In darts, hitting the bulls-eye is harder to do than hitting any other part of the dartboard. This is because the bullseye is the smallest target. This same principle can also apply to touch targets on mobile devices.

Smaller touch targets are harder for users to hit than larger ones. When you’re designing mobile . . . → Read More: Finger-Friendly Design: Ideal Mobile Touch Target Sizes]]> by anthony

In darts, hitting the bulls-eye is harder to do than hitting any other part of the dartboard. This is because the bullseye is the smallest target. This same principle can also apply to touch targets on mobile devices.

Smaller touch targets are harder for users to hit than larger ones. When you’re designing mobile interfaces, it’s best to make your targets big so that they’re easy for users to tap. But exactly how big should you make them to give the best ease of use to the majority of your users? Many mobile developers have wondered this, and most have turned to the user interface guidelines provided by the platform developer for the answer.

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There’s a wealth of good advice about conversion optimization out there. But when you’re working on a particular landing experience, it can be hard to remember all of the factors in play. Many times, I’ve found myself wanting a quick reference for evaluating a page’s “conversionability.” I was picturing a kind of checklist that . . . → Read More: The READY Conversion Optimization Framework]]> by Scott Brinker

There’s a wealth of good advice about conversion optimization out there. But when you’re working on a particular landing experience, it can be hard to remember all of the factors in play. Many times, I’ve found myself wanting a quick reference for evaluating a page’s “conversionability.” I was picturing a kind of checklist that was comprehensive but not too unwieldy, concrete but not limited to specific tactics.

Are your landing pages READY?

READY is an acronym that stands for five dimensions of a great conversion-oriented landing experience:

• Relevant
• Engaging
• Authoritative
• Directional
• Yield optimal

A relevant landing page gives visitors exactly what they expected when they clicked. It should be engaging, communicating a great value proposition in a compelling, differentiated way. It should be authoritative, assuring people that you’re trustworthy and reliable. And it should be directional, moving visitors forward to their goals (and yours).

In addition to those user-centric objectives, it should also be yield optimal—implementing operational best practices to maximize your conversion rate.

Within each of these five dimensions, I’ve selected five contributing factors that I think are most important. Taken together, these give you a 5×5 matrix that looks like this:

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Read . . . → Read More: 30 Web Trends for 2012: How SEO, Search, Social Media, Blogging, Web Design & Analytics Will Change]]> So for 2012 I want to tell you again what’s coming up. Basically I’m not predicting anything here; instead I just list trends you can already see and measure, but which will be obvious next year.

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It’s all about the Jaw from Peter Hurley on Vimeo.

A little bit lengthy but good and . . . → Read More: How to get rid of your double chin]]>

It’s all about the Jaw from Peter Hurley on Vimeo.

A little bit lengthy but good and quite funny…

There is nothing worse for a webmaster/site owner than to wake up one day and find Google Armageddon has taken out all of their site’s rankings and traffic. In most cases, mayhem ensues as they scramble around to try and figure out what happened or if they have run afoul of the . . . → Read More: Google Penalty or Algorithm Change: Dealing With Lost Traffic]]> by David Harry

There is nothing worse for a webmaster/site owner than to wake up one day and find Google Armageddon has taken out all of their site’s rankings and traffic. In most cases, mayhem ensues as they scramble around to try and figure out what happened or if they have run afoul of the mighty Google in one way or another.

This framework should help you keep your head should the unthinkable happen.

Read on…

When you hear something that’s too good to be true, it probably is. This is especially true with some link building or SEO companies that will promise you the world, and leave you with a possible penalty. And when you hear something that might require some work, you might think your SEO is full . . . → Read More: SEO Outsourcing: When to Listen to or Question Your SEO Provider]]> by Kristi Hines

When you hear something that’s too good to be true, it probably is. This is especially true with some link building or SEO companies that will promise you the world, and leave you with a possible penalty. And when you hear something that might require some work, you might think your SEO is full of it.

For those of you looking to outsource your SEO efforts, here’s a quick list of times you should listen to or question your SEO consultant or online marketing agency.
LISTEN When They Say You Need More Link Worthy Content
QUESTION When They Say You Can Get Links by Using Auto-Generated Content

LISTEN When They Say You Need Help With Your On-Site Optimization
QUESTION When They Say They Can Guarantee You Results Within a Specific Timeframe.

LISTEN When They Say They Can’t Guarantee You Results
QUESTION When They Say They Will Build Links Via Blog Commenting & Forum Posting

LISTEN When They Say You Need to Set Up Google Analytics
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Bing is finally the No. 2 search engine in the U.S., according to the latest figures from comScore. Bing which launched in June 2009 with an 8.4 percent search engine market share, now accounts for 15.1 percent of searches.

As Yahoo dropped to third, Google continued to lead all search engines in December with 65.9 percent . . . → Read More: Bing Takes No. 2 Spot From Yahoo in December 2011]]> by John Rampton

Bing is finally the No. 2 search engine in the U.S., according to the latest figures from comScore. Bing which launched in June 2009 with an 8.4 percent search engine market share, now accounts for 15.1 percent of searches.

As Yahoo dropped to third, Google continued to lead all search engines in December with 65.9 percent market share.

Many large organizations that operate on a global scale struggle with organizing SEO strategies across content owners within each country. Oftentimes, businesses will opt for what’s easier and host their country-specific content on one main domain instead of what’s most effective for SEO due to the many different moving pieces . . . → Read More: Global SEO: Giving Visitors a Passport to Your Content]]> by  Crispin Sheridan 

Many large organizations that operate on a global scale struggle with organizing SEO strategies across content owners within each country. Oftentimes, businesses will opt for what’s easier and host their country-specific content on one main domain instead of what’s most effective for SEO due to the many different moving pieces at play. Instead of falling into the norm, give visitors all over the world a passport directly into your content with these five tactics that can and should be applied to any multinational website.

1. Migrate to country-coded top-level domains (ccTLDs).
2. Develop a 301 redirect strategy.
3. Leverage in-language, properly localized URLs.
4. Localize the content, don’t just translate it.
5. Use appropriate character-encoding designations.

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Summary: Mobile apps currently have better usability than mobile sites, but forthcoming changes will eventually make a mobile site the superior strategy.

The most important question in a company’s mobile strategy is whether to do anything special for mobile in the first place. Some companies will never get substantial mobile use and . . . → Read More: Mobile Sites vs. Apps: The Coming Strategy Shift]]> by Jakob Nielsen

Summary:
Mobile apps currently have better usability than mobile sites, but forthcoming changes will eventually make a mobile site the superior strategy.

The most important question in a company’s mobile strategy is whether to do anything special for mobile in the first place. Some companies will never get substantial mobile use and should stick to making their desktop sites less insufferable on small screens.

But if your site happens to have decent appeal to mobile users, then the second strategy question is: Should you produce a mobile website or develop special mobile apps? The answer to this question today is quite different from what it will likely be in the future.

To conclude: I do believe mobile sites will win over mobile apps in the long term. But when that will happen is less certain. Today, if you are serious about creating the best possible mobile user experience, my advice is to develop apps.

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