User Experience

Connectedness.  That is the first thing I learnt when I joined iCrossing earlier last week.  Connectedness is the central philosophy for working life here, or as someone framed it – “the way we see the world”.

I like it. It’s a neat proposition that suitably fits the challenges and opportunities that brands are faced with today.  With a digital space that has become less a place where we dip in and out of to achieve isolated tasks, and more a place we exist in day to day.  In true planner style I have a diagram for this:

The surprise here for me is that search, something iCrossing has carved a strong reputation in, is just a component of this.  Connectedness is so much more and as a newbie here I am impressed (and pleased) to see a company striving to help their clients make sense of what this means and how it works.

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The phrase “brand as publisher” seems to be as commonly used in digital marketing circles as “what’s the ROI of social?” at the moment (which is great news if you’re an online content specialist like me!) Even hardened SEO-focused, direct marketing types are eyeing up the “softer” side of online content and wondering whether they shouldn’t be getting a piece of the publisher action – if only as a means of creating “link bait” and pleasing Google’s algorithm. It means that Content Strategy becomes even more relevant and essential for our clients. We can take a close look at what is working for other publishers, and take a long hard look at their own content, assessing what is going to work for them. And what isn’t.

If your brand is serious about becoming a publisher – whether on your own site or elsewhere on the web, you can learn a huge amount from the people who are creating and delivering the best content and services on the web.

I’ve asked the members of the Content team here at iCrossing to describe their favourite websites – and explain why it works for them on a personal level. It’s a good way to share our ideas on how to match content delivery to user need and business objectives, which is what content strategy boils down to. So here, then, is the iCrossing Content Team’s Top Websites List. If you’re thinking of getting going with a content strategy in the second half of this year or planning for 2011, it’s a good place to start if you want to understand best practice.

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I am mightily impressed by a recent presentation from Paul Adams, a senior user experience researcher at Google. Entitled ‘The real life social network’, it examines how people connect, relate and communicate with each other, and what this means for experience designers online.

As someone who works agency-side I started thinking specifically about what the implications of Paul’s observations of human social behaviour are for brands, especially those taking part in the social web. Intriguingly, it suggests that social media is a customer retention, not a customer acquisition, game.

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Google has been introducing a new user interface, improving the look and functionality and I have been seeing it from my PC at home over the past week or so, but today I can see it at the office. Initially I didn’t like the look of it but the more I have explored the functionality improvements it has grown on me.

New Look
The most obvious difference is the look of the search bar which has been modernised. I thought it looked a bit like a “fake” Google branding attempt, but with time I seem to be getting used to it.

I think the new look is better than the old interface and it almost makes the rest of the SERP, which has not been updated, look a little dated.

At the bottom of the SERP, the related links are now listed in two columns of four, rather than the previous four columns of two.

A prominent left hand navigation with different search options has now been introduced to the SERP. The majority of these search options in this panel have been available for some time, but were only visible once “show options” has been selected, so it is likely that they may appear new to a lot of users.

You can see here all the search options which are available in the left panel, not all are initially visible and there are links to expand the list to view all. The top half of the panel displays different mediums of results within a SERP and the bottom half of the panel filters the standard SERP.

Depending on the search query different search options are displayed without needing to expand the option list. Looking into this with a variety of search queries it is becoming apparent that for a high percentage of searches the top half of the panel reflects the types of universal results within the SERP. For example if a search for ‘hotel in London’ displays normal listings as well as news results, a map and images then the panel will automatically show the filters for those types of results and the filter for blogs, books and updates etc are only visible once the “More” expanding list is selected. The bottom part of the panel also reflects the type of results which are displayed, if there is a recently indexed result then usually something within the “Any time” list is displayed. The “Standard view” section of the left panel however has foxed me for the time being.

The ‘pages from the UK’ radio button that was once under the search query field is now in this left panel and the navigation options at the very top right hand side of the page can now also be seen in the left panel with visual icons.

I believe that the new left panel will increases users knowledge and use of other Google functionality rather than just the basic search function.

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Content Strategy is lining up to be “the next big thing” to happen online, if you are to believe the hype.

The queen of content strategy Kristina Halvorson wrote this post in February which argued that: “Content strategy is more or less on the same trajectory as social media was three years ago”.

There does seem to be a growing interest. Google trends data show search volumes for content strategy and related terms in March 2010 running at about twice the rate as January 2007 (taking into account the growth in overall search volumes). Searches specifically for “online content strategy” have risen 70% during that time.

It’s a compelling story. And being honest, as Content Director at iCrossing, it has really helped when talking to people about what we want to do with content to help them to reach their business goals. No one wants to be missing out on “the next big thing”, do they?

But this post isn’t about the “sellability” of Content Strategy as a project or service.

It’s about the idea that this is a new discipline.

Charlie Peverett and I went to a stimulating and well-attended event last week in London’s fashionable Shoreditch. Content Strategy, Manhattan Style invited attendees to meet “three of New York’s finest content strategists… for an evening of informal discussions, socialising, and perhaps a little drinking”. Most interestingly for me, the event blurb suggested that this was “the place to be if you want to learn more about the business value, opportunities, and practical application of this emerging field of practice” [my emphasis].
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Jason Ryan, iCrossing UK’s Head of Planning discussed the Connected Brands Index. One of the provisions of this Index is the transparency it provides when a detailed review of the client’s website is conducted from search thorough to checkout or a similar end goal.

Brands spend budgets on building websites where pages get optimised for search engine rankings and then spend more on delivering paid search campaigns across brand, generic and competitor terms. The user’s journey begins in search and then continues through the landing page and deeper into the site where the end goal is completion of the task in mind.

What is that task in mind? Clues are provided by the search term used – if it’s a brand term then that user may already have a level of knowledge about the brand that may also include a certain amount of trust. A generic term may imply a level of interest or curiosity in the subject matter with a view to finding out more about the subject. A competitor term may mean that the brand needs to work harder to pull this user away from the competition’s proposition.

These three broad groups of search terms provide at least three different scenarios and combined with any other available customer demographic data will also suggest personas to base a user centred approach when reviewing the complete journey from search term right through to the final task completion. The foundations for holistically reviewing are solidified by adding into the mix a Useful, Usable and Desirable scorecard. Attributes for each of these core elements include the following;
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In October 2009, Guardian News and Media launched its online Fashion Store, allowing users to browse from over 300 retailers and once again proving its ability and willingness to evolve. With this have they hit upon a business model which works for advertisers, publishers and users alike?

Cutting out the middle-man

With publishers increasingly looking to advertising and sponsorship deals to replace lost revenue from dwindling newspaper sales, the Guardian has effectively cut out the middle-man to provide a useful service for its readers. Given the choice I, personally, would much rather a dedicated area within which I can browse a number of brands and ’shop the look’ championed in this week’s style section, than sidebars full of promotion boxes for brands I may have no interest in.

Indeed, online retail analysis has suggested that people shop for fashion online in a different way to how they might shop for other products. Most clothes shoppers know what stores and labels stock what they’re looking for. So, rather than searching for a particular item, they would look for their favourite clothing brands and then search for the item within the brand’s site. As the Guardian Fashion Store offers the choice to search by brand, it fits with this shopping model much more snugly than side-bar advertising could.

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An interesting new study by the guys over at Catalyst Group shows that although users like Microsoft’s new search engine Bing, they are unlikely to switch.  From a usability focus group of 12 (expected to capture 80-90% of issues), after using both engines 8 said they preferred Google while 4 said they liked Bing.  That being despite the fact that 82% preferred Bings design, 64% preferred Bings organisation of features and another 64% preferred Bings refinement and filtering options.  With regards to relevance of results, the majority of users thought both engines preformed equally well.  I think  this goes to show how entrenched Google has become in our thinking when it comes to search.  Even though Microsoft won 3 out of the 4 tests and tied the last, two thirds of users were unprepared to switch.  After all, we no longer search for something, we Google it!

What I found particularly insightful, was in seeking out participants for this study the researchers were unable to find anyone who hadn’t heard of Google, but none of the participants had heard of Bing.  Granted it’s a new engine, but it just goes to show the marketing mountain Microsoft has to climb if it wants to even get close to knocking Google off the top spot (although I’m sure having $100 million to throw at the problem won’t hurt!)

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So you’ve got a website, you think it’s cool and you’re pretty sure other people will like it, but you’re just not getting the traffic, so what can you do about it?  Well there are a number of simple and some not so simple things you can do to get more people coming to your site.  Below we’ve compiled a basic top 10 of things to do.

1)    Optimise your page titles
Eh?  A page title is the part of the page right at the very top of the screen, it contains a brief description of the page contents and is used by search engines when deciding how to rank your site/page in search results.  It’s also part of what users see in the search results so it’s important to get this bit right.  You want to make sure you have words and phrases that accurately describe what is on your page and are also terms that people are searching on.  You can use keyword volume estimator tools such as Google Adwords to show you how much search there is on each word and choose the best ones to use.  Although it may be tempting to only use super high volume words, remember you’re unlikely to rank for competitive terms such as “football”, so try more specific phrases such as “Football news UK”

2)    Links links links
This bit isn’t so easy, but massively important so it’s worth paying attention.  Many of the popular search engines use the number of inbound links you have to your site as a measure of popularity, therefore the more links you have the better you will rank.  While there are many underhand ways of gaining more links, the best way is to promote yourself in a non spammy way and great content is a good way of doing this…

3)    Quality content that attracts attention
Having high quality, timely content that naturally attracts links is what all search engines seek to promote and ultimately reward. Having a blog on your site is a good way of creating fresh content and if your posts are good, hopefully attracts links.  Also the ability to comment on posts creates user engagement on your site which helps you connect with the users of your site, creates a sense of community and ultimately return visitors.

4)    Optimise site copy
Along with optimising page titles, it is also important to optimise other parts of the site such as H1 tags and the articles on the site.  There needs to be a delicate balancing act done here so that you don’t ruin all your articles by trying to squeeze in as many keywords as possible, but subtle changes such as changing soccer to football shouldn’t ruin the flow and will better match search queries. Jeremy explores this in depth here.

5)    Make sure your site is indexable and accessible
Search engines cannot read the text within images, and although it’s getting better at reading text content within Flash you should provide text only alternatives or the search engines will not know what search terms to rank you for. You also have to make sure  your content is accessible, i.e. outputting text content using a JavaScript function will mean search engines cannot access the text.

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From the first day of 2009, Google’s Best Practice Funding scheme (a euphemism for agency commissions) will have ended. Yahoo too will be changing the way it rewards big spending agencies by moving to a tiered scheme. We’ve been thinking hard about how that will affect clients, agencies and the search engines themselves. And the answer is that, for agencies and their clients, there will be real impact. Google, in the meantime can roll on regardless.

Since Google accounts for at least 90% of all UK search spend (and therefore half of all UK online ad spend), we’re focusing here on them but Yahoo’s decision (it will begin to pay back four per cent to spenders of between £50,000 to £100,000 a month and nine per cent to spenders of £100,000-plus) will have an impact too.

BPF was Google’s replacement for direct agency discounts and was pitched as a way to encourage growth and ‘best practice’ among agencies. Where agencies invested the money they saved through the scheme in delivering better search (for example, systems, technology and people), that’s just what it did. But, many used it as their route to margin, particularly the traditional buying agencies that were used to receiving large discounts on offline media.

Under the last iteration of the scheme, agencies that spent more than £15m a year got more than seven per cent of it (£1m-plus) back. That is a large sum of money to remove from whichever line in your P&L account you put it but if you’d been putting it right at the bottom, you now face a real issue with profitability.

At iCrossing, we put our BPF cash into our own search technology and our team, not our bottom line. But, even for us that is still money that will be missed since lost business revenue can only ever be replaced in three ways – reduced investment, higher prices or lower costs. None of those is an attractive prospect and agencies will be looking for understanding from their clients as they look for ways to offset BPF while at the same time increasing (not just maintaining) the quality of their service.

In short:

1. Pitch time: agencies who were simply using BPF to bolster their P & L or passing this back to clients as a point of differentiation to win search accounts are going to be hit hard. Serious, fundamental renegotiation of large contracts will serve as a stimulus for many clients to consider their options and indeed other agencies

2. The experts will win out: those that invested BPF in developing real search expertise and technology, can make natural and paid search work together to develop efficiency, and use ‘native’ digital planning techniques (e.g. linguistic profiling and genuine customer journey insight) will be the ones that deliver real value and therefore should hold on to clients and pick up business in the new swathe of pitches – as long as those clients hire on value rather than just cost.

3. CPCs unaffected: it’s been speculated that CPCs might decrease since agencies will have less to spend on keywords. But, BPF average payout is probably more like 3-4%, rather than 7-8% and individual accounts still represent the majority of Google’s spend (not agencies) so we’ll see little impact in the price of search

4. Google steams on: the sheer dominance of Google as the country’s most popular search engine negates the normal dynamics of buying and selling. Since buyers are unable to choose alternatives, where Google leads, we must follow. That Yahoo has changed its agency commissions too demonstrates this

So, there’s our thoughts, what are yours? Do you think that the effects of the change will be manifest themselves in different ways? We’d love to hear from you. And if you’re interested in any more insight into how BPF might affect your own search campaigns and strategy, give us a call.