Website Analyst Newsletter
Meeting Your Needs With Excellence
Issue 7
June 2000
Editor: Lucian Millis, editor@website-analyst.co.il
Publisher: Website Analyst http://www.website-analyst.co.il/
Website Analyst offers free website evaluation, ratings,
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This ezine featured at EzineCenter.com - the Ezine Search
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. Editor's Note
2. Make Your Web Site User-Friendly by James Capobianco
3. Your Personal Search Assistant
4. Links of Interest
5. Pick Of The Month (SearchAbility)
6. List Management
7. Contact Information
1. Editor's Note
Dear Friend,
Spread the word! Don't hesitate to forward a copy of this
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Thanks for your continuing support. Enjoy!
2. Make Your Web Site User-Friendly by James Capobianco
You can create a website that attracts customers, not repels
them, with a little common sense advice.
Everyone wants an attractive professional looking website.
But too often businesses think they need a GLITZY site with
all the bells and whistles when what they really need is a
functional site that attracts customers.
Creating a user-friendly website doesn't require a lot of
money or a staff of professional, high priced, designers. If
fact, they can be the very thing that leads you to go
overboard.
All you really need to know is what your customer wants and
how to deliver it in a way that even a first-time visitor can
understand.
How do you know what your customers want? Listen! Keep track
of the questions they ask when they visit or call. Then make
sure those questions are answered right on the site.
Since the web uses hypertext, it connects to information in
many different ways. Unlike a library, where a book just sits
on a shelf, a website should allow pages to be accessed the
way users think about information.
You will have a better site when it is designed to support
flexible human behavior and not just one path for people to
follow.
Visitors will not stick around for slow overloaded sites,
that might have looked good but just aren't worth the wait.
Remember that for the next few years, most users will access
the Internet through slow modems. So web page design that
addresses the needs of the masses, has a better chance to be
seen and appreciated.
Your pages must download quickly, or users may not only, not
follow the links, but may also have trouble navigating the
site. People are more likely to get lost on slow sites than
fast ones and more likely to leave and not return.
Even on the Internet, it's true that buyers want to see what
they are buying; but over loading a page with slow loading
images of products can be a big mistake. You would be better
off with small (thumbnail) images and follow with larger
images on succeeding pages.
Text downloads faster than graphics; but it is important to
minimize the words on a page as well. Research on how people
read online shows "They don't". They tend to scan. Users
prefer concise text that's easy to scan, with a liberal use
of highlighted words, bulleted lists and sub-headings.
Users would rather have the "facts" than the "fluff"! The
average user will probably only spend a few seconds on your
home page deciding whether it's worth their time to go
further or go on to the other 10 million sites on the Web.
If you make users wait to long, they leave. If you confuse
them, they leave. If your site is too wordy, they leave.
However, if your site is easy to use and is full of useful
content, they stay.
Remember, anybody can put up a website. But companies that
put up a user-friendly site get the business.
About the Author
James Capobianco has been self-employed for over 25 years,
both on and offline. At his web site, Cap-Tech.com, he shares
his experience and expertise when it comes to owning your own
business. Come pay a visit at: http://www.cap-tech.com
Subscribe to his Free newsletter, The Cap-Tech Times.
3. Your Personal Search Assistant
Copernic 2000 v. 4.5 by Copernic Technologies Inc.
Win95/Win98/WinNT/2000. Size: 2.62MB.
Free (No Expiration!), Plus, Pro. English/French.
A piece of free software that allows you to query all the
leading engines at once! Copernic is faster and easier to
use, usually finds what you're looking for, and refines and
manages the results. Search results are well organised, and
can be saved to disk for further reference.
Every aspect of Web searching can be customized, from the
number of top hits to the way results are sorted. Initiating
a search is as simple as clicking the search wizard.
- Check out your competitors' Web sites! -
http://www.copernic.com/
4. Links of Interest
A Closer Look: Critical Reviews of Corporate Websites
Website critic Lou Rosenfeld - Monthly Analysis.
http://webbusiness.cio.com/archive/closer.html
Bobby's analysis of accessibility
Online tool that analyzes web pages for their accessibility
to people with disabilities.
http://www.cast.org/bobby/
TIP: Internet marketing is more than listings on search
engines. It should include on/off net advertising, promotion,
ezine articles, press releases, banners, newsletters and more.
It's getting people to know who and what, and where you are.
20 Questions to Ask a Web Hosting Company
The success of any Web site depends on the quality of its Web
hosting service!
http://poorrichard.com/freeinfo/20q.htm
Spread the Word with Mailing Lists
"Used properly, email mailing lists can keep your customers
up to date, and give you a powerful and inexpensive avenue
for disseminating information about new services and products.
They should be part of any online marking strategy."
http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/2000/06/schwartz/
Open Directory
Uses 25,000 volunteer editors to catalog the Web.
Launched in 1998 as NewHoo. Acquired by Netscape the same
year. Used by Netscape, Lycos, AOL Search, AltaVista, HotBot
and Google! 1,750,000 sites - 260,000 categories
http://dmoz.org
5. Pick Of The Month
Guides To Specialized Search Engines
Specialized search engines index collections of materials
that relate to particular fields or subjects.
USEFUL for researchers, professionals, general searchers.
http://www.searchability.com/
Website Analyst
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Netanya, 42101 - Israel
(c) 1999-2000 Website Analyst. All rights reserved.
All guest articles are copyright their respective owners and
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if copied in its entirety.
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