The following is a guest post by David Murton. David has been helping companies build and maintain their online relationships with customers since 2006. He is also a professional writer and blogger, with a particular interest in the open source Drupal platform.
When it comes to online marketing, there's almost too much information and advice to comprehend. If it's not the importance of social media, it's how 2011 is the year of online video. But one thing many experts tend to forget in amongst rapid technological change are the basics. What follows below is an A to Z list of tips that are sure to improve your site navigation, your website optimization, and as a result, your conversion rate.
A is for Anchor Text
Your anchor text should utilize keywords. For example, if you are a hosting reseller, phrases like "resell hosting" should be turned into links, just like we did here. Using keywords for anchor text is a classic and effective SEO trick.
B is for Buttons Instead of Text
Your call to action should be more than a boring text link buried inside marketing copy. Use a bold, bright button instead when you say "Get 15% Off Today!"
C is for Colors that Don't Kill the Eyes
Colors are very important when it comes to site navigation. Colors that are too jarring, too bright, or too contrasting will encourage visitors to navigate away as quickly as possible before an emergency trip to the optometrist becomes necessary. Use bright colors sparingly and effectively, such as in call-to-action buttons.
D is for Descriptive Text
"Click here" makes for horrible anchor text. A keyword phrase that describes where the click will take the user is much more effective, both from the point of view of user experience as well as SEO.
E is for Experimentation is Good
Experiment with your website navigation. See what happens to your web statistics when you introduce a new button or change your layout. You might also find out that one small tweak to your navigation vastly improves conversion rates.
F is for Flash is Bad for the Main Navigation
We think that using Flash for the main navigation structure is a bad idea. Instead, stick to simple, easy to read navigation bars that rely mainly upon text links.
G is for Ghost Directories
Avoid ghost directories. For example, if your website includes MyWebsite.com/pictures/
H is for Homepage
Your homepage is the most important page on your site. It should be easy to skim, with compelling information above the fold that encourages browsers to stay on your site.
I is for Interlinking
When you interlink, visitors will find more and more content, keeping him on the website longer. The longer he's on the website, the more likely he is to eventually make a purchase.
J is for "Just Don't Make Me Think"
As letters N, O, and P point out, website users don't want to have to think too hard on your website. Don't force them to wonder where content is, or they will get frustrated and leave quickly.
K is for Killing Conversions with Slow Load Times
If it takes your website longer than a few seconds to load, you've already lost your customer.
L is for Links that are Visible
We think it's a good idea that you stay old-school with your link colors and decorations, using classic blue, underlined links and purple visited links. If old-school blue and purple are good enough for Google, it should be good enough for you.
M is for Mobile-Friendly Design
More and more website users are going mobile, accessing your site from their mobile devices. Make sure your website is mobile friendly – reduce the amount of content, minimize text entry, and test, test, test.
N is for Navigation Should be Simple and Easy
You'll get more sales with a rudimentary website design that's laid out simply and is easy to navigate than with a fancy website design where it's impossible for the user to find what he's looking for.
O is for Organization
As with N: your website should be well-organized. If your navigation is overly complicated, visitors will leave without giving you a chance.
P is for "Pay Now"
"Money" pages should be linked to from nearly every page on the site. The potential customer should never have to wonder where they click to make a purchase.
Q is for Quick Glance
Put your website to the "quick glance" test: can you get the gist of a page with one quick glance?
R is for Readability
It's amazing that in 2011, people are still designing websites that are difficult for the average person to read or skim. Use dark text on a white or light background, and break up text with bold headers, bullets, and numbered lists that appeal to short attention spans.
S is for Search Box
Especially if you have a large site with a lot of pages, don't frustrate your visitors. On every page, include a search box that's prominently displayed as part of the site navigation.
T is for Track the Results
As you work to improve your site navigation (see letter E), track results and make a determination if changes are improving sales or decreasing them. Learning to use traffic analysis tools properly is crucially important when it comes to improving your website and your conversion rates.
U is for Unusual is Usually a Bad Idea
Some web designers try hard to make their websites stand out from the crowd by using clever, artsy designs. For the standard blog, business, or retail site, an unusual design will lose money rather than make it.
V is for Video Length
When using online videos, make sure that they are short and to the point. Hardly anyone will stick around to watch an extremely long video about your products; three minutes or less should be enough.
W is for "Where Am I?"
Some websites wisely include at the top of each page a brief outline for the visitor of where he is on the site. For example: "Home > Products > Shoes." Each part of the "Where Am I?" description is linked so that the user can easily go up or down a level in the site.
X is for X-Ray the Website Skeleton
Your main navigation is like your website's skeleton – the basic structure around which your website is built. The main "bones" of your website should be as crystal clear as a femur on an x-ray for visitors.
Y is for You Should Pay Attention to Your Own Experience
As you think about how you want to improve site navigation on your own site, pay attention to your own browsing habits on other websites. Watching how you react to site navigation will teach you a lot about what works and doesn't work on your own site.
Z is for Zealous Improvement
Go back to letters E and T again and again, and take the Japanese "kaizen" approach to your website. That is to say, you should continuously improve your website based upon what you learn from experimentation and tracking the results.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
That is great practical advice. Although, I think you over looked social media. With SEO becoming so competitive, I think social media offers a nice alternative.
this site it's a great, make me know anything about online marketing, thx
Very practical guide indeed, what it takes now is to follow all these tips. A combination of quality SEO and social media would also give a very big boost to your marketing strategy plan.
Elias
I find it very interesting. You made it so easy. Tips from A to Z seems to be very beneficial for people like me who are most like to put up an Online Marketing business, if that's what you call it. I am still learning and hopefully with this article of yours, i could put it to a test. But of course, I have to start with the basics first and learn from there.
Thanks for the tips!
Great tips. I've been working with shopping centre based marketing for over 3 years, and wish I had this infomation whilst I was still working there. No so relevant to my current position, but some certianly are. What a great set of tips. Will certainly re-read these, and analyse current website.
Hi. Just wanted to say tnkhas for posting about the Page Menu Editor plugin. I have been a longtime user of the very good All-In-One SEO plugin, but decided to use the excellent WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin on my latest site. It’s a very nice plugin, but it meant that I lost the AIOS feature that lets me specify a menu entry that differs from the page name. The Page Menu Editor has fixed that for me. Thanks again!