Are you tired of having a website that no one sees and no one uses? Are you searching for your company name in the search engines and not seeing your website in the top 100 listings? Are you frustrated with the lack of visitors to your website? Without the right search engine optimization (SEO), placement, and search engine marketing (SEM) campaign and the right goals, your website is nothing more than a fancy Internet brochure - something to put on the bottom of a business card and company letterhead and forget about.

Website Element Rating Structure

• Bad - The element is poorly done and hinders its intended purpose
• Poor - The element does not hinder its purpose, but it does little or nothing to achieve it.
• Mediocre - The element achieves its website purpose to some extent, but does not do so impressively.
• Good - The element achieves its intended purpose and is close to the peak of its effectiveness.
• Excellent - The element achieves its purpose, and we have no suggestions as to its improvement.

Website Usability & Copy Critique
XYZ Company

Stage 1. The Probing Stage.
Will Visitors Click Past the Homepage?
XYZ Company’s Website Rating*: Mediocre

Explanation: The copy is straightforward, but not much more. The format of the copy, wording, tone, selection of information provided, and the flow do not have the feel of a polished, professionally-written sales piece. The initial impression of the graphics elements and their layout on the page are that they are not as polished or well-positioned as they could be. The white space is not particularly well utilized (it’s good not to crowd too much text close together for readability reasons, but white space shouldn’t be ‘unexpected’, it should be used to ease eye-strain). For example, there is a large white space to the right of the logo which is not good use of very important space. There is a lot of white space (actually it’s green space since the background is green) underneath the picture of the woman (who is rather superfluous since she is obviously a stock photo and will mean nothing to the viewer).

Solution: Rewrite the homepage text to create compelling, benefit-oriented copy that immediately addresses the needs of your target audience and convinces your visitors that your company will have solutions that solve their problems. Rearrange the graphics elements so that the navigation bar is closer to the top of the page. Remove the picture of the woman.

Also for usability reasons it is highly recommended that you switch to black text on a white background. Myriad studies show that anything else is simply hard to read, will discourage visitors, and is less than optimal.

Stage 2. The Exploration.
Are Visitors Questions Answered?
XYZ Company’s Website Rating: Poor to Mediocre

Explanation: The content is thin. There is no orientation on the packages pages. The visitor is immediately launched into a bulleted list with no explanation. Long bulleted lists of features simply aren’t very good selling tools. Bullets ARE advised to ease readability, but it is also suggested that no more than 7 (+-) 2 bullets be used in any batch. And from a marketing standpoint, features should not be introduced without discussing their benefits to the user.

The navigation could be more user friendly. The “close” boxes aren’t really very standard. Link names on the navigation like “ABCN” are not recommended. As a general rule of thumb, ask yourself, “will someone know what it is behind this link before they click on it”. If not, the navigation link is not named optimally. It took us over 3 separate visits to the site to figure out that you could click on the links ABOVE the drop down menus and there were pages there. Using a picture as the only link back to HOME is not intuitive to everyone.

Potential clients will be convinced that you can solve their problems if your website answers their questions. The website does not do this well. Nowhere on the current site do we answer the visitor’s question “How does this benefit me?” Some of the most visitor-friendly info is on the “Why XYZ Company?” page, but these differentiators should be highlighted much sooner in a visitor’s exploration process.

Solution: Rewrite content to explain the benefits of your services to clients. Hit upon your differentiators on the homepage. There is no reason to hide your USP (unique selling proposition). It should be immediately obvious to your visitors what you do, how you can help them, and why you are the best choice. A general rethinking of the navigation is suggested, but it probably won’t need a complete overhaul.

Stage 3. The Decision or “Buy Now” Stage.
Is the Desired Action Clear and Simple for the Visitor?
XYZ Company’s Website Rating: Bad

Explanation: The Contact Us button is actually hidden under the “Why XYZ Company” link. This is a huge No-No. It definitely needs to go on the main top navigation. You do have a Contact Us on the bottom navigation and towards the middle of the homepage, but a lot of visitor’s won’t ever look at the bottom of the page, and it’s unrealistic to expect visitors to read the entire homepage.

You only have one way to contact you: through a form. A phone number makes people feel much safer (even if they don’t call it). And at least give them an email address and a physical address—let them know you are a real presence and you could be contacted in a pinch. The contact form is also not very user friendly. “Location that interests you?” Does that mean that visitors have to go back searching through the website to figure out which locations you have available? That’s sort of asking a lot.

Solution: Reduce the number of fields on the contact form and make the remaining ones easy to fill out. Provide a better explanation of what they will receive when they fill out the quote form. When can they expect a response? Will they be called or emailed? Provide additional contact information for those people who don’t like to fill out forms or who want additional security that there is a “voice on the other end of the line”. Move the Contact Us Button so it’s a main link on the top navigation.

Website Usability & Copy Critique
ABC Company

Stage 1. The Probing Stage.
Will Visitors Click Past the Homepage?
ABC Company Website Rating*: Mediocre

Explanation: The first paragraph is catchy, but confusing. It’s fairly unclear what you do. The “Get a Free Quote” element is good, but the user is confused as to what service they are getting a free quote for.

Solution: Rewrite the homepage text to better express your services. The first paragraph of text can be used, but it must be supplemented.

Stage 2. The Exploration.
Are Visitors Questions Answered?
ABC Company Website Rating: Poor

Explanation: Your content is thin. Even basic questions, such as what exactly you do are not easily answered. More specific questions such as details of your benefits are most often left completely unanswered. The “Getting Started” page does not explain how to get started. The FAQ page answers only health care questions and does not even address that particularly well. You never explain the different memberships available to people or exactly what a membership will entail.

There are also serious navigation problems that make specific information on the website very hard to find. Users are forced to click through tier 3 pages to find tier 4 and 5 pages that should have been easily accessible. The left navigation changes sometimes, but not always, and there is no warning to a visitor that it has changed. (A typical website visitor will assume left navigation is constant and will not scan that area again unless they are warned of the change via a color scheme or other navigational aid.) Therefore, left hand navigation on the current site will often not be seen. The navigation of “clicking on a state to get to your area” is only an effective navigational aid if there are actually different pages for each state.

Solution: Build an information rich, easily navigable website that tells about your services in detail and in specifics so that your target audience can get a crystal clear picture of exactly what you can do for them and how you are different from your competitors.

Stage 3. The Decision or “Buy Now” Stage.
Is the Desired Action Clear and Simple for the Visitor?
ABC Company Website Rating*: Good

Explanation: “Get a FREE Quote” is liberally used throughout the site, and the action website visitors should take is clear. The contact information is easy to find. The contact page, however, says “For more information, send us an email.” This could be better qualified by explaining what should be put in the email and also by providing a general (non-quote) contact form for people who want a more structured method of contact. On the quote page, you explain what the quote is for, but it is not prominent in your text and might be missed by scanners.

Solution: Minor changes to the contact page. A better explanation of what they will receive when they fill out the quote form.

Still not convinced? Hear it from clients who have experienced our professional website marketing first-hand. Feel free to call any of our search engine marketing references. We know once you talk to them you'll be calling us. We're a premier vendor in the Bradenton, Florida Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Firm, Web Site Promotion Firm section of Marketingtool.com.

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