Lost in translation

by

Working with businesses who use multiple languages can be quite challenging. Everything, from titles and text, to captions for images and links to the correct language translation page needs to be thought of, including disclaimers and error messages. The meaning of language There is also the possibility that a marketing message can be lost in … Read more

Which social media channel to use?

by

Which social media channel do you use? Do you know why? Have you looked into whether the channel you are using suits your business or your target demographic and their buying habits or do you “have a Facebook page because everyone has one”? Different social media sites for everyone Different social media channels attract different … Read more

Page speed insights

by

I’ve done two SEO reports within the last couple of months for businesses in two different industries and both of them had serious page load issues. This can have a serious knock on effect for both SEO and engagement or conversion. Optimise web images Site 1, a luxury travel brand, had used big glossy images … Read more

Design collaboration with business stakeholders

by

I’m interested to read the UX professionals survey by NN Group as they advocate the use of round tables with the business owner to review the initial designs and pick and choose the best of each design. In my experience, this doesn’t result in a cohesive whole. Many of the designers I have worked with … Read more

No one is signing up to my email newsletters

by

Let’s overlook the obvious first check to make, which is how many people are visiting that page, and take a quick look at another issue that might be the cause. I tried to sign up this morning to a good cause – it had quite an unusual spam check, I thought – the email newsletter … Read more

My inbox is full

by

My inbox is full of emails from Pay4Later, Paypal and Channel Advisor regarding Singles Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday with tips on how to use email marketing to maximise the benefit of these key retail dates and gain those extra sales. It’s also full of the eCommerce retailers that I have signed up for … Read more

Can’t pay, they’ve taken the ability to make online payments away!

by

In response to security concerns of SSL 3.0 vulnerability to Poodle attack, Sagepay are upgrading their system and subsequently have announced they won’t be supporting Internet Explorer 8 and older from the 2nd December. Does this really matter when these users make up less than 5% of the global users in 2015? Biggest payment processing … Read more

Know your panda from your penguin?

by

I was asked recently to explain the difference between these two algorithm changes made by Google in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Panda, named after a Google engineer, was designed to root out real content. It was no longer enough to stuff a bunch of keywords onto a page to achieve page one ranking. Google got … Read more

The perfect product page

by

I’m a fan of simple layouts and one of my constant gripes is product pages on eCommerce websites. I just don’t understand why shop owners feel the need to cram endless pieces of twaddle onto their product pages. I want a price and a big buy now button at the very top of the page. … Read more

What’s wrong with my website image?

by

There’s a problem with my website – this image isn’t showing. My images don’t look right, what’s wrong? I have spent a great deal of time over the years troubleshooting image uploads on websites. Sometimes, the issue is caused by the file name; the file has been uploaded with a space so it has been … Read more

Websites work harder in 2015

by

We’re in the run up to the Christmas shut-down and project planning has been done to the year end, so I have been reflecting on the work that has been completed or will be completed this year. Website basics When I first started in the business of website design, business owners would come to me … Read more

We want Twitter/ Facebook/ Google+/ Instagram/ Pinterest/ Linkedin…

by

“We want social on our site”, I get told. My first question is why? Does your target market hangout on Google? Is Facebook suitable for your B2B business? What are you hoping to gain from being on these platforms – sales, brand recognition, customer support? What type of social works on your website? I can … Read more

Copywriting woes

by

A friend of mine is a freelance copywriter and she has just taken part in a survey of UK copywriters, most of whom were grumbling about the state of the industry. It seems that a copywriter suffers from the same problem that a graphic designer does, the customer often thinks they know better than the … Read more

Employee training on the web

by

An awful lot of business owners, especially small business owners who are too busy to do it themselves, delegate ‘the website’ to the nearest employee. This can be a good thing or a bad thing and depends on the competence and interest level of the person involved. Early adopters A computer savvy youngster might not … Read more

Lies, damned lies and Analytics

by

We’ve all been told that we need to pay attention to visitor analysis on our website, but how much of what we can see reflects reality?  As the bastardised phrase above says ‘lies, damned lies, and statistics’ – statistics need to be interpreted and Google Analytics is no different than any other data set.  It … Read more

Good website design doesn’t make me think

by

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug was a great read when I first read it over ten years ago now and so I am delighted to find that he has written a follow up revised version since (2014). I’ll admit, a lot of what Steve talks about I think of as common sense – in fact the strapline for the book is “A common sense approach to web usability” but I am surprised at how many people, good web designers among them, don’t take a logical approach to a website layout.

Read more