…ask the major search engines
A client recently asked Umlungu to help them understand how visitors experienced a couple of websites. Even we were somewhat surprised at the results.
We’re not saying it, they are
Real people who live in the real world visit websites. We wanted to make sure our findings represented their experiences. So we designed the tasks to be as close as possible to how people use the web.
For example, when asked to find a person’s contact details, we asked them to do the task once by starting at Google, and once again at one of the websites under review.
What the tests told us
Search engines can:
- Be an efficient way for people to locate content on a website.
- Also be a very confusing way of navigating a website.
- Expose visitors to some relevant alternatives, for example visitors can see better prices, better quality, greater convenience and much more at a single glance.
In a nutshell, if there is some dirt (or polish) on a business, search engines will lay it out for all to see.
Need proof? Try this
- Choose a company that you have an account with. For example a clothing store, supermarket or cellphone company.
- Pretend (if you have to) that you have just received a ridiculously large invoice.
- Insert personal choice of expletive and reach for your preferred contact method. (Okay, okay, we know it’s the phone, but let’s pretend it’s the internet.)
- Fire up your favourite browser and look for the contact details of the company’s accounts department.
And experience it first hand
See what you got by following the steps above? Instead of (hopefully) finding the accounts department’s contact details, chances are you will also find:
- The odd press release
- Opinions from customers with similar issues
- The odd offer from competing companies
- A myriad of other results that may have a lot (or nothing) to do with what you were looking for
Following these links could take you to the right page on the right website, a wrong page on the right website or an entirely different website altogether.
Now contrast this with a situation where a visitor lands on the home page of a website and then tries to get hold of the accounts department.
A company’s ability to influence the experience of its website visitors depends heavily on how they enter the website.
How you can make sure Google works with you, not against you
Well for starters, do you know how much of your website traffic comes from search engines? Once you know this you can decide on how much emphasis you need to place on designing different paths through your website.
If you feel these paths are important then:
- Ensure you cater for many entry points to your website, and not just the home page.
- Do good search engine optimisation on these additional entry points, because you need the search engines to know they exist (talk to us about our search engine optimisation services).
- Optimise the communication, design and processes that flow from these pages.
- Monitor the pages and refine them over time.
Even if you don’t receive a lot of traffic from search engines, it may be valuable to stop thinking of your website as a self-contained whole, but rather as part of the deliciously entangled World Wide Web.
Get to know your website’s visitors. Talk to Umlungu.
Umlungu is proud to have developed and built the back-end of the system on which the 2009 Loerie Awards has been running. The judging process - for which we built the engine – has been running smoothly. The finalists have now been announced, and the winners will be announced at the festival in Cape Town, which runs from 24 to 27 September.
Umlungu’s role in projects like these can be likened to an essential, but unseen part of your car’s engine. Nobody notices us until something goes wrong. So, in this case, not being noticed means we did a good job.
Built the administration system behind the interface.
Designed and developed their new website. Ran their entire digital channel (internet website, extranet and intranet) for a period of 4 years until this work was in-sourced.
Designed and built new website.
Carried out usability testing, focus groups and design and development of website.
Name: Gillian Wood
Age: 53
Occupation: Supermarket manager
Relationship: Married, three children
Uses the internet for: Email, social networking
Gillian has no great need for the internet. But since her sister has recently emigrated to New Zealand, she opened an internet email account to stay in touch.
She is an inexperienced internet user – as are a lot of your visitors.
Plan your website for the Gillians
Chances are a lot of your visitors/customers are inexperienced. Your website/interface needs to be user-friendly, so someone like Gillian can use it.
One of the first steps toward this is wireframing.
Umlungu designs and wireframes solutions
Umlungu will establish your visitors’ needs and yours – through consultation with you, expert analysis, competitor analysis, user testing, etc. Then we will design and wireframe a solution.
What this means to you
- A wireframe shows you exactly what the finished product will look like – and you can make changes before forking out development costs.
- It’s cost-effective, because changes to it are quick, easy and inexpensive.
- From the wireframe, you can design/build something right the first time, rather than spending huge amounts on backtracking and fixing mistakes.
Wireframes are a small (but essential) cog in the bigger machinery of what we do. To find out more about how we can help you, please contact us.
Name: David Greene
Age: 41
Occupation: Lecturer in Natural Sciences
Relationship status: Married, two children
Uses the internet for: Scientific research, online gaming
David is a very sophisticated web user. His online research extends into his personal life, and he’ll often read up on a product or service before deciding which one he wants.
David knows he has choices.
Make sure David picks you
To get David – and people like him – to prefer your site above that of your competitors, you need to know what’s out there.
And you need to build/adjust your website so that it stands out from the rest.
Umlungu does competitor analysis
Your offer does not exist in isolation – search engines will show you that. We can critically and expertly evaluate your online offer in relation to that of your competitors. We take into account technical, copy, graphic and architectural aspects.
What this means to you
The results of competitor analysis means you can:
- Identify who you’re competing against, and find out how you can better serve your customers.
- Identify the order in which improvements to your interface should be made.
- Discover what sets your business’ online presence apart from that of your competitors. These qualities can then be highlighted in your marketing efforts.
- Identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position.
To find out more on how Umlungu’s competitor analysis can help solve your problem, or what other solutions we can provide, please contact us.
Name: Nazli Patel
Age: 33
Occupation: Call centre operator
Relationship: Divorced, one child
Uses the internet for: Banking, online dating
Nazli’s ex-husband is a lawyer. When they argued, he would often use big words and jargon to try and put her down. Nazli now hates it when people beat around the bush.
Which is why she left your website after only a few seconds.
Speak Nazli’s language
Your website visitors/interface users don’t have time to read pages and pages of copy. They want you to speak to them in a way they can understand: in plain language.
Umlungu knows good communication
Good communication is key. We can create effective, plain language copy. Because good communication can help you achieve your goals, but bad communication can drive visitors (and customers) away.
We can also do communication audits on your existing interface. We find out exactly where your verbal communication fails, and where it succeeds.
What this means to you
If your audience can understand what you’re saying, it will:
- significantly improve the usability – and ultimately the number of users – of your interface.
Talk to us about talking to your audience here.
