Research the voice of your user

My original plan was to finish my recap on OMS, but I feel that this is an important topic to touch on.

The success of your company depends on how you are able to align your business to the needs of your audience, The best way to do that is to make sure it's in a way that they understand. Sounds simple doesn't it? Well it's harder then most people think because they don't take the time to research their audience. The easiest thing you can do is tap into your current customer base. You already won them over, and they will be happy that you value their opinion. Find out what they like or dislike about what you have to offer, and how can you do it better. Too many companies don't do this because they are scared of negative criticism. If we all agree that everything should be about the user, they should be the first person you turn to when you need feedback. They are the ones buying your product. Not only do you have to listen to their needs, but you also have to put it in a way that they understand it. On Saturday I got to hear a session on Business Intelligence by Doug Lenos, and he said you need to harvest the voice of the user. Well how do you do that you might ask. When you are doing your keyword research you need to find out what types of keywords that your users are searching on to get to your site, and use those keywords to write your copy. You don't want to make it hard on them, because you would have lost them before they even got to your door. The reason why this topic is fresh on my mind is because I had a friend come up to me and ask me to help him do some research on a product that he wanted to buy. I sure no sweat, and spent an hour or so on google, and sent him a whole list of links to check out. He was shocked to see that I was able to find so much "useful" information. He was shocked to hear that all I did was search on google. I asked him what resources did he use when he was researching, and he said google. Then I asked him what keywords did he use. The keyword phrases that he used were very broad. He told me that he didn't spend much time, and was hoping to find something rather quickly. He also told me that not once did he go past the first page. When I told him what phrases, and techniques that I used he said he would have never thought of that. This is a perfect example of how end users search. If you do your homework, and research what keywords and phrases your customers are using to get to you and provide them with relevant information you will get them every time. Sometimes I forget that figuring out keyword combinations is what I do, and this is not something that the average user does.

When we are marketing our product a lot of the time we don't take the time to view it from the eyes of the user. I guarantee you this: If you take the time to research the voice of your user, and align your business around them you WILL be rewarded.

Ease of use for your users should come first...

Even if it means it takes a bit of work on your end.

Yeah I know it's been ages since my last post, but when you are a busy marketeer sometimes personal blogging takes the backseat. With that said on to my topic.

One of my biggest pet peeves is a site that is hard to navigate. If I can't get what I need within 3-5 clicks I feel like I am wasting my time. In a world where everyone is trying to get things done quickly and efficiently you can not afford to have a website that is hard to use. Being a designer I understand the need to have a website that is well designed, but if your design makes your site hard to use then your site is worthless.

Here are my top 5 tips that will improve your users experience on your site

1. Have a good Navigation Structure
Your nav bar is how your user moves through your site. Take the time to make sure that your navigation scheme is orginized which makes for fast travel through your site If your website is large you might want to consider putting like items into sections and having a sub nav.

2. Develop a Sitemap
Other than assisting in the area of SEO, your sitemap is a place that users turn to when they need to find something in a hurry or when they get lost. Organize the links in a way that's easy to follow.

3. Make it easy to get back home
I know this seems like a no brainer, but I still run across sites that make it hard to get back to the homepage. I don't think just making your logo a link back to the homepage is enough. Also at the very least sdd a link in your nav that goes back to the homepage. You might want to consider adding a breadcrumb trail to your site. Breadcrumbs are becoming more popular they help the user understand the hierarchy of your website. It also gives them a way to jump up to higher levels of your site.

4. Allow the user to search for what they want.
This is a big one for larger sites, but consider adding an internal search feature on your site. This will give the user another tool to find what they are looking for. Adding a search bar is not hard, and very inexpensive. Sites like google will allow you to have a search bar on your site in minutes by just adding a bit of code that they provide to your website.

5. Ask for feedback
Just like a car it's always good to fine tune your website. Have some outside users go though and QC your websites navigation and usability. Give them a list a things to find and see if it takes them more then 2 clicks to find it. Take their feed back and use it to improve your process.

Freebie! Make a custom 404 page
I couldn't cut the list down to 5 so you get one for free. No one likes getting the ever so hated "page not found" page. To fix that create a custom 404 page. Have your 404 page redirect to the sitemap, or provide a group of common links. This way you will help those users that get a bad link or try to access an old page find their way.

I know there are many more areas that I could cover, but I feel that those are some of the major points. If you have those points covered you know that your users will have a good experience on your site, and be able to find what they need with ease.