Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website - Step 6: Human Testing
Welcome to part six in this search engine positioning series.
Last week we discussed the importance of internal linking. In
part six we will cover the obvious and yet often overlooked
importance of its appeal to a real-live human being.
While not directly related to SEO it is so often overlooked
in the quest for higher search engine positioning that it has
become a fundamental step in our ten step series.
Over
this series we will cover the ten key aspects to a solid search
engine positioning campaign.
The Ten Steps We
Will Go Through Are:
- Keyword Selection
- Content Creation
- Site Structure
- Optimization
- Internal Linking
- Human Testing
- Submissions
- Link Building
- Monitoring
- The
Extras
Step Six - Human
Testing
The most important part of your website
is to reach the visitor. You have taken all the steps to create
a great design and added SEO elements to your site, you have
created the perfect online presence. Now to see if all that hard
work has attained the main goal, to reach the visitor and steer
them in the direction most desirable.
First things first,
now's the time to check for the careless errors that happen
along the way, things like spelling mistakes, paragraph breaks,
incorrect wording etc. Once you have given your new beauty a
once over pass it around and get others to do the same,
preferably people who have never read the content before. The
problem with relying on yourself to proof read is that you
already expect what you are going to see and do not read it in
its entirety the way someone would at first glance.
Once
the text is out of the way have some fresh eyes again take a
look at the site. Are there images that they find appealing,
unappealing, distracting? Is there anything in the layout of the
content that is too busy or confusing? Once you've done a check
of the visual appeal of the site you will move onto
navigation.
When having someone test your site navigation
it is again very important to use fresh eyes, make sure these
people have no idea what to expect or where to find anything -
this way they will be free to follow your beautifully laid out
website or fumble and stumble into some dark hole of your site,
lost screaming for help. Okay, perhaps I may have given the
worst-case scenario however, how many of us can say we have
never been in that horrid place? These human testers will be
sure to let you know just how your site navigation works for
them. They are the average visitor and if they find what they
are looking for easily then you can congratulate yourself on
having such great intuition and move on to the rest of the tests
to come. If there are problems in the navigation I cannot stress
enough how very important it is that you address these
immediately. You must get the desired information across as
easily and quickly as possible.
While on the topic of
navigation let's discuss the different possibilities of the
placement of your main navigation. The majority of sites out
there either have their main nav on the left or the top of the
page. Is there one that is better? Well, they both have their
perks, either is good, anything else is bad. The majority of
visitors look in these two places to navigate because that is
where it always is. There will be other navigation elements
throughout your site that will not be listed in your main
navigation area, these internal text and image links should be
well placed and easily followed IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. It's great
to give the visitor the option to check out information further
into your site but you really want to be sure they can get back
to where they came from, especially if you are sending them off
to information and away from the product pages. Ways to achieve
this are to have the information open in a new window, add a
"back to previous page" link or add breadcrumb navigation. What
you choose will depend on the overall structure of your site as
well as the size of your site. If the main nav includes all of
your pages (as in some small sites) then there is no need to add
these nav elements however in larger sites it is easy for a
visitor to get lost if the navigation has not been tried and
tested and designed specifically for ease of use. All in all,
play with the navigation and test and retest it until there are
no problems. The site navigation is so very important - your
visitors MUST be able to browse through your site easily and
without frustration.
The placement of your content is
equally important. If you are selling something obviously you
want it offered as easily as possible, and you don't just want
it to be available - you want to sell it. There are many ideas
to consider when deciding on the placement of certain content. A
great read that really shows the way a visitor looks through
your site can be found at http://w
ww.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/main.htm. Taking a look
through this information can give you lots of tips to work with
in deciding on product and special offer placement etc. In the
above-mentioned article you will be able to see the way an
average visitor views a website, the pattern in which their eyes
follow the information, the advertising positions that are most
effective, etc. This is a great resource for you and your
company.
Quite possibly one of the most useful tools
available is found at http://www.clicktrac
ks.com/ananlyzer/. This tool will show you all the very
specific details of how visitors are navigating your site. This
tool is many steps above your typical web stats, it will show
you details so specific that you can not only see the search
term a visitor used to find you but what search engine they came
from and the path they followed through your site right down to
which search term is selling the most on your site. This highly
detailed information can be an incredibly valuable tool for you.
With access to such info you can, over time, adjust your
content, navigation, and SEO based on these reports - watching
the changes happen and see the effects not just make good
guesses.
The value of having an average visitor test
your site and get real feedback is huge. You have no choice but
to be a little biased when viewing your own site and this
outsider information can give you tips that you may have only
wished you had. Don't put your site out there and wonder what
all the visitors are thinking and doing, just ask! You may even
go as far as having a poll included on your website, so long as
it's not popping up every time they click a link. A simple "we
welcome your feedback" email form on your contact or profile
page would be a professional simple way to keep up with what the
visitors are liking or disliking on a continuous basis.
Next Week
Now that your site has been
designed, had SEO elements added, tested and edited, you are
ready to submit it to the search engines and get those visitors
coming. Stay tuned for the next article in this 10 part series
"Submissions".
