Web Design Category

Skip bin hire seems to be a competitive industry I discovered a while back. Never having hired a bin before, I used Google to search for and assess the local players and make my choice.

What I found was an industry that appears to be full of sites that are copying each other with regard to information structure and layout of their websites. And it my opinion, they were all bad.

Not one (except for the winner who got my money) had pricing readily available — they all wanted me to use their online quoting tool, which after 2-3 minutes and 5-10 pages, finally gave me a price.

I know there may be variables associated with bin size, delivery area, and other factors that effect final cost, but even the car industry with their range of options, add-ons and upgrades is able to give me a “price at a glance” from which I can work.

Lesson: Just because your competitors are building websites a certain way doesn’t mean you have to. In the skip bin hire industry, Trailer Trash is doing it differently. A uniquely branded site, their pricing, booking number and delivery locations are all visible without having to leave the home page. Another KISS website.

You’ll often find web designers and search engine marketers telling you you need content on your site to help you rank highly in the search engines. Unfortunately many website owners find it hard to work out what sort of content they should add to their site - or focus too much on adding content for the search engines and not their users.

I came across a great use of content that should benefit both the search engines and visitors on Specsavers recently. Specsavers sell glasses so what better content to add to their site than a guide to frame choice. Admittedly they haven’t optimised it for the search engines (and are no doubt missing out on valuable traffic) but as far as visitors go it’s a great way to attract prospects and convert them into customers. It can also be used to get people to refer their friends to the site and encourage repeat visits.

So the next time someone suggest you add content to your site step back and think of what you can add to benefit both the search engines and your visitors.

Kalena Jordan from Search Engine College has written a great article titled “Secrets Your Web Designer Isn’t Telling You”, in which she asks:

If I was to ask you right now “Are you absolutely certain that your web site is optimized for high visibility in search engines?”, what would you say?

Sadly the vast majority of websites have not been designed with the search engines in mind, and worse, many business owners have no idea that’s the case. And with so much traffic coming from search engines, it’s like being cut off from your air supply.

What to do?

If you already have a website, do some research to see if your site is listed in the search engines — especially Google. A quick way of doing this is to type your business name and/or website address into the search engine to see what results are found. Ideally you should be listed at the top of the results.

As well as making sure your site is in the search engine it’s important to see if your website ranks for keywords related to your business. So if you are a motel located in Bondi, for example, try typing “bondi motels” into the search engine and seeing what is returned. Ideally your website should be prominent. Repeat this for a variety of phrases.

If you are listed and ranking for relevant phrases good for you, however if you are one of the majority who is no where to be found, it’s a good idea to get some outside expertise to help get things sorted.

If you are about to start building a website, it is a good idea to discuss your search engine strategy with your web designers. If they don’t have one, or have no idea what you are talking about I’d suggest firing them and finding someone who does know.

Remember: Having a website that’s not in the search engines is like having an unlisted phone number.

References
Secrets Your Web Designer Isn’t Telling You by Kalena Jordan.
Website Health Check Report by ThinkProspect

I’m pleased to announced that our new website is online. I have to admit that I’ve taken a bit of a backseat on this one and Raoul (my hubby and ThinkProspect co-founder) has come up with the new logo and design and pretty much put it all together.

We’re still adding things and expect it will evolve over time but so far I love it. Feel free to let us know what you think too.

ZDNet Australia’s Jude Willis has written a great post Why eBay tried to screw Aussie users. Apart from it’s discussion on the failed eBay PayPal debacle it has some great insight into the lack of an online shopping industry in Australia.

Some interesting points:

“According to Jenny Wilson, lead technology partner for Deloitte Australia, consumer confidence with online transactions has been scaring even the major, trusted brands away moving beyond bricks & mortar.”

“Predominantly, Australian retail chains use their websites to spellcheck their catalogues and offer cryptic advice as to how to locate your nearest store. Any online shopping is restricted to baffling lines of merchandise that barely represents their total product range.”

It goes on to quote Jenny Wilson who states that online retail in Australia is two or three years behind other countries.

Apart from the lack of consumer confidence I’d suggest that the inherently small size of the Australian market has a lot to do with the lack of online retailers in Australia. And with the Aussie dollar almost on a par with the US that leaves us doing our online shopping overseas. Which is a shame, cause I know I’d do a lot more locally if I was able to.

How about you?