In the last decade, tracking website analytics has rapidly evolved from simply data crunching to a very powerful decision making platform. Web analytics is an important tool for Internet marketers and web designers alike to make choices about how to improve traffic flow, design calls to action, update search engine optimization and enhance the overall strategy of a website.

Paying close attention to visitor behavior on a website through analytics, is very similar to paying attention to the consumer behavior for a store, brand or product.  Think of it this way… a store manager arranges their shop with the most marketable items in places that grab the shopper’s attention and are easily accessible and highly visible. Just as the store manager is looking to make the shopper’s experience more satisfying by arranging their store based on the habits of his consumers, so that it is easy and enjoyable to navigate through, a website creator should take into account what information is most sought after on their website and the habits and pathways visitors are taking to get there.

Without web analytics it is next to impossible to measure and analyze website visitor behavior. Analyzing visitor behavior allows you to determine activity as it affects profit, sales and areas (pages) of interest. Page views, navigation, entry and exit pages, time spent, languages, geographic locations, visits, and keywords used in searches are a few of the features that are able to be determined using web analytics. By simply tracking items that are most often viewed you can learn what items or products on your site, receive the most attention. In this way you can adapt your offerings to attract more traffic and while doing so monitor what sparks and keeps visitor’s attention.

The Net Impact team places special emphasis on the importance of clickstream tracking, or the following of a visitor’s clickstream as they move throughout a website, down to every microscopic detail. This analysis offered by Google under the name Event Tracking Tool,  allows you to track every movement your visitor makes as a unique event. Analyzing every small movement, or micro-conversion, your visitor makes provides you with useful feedback used to make changes to your website to improve your visitor’s experience, which will in turn enhance the overall value of your website. Every micro-conversion a visitor makes is important because, no matter how small the movement is, it is still conversion, you are still getting the visitor to do what you want them to dig deeper and deeper into your website.

An excellent example of this is The Net Impact’s findings with the website www.vangoghgallery.com. VanGoghGallery.com is an online collection of Van Gogh’s works. The website received thousands of visitors each day. The Net Impact helped Van Gogh gallery setup Event Tracking Methods to gain greater insight into the navigation patterns of its main landing pages.  Through event tracking, Van Gogh Gallery was able to determine that the large image links on the page received 98.5% of the click-throughs compared 1.5%  for the side navigation links, going to the same page. This was helpful for determining the elements necessary on each page to get visitors to take the next step.

In conclusion, if you ever wondered how to analyze website user behavior, determine which search terms they come from, which pages are most visited, which pages are of least interest  and how to maximize your ROI, look into implementing  a Web Analytics solution. Analytics will help you conduct a behavioral analysis of your website visitors, and with that information you can make the required changes to your website that will improve your overall conversation rate and make your visitor’s website experience one that is enjoyable.

Coming from a print background has helped my web design greatly. Some of these helpful hints come directly from print design, while others were simply learned through experience. They are not in order of importance.

 1. Use typography to grab attention instead of a graphic. - You’ve heard to saying, “less is more.” It is most effective in web design because you have a very small window of time to get the reader’s attention. A big heading using only text will be more effective than a large graphic. Think about newspapers. In the same way a reader scans the newspaper they will scan a website looking for a heading to tell them what to read or what to do.

2. The grid is by far the best framework. - After you’ve gathered information about the site, start sketching a grid. Figure out how many columns are appropriate. Try to stay under 16 columns. Any higher and might find it hard to stay consistent. At the same time, a one or two column grid will probably be too restrictive. Do not simply guess the width of an element. Readers will positively respond to a mathematical layout.

 3. Don’t be afraid of white space. - This might be the most difficult concept to sell to a client. Break away from the old conventions of web design where you need a left and right border. While borders are purely preference, white space should not be. White space does not just mean the color white. It simply means to leave a little extra “air” in between your elements. Too tight and your elements will visually appear as one confusing mess.

4. The fold is very important. - Keep in mind most screens are still around 1280×760, so the fold will most likely under 760px. Try to keep your most important elements, like call to actions, above the fold.

5.Follow common typography rules.

- Hang your first quotation mark outside the body of text.

- Line height for body text should be at least 4px above the font size. For example: 12px Helvetica should have at least a 16px line height. Lines of text that are too close will be harder to read.

- Your main body of text should be around 10-16 words per line. Too long and the reader will struggle to find the next line down.

- Use no more than 2 font-families. I generally try to use just one. There are times, however, where you might want to use a different font for headings.

- Keep it simple. If you want a heading to stand out from the body, use no more than two differences. A good example: bigger type size and bold. A bad example: bigger type size, bold and italic. Sometimes just making the type size bigger is the perfect solution.

6. Reset your CSS browser defaults. - When it comes time to code your design remember to reset browser defaults in your css document. Different browsers like to add their own padding and margins to elements on the page. This will save time and major frustration.

Things to consider before using flash in web design

Although multimedia has its role on the web, current flash technology tends to discourage usability for three reasons:

1.) Makes bad design more likely

2.) Breaks with the web’s fundamental interaction style

3.) Consumes resources that would be better spent enhancing a site’s core value.

4.) Overuse of Flash can make your site all but invisible to the search engines (Flash and search engines are like oil and water)

About 99% of the time, the presence of Flash on a website constitutes a usability disease. Although there are rare occurrences of good Flash design (it even adds value on occasion), the use of Flash typically lowers usability. In most cases, we would be better off if these multimedia objects were removed. Flash is great when used well. For example, the current state and popularity of online video streaming with sites like YouTube wouldn’t exist in the way it does without it. The problem is that beyond this the disadvantages of using Flash far outweigh the benefits in most cases. (Jakob Nielsen’s study 2000)

While Google and Yahoo have made some advances in trying to index content from combined Flash and text-based sites, a site built entirely using Flash still faces nearly insurmountable obstacles when it comes to search engine optimization. The minor indexing improvements have not turned into benefits for site owners. A site that uses Flash for specific kinds of graphical content will not be penalized like a site that uses Flash for navigational elements, possibly frustrating the search engines’ ability to follow links from page to page.

Apart from increasing the load time of your website, excessive usage of Flash might also annoy the visitors. Use it only if you must offer features that are not supported by static pages. Being a browser plugin, it has a reputation of slowing down computers by using excessive CPU. Flash 10.1 however will support GPU usage to take the strain off the CPU. Which is nice. Flash is also frequently used for navigation, when it isn’t necessary at all. Remember, by doing this you are making it less accessible to use. Avoid this, as there are many great options using js libraries such as jQuery.

Bottom-line, Flash is good for very specific graphical elements. The rule-of-thumb you should apply is, “Does the Flash content compliment and support the content?” If it doesn’t, or worse, if it actually distracts from or inhibits the usability of your site, you may want to reconsider your choices…

Contact The Net Impact to learn how you can effectively add flash development into your online marketing strategy to enhance brand identity, increase customer satisfaction, improve marketing initiatives and showcase ideas in a way never before thought possible!

Are you placing enough emphasis on the importance of images in web design?

In the ongoing debate of content vs. image with regards to web design, one thing has become apparent; a website is most successful when the two elements complement each other. Yes, even on a website, a picture truly is worth a thousand words. An image may be the easiest, and the most appealing, way to send a message. Images are an integral part of web design, they hold the power to enhance the overall look and feel of a website and capture the attention of incoming traffic.

The “content is king” way of thinking, may hurt some websites. Images are an important part of web design, and their significance should be evenly considered with that of the content. While content gives necessary information and is constructed with the needs and desires of visitors in mind,  images are used to aid the information visually to the web users. When appropriate images and content work together your website is both informative and memorable to visitors. Unnecessary usage of images and inadequate content will result in a weak website.

Why incorporate images on your website?
• Influences the buying habit of the customers
• Images demonstrates the products and services effectively
• Images work to create a memorable impression

Images have a mesmerizing influence on the human mind. There has been a lot of experimentation with images on the Internet to give a more interactive, appealing look and thereby enhance effective communication. No matter how well-constructed and informative website content may be, it will never have the ability that images have to bring a visitor into a magical fold at the first glance.

Are web development and design companies using social media networks to improve traffic?

If  the answer is no, they are missing out on one of the most efficient, and not to mention one of the least expensive, ways to drive traffic to your website. Ranking opportunities, increase in brand recognition, both locally and globally, and engaging your target audience are just a few benefits of incorporating social networking links into an overall web development and design plan.

An excellent way to incorporate the presence of social networks into your website design strategy is to include social bookmarking tools on your site. This tool will give your reader the option to comment on your content, give feedback and to share your information with others. This is easily accomplished by placing social bookmarking tools at the end of each post. Many sites offer “share this” options which make it easy for readers to submit the page being viewed to popular social news web sites and communities such as Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter and email. This process of sharing valuable content online can be compared to word of mouth marketing, with the exception being when the information is online, the “buzz” instantly becomes a searchable asset.

To be a successful player in the increasingly popular social media game, a company must be in the business of consistent and relevant content publishing. Search engines and social network users respond positively to sites that are frequently updated. People who use social bookmarking sites want to know that you care enough about your content to submit it manually and to tell them why they might be interested in it. Every time you rate another site or communicate with another user, you are building up your credibility. Get on the good side of these people and you can use social bookmarking sites to greatly increase the traffic to your site!

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A great website starts with a goal. Ask yourself what it is that you want from your site. What image of your company do you want to portray? Are you looking to begin ecommerce and sell products and services straight from your site?

Once you have the answers to these questions then you can begin to design and develop your site. If you are new to this you might want to contact a web development and design company to assist you.

No matter if you get help or do it on your own you want to be sure to follow some simple guidelines. You want the content on your site to be focused. A visitor to your site should immediately know what services or products you are offering. If they don’t know what you provide they will quickly leave your site. The information needs to be useful and up to date. The content on your site should give you credibility in your industry so that visitors feel they can trust you and your products or services. Include newsletters about the latest occurrences in the industry or with your company, provide statistics, offer former client testimonials. The more information you have provided the safer a visitor will feel with your company.

A website will allow you to provide a wealth of information to your site visitors. Don’t throw all of that information at them on the main page. Include navigations that are simple and smooth. It should be easy for them to get through the information as they navigate around your site. Good organization and smooth navigations make it easy for them to find the information they are looking for so they don’t get frustrated and leave the site.

The look of your website should be appealing. The background colors and text colors and font should complement each other. If your site is hard to read people won’t read it, they will leave it. Remember that different browsers sometimes read colors differently so something that looks great on your screen might look horrible on a different screen using a different browser.

These are just a few of the things to consider when creating a great website. As you design your site, don’t forget your main goal. Don’t build your site geared towards your business gear your site toward the visitors so that they will become customers.

Websites have to accomplish many missions. One of the most important is being effective at getting people to perform whatever action you are wanting such as buying an item, submitting an email address or downloading a report. The rate at which you convert visitors to these actions has a significant impact on your ability to use pay per click (PPC) ads. If a click on an ad costs $5 and you convert 1 out of 10 (conversion rate equal 1/10 or .10, then it costs you $50 per action. If you value that action at more than $50, it makes sense to use PPC in your marketing strategy. Since PPC is an auction system and if the value of the actions are the same amongst competitors, then if you convert at a higher rate than your competitors, then you can bid a higher price per click and still achieve the same or better cost per action (cost per click / conversion rate = cost per action). Being able to bid a higher amount yields a higher position and more clicks which gets you more revenue than your competitors! An excellent series of articles on PPC strategies is at St Louis Pay Per Click