Purpose
Look
Audience

Our focus this week lands on website navigation, and the importance this component plays in your site’s success and audience satisfaction.

Unfortunately navigation seems to be viewed solely as that primary strip sitting proudly above or below your header image.  Wrong.

Your website is a navigation network, punctuated with content who’s purpose is to support and promote the existing navigation.

You want your audience to navigate around your site, to explore, get comfortable, be impressed, and find you worthy of visiting time and time again.

You produce content to support them in taking that action.

Post an image and it automatically attaches the default image location link…which you should be changing to something far more useful by the way, and assigning alt tags too.

Your Sidebar content may contain an opt-in form, adverts or sponsorship blocks, popular or recent posts, resource pages, social media icons etc..etc… All navigation.

Your website navigation should provide a way in, and most importantly provide a way back out. Transparently and openly.

Visitors don’t like feeling like they have no control or getting lost. It’s frustrating and will result in them kicking you to the kerb.

Your website navigation has to make sense to your users first and foremost. Then, and only then, take the search engine requirements into consideration.

Here’s some check points for review:

Tiered Menus

Multi-tiered drop down menus can be cumbersome and make your website navigation look cluttered. You don’t have to display every page on your site on every page of your site…(no that wasn’t an echo). Less is definitely more.

Let me put it to you this way. A book doesn’t give away its whole plot in the first chapter. A stripper dosen’t rip all their clothes off in the first 30 seconds. The fast or total reveal may do more to alienate than you think. Uncover only what is necessary for the action you require.

Trained Consumers

Websites for the most part follow the same general patterns in navigation placement. As a result, we as consumers have been trained to look to certain areas where we expect to find the things we’re looking for.

If you are going to create something completely different with your website navigation rules, make sure that difference is still clear and easy to understand. Otherwise you could hit some negativity and frustration with your visitors

Alternative Options

Scrolling website navigation is something that is becoming more popular, in effect creating a one page site, over multiple pages.  Like the following example which shows how clean & simple you can make your site…love the tagline too.

Click image to visit website and try scrolling website navigation

More Than Your Homepage

Don’t design your navigation from the home page out. All visitors don’t come via your homepage. Make sure no matter what page they arrive on, there is consistency in your website navigation

While you may think you’re being artsy and creative by having a different type of funky navigation on different pages, it’s not going to do you any favors.

Why Isn’t It Working?

Nothing is more frustrating to a visitor than navigation that doesn’t work. Make sure that you test everything, and review how your site loads in the all the major browsers.

Are You Mobile?

Increased access from mobile devices means that website navigation can be a complete pain in the ass if your site is not formatted for mobile browsing. Fortunately there’s an easy solution. WPTouch is a wordpress plugin that converts your site for mobile viewing, making it a much more pleasurable experience for your visitors.

Text vs Image

The vast majority of sites primary navigation will be text based (like here on Respectfully Disobedient)  There is the option however to utilize image navigation, which can have a fantastic look and feel if done well like this one below.

click to visit website

Each of the Polaroids is a navigation link and becomes color when you mouse over.  One thing to consider is load time if you decide to use this type of website navigation. As we all know…slow load times cause visitors to click away, optimize your images if you run with this style.

Flash Ain’t So Flash

While flash may be cool and interesting, creative and fun. It won’t do you any favors when it comes to search engine love…they can’t get in to read the code. While using flash in small doses may be fine for some areas of your site don’t use flash in your navigation

While its impossible to cover all the angles here in this post, and we haven’t even begun to touch on SEO aspects, I hope this post has given you some food for thought on the design of your website navigation. Please share it if you liked it.

I’ll have some more news on website structure and design coming up in the next couple of weeks, with a special offer for subscribers. If you’d like to get in on the action, make sure to sign up below.

 
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While the first two parts of the process have been all about you, now its time to get focused on those you serve.

Ladies and Gentlemen…its time to meet your Audience!

From the starting blocks, you pick your mark and target your content to suit.

Problem is…in those lonely early stages its really hard to gauge if you’re hitting the bulls-eye or not. So you tend not to worry too much about who’s looking, just that people are looking…right?

Data takes time. But rather than sit on the sidelines and wait, I’m suggesting you dip your toe in the water and test the temperature as soon as possible. It’s the best way to make sure you’re not wasting your efforts and your marketing is being correctly targeted.

Tools, Tools Everywhere:

There are tools & resources around every corner, but they will only provide you with the raw data, you have to analyze and make sense of it all.

To get a clear picture it’s really important not to take any single site in isolation. Assess and look for patterns across the board of consistency and confirmation.

Caution!  Chasing stat’s can turn you into a head case.  Don’t become obsessive and use every application and tool in creation. There will be so much contradictory evidence you wish you’d never started.

Here’s my selection to get the skinny on your crowd.

Google Analytics:

Google analytics is a great tool which you should be using, but it classifies your audience collectively as traffic. Great for exploring traffic sources, content popularity, location, visitor flow, tracking conversions etc…but doesn’t tell you who those individual people are.

Get Clicky:

An alternative to Google with very similar information, but in much more of a visual aspect. Many people find Get Clicky easier to navigate and less technical than Googles tools, but once again demographic makeup is missing from the mix.

Alexa:

While the validity of Alexa’s ranking system often gets called into question, I actually like Alexa for its data on audience demographic (although I’m not sure how it pulls its data).

You can get a feel for the actual people visiting your site, rather than ‘traffic’ as a whole.
Details on age, education, gender, income & search term volume.  Plus the click stream information can reveal a lot about your traffic flow. Where they came from before hitting your site and where they duck off to after leaving you.

While Google and Get Clicky will gather data on your site, Alexa not only gives you your website data, but allows you to research websites in your industry too. Very handy!

Facebook:

Get your page set up early in the game campers. Facebook pages come with their own data analysis (not available to profiles) which will give you data on reach & engagement, age and country demographics, and individual post stats. Check out this Facebook Insights tutorial for more umm…Insight!  aghem…no pun intended.

You will undoubtedly be sharing your website content on your wall, along with other juicy bits and pieces to get your community on-board and sharing your stuff.
Now assuming that you’re not enticing them with something like a giveaway, download or contest. Then the only reason for them to like your page, is because…well, they like your page.

If they like your page, it stands to reason they’d like your website.  Don’t underestimate Facebook as a microcosm of the probable demographic of your website.

Twitter:

Unfortunately Twitter only counts numbers. While there are a lot of twitter applications out there, they are mainly geared to follow management, auto-feeding, or engagement optimization.

Until recently there has been precious little that would reveal more about your audience.  Now this could possibly be because there is no mechanism to filter who follows you.  Any Tom, Dick, Harry, Busty Blonde or Spambot could be part of your swelling ranks of followers….but it doesn’t mean they give two hoots about what you have to say.

But if you are looking for more information on your twitter demographics, a nifty app called  Know Your Followers will enable you to get a quick snapshot of your audience make up.

Quantcast:

I thought I would throw Quantcast into the mix, which is a full audience demographics measurement tool. I have only just begun using their service so am yet to pull any data that I can review. I’ve heard through the grapevine that their service is excellent and I look forward to sharing this with you at a later stage.

In The End, Its What You Do With It That Counts.

These tools will allow you to get a good feel for who your audience is. What content works, what doesn’t. What gets shared, liked, & converts. After all when you know better, you do better.

Do bear in mind that traffic is a strange bedfellow. While your data might suggest that you appeal to that college educated, metro-sexual 30 something male, it may prove be a traffic wave with no substance or conversion appeal at all. It always pays to look deeper.

For example with my site analysis. Google and Get Clicky will return relatively similar data comparisons of page views, bounce rate, visitors etc, so I’m pretty certain of my traffic.

But if I look at my demographics, Facebook has me skewed towards females with the majority of my market between 35 and 54. Alexa on the other hand has me female biased but in the 45 – 64 age bracket. Twitter shows a male dominated follower list. Different results require further testing and exploration to find where I’m really landing.

All the more reason to take your reference points from a number of areas for cross comparison. Careful review will usually uncover inaccuracies and reveal strengths for you to spot the opportunities and provide more of what your market demands.

I hope this post helps you do a little archaeological dig into your audience and would love your comments and feedback below, and please give it a tweet or like or plus while your here.  Thanks

PS>>> If you are looking for more tools and resources to build your online empire. Make sure to check out the Disobedient Directory.

 
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In the last post we took a look at the PLAN concept, beginning our journey with the purpose of your website.  Hint if you haven’t read that…its the best place to begin.

Today, we’re stepping into phase two.  Website design, or the look of your site…yes this is where it gets fun for those creative types, and probably causes a migraine for those less inclined.

Website Design – DIY or Designer?

So, do you take the DIY route or hand it over to someone else? That my lovely is a choice only you can make. No doubt, ability, interest, time, & cost will all come to bear on the final decision.

But no matter whether you decide the drive the limo yourself, or hire yourself a nice chauffeur, you’re still going to want to follow certain guidelines to make your website design attractive and user friendly.

Today though it’s all about the look.  Navigation will get its own special treatment in an upcoming post.

So how do you want your site to look. Yes you. I won’t rehash old ground here, go and check out why you should go nuts and break a few rules for more on that subject.

Your site should reflect who you are, your business, your brand. It should do this with clarity, therefore the look is your first port of call.

Theme Options

Stock standard, most wordpress themes are going to afford you a header, sidebars(s), content block and footer. Now what you allocate to those areas and where you have them appear will depend on the flexibility of the theme you choose.

Premium (paid) themes like Headway will give you more flexibility than a lot of the free themes out there, or if you’re going the whole hog with a custom job through a website designer who knows their shit…well then there’s a bucketload of scope.

The most important thing to remember is always bring the look of the page back to purpose.  What do you want the audience to do.  Design your website to fit those needs.

Here’s a few tips to keep you on the straight and narrow as you put on your designer hat:

• Have primary objective visible on the screen for each page you create (in other words you shouldn’t have to scroll down to see them)
• Don’t get carried away with all the latest and greatest widgets and share buttons, it overcrowds and too much choice leads to inaction.
• Make sure to give a good amount of white space for easy readability.
• Watch background colors in content blocks…keep them subtle if at all…white or off white is usually best for most readers eyes.
• Use colors that fit the feel of your business or brand, generally 3 colors max will give you the best effect…you don’t want it looking like a kaleidoscope…unless your selling kaleidoscopes that is.
• Keep a similar look and feel to each of the pages on the site, don’t get all radical with new pages being significantly different. consistency is important to your brand.
• Font sizes and color needs to be uniform across your site, as per the previous point.
• Don’t overload the sidebar(s) with advertising, it ends up making your page look a complete dogs breakfast.
• Don’t follow trends, you’ll end up with a site that might look dated very quickly.
• Make a list of your 5 favorite websites, and write down what it is about them you like, how can that translate to your design. This isn’t about copying though.
• Mud-map your site on paper or have a spare domain, where you can play around to refine the look and feel and test functionality

Remember your site is not set in concrete it will naturally evolve as it ages and you will want to redesign as your audience grows and you find your groove.

In reality, people will look past poor website design once they are hooked on your content…but you have to get them there first. A good looking website is a big chunk of that equation.

Next week we’ll move on to stage three of the PLAN…Audience. Join me same bat time, same bat station for that one.

Have questions or comments on this post, then have your say below.
Enjoyed this post?  Give it some love on your favorite social network..thanks

 
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Now what constitutes “good” is very subjective, we all have different tastes. But I think we can all agree that certain principals need to be followed when setting up a website to make sure you’re not putting your good time to waste.

After all who would want to visit a site like this

Yes this is a homepage of a real site.  I swear, even in my wildest dreams I couldn’t have dreamed up this monstrosity…shessh!

So lets break it down so we can save the eyesight of future generations.

THE PLAN

I like to use the PLAN approach when setting up a website.
After all, we all need a plan….don’t we

PLAN is an acronym for Purpose, Look, Audience, Navigation.

Over the next few posts, we’ll take a a closer look at each of these components and how it relates to setting up a website.

So lets start the ball rolling today with Purpose.

Back in the day, most sites were single page advertising brochures for offline business. Today our websites are full blown content management systems capable of being a business in itself.

While your site as a whole may have a range of functions, its important to understand that when setting up a website you have a clearly defined purpose for the site as a whole and each page as it is created.

If you’re not clear, its unlikely your audience will be either.

Some of the main reasons for developing an online presence are as follows:

Customer Support
Relationship building by offering support to your client base via FAQ’s, support desk operation, email, Q&A’s, & follow-up.

Direct Sales
Solution fulfillment – people buy solutions, outlining benefits of your product, service or idea to your marketplace & create product recognition and sales.

Brand Building
Create certainty for your client base by developing recognition and position yourself within the market, creates trust and builds relationships.

Lead Generation
Create curiosity & interest, reinforce value proposition via superior offer, content, & participation.

Education/Information
Create loyalty by providing great content relevant to your market, be generous & deliver consistently.

Its highly likely that your website it going to encompass some if not all of these purposes. But whatever the purpose, how you present it to your audience is what makes a good website in their eyes…and they’re the ones that count, because you want them coming back.

If you’re only just starting out with setting up a website, then mapping out your site’s objectives is the best place to begin.

Maybe on the other hand, you’ve been online for a while and its time to revamp an old chestnut. Rather than tweaking colors and fonts, perhaps its time to take a deeper look at your website as a whole, and see if your purpose has been watered down just a tad too much for your audience to care.

Information should always be presented clearly, so that it’s a natural progression to move through the site and take action where required.

Too many options provide too many chances to click away, but that’s a subject for another day. Catch you in the next post where we cover the next phase of the PLAN…the look of your site.

So what makes a good website in the eyes of your customer?…leave me your thoughts and comments below. If you enjoyed this post, then be sure to share it around the interwebs

 
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Introducing Ifttt, an acronym for, If This…Then That.

I came across a reference to this online business tool early last month, which I’ve since discovered has been in beta testing for the best part of last year, before launching to the world in September 2011.

Well, in the last couple of weeks I’ve been checking it out and all I can say is….Holy Toledo Batman, it’s Frickin Awesome!

So What Is It Exactly?

Ifttt is a productivity tool which allows you to program automatic tasks across your online channels.

Now before the purists out there cringe at the mention of automation, let me give you a few examples of why you would want to check this particular tool out.

• Lets say you change your avatar on a Facebook…wouldn’t it be good if then you could change your avatar automatically on twitter at the same time.
• What about making sure that every image you upload to Facebook, automatically copies across to your Dropbox account.
• How about using google reader to add specific tagged posts to Evernote for future reference.

Ifttt is the tool that will allow you to do these things by setting triggers on one platform which then perform actions on another.

I’ve only begun to experiment with potential uses, but so far I’m pretty damned impressed.

It’s not at all difficult to use, and there are a whole pile of “done for you recipes” that you can activate for your own needs.

Ifttt currently has just shy of 40 channels in its dashboard, including all the major players like Twitter, Facebook (profiles & pages), RSS, Gmail, Evernote, Tumblr, YouTube, Dropbox, etc.

You choose the services you want to activate, then just set the triggers and actions you want to automate.

If you are looking for ways to alleviate regular tasks that you perform in your online business, then Ifttt may have the answer for you.  I’d recommend you give it a test drive and see for yourself.

Go check it out and leave your comments below.
Please share this post if you found it useful.
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