Tag Archives: web quality
Web Site Content Quality Checklist
Is the quality of your Web site costing you money in terms of abandoned e-Commerce transactions or visitors bouncing before accessing the information that would turn them from browsers to buyers? Could you be doing more to ensure content integrity? Site quality matters. In fact, it is costing the UK millions of pounds in lost revenue for Internet businesses as reported in a BBC article¹ posted earlier this year.
Site Quality is multi-faceted, but at its core it is focused on a site that users can trust and visit repeatedly as well as ensuring everything works in a way that meets a user’s expectations for speed, reliability and access.
There was a need for a Web Site content quality checklist to support the millions of websites that are losing money, in breach of accessibility guidelines and faced with content, brand and technical errors. So we’ve created just that.
Spelling Mistakes Matter to Site Quality
Site quality matters. In fact, it is costing the UK millions of pounds in lost revenue for internet businesses, says Charles Duncombe an online entrepreneur in a BBC article posted earlier this summer. The BBC article reported:
“Mr Duncombe says that it is possible to identify the specific impact of a spelling mistake on sales.
He says he measured the revenue per visitor to the tightsplease.co.uk website and found that the revenue was twice as high after an error was corrected.
“If you project this across the whole of internet retail, then millions of pounds worth of business is probably being lost each week due to simple spelling mistakes,” says Mr Duncombe, director of the Just Say Please group.”
In this article, it’s highlighted that the education system needs to improve so graduates are provided with the skills they need to spell. While I absolutely agree that spelling is essential and every person should learn these skills (or at least have a dictionary to hand!), if the cost is millions of pounds in lost revenues, then why leave this up to chance?
When site quality impacts revenues, it calls for action. 28% of online consumers said that by improving web site usability companies can better engage with them and encourage them to spend more. So why is site quality not always automated? The answer is it should be.
Check out the HiSoftware webinar ‘When Good Websites Go Bad’ to learn more about the ways you can improve your website and ensure your website isn’t’ losing millions of pounds worth of business.
Building Perfect Council Websites ’11 – 14 July 2011
Local Government needs to be getting more out of every cent they spend. What better way than to run more efficiently, both internally and externally, than having the ultimate website to meet each council’s local needs? A council’s website can be at the heart of the organisation serving the entire community, providing an opportunity to comment and participate in local government while helping to reduce costs throughout it.
Firmly Covet Customer Feedback
Customer feedback should be encouraged by every organisation as a vital source of information on how they can improve their website and their services. In a competitive online environment it is also essential that companies take advantage of the significant additional custom accessibility affords. As a blind person I am constantly having to switch from site to site until I find one that I am able to spend my money with – but very encouragingly each month sees a gradual improvement in awareness and implementation of inclusive design.
Is Ignoring Inclusive Design for Dummies? [Opinion]
The simple answer is, of course, ‘Yes!’ Did you know that designing for the broadest audience possible is so obviously the right thing to do from every angle that it’s a wonder only a tiny percentage of websites out there are successfully embracing the opportunity?
Questions that shaped the web experience [Opinion]
In preparation for an upcoming webinar, I started thinking about the questions that have helped shape how we view the web experience. Some of these are captured below.
Technology 4 Good Awards
On Tuesday I attended the UK Technology4Good Awards. It was a great opportunity to celebrate what companies, organisations and individuals are all doing to help make technology more widely available for everyone from young to old, disabled to non-disabled.
What really inspired me was how many people are working to ensure technology and the Web are accessible for all. Some of the winners were:
• Internet Buttons won the Innovation award for its web tool aimed to simplify the Internet for new or nervous users. You can create a page with a few simple links and share it with your friends or family, making it easier for them to find what they need online.
• The HiSoftware sponsored category, Working Together Award, was won by XMA and iansyst. These companies collaborated to ensure the effective and efficient delivery bespoke computer packages to enable over 9,000 children those with disabilities and special needs get online as part of the Home Access programme.
• The Accessibility Award was given to Lifelites. This children’s technology charity provides a package of fun and educational technology to every children’s hospice in the UK. This gives children the chance to: take control of something for themselves; spend quality time with their families; keep in contact with their school and friends; and simply enjoy themselves away from the constant reality of their illness.
I was inspired by my co-presenter Martha Lane Fox, the Government’s UK Digital Champion. When presenting the Working Together Award she mentioned her 2004 near fatal accident in Morocco. She emphasised the role technology played in her recovery helping to connect her with her family and friends.
Martha’s Race Online 2012 campaign – backed by organisations from the Post Office to the Women’s Institute – has signed 100,000 volunteers in a bid to get everyone in the UK online by the time of the London Olympics. With nine million people in the UK never having been online, this campaign has volunteers pledging to train someone in their family or community.
Web Accessibility opens the door for people to save money, find jobs and connect with the outside world. These awards really hit home to me.
Read more about Web Accessibility.
Nightclubs v Websites – same rules apply?
A recent conversation with friends over the weekend included discussing the various nightclubs their children now visit and the various venues we would frequent in our youth. As we talked about the good, the bad, and the ugly places we had all been to, I found myself thinking about the similarities in user experience between this youthful social activity and my business life today.
Imagine going to a nightclub in your nearest city; maybe you saw it advertised on a billboard or heard about it through friends. You make your way there looking forward to a fun and enjoyable evening. Upon arrival though, you find yourself waiting in a long line only to then be met by the bouncers at the door judging whether or not you fit the clubs strict dress code. When you eventually do get in, the club is so poorly lit you can’t find the cloakroom and after 15 minutes struggling to get the bartenders attention, you find they have run out of the mixer you want with your drink. Soon enough you find yourself back outside vowing never to return.
Now imagine the user experience of visitors to your website. Most visitors find your website either through marketing activities you undertake or through online or personal referrals. While a club night may be sustainable with a few hundred visitors on one night a week, in most cases many more unique visitors are needed to see a truly profitable return from your online business. In the digital marketplace more is certainly more, which is why effective Search Engine Optimisation is critical to the success or otherwise of your site.
Taking this scenario comparison one step further, the accessibility or otherwise of your site can act in much the same way as the bouncers at the nightclub entrance. While blocking a large portion of revellers may make a nightclub seem exclusive – blocking a large portion of customers from accessing your web site just seems financially unsound. Ensuring your website is accessible for the largest audience possible opens your business to many more Internet users that can access and reap the benefits of your business.
The final similarity between these two seemingly different enterprises relates to the user experience once the visitor does get ‘inside’. Inferior or slow service saw you leave the club certain that you were not going to return. The same user dissatisfaction can come from websites that contain broken links, slow page loads, and incorrect information. Site quality is a key to generating both initial and repeat business as well as additional custom from positive word of mouth.
A good web strategy will turn your “bouncers” into gracious hosts granting accessibility to more visitors, maintaining positive word of mouth and reinforcing good quality service.
Image source: VancityAllie
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