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!