User Experience and Search Engines: If Your Home Page Could Only Talk

Dear web site visitor.

I can't tell you how glad I am that you found my website. You have no idea the great lengths we've gone to get you here, let alone what we're about to do to keep you on this web site.

First, let me say, I have no idea who you are, or why you came, but believe me when I say, I built my site just for you. My company and products are the best there is to offer. You can find everything you need to know about me in my About Us page (it says "us", but there is only me, really. It's all about impression you know?). I removed my address because Google Autolink will give you a map to my place and, like I said earlier, I have no idea who you are.

Contacting me is easy. Just fill out the form when you find it. When you find the privacy policy, please take an hour to read that. Basically it says I don't have time to record your data and don't care who you are. I'm only interested in selling you something that has my company name on it.

Speaking of which, did you find my site in search engines by using my company name? Being new to the web, I figured I had to do some things to grab your attention. I'm so sorry the "blinds" you searched for led you to my sunglasses page. While you're here, can I interest you in my e-book about ostrich feather arrangements?

The product catalog is to the left of that big fat image on the right of the homepage that's distracting you. Above the two global navigation schemes in the top header is your login area. To register, you need to first give me your phone number so I can call you at 3am and tell you about my specials. I put the search box at the bottom of the page, so you can find things quickly. The sitemap needs to be updated, sorry. We put it there for search engines to crawl and then forgot we had it. Since we're not sure how you like to find our products, we figured we'd put a link to what we think are the most popular items in the left navigation. Unfortunately there's an endless need to scroll. We couldn't decide what you're favorites are, so we put everything there, just to be safe.

A word to those who use screen readers. We heard that getting to the top of search engines is a nightmare and were advised to put in hidden keywords in the text, behind images, and repeat our keywords in the content. I wouldn't advise turning on your screen reader, as it will say a lot of words over and over again and drive you crazy. We're sorry for the inconvenience and the loss of your sale. But, we were guaranteed the number one spot by that SEO Company, and by golly, you found us didn't you!

We know you want to know everything about our products and that you use different browsers. We know you like to control your experience and totally understand your right to do so. Therefore, we made a popup window for each product that allows you to zoom in, enlarge or shrink the image, rotate the product and imagine it on your girlfriend's body. For the convenience of those with their pop up windows turned off, please use the link that says "Relax, this is not a popup window" so you may view and rotate to your heart's content in a new window.

For those who hate new windows, we offer a FLASH demo, but you'll need the plug in. For those who hate plug ins, we put in a link to one static, basic product picture, with the "Add to cart" button next to it, because, dear one, you cause us the least amount of hassle and we really appreciate that.

Some of our pages may look weird. This is because they're separate landing pages. We removed the template and navigation you're used to seeing on every page and replaced it with a story about our trip to Manchu Picchu, with a link to our homepage, and catalog. We know it's strange but the conversion people told us to have landing pages. And besides, you should have seen it when we had 350,000 doorway pages to the site.

We get lots of requests for links to our site. If you came to us because you wanted our PR score to make yours look good, we're just so tickled about this. We worked quite hard for our PR 3 and are more than happy to sell, or lease, a link to you for 300 US dollars paid in advance via PayPal.

While you're here, we invite you to visit our links pages. We know the sites we thoughtfully linked to have a lot to do with the subject of our site, and the ones that aren't, well; they sent us such sweet emails about how they visited our site and loved it. How could we possibly resist such a nice gesture like that?

Our products are great, like I said earlier. If you want to see if I'm telling the truth, just read the many testimonials we provided throughout the site. You know, the ones with the comment and the handy unlinked, unidentifiable initials next to them. We value your trust.

Please note that we prefer you ignore the broken links and the copyright year of 2001 in our footer. We haven't bothered to maintain our site in years, but we hated like hell to lose our great rank.

The newsletter signup isn't really an underhanded way to spam you later. We're just not skilled enough to put up an example copy or archives of the older ones we sent out a few years ago.

Like I said, I don't know who you are or what you want, so I decided to put all kinds of fun things up on my site. The web ring, guestbook, links directory to links pages that lead to links pages, email to friend, Google Ads, banner ads, animated spinning things, RSS feed, blog, direction to my cousin's house (he doesn't mind surprise visitors), picture of my dog (I link to that from my profile on the dating sites I belong to), vacation pics and logos I had to put on my site so that people wouldn't remove my site from theirs - all this is hopefully something you might like.

I know I do.

Thanks again for visiting my web site. It's fun to watch my traffic stats to see where you came in from and where you left. I'll even give you a hint about one thing, just to show how customer oriented I am. Don't bother to buy anything. The shopping cart stopped functioning months ago.

Usability Consultant, Kimberly Krause Berg, is the owner of http://www.UsabilityEffect.com, http://www.Cre8pc.com & http://www.Cre8asiteForums.com Her background in organic search engine optimization, combined with web site usability conulting, offers unique insight into web site development.

MORE RESOURCES

Profit By Outsourcing, The Web Design India Company Sought to Sculpt The ... DigitalJournal.com (press release) The Web Design India company is also incorporating an authenticated “Wiki” on the lines of online free encyclopedia, the Wikipedia for user to post articles, have access to relevant information and keep themselves posted with the latest about the ... and more »

DC Web Design Firm Blue Water Media Launches a New Website for the Public ... PR Web (press release) A Leader in Creative Web Design, Blue Water Media Assists the Public Media Business Association in Their Mission to Establish a Comprehensive Digital Resource for the New PMBA and its Members. The Public Broadcasting Management Association underwent a ...

New Digital Multi Media Program Coming to Brighton High School Patch.com By Nicole Krawcke Brighton High School Sophomore Evan Palmer works on an assignment during the first week in Web Design. Palmer said he took the class to learn how to make his own website. Brighton High School is getting a new career technical ...

Indiana Web Design Company Radically Changes Approach to Web Development PR Web (press release) Effect Web Agency, an Indiana web design company, redefines their entire develop process to focus on achieving sales results for clients. Effect Web Agency says they know why websites do not work for many businesses. Steve Schmidt, President and Web ... and more »

HigherVisibility Named Eleventh Best Web Design Company by topseos.com for ... Press Media Wire The independent authority on Search vendors, topseos.com, has named HigherVisibility the eleventh best web design company in the online marketing industry for the month of February 2012. Their position in the rankings of top web design companies is ... and more »

EQuicknews

Web Design Tips EQuicknews Launching а website іs bоth exciting аnd potentially rewarding. A wеll planned site can have а positive effect оn уour business, wіth online sales bucking thе trend in an othеrwisе downbeat economy. Creating a website can аlѕо bе a daunting task, ... and more »

Industry Today (press release)

Calgary Web Design Firm Offers Exclusive Content Management System Industry Today (press release) Understanding the increasing demand for this system in today's business world iDesignit.ca a Calgary Web Design Company, is offering innovative solutions to small businesses in Calgary, Alberta and surrounding areas. iDesignit.ca specializes in ...

LeanPort Software Named Second Best Android Development Company by ... Press Media Wire The independent authority on web design and development, bestwebdesignagencies.com, has named LeanPort Software the second best Android development company for the month of February 2012. The list of the best Android development companies contains ... and more »

Web development company in Indiana wants to increase businesses' sales The Creative Department Many small businesses struggle with search engine optimization and making their websites easily navigated, and an Elkhart, Indiana, web design company wants to help them. In a recent statement, Effect Web Agency outlined some of the main problems that ...

PR Web (press release)

Algonquin Studios Shares Thought Leadership Reports on Web Design, SEO ... PR Web (press release) These are people who have started successful businesses, built enterprise-level software systems, and work hard to actively keep abreast of changes and advancements in technology, software development, web design, and online marketing,” says ... and more »

People Locator find anyone in the USA

RELATED WEB SITE DESIGN ARTICLES: Website Design Mishaps - How to Avoid Costly Errors That Can Crush Your Chances of Success Designing your website can be a difficult task especially if you decide to do it on your own and you have no experience. There are many websites and web hosts that provide tools to allow you to build your website, but if you have no knowledge of what works and what does not work in web design, you could be setting yourself up for a big fall. Revising Your Site - What Happened To My Search Engine Placement? As of September, Smartads went through what so many have done before. I changed the entire site. Reach Out To Billion Have you heard of 'Babel Fish'?It's a service provided by Alta Vista search engine people to translate every page you put 'Babel Fish' code, and up comes a a new language.Your page may be written in English, but people across Spain and Latin America can translate your web page into Spanish. Designing Your Websites Directory Structure Any kid, and their grandmother too, can make a webpage. There are many "wysiwyg" webpage design application that let you create a webpage as easy as typing text. Basic Graphic Design Wether you design your business brochures, flyers, web page, or ads there are some things that you need to know. There are some basic graphic design principles that those of us trained in the commercial art/graphic design field don't always share. Flash Web Design - The Wave of the Future? There are two camps when it comes to flash web design, those who believe it is the wave of the future and those who do not. To decide which camp you want to be part of, you of course need to learn a little bit about flash web design and try it out as well to see how you feel. Content - the Key to Long Term Success Every day internet marketers are inundated with the latest fad or must have program. But the one tried and true asset which is vitally important to the long term success of your online business is valuable CONTENT. Do Your Website Yourself - 4 Simple Steps to Get Your Dreams on the Web Many people hire professional web site designers for as much as a thousand plus USD! You can, and very easily, make a web site for almost one hundredth of that price, and probably in half the time. Here are 4 easy steps to get you started. Why Not To Use Web Design Templates For Your Website In today's age of fast food and high-speed Internet, a business may be tempted to take the "more convenient" route in launching a website - buying a template and customising it.Website design templates are like off-the-shelf websites and are targeted at people who believe that launching their own, unique and differentiated website is costly and time conuming, which need not be the case. Flash - To Use Or Not To Use? Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using flash for their needs. But the majority sites are not in this list. Caveat Scriptor: Use the Advice of Those Who Know Before You Build a Site ~A man [woman] is a success if he [she] gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he [she] does what he [she] wants to do. Bob Dylan~I'm smart. Website Design: Secrets Of Professional Website Designers Revealed What colors do you have at your website? Can they make a difference in the number of sales that you generate? Can the use of the right colors in your website design actually increase your sales? The answer is yes! So pay attention to these website design secrets. When people see certain colors they can change their emotion or they can symbolize things related to the colors. Make Artistic Graphic Designs Are you a student of graphic design? If you have taken time in extra reviews and put "graphic design" and "drawing" into any search engines, you'll get almost the same result = description of graphic design programs at many design schools. Baffled? Well, it's like this: As a student interested in graphic design, you have to take drawing and not actually a degree in fine art. Moving Things Around How often, men, have you come home to find the living room furniture in different places? Your wife said she was ready for something different, so she moved some things around. It may have been inconvenient at first, but deep inside it felt good to have things a little different at home. Do You Own Your Web Site Design? Your web site has been up for a few months and you are making money hand over foot. While surfing sites one evening, you are shocked to find a competitor using your design. Tips for Getting More Sales From Your Website (1) Create a Direct Respone Website, with the minimum number of pages possible (e.g. Optimized Web Page Template I want to give you a free web page template that will be search engine friendly. Why?Well, I assume you want your web page to come up as high as possible in search engines because that generates free traffic. Give People What They Want And Watch Your Profits Soar! Do you know why the majority of people use the Internet?The majority of people use the Internet to do some type of research. In other words, to read. Turn Harmful 404 Error Pages Into Helpful 301 Redirects It's a fact, Page Not Found, known as a 404 error, can harm your website Ranking with Search Engines as well as being a Turn-Off for Visitors.A search engine that repeatedly gets a 404 error will de-list the page from its index. How to Convince Your Visitors to Return Often One visit does not make a sale. Be sure to make your Web site attractive to your visitors so that they want to come back.