Top 10 Usability Issues for Blogs

Brian’s Top 10 List for Blogs

Slide 2

1. Strategy: No Clear Blogging Strategy

2. Credibility: Lack of Credibility Cues on Blogs

3. Headlines: Poorly Written Headlines to Grab Attention

4. Navigation: Using Only One Navigation Scheme

5. Content: Writing Ineffective Content

6. Frequency: Infrequent or Irregular Updates

7. Burying: Classic Hits are Buried

8. Bad Forms: Cumbersome Forms to Use

9. Search: Bad Search Forces Users to Think

10.Un-responsive: Blog Can Only Be Views on One Device

1. No Clear Blogging Strategy

It Always Starts With Strategy

25 Basic Styles of Blogging

25 Basic Styles of Blogging

Combine Strategies

Insight Blog: Mobile & Forms

Video Blog: View Presentations

Link Blog: Data Mondays

Event Blog: Convey UX

Your Strategy Defines You!

1. Luke as an Expert:

- Three Books, But One Blog

- Luke W is now a personal brand

2. Data Mondays:

- Probably, links from a Google Search

- Resources for many designers

3. Video Blog Posts:

- Self-promotion, but that’s ok

- The videos are really good

4. Mixture of Writing Style:

- Link, video, presentation, and event posts

- Data is on Monday (at a set frequency)

2. Lack of Credibility

Four Types of Credibility

1. Presumed Credibility: You already have heard of this

person or brand. (Ex: Known brands vs generic brands.)

2. Reputed Credibility: You have heard of this person or

site from someone you trust. (Ex: Your friend likes it.)

3. Surface Credibility: You like how something looks on a

casual inspection. (Ex: Looks good vs looks confusing.)

4. Earned Credibility: You know it is credible from your

personal experience. (Ex: Good customer service.)

Home Page is a Cartoon

Great People, Poor Blog

Why Credibility is Important?

Stanford Studies on Credibility

One Factor Damages It All

Ways to Add Credibility

1. Make your site look professional (surface credibility).

2. Make it easy to verify accuracy of info (sources, links).

3. Show there’s person behind the site (name, picture, bio).

4. Highlight your expertise (credentials, organizations).

5. Make it easy to contact you (email, social, phone).

6. Keep your content fresh (old content is not trusted).

7. Restrain from marketing (reduce ads, offers).

8. Avoid errors (broken links, spelling) impact credibility.

9. Use simple, plain language for people to understand.

10. Use testimonials and case studies (reputed credibility).

3. Poorly Written Headlines

Online versus Offline Headlines

Online Headlines

1. Displayed out of context.

2. Part of a series.

3. Compete with other links.

4. No background material.

5. Text is the same size.

6. Do not use ALL caps.

Offline Headlines

1. Displayed with context.

2. Surrounding data:

- Photos

- Decks

- Article

3. More information to start.

4. Usually the biggest text.

5. Use ALL caps a lot.

40-60 Characters per Headline

Headlines: Writing Assignments

Treat headlines as their own writing assignment!

Guidelines for Headlines

1. Short abstracts of your article.

2. No teasers to entice people. (They don’t click.)

3. Written in plain language. No cute or clever puns.

4. Skip leading words like “The”, “A”, or “An”.

5. Do not use the same verbs each time (to differentiate).

6. Make the first word an information carrying one.

(Ex: Titanic Sinks, Design Like Da Vinci.)

4. Using One Navigation Scheme

Most Blogs are Time-Based

Default Setting is a Calendar

Use Pages, Categories, & Tags

1. Pages to separate content.

2. Categories to group similar types of content together.

3. Tags to group related content together.

Guidelines for Navigation

1. Timelines are only one method to organize content.

2. Provide more than one navigation scheme.

3. Use pages, categories, and tags to group content.

4. Avoid the mistake of tagging to all your categories.

5. Categories must be sufficiently detailed to reduce posts.

6. 10-20 categories are usually enough for any subject.

7. Highlight each category’s most recent articles and the

most popular ones.

5. Writing Ineffective Content

How Users Read on the Web

Implications of the F Pattern

1. Customers will not read your text thoroughly.

2. They do not read in a word-by-word manner.

3. Use inverted pyramid style for writing.

4. First two paragraphs must state most important info.

5. Use information carrying words for headings, paragraphs,

and lists—people can easily scan them on the left.

6. Most people scan the first two words of every line.

The Scent of Information

Spend More Time Elsewhere

“People spend more time on another

person’s site.” (Jared Spool)

Guidelines for Content Usability

1. Use clear, simple language.

“We won the award.” vs “The award was won by us.”

2. Limit each paragraph to one idea:

- Easier to scan

- Get the general sense of what is coming

- Move to the next idea (or paragraph)

3. Front-load your content (put the conclusion first):

- Quickly scan the opening sentence.

- First sentence is usually read (again, F pattern)

Guidelines for Content Usability

4. Use descriptive sub-headings:

- Breaks up the page

- Shows the organization

- Easy to scan to see your idea, or argument

5. Use font differences sparingly:

- Harder to read with competing fonts

- Decrease your credibility

6. Use descriptive links:

- “Click Here” is rude

- Descriptive links support your article, too

Guidelines for Content Usability

7. Use lists for scannability:

- Less intimidating

- Information chunking

- More succinct, usually

8. Left-align text:

- Easier to read

- Blockquotes add credibility, but decrease reading speed

Don’t Write What They Don’t Need

50% Less Words

2X Understanding

Color and Text Appearance

Color-Blind Users and Content

6. Infrequent or Irregular Updates

Blog of a Well-Known Person

1. Latest post is from February 1, 2013 (not too bad).

2. Next post is from October 2012 (this is old).

3. Outdated meeting widget on sidebar (of every page).

Infrequent Schedules Hurt Fans

Without new content, you risk losing your fans,

who are your best customers.

Establish an Editorial Calendar

1. Use the Wordpress Editorial Calendar plug-in.

2. Write universal content, which can moved around.

3. Publish at regular intervals to keep your site fresh.

Let Users Know of Expiring Content

1. Use the Wordpress Content Scheduler plug-in.

2. Provides notification for expiring content to contributors.

3. Change when content expires, too.

Do You Know When to Publish?

1. Lowest readership is on Saturdays.

2. Mondays and Tuesdays have the highest readership.

3. Dips on Fridays (most of the time).

7. Classic Hits are Buried

CLASSIC

TODAY HITS

Most People Do Not Visit Daily

1. Average 500 daily

views.

2. We have 3 posts with

over 50,000 views.

3. We get 25,000+ views

at the conference.

Show Popular Articles

Show Related Articles

Zemanta is a good plug-in for related articles.

Use Embedded Content

• Embedded links

• Embedded video, audio, slides

Guidelines for Past Hits

1. Don’t relegate past hits to your archive.

2. Revisit past hits with a fresh perspective.

3. Embed links, video, or audio in newer articles.

4. Use a Popular Articles list on the Home page.

5. Embed related links using a plug-in like Zemanta.

6. Do not assume that people visit everyday.

7. Compile lists of past articles (ex: SEO 101, Top 10 List).

8. Bad Forms are Used

The Tool is Good, Usage is Bad

• Gravity Forms is an awesome plug-in.

• Most people don’t know how to build good forms.

Linked-In: Optional is Required

Linked-In: Optional?

Example: Any Data is Accepted

• Postal Code accepts any data format.

• Phone number accepts any delimiter (dash, dot)

10 Rules for Good Forms

1. Use a simple, vertical layout with labels above the input

fields. It is easier to scan

2. If vertically aligned labels are not possible, make them

bold and left-aligned.

3. If you put more than one field on a row (e.g. first and last

name) make them look like a single piece of information.

4. Emphasize section headings (via color or shading) if you

want people to read them.

5. Only ask for required information. Identify optional fields

rather than required fields (don't use asterisks).

10 Rules for Good Forms

6. Use a single input field for numbers and postal codes,

and allow input in various forms.

7. Avoid displaying unnecessary information and make sure

important information stands out.

8. Real time feedback may be distracting — good

implementation is key.

9. Place instructions to the side of the field.

10. For multi-page forms tell users how many steps remain

before completion.

9. Bad or Ineffective Search

Search Helps Small Sites Compete

Big sites get more traffic, but niche sites can dominate.

SEO and Usability

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about

attracting people to your site by making sure

your blog and article show up in search engines.

• SEO happens before the first click.

• Usability is about people completing tasks, so it is

interested in their behavior after they arrive on

your blog. It is about conversions (and more).

• Usability is about what makes them click.

The Importance of Search

• If your website is

difficult to use,

customers leave.

• If they get lost in

your website,

customers leave.

• If a customer can’t

FIND your product,

they can’t BUY it.

….

Then, they leave!

About 60% of people are search-dominant (1st step).

No Search Better Than Bad Search

1. Bad search greatly

impacts credibility.

No search slightly

impacts credibility.

2. Bad search loses

lots of customers.

No search loses

less customers.

Site Search When Navigation Fails

All in One SEO is Good Plug-in

This a good start for SEO, which is half the equation.

Guidelines for Site Search

1. Make it a box.

2. Button on the right.

3. On top right of page.

4. Must be on all pages.

5. Box is initially empty.

6. Button label = “Search”.

7. Searches whole site.

8. Don’t search Internet.

9. Read Rosenfeld book.

10. Un-responsive Design is Used

We live in a Post-PC Era

In 2012, PC sales were down from the previous year.

Tablet Sales Rapidly Increasing

In 2013, tablet sales will exceed 100+ million units.

Mashable Mobile = 50% Traffic

Over 60% Read News Online

2013: Year of Responsive Design

What is Responsive Design?

“In simple terms, a responsive

design uses media queries to

figure out what resolution of

device it’s being served on.”

Food Sense: Responsive Design

Responsive WordPress Themes

• Lucid

• Angular

• Trim

• Glamour

• Deadline

• Boxline

• Inovado

• Simple Press

• Flexible

• Blox

Thanks!!!