Marty’s Comments (group member since Mar 18, 2010)

Marty’s comments from the Conversations on Website Conversion group.

Optimizing the buying process is so important - when people focus on conversion they're focused on selling things to people - but in reality we rarely are "sold" anything - for the most part we buy -

I like the fact that this is very much of a "how to" book - they do give you the theory - but it's the practical aspects of what they're writing about that are really helpful.

Their lists of ideas for testing are a real help when you're staring at a page and wondering how to improve it.

We do fall into the do-it-yourself type of testing. We've found it to be very effective. Asking friends, family and neighbors if they would be willing to spend some time with you performing some simple tasks, isn't hard to do - and you'll learn a great deal. My interest in usability testing is not to prove a theory, but to just get the websites of customers to be as easy on visitors as possible - therefore the do-it-yourself system works great for my needs.

I like to tape the sessions, that way I don't have to take such thorough notes.

The hardest part for me has been to not lead the user - it's very hard to just sit there and let them struggle - and it's even harder when they ask for help to not tell them what to do to resolve their problem - but letting them struggle and seeing what comes out of that is one of the biggest wins you get from usability testing.

We work with small businesses and so this part of the process is a bit different. There are fewer players (usually) to deal with. Usually you have just a webmaster and a graphics person along with the small business owner. We find that managing the relationship is very important. Usually a small business owner has waited a long time to redesign their website - so they want to accomplish everything on their wish list and then some - so a big part of the job can be managing their expectations - what is possible given their budget - and to keep them focused on what is possible and not what is impossible - given their budget.

A good tagline is so important - it's a quick way to determine if you're on the right site -

And it's not just your tag line - your URL should have some relationship to your company's name and logo - the tagline and meta description should both reinforce the URL and company name and logo - it all needs to work together and provide a unifying message -

I heard an interesting quote the other day that on smaller websites (ones without a huge number of products) - if your customers were using your search function instead of your navigation - you should take a hard look at your navigation - because it probably wasn't working that well for your visitors - what's been your experience as a visitor on an e-commerce website - do you just go automatically to search or do you try to use the navigation? When do you give up on trying to navigate?

The first few sentences of a paragraph need to include your topic sentence. A topic sentence tells the reader the paragraph's single controlling idea. It unifies the content of the paragraph and directs the order of the sentences.

I really liked the For What, So What and Now What questions - When I'm writing for the web - I try to make sure that I have figured out what/who I'm writing for - what their pain points are and the solutions/ideas I have for solving their problem(s) - A really good reminder of how to really communicate in a way that actually gets your message across to the audience, the group or your significant other.

The So What principles apply not only in front of an audience - but also to client situations.

Focusing on the client and really listening to what they are saying to you - determining what's going to be important to them - it's a real art

Most people are just waiting for you to stop speaking so they can make their points - becoming a good listener is probably one greatest skills a person can develop

Sometimes you have to look at the problem from 30,000 feet, Hope - I think you're focusing on what's going on at ground level - where it's true that each of us is different and we all have different motivations -

But at the 30,000 foot level there are probably some benefits you could identify that most people will resonate to.

For example - we know in our business that having a relationship with each client is very important - a real benefit - how that relationship grows and progresses will be very individualistic (the ground level view) - but having that relationship is something all of our clients would consider to be a benefit - and something that differentiates us from our competition.

When you read or hear a really good So What response to "so what do you do for a living" it seems so obvious - but it's very difficult to figure out.

You're right Shelby - this fits in perfectly with what we've been reading.

As more companies (especially web based companies) get comfortable with virtual employees and/or employees working 1 or 2 days from home - the impact on employee transportation could be huge.

Costco Photo Department has an inkjet cartridge refilling service (at least ours does) - it's great you drop them off when you start shopping and they're usually ready by the time you've finished. Saves quite a bit of money and you feel good about the reuse aspect.

Cutting back on my paper usage will be a real challenge though - I probably need some sort of intervention - I'm a confirmed printing addict.

No extraordinary ideas in this chapter - but it was a good reminder of all the things you can do to live a greener life both at home and at work.

Energy and it's relationship to the environment has really hit home for me with the tragedy in the Gulf. I've found myself angry at the government and angry at BP - but I've failed to look at my own role in the crisis - that is until I read the fine editorial by Bob Herbert in today’s NY Times. To the extent that each of us refuses to cut back our own energy usage and seek alternatives we create this need for more and more energy - making it profitable for firms like BP to drill in places like the Gulf that would not have been profitable for them a decade ago - allowing the government to go along with shoddy drilling practices because we (the consumers) demanded more oil/gas rather than demanding a change in the energy policy or safety/environmental standards. Real change comes from the bottom up - each of us looking at our role in this country's energy policy and making a change in what we do - how we use energy - the purchases we make - what we say by our actions - Hopefully the good that will come out of this awful situation is that more of us will "walk the walk" instead of just "talking the talk".

I felt this chapter needed to come after Part II of the book - Each time the author started to talk about measuring your energy use or writing the plan - it seemed like she kept saying..."but wait...you need the information in Part II before you do this" Sort of made me feel like I was wasting my time on this chapter - that I should just move on to part II and then come back & read Chapters 5 & 6

How did it strike all of you?

I found the section on obtaining third-party green certifications very interesting. As more of our clients want green certifications, this information will be useful. The warnings about how "green" is "green" was great too. I'm not a green fanatic, so I was probably a little naive about the "purity" required to meet the standards of those who are very heavily involved in the green movement.

I thought that the advocacy discussion in this chapter was good too. It made me think that if I was really serious about greening our business that I needed to speak out more.

This is where working from home has it's advantages - I agree with you on how slow my computer gets when I try to work & back up at the same time UGG! I can't stand it! So I back mine up during dinner time & then since I work late at night most nights I can shut it off without a problem - but If I was in an office I'm not sure what I'd do... I guess try for lunch time....

I guess the most startling thing for me was reading that if every small business in America replaced just one regular light bulb to a fluorescent bulb that the energy saved would be equivalent to taking 312,000 cars off the road.....WOW!

I'm writing more blogs and I'm much more aware of trying to write more remarkable content... maybe not remarkable in the world at large - but for our niche - striving to make it more interesting and relevant.

I got a much clearer idea of the inbound marketing sales funnel and the importance of nurturing potential clients - so we're currently looking into e-mail marketing/newsletter programs to add to the website.

I do believe that video will continue gain importance - so we'll do something in that area before the end of the year.

Being a small business though, finding the time to implement new initiatives can be a real challenge!

I like working in a team environment where each of us has strengths and weaknesses and we complement each other. Someone of my generation went to college and did research at the library and typed their term papers on an electric typewriter - someone of my nephew's generation, who is in college right now, does their research online and e-mails their term papers to their professors....it's a huge change!

The key is a willingness to learn from each other. In many things of this new digital age I am way behind the experience and capabilities of a 20 year old....yet in managing people or the day to day running of a business I'm way ahead of them -

So in picking and measuring people, I'm always looking for good team players - people who will fit in with my existing team and where their skills will strengthen the skills of the team as a whole - someone we can all learn from and who in turn is excited about learning from us.