{"id":31094,"date":"2012-08-03T23:17:05","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T22:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31094"},"modified":"2012-08-03T23:20:09","modified_gmt":"2012-08-03T22:20:09","slug":"web-sites-are-built-for-visitorsnot-designers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/web-sites-are-built-for-visitorsnot-designers\/","title":{"rendered":"Web Sites Are Built for Visitors\u2026Not Designers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n                                                                             google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>First Look<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\" align=\"center\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31096\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-1.jpg?resize=396%2C229\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-1.jpg 396w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-1-300x173.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>\u201c<\/em><\/strong><em>\u2019The water sleeps until the great snake.\u2019 These aren&#8217;t just drawings, they&#8217;re directions. Get me a map!\u201d<\/em> <strong>\u2013 Indiana Jones, <em>\u201cIndian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,\u201d<\/em> Paramount, 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We love buzz words.<\/p>\n<p>You know, innovation\u2026marketing ROI (Return on Investment)\u2026social media\u2026branding\u2026positioning\u2026differentiation\u2026segmentation.<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, they\u2019re all cool; but do you know the words we like better that the boss likes?<\/p>\n<p>Sales\u2026customer\u2026customer satisfaction\u2026customer retention!<\/p>\n<p>We know, crass\u2026very crass.<\/p>\n<p>But we like a paycheck every now and then. Stockholders like results. Vendors like to be paid.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you sell online or at retail, the best place to start with our favorite words is with your much- maligned website.<\/p>\n<p>Back in the day, people spent buckets of money to make their website elegant. Then, with each new social media solution that came on the stream, the website slipped further and further down the priority list.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t long before the website was supported by whatever loose change fell off the table.<\/p>\n<p>After all, there was important (read sexy, fun) stuff we needed to use to leverage your marketing budget and get that ROI.<\/p>\n<p>You know \u2013 Facebook page, Printerest stakes, YouTube elegance, Twitter stuff, mobile ads and marketing stuff like that must be better for you because \u201ceveryone\u201d is talking about it.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, nothing happens until people come inside and get \u201cserved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Indie said, <em>\u201c<\/em><em>I&#8217;ve got a bad feeling about this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Web designers love to show you their elegant sites and how beautiful the Flash\/HTML 5 stuff looks, what artistic videos they have, how gorgeously everything is laid out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Self-Adolation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sorry, but folks aren\u2019t there for the show; they come to a website to get product\/service information, to buy and get on with their lives. It\u2019s all about the instant, the moment.<strong>\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31097\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-2.jpg?resize=282%2C265\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Small Window \u2013 <\/strong><em>People who make their money \u2013 Google and other search engine folks \u2013 from helping you find the product\/service information you need know you don\u2019t have a lot of patience when it comes to slow opening web pages. After four seconds, they begin to leave pretty quickly; and by 10 seconds, they\u2019re not only gone but many will never return.<\/em> <strong>Source &#8211; Google<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s why Google, the people who make their money serving up clicks&#8211;and answers 34,000 questions a second, reported:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Slowing delivery 4\/10<sup>th<\/sup> of a second reduced searches by 8M a day<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 25 percent of web users search only on their smartphone<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 50 percent of mobile users abandon a site that doesn\u2019t load in 10 sec., 3 out of 5 won\u2019t return<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 79 percent of mobile web consumers use their phone for shopping, 40 percent abandon after 3 sec.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s probably why Amazon, which racks up $67 million a day in online sales, estimates they could lose $1.6B in sales with a one-second page delay!<\/p>\n<p>Bezo\u2019s team doesn\u2019t focus on being the sexiest site in town\u2026just functional.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the same is true of Craig\u2019s List. Ebay, Twitter, Facebook, Google and a lot of other etailers we could mention.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s why fastfood does so well. It\u2019s not about ambiance; it\u2019s about eating, getting on with your life.<\/p>\n<p>An interesting fact we found when researching this piece was that every year, millions of American\u2019s look for true love in 3- to 8-minute speed-dating sessions.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s all about getting the information, the answers!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t Deliver<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But back to your website. Go to most manufacturers\u2019 websites and they\u2019re works of art. They have:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Slow-loading product pages which have tons of engineering features, specifications but nothing about how you can use it, benefits to ordinary folks<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Details that are important to everyone (except the customer)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Videos that are well-scripted, well-shot, well-edited and appealing for the boss but not the customer<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In-site searching that leads you to 10-20 different areas they think you\u2019ll find \u201cinteresting\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Menus normal people can\u2019t find\/don\u2019t understand, links that don\u2019t work or take you nowhere<\/p>\n<p>The problem is most people don\u2019t use the tools that are readily available to analyze their sites and traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Or, as Indie said looking at the situation, <em>\u201c<\/em><em>Leave it to Ox to write a riddle in a dead language.\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31098\" title=\"Untitled-3\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-3.jpg?resize=356%2C307\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-3.jpg 356w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-3-300x258.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Looking, Being Better \u2013 <\/strong><em>If you focus on social media tools because \u201cno one\u201d visits your web site or don\u2019t do anything once they stumble across your site, it\u2019s probably because you don\u2019t spend enough time tuning the site. Today, it\u2019s not enough to build it and they will come; firms need to continually focus on improving the experience<\/em>. <strong>Source \u2013 Demandbase<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Analytic tools allow you to monitor how your website is doing in terms of visitors, conversions.<\/p>\n<p>Google Analytics are free tools that allow you to study your website in detail:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 where visitors come from<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 pages they visit<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 length of page visit<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 which keywords people search to boost your search rangings, be more quickly located<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 exactly how people interact with your website<\/p>\n<p>By using the analytics, you can determine which locations and what information resonates with real people (customers), not just the folks with a vested interest in looking good (designers).<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly, it\u2019s not very creative work; but it helps you determine the real quality of your site.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31099\" title=\"Untitled-4\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-4.jpg?resize=392%2C299\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-4.jpg 392w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-4-300x228.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 392px) 100vw, 392px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Learning More \u2013 <\/strong><em>Free metrics tools are available to help marketing departments analyze information about web site visitors, including not only how they got to the site but what areas they visited and what they wanted to find. The more the company knows about visitors, the easier it is to attract \u2013 and reward \u2013 more visitors<\/em>. <strong>Source \u2013 Demandbase<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Just imagine what you could do if you could do if you could understand your visitors and learn more about them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Whooppee!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not really about having 20,000 Facebook Likers or 40,000 Printerest visitors.<\/p>\n<p>Instead it\u2019s like Indie said, <em>\u201cYou want to be a good archaeologist&#8230;\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s about understanding the people who are important to your company, you \u2013 your prospects, your customers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31100\" title=\"Untitled-5\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-5.jpg?resize=466%2C211\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-5.jpg 466w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-5-300x135.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>All About You \u2013 <\/strong><em>The more work companies do in helping web site visitors personalize the site to their individual wants and needs, the more productive (and profitable) the firm\u2019s online presence will become. Sometimes it\u2019s difficult to remember it isn\u2019t about the designer, the person who writes the copy or the person who does the video when it comes to understanding what makes a good or so-so web site.<\/em> <strong>Source &#8211; Maxymiser<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Businesses \u2013 products\/services \u2013 need to understand more about the quality of leads\/sales the website generates.<\/p>\n<p>Just remember its quality\u2026not quantity.<\/p>\n<p>That means if the website visitor registered with you, what happened afterward?<\/p>\n<p>Were you able to turn the suspect into a prospect, a customer?<\/p>\n<p>If not, where did you lose them? Why?<\/p>\n<p>It could be as simple as not having all of the information immediately available that they want\/need to make a purchasing decision.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fresh, interesting blogs that give people insight into the company, its business philosophy and insight into product plans\/applications<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fun, interesting, educational videos. Today, more than 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! Some of the best and most popular are those that feature industry thought leaders who present critical thinking (TED) and how-tos \u2013 how-to install, how-to use, how to troubleshoot, how-to get the most from their products (like OtherWorldComputing). It\u2019s all about being a valuable resource for people looking for you who don\u2019t even know you exist.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Free stuff is always popular. You know, free information, free ideas, free industry news, free insight into how your developers\/engineers evaluate\/test\/prove products\/services before they are offered to consumers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Use social media tools such as allowing people to Tweet and post on your Facebook wall, content they can quickly\/easily share.<\/p>\n<p>Doing all of the analysis and checking off all the things you need to have to make your web site interesting and useful is great as long as you test the work to see if it resonates with people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Real People Tests<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No, not the guy\/gal in the next cube, not your spouse\/kid (think they\u2019re going to hurt your feelings?), not the boss (\u2018nuff said).<\/p>\n<p>Instead, have people completely unfamiliar with your business determine how quickly and easily they can find specific information that would help them find out about your products\/services and maybe even purchase\u2026a couple of your neighbors, the in-law you\u2019re certain isn\u2019t all there.<\/p>\n<p>They may tell you as Marion did, <em>\u201cNot like you did any better.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Sure, getting traffic to your landing pages is important; but that isn\u2019t what produces sales and revenue.<\/p>\n<p>What you really want to do is improve the customer\u2019s experience and reduce the cost of acquiring the customer, retaining the customer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31101\" title=\"Untitled-6\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-6.jpg?resize=400%2C218\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-6.jpg 400w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Untitled-6-300x163.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>Do it right and constantly test\/review your website personalization and it won\u2019t be long Professor Oxley will say you\u2019ve found the answer, <em>\u201cA portal! A pathway to another dimension!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"># # #<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>by: G.A. &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> President<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> Marken Communications Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> <a href=\"mailto:Andy@markencom.com\">Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First Look \u201c\u2019The water sleeps until the great snake.\u2019 These aren&#8217;t just drawings, they&#8217;re directions. Get me a map!\u201d \u2013 Indiana Jones, \u201cIndian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,\u201d Paramount, 2008 We&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":31101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533],"tags":[5491,4899,5489,5378,5490,5488],"class_list":["post-31094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","tag-customer-engagement","tag-customer-service","tag-google-analytics","tag-sales","tag-tracking-metrics","tag-web-site"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}