| Watching a recent football game, I imagined two | | | | investment. What they didnât understand was |
| very different teams: one called âThe | | | | that though the SEO battled the war for that |
| Hordersâ and the other, âThe | | | | coveted spot, they had no control over the |
| Huntersâ. In the game, it takes planning and skill | | | | visitorsâ journey afterwards. Thatâs up to |
| to carry a football a few yards. Thereâs | | | | the design team. |
| interference and distractions. Scantily clad dancing girls | | | | ( saw the light. âPracticing SEM without |
| are screaming cheers nearby. | | | | addressing usability issues is like buying ad space |
| How different, I wonder, is this from finding | | | | during the Super Bowl and then turning the lights off. |
| something in search engines? You have ads on the | | | | It's hard to do business when your customers can't |
| sidelines and pages to push through while trying to | | | | find what you're selling,â says company |
| get to your goal. If you happen to find something | | | | President, Gregg Banse. |
| that looks like what you want, you click on it and | | | | Mirror Mirrorâ¦Who Has the Best Web |
| race down the field in a blaze of glory, until you | | | | Site of Them All? |
| realize youâre lost. Worse, you were just | | | | Once upon a time, few people cared about search |
| sacked by a web page piled high with gobs of stuff | | | | engine optimization and the web site visitor |
| and tiny text soldiers are jumping on your head. | | | | experience. |
| Itâs Not the Search Enginesâ Fault | | | | Then suddenly web sites stopped being online |
| Believe it or not, search engines and user centered | | | | brochures. They started to do stuff, like let you |
| web design have a common goal. They want to | | | | choose the make, model, color and floor mats for |
| provide the best experience for their web site visitor. | | | | your next car. Or, sell your living room couch or bid |
| Even better, they want that experience to be | | | | for Elvis records. Suddenly, Internet software |
| productive, satisfying and memorable. | | | | applications are everywhere and they not only must |
| For their part, search engine technology changes | | | | function, but also be ready for use by a huge variety |
| often as they find ways to better understand the | | | | of people, including special needs customers. |
| subject of each web page. Not only that, they have | | | | Todayâs top web design companies offer |
| a keen interest in how you think and how you search | | | | search engine optimization and marketing, as well as |
| for things. | | | | usability testing and skilled user centered design staff. |
| A user centered web site designer is thinking the | | | | Theyâre hired to construct a web site that |
| same sweet thoughts on your behalf. They lie awake | | | | achieves business requirements, while also surviving |
| at night worrying about putting form fields in the | | | | an uphill battle in search engines. Their usability |
| proper order and placing links or call to action buttons | | | | specialist is a bonus for a clientâs long term |
| in places where theyâll help someone with a | | | | success because their input increases conversions. |
| task. They, like search engine developers, know you | | | | Pioneering user experience design skills include |
| want specific, accurate information at the push of a | | | | persuasive design, copywriting, information |
| button. You want it preferably without running around | | | | architecture, and creating an emotional connection |
| the site in circles. You want it now. | | | | with web site visitors. Itâs not just about colors |
| Enter Coach SEO | | | | anymore. |
| On the other hand, most web site owners want | | | | 7th Pixel provides SEO/SEM services, and |
| other things. They want sales, traffic, popularity, | | | | theyâll bring in a usability specialist, âFor |
| requests for quotes, newsletter signups, and number | | | | our client's sake, â adds Gregg. |
| one rank in search engines. In the 1990âs there | | | | âSometimes, despite our best intentions, we're |
| was this weird belief, based on a baseball movie, that | | | | too close to the project. A fresh pair of eyes |
| if you build it, they will come. The rude awakening | | | | without predisposition can help us evaluate and |
| that other people built a web site, selling the same | | | | correct something we either overlooked or dismissed |
| product, gave birth to search engine optimization, | | | | as inconsequential. That helps us provide a better |
| otherwise known as SEO. | | | | product to our clients and that's good for |
| The job of an SEO professional is to make your web | | | | business.â |
| site easy for search engines to find it, add it to their | | | | Landing Pages |
| database for retrieval, and make it appear near the | | | | Another hot demand for user centered design that |
| top of search results pages by helping robots | | | | focuses on a specific task is âlanding |
| understand the topic of each page. | | | | pages.â Not all Internet advertisements point to |
| Initially this was simple, because there was less | | | | a home page. Todayâs trend is to send the |
| competition. Fewer people were using the Internet to | | | | visitor to a page inside the web site that helps them |
| buy cars and books. We werenât so greedy | | | | achieve their task quickly and effectively. |
| either. In those days, a web site with 18 point glassy | | | | For example, a college site is searchable by its name, |
| blue text in all caps against a wood-grain background | | | | or they may purchase a Google Ad intended to |
| with animated spinning logo was happily tolerated to | | | | come up on a search for âcollege |
| learn how to get rich quick. | | | | catalogsâ. When the ad appears, instead of |
| Therefore, the craft of making web pages rank well | | | | taking the visitor to the homepage, where they have |
| in search engines was the number one the goal, not | | | | to hunt for the course catalog and learn the web |
| making a web site that people would enjoy using. | | | | site, the âlanding pageâ will take them |
| Then Came the Human Factor | | | | directly to where they can download or order it. |
| On the heels of SEO came search engine marketing | | | | Even more, a user centered landing page will direct |
| (SEM). Search engines and directories permit paying | | | | the visitor to other points of interest they may not |
| for rank and keyword bidding. SEM tackles this | | | | have thought of, such as admission schedule dates, |
| marketing arm by guiding companies through the | | | | campus life highlights or adult night class options. |
| maze of options. | | | | Christine Churchill, President of KeyRelevance, ( helps |
| Competing industries determined to be number one in | | | | companies purchase keywords and ads, as well as |
| searches also created a technique that forced | | | | create productive landing pages. She feels, "From my |
| submitting web pages designed only for search | | | | perspective usability and optimization are so |
| engine robots and another version for people. Some | | | | intertwined I can't look at a site and not wear both |
| SEO methods manipulate content intended for robots | | | | hats. Improvements we make to help a user |
| to make sense of - not people. | | | | navigate the site also improve it for search engines. |
| Of course, this wild web page bonanza was going to | | | | A search engine spider crawling the site is the |
| backfire, and it did. While some SEM companies | | | | ultimate usability test." |
| promised rank guarantees, smart web site owners | | | | The Proof Is in the Profit |
| were noticing something peculiar was happening. | | | | User testing and poor conversions drive some web |
| People were leaving their web site as soon as they | | | | site redesign projects, where the site is pulled back |
| arrived. When you pay for every keyword click thru, | | | | into the shop. Customer needs and business |
| and itâs not generating revenue in return, the | | | | objectives are re-addressed. Matt Bailey, Web |
| accounting department notices. | | | | Marketing Director for The Karcher Group ( describes |
| Slowly, quietly and smartly, some SEOâs began | | | | a recent series of redesign projects. |
| to look for people in the usability industry to help | | | | "All were redesigned using usability principles and |
| them. Clients were unhappy with results that were | | | | testing, all have experienced some crazy success in |
| not the SEOâs fault. They demanded financial | | | | sales simply in going live with the new site - even |
| figures to prove SEO would bring a return on their | | | | before any rankings were touched. |