It’s a fact: People won’t use your website if they can’t find their way around it.
Yesterday’s Web looked far different from today’s Web, and tomorrow’s Web will look more different still. Amidst all of this change, however, one aspect of Web use remains the same: The sites that offer the best, easiest, most intuitive experience are the ones people visit again and again.
To ensure that your sites provide the best user experience, you and your web developer need the essential guide from Steve Krug “Don’t Make Me Think; A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability” (2nd Edition)Â that distills his years of on-the-job experience into a practical primer on the do’s and don’ts of good Web design. His book is a quick read and while there are a couple of points I don’t agree with for SEO reasons, I agree with his basic concepts outlined below.
The number-one usability rule, most often expressed by users…
1. Don’t Make Me Think. Basically your website visitor doesn’t want to venture into a site that requires them to figure it out. It should be self-explanatory. Web pages should be obvious and self-explanatory. Buttons should have short text and look ‘clickable.’ The default search for your site should be simple.
2. Design for scanning not reading. By observing users Krug found that people glance, scan some text, and click on the first reasonable option. People scan Web pages, they don’t read them. We don’t make optimal choices, we click on impulse.
** In our copywriting courses (Ford Saeks), I express that there are two main types of people reading your copy (text in print or online) and those are “scanners” and “readers.” You should write your copy for both types of readers. Give enough headlines, subheads, and bullets along with limited use of bold and color to help the scanner get the gist of the main benefits or message, and then enough information for the reader to get the necessary details. Formatting is just as important as the copy. **
The beauty of blogging is that if you can send e-mail, you can blog. Blogs make it easy for the non-techie person to add new content to their site and build relationships with new prospects and customers.  Every site we build now includes a blog as part of the actual domain.
Q:Â Why do I want my blog to be part of my site when I can set one up for little to nothing at sites like BlogSpot.com or WordPress.com?
If you’ve read the book or watched the movie “The Secret,” you know that the secret is the law of attraction. In a nutshell, what you focus on most, you’ll manifest in your life. Without exception, every human being has the ability to transform any weakness or suffering into strength, power, perfect peace, health, and abundance. The law of attraction works both ways, positively and negatively.
So what does this have to do with marketing and making more money? Plenty. Often clients will tell me that a certain form of marketing, say direct-mail postcards, doesn’t work for them. It’s not the marketing method that doesn’t work, it’s the application of the method combined with a benefit message to a target market. Their expectations and beliefs can influence the results. They focus on their preconceived beliefs.
People see what they want to see.
Don’t believe me? Just check out this short video clip about awareness.
In marketing it’s your job to communicate the value of your products and services. To do that effectively and profitably requires 100% belief and the ability to help your prospects focus on what you want them to see. It’s the same with web design, print design and copywriting. Over the past 25 years I’ve worked with many talented graphic designers. In each case or project, I have to help guide them not to lose the message in the creative design. The message is my focus, the design is their focus. It’s a delicate balance, and when we get it right, everybody wins — including the client and the prospects.
Recent headlines: NEW YORK SUN — “Talk of the Worst Recession Since the 1930s”
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – “The U.S. economy is now in a recession, according to a poll of economists published Thursday, March 13th by The Wall Street Journal.”
What do you think? Are you worried about a recession?
I was speaking to a group of commercial customers in Ohio last week, and I asked them what their biggest challenge was in growing their business.Â
They said things like the economy, the recession, the competition, the weak value of the dollar…Â but no one in a room of over 200 people said anything about their own businesses.
Then I said something really shocking… I said, “there is no such thing as money problems…” (and paused for about five seconds) and added, “there are only idea problems. If you want to make more money, then generate more ideas and implement them!”
Want to grow your business, and increase your sales and profits?Â
Then think about your business and how you can add more value. More value means more profits.  While statistics and the media may show the country in a recession, it’s hardly going to stop people from spending money over the long term.  Just visit your local shopping mall, department store, or highway, and look at the traffic. Where are all of these people going? Either to work or to spend money… no doubt.
Hey, I’m a marketer… not an economist.  My goal is to make sure you focus on your business and take care of your customers. You attract new prospects with compelling benefit-driven marketing messages, and you keep them by delivering value through your products and services.
My peers and the many people in the media consider me as one of the top experts in direct and Internet Marketing. Just type my name “Ford Saeks” into Google and check out the results. But there is always more to learn, especially in my areas of expertise.
I like to read blogs, newsletters, and magazines to stay up to date. I realize everyone has an opinion, but I would think a publication like “BusinessWeek” would be more diligent in checking the content they publish.
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What do you think? Are you worried about a recession?