: If you don’t know of Rand Fishkin, you should. Moz.com is a great resource of inbounding marketing ideas and techniques to cover SEO, social media, etc, etc. Follow Rand on Twitter @RandFish. I also suggest HubSpot https://library.hubspot.com/. I suggest following them on Twitter @HubSpot also.

Usability: the king of website usability is (IMO) is Jakob Neilson. I suggest signing up for the Neilson Norman email newsletter to receive great articles to your inbox: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/subscribe/

Web programming and a lot of other really great tutorial: Lynda.com. If you need to learn about responsive design, JavaScript, jQuery, PhotoShop, Your Online Brand, and a ton of other things, this site will keep you current. You need to subscribe and you can pay monthly ($37.50) or by year ($375). Either way, you can’t put a price tag on what you’ll learn and to provide to your boss in the way of knowledge.

Twitter: Twitter is a great source of what’s happening RIGHT NOW, but have a good idea of good vs not-so-good, and hot off the press content vs. has some cobwebs in what people post.

What sources do you use to stay on top of what’s happening to increase your user engagement and better decision making?

Localization and Personalization in a Multi-Device World. Make a SMART Site!

There's been plenty of discussion about the evolution of mobile and localization. Certainly, designers are trying to design for the most engaging site, and businesses are trying to convert those engaged users. But with the new mobile world, we need to create “smart” sites; sites that know your users, and gives them what they want.

Website Magazine posted an article called, “The Evolution of Web Design is Smart.” We need place ourselves in a location, like a mobile user, and then think like they do. What do they want? Where do they want to go? Even if your site is using responsive web design for the best possible representation of your content, you still need to provide tools to make their experience personal and gives them the information needed to achieve their goals.

Read more at Website Magazine http://goo.gl/hgjMCn. Make your site SMART!

Increase Conversions through Responsive Web Design

Perhaps you haven't heard of Responsive Web Design (RWD), and if not, it basically means optimizing your website presentation for the device viewing it; yes, for the device viewing it, which these days equates to hundreds of different devices.
 
So RWD addresses this multiple device problem and the result is, hopefully, an engaged user that will be happier to convert because you've made it easy for them on device they're using. RWD also helps ensure that your site will address new screen sizes from desktop to smartphone as new dimensions and resolutions are released. So it helps to "futurize" your website.

Christopher Mathieu at +HubSpot posted a good overview about RWD: http://goo.gl/SOqjKd.

It's also worth pointing out that RWD development has become somewhat easier with freely available RWD frameworks. Zurb Foundation and Bootstrap from Twitter help speed development for RWD.

Visit my website and resize your browser window to see how it works. I use Foundation for RWD.

www.douglasgeiste.com

Usability Testing with Users Who are on Your Site RIGHT NOW

Articles from the Nielsen Norman Group, or anyone associated with Jakob Nielsen are always interesting, insightful, and full of useful and objective information. 

Marieke McCloskey, a User Experience Specialist with the Nielsen Norman Group, provides a good article on usability testing, but with a twist: Test with users currently on your site.

Doing usability testing is often done at the start of the design of a new website, but drops to the back burner for more important and high priority tasks after site launch. But it should be performed on a regular basis and be part of an overall web/digital strategy to ensure your visitors can find what they're looking for, and of course, convert. The last thing we want to do is frustrate visitors. That's a bad reflection on your organization.

Running usability testing, in the traditional sense, requires gathering users and testing your site in a live, face-to-face meeting. This isn't always feasible or practical, and lets face it, this process can be costly in terms of setup and time.

Marieky McCloskey provides an excellent step-by-step approach to usability testing with users who are on your site right now through a popup window invite using ethnio and then GoToMeeting.

This process saves time, money, and the best part is that you're testing with users who are on your site because of interest in your products, services or content. I don't think you have better testing subjects.

Read about the process on the Neilsen Norman Group website: http://goo.gl/vpuhCA

Most important "webmaster" videos from Matt Cutts

So I've put "webmaster" in quotes because first, I think it's so outdated, and second it doesn't accurately reflect today's person who manages a website. Mainly because it's no longer one person who manages the technical, marketing, content, social media, etc, etc. of an organization's digital presence; although this person needs to have some level of involvement in it all. And besides, the title can be construed as gender specific, don't you think? Again, another reason why it needs to be changed to something that more accurately reflects the position and is gender neutral.

Ok, that was quite the digression.

As you may or may not know, @mattcutts provides "webmasters" with helpful videos. They are a great source to help stay on top of what is going on and changes that need to be made to a website to stay relevant with search engine.

Pete Prestipino at Website Magazine puts the top 12 in an article. http://goo.gl/idzZoh

K, P, and Is, OH MY!

If you're getting started with KPIs for your website traffic, it's good to have an idea of where to start. Now, it's important to note that not all KPIs are created equal, nor should they be. Most KPIs from organization to organization are different and based on the organization's needs and it's products or services. However, there are some good baseline KPIs that can be used to get going.

This article from @DaveSnyder points out some very useful KPIs and determining their value. goo.gl/48ax61

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cross-Channel User Experience: Making it Seamless

When it comes to usability, we need to strive for a seamless user experience from device to device, from device to physical world, and from physical world to device. Providing this level of continuity allows for a better user experience and may provide a competitive advantage.

During the decision making phase, the last thing we want to do is disrupt the thought process or sidetrack the user. Many users will move from device to device (e.g., mobile device to laptop) or device to physical location (e.g., tablet to a physical store),  and making the transition seamless will be more engaging and provide for a better overall user experience; and hopefully ensuring the conversion or sale.

I couldn't agree more with an article from Janelle Estes from the Nielsen Norman Group. Consistency from one channel to another is key. We want to give the user the information they need, but make it as simple as possible and eliminate unnecessary steps along the way.

This needs to be a serious consideration if you're converting your website to responsive web design or  developing a mobile app.

Read more on this from the Nielsen Norman Group website as they provide some excellent real world examples.

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/seamless-cross-channel/

10 Surprising Social Media Stats

Came across a good read from +Belle Beth Cooper on the current status of social media. If you work at a university, this article addresses not only prospective and current students, but also older alumni. But whatever your industry, this article provides some good insight as to how you should be thinking about social media right now. Now, I'm always leery about stats, but I think these are a pretty good representation of where we stand today with social media demographics and access.

If you've been trying to get the powers-that-be to understand the need for more resources for social media engagement, this is a good one to pass along.

http://goo.gl/8AtoQV

Think Human!

We've all been hearing about the changes that Google's Hummingbird algorithm has made with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I think the jury is still out with whether keyword matches will still help rankings. Let's face it, if people are typing in a search phrase into Google, you still want that search phrase to be on your page because when the human sees the phrase, the human will know your content is relevant to them.  It's more important than ever to think human when creating your content, not just search engines.

Alesia Krush @alesiakrush published an infographic on Search Engine Journal to give her take on the Hummingbird. It is a good read. http://goo.gl/oUz2MR

Meta Descriptions. Here's the scoop

Came across this article today from Pete Prestipino at Website Magazine that includes a video from Matt Cutts on the proper use of Meta Descriptions. http://goo.gl/VrkJ4x


Create unique meta descriptions for main content pages, never duplicate meta descriptions, and if you leave meta descriptions blank, Google will generate the associated text in the SERPs for you.

Also, when you create your meta descriptions, consider using keywords based on that page so that when users search on those keywords, those words will be bold in the SERP hopefully giving you a higher probability of click through.

Handling "Not Provided" Results in Google Analytics

This may not be new news, but Google is and has been encrypting results to protect its users. This means that when you're in Google Analytics, you may see "Not Provided" when looking at keywords used to access your site. This is a big problem for search engine marketers for results from organic campaigns.

Brad Smith provides a good article at Search Engine Land on how to combat this growing issue: http://goo.gl/U69HgE

Do the powers that be in your organization understand blogging?

I will admit, years ago when people started blogging, I didn't  see the point of keeping an online diary. My life just isn't that exciting.

Blogging certainly has evolved into an important component at the top of the marketing funnel. It provides for awareness of your organization and will drive traffic to your website. But how do you make the powers that be understand that?

Corey Eridon at HubSpot posted a nice article on the Benefits of Blogging. If your boss doesn't understand why your organization should be blogging, send her/him this URL: http://goo.gl/W81LLV

Search engines and time to first byte!

Think site speed isn't important? Of course you think it's important. No one wants to wait for anything! Google knows that fast loading sites = happy users, and therefore may impact your search rankings. Read on... http://goo.gl/3aqUWW

Web Surveys Should = Fun!

I recently began thinking about surveying target audiences to make sure we're hitting our mark with content. You know, no one wants to do a survey, really, when there' so many other better things to do online. So it has to be engaging.

That's when I came across an article that speaks about making your surveys fun. If you can put humor in your survey, it'll not only speak of who you are, but also that you care enough to make this task worthwhile.

http://blog.cup.li/how-to-create-a-fun-survey/