Check out this interview on mobile app usability:

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2099266/jakob-nielsen-usability-mobile-sites-apps

Nielsen gives good tips on making a mobile app for your company.

I want to add my thoughts on short copy, however. You want to keep text concise, but not ambiguous. Titles and explanations should not be able to be misinterpreted. In your editing, keep things crystal clear.

Also, the suggestion about hiring a usability team to test your app is crucial.

I recommend small businesses who are developing apps to read this article along with the App Makeover article (especially under the subhead “One Bad Screen=Millions Lost”), and other news in Nielsen’s Alertbox.

• It’s slow to load
• Slow load times means more people are bouncing away from your site, going to somebody else’s.
• Pages are missing
• This looks unprofessional and untrustworthy.
• Links are broken
• This looks unprofessional and untrustworthy.
• It’s not generating leads
• Websites are not to look pretty, they’re a business investment that should be bringing you a return.
• It’s hard to read
• Clutter and confusion do not convert to customers. They frustrate and push people away.
• It only works with one web browser
• This is an outdated practice. Internet Explorer is far from the gold standard of web browsing, and there are many browsers out there. So get with the program and make it accessible to as many as possible!
• It’s a Flash website
• Graphic and Flash heavy websites are not easily found in search engines. So less people are finding you.
• Customers can’t find things
• Need I say more?
• Customers keep calling asking the same questions
• This is a surefire sign that the necessary information is not readily apparent online. Listen to your call center/customer service department and find out what needs fixing.
• Information is outdated
• Old information, dated articles that are no longer relevant are wasting space and customers’ time. So clear these out and make room for new pages. Search engines like newer stuff.
• There are many more reasons … why do you need a website redesign?
• Email info@mindspringdesign.com to get a free quote and get started on a fresh, dynamic website that makes money and attracts customers!

I’ve thrown together a comparison of free vs. custom websites. Of course most website designers will steer you towards a custom website. But this may not be feasible for everyone. And I wouldn’t recommend it if it exceeds your budget. But it definitely has its advantages as you can see below. The things that make free websites so attractive also make a business look very unprofessional and can dampen sales. Have I missed any comparison line items?

How many Twitter followers do you have? How many Facebook fans? Most people have a good idea of their online social popularity. But can you describe how these followers are interacting with your website or blog? How many are actually visiting you and converting to customers?

Track Marketing Campaigns Using the UTM Tag

Google Analytics, free web tracking software, allows you to attach little codes to your links so that you can track just about anything. You can track campaign performance through email newsletter clicks, tweets, banner ads, affiliate programs, pay-per-click, and even offline campaigns. This will help you see which marketing efforts are the most effective and to better target your future campaigns.

You can use Google’s UTM Tag Builder to accomplish this, but I prefer UTM.to because it uses easy, down-to-earth language. You type in your link URL and your campaign details. Little pop-up bubbles tell you how to fill out the short form, and alert you when you’ve messed up the format. You can also get a long or short version of the new tagged-up URL.

Let me know how this works for you.

So everyone’s heard — Consumer Reports says that the new iPhone is badly designed causing weak signals and dropped calls. As a left-handed person, I was shocked that lefties were told they were holding the phone wrong. Jobs cleaned it up soon after, but here is a good example of poor usability. This blunder cost Apple a decrease in stock price, bad PR and some annoyed customers. The negative media attention seems to have outweighed the phone’s many good features.

RANT: Web sites and interfaces in general should clearly and easily draw people to where they want to go. Offer people too many choices, and they can’t make a decision.

Perfect case in point: Even though I love my HTC Droid Eris, there are little annoying things about the interface. Sometimes I wonder if the programmers and designers ever tried to use the phone. Let’s say you want to use the GPS feature and get directions to go to a destination. In the menu there are three feasible options — Navigator, Navigation, and Maps. Now the first two choices seem more likely, but already I’m annoyed that the phone is making me feel stupid for not knowing the difference between Navigation and Navigator. By the way you can get text directions through the Maps option. Choosing Navigation, you also get text directions, but voice turn-by-turn directions are only through Navigator.

Then if you’d like to change your Home screen, would you choose Setup or Settings? Only a tech savvy person would know to choose Settings. Setup would be for when you are first setting up your phone. Then why is it a menu option next to Settings?

The clock feature is also exasperating. How do you edit the city shown on the clock? You don’t. You must create a new clock for a new city and then delete the old one.

The list goes on and on. With each new phone I am forced to learn new things that aren’t even in the manual. I had to Google a couple of things, thank goodness the phone has internet access. Anyway, the point is, test your applications, interfaces, web sites please. Don’t be lazy, cater to the users. They will thank you in the end.

Does your business cater to young people?

Do children primarily use your website?

Have you tested your website‘s usability on your target market… children?

Children and toddlers, even, are using the internet on a regular basis. A website that targets these young people will need special design considerations, but it will also present challenges in user experience. What this means is that young kids have special needs and challenges that need to be taken into consideration when designing a website for them. These include:

Eye-hand coordination

Non-readers or new readers

Ability to click mouse buttons

Ability to use keyboard

You may want to consider:

Having audio or video instructions

Not placing important navigation below the fold

Not using complicated functionality when simplicity will do

Not recreating standard design conventions, this could be confusing

Check out an article in UX Matters that Heather Nam recently published entitled Designing User Experiences for Children. She lists a useful list of suggested design conventions when designing for children.

This Week in The Biz Bite, Entrepreneur Coach Whitney Keyes lists her Top 10 Small Business Technology Resolutions. Three of them especially caught my eye. I believe that these are major things every business should do all year long every year! Here’s an excerpt:

10. Work the Web. Ask yourself if your website (you do have a website, right?) still fits the needs of your business. Is it time to upgrade to an e-commerce solution so you can sell your products or services online?

I agree. I suggest getting a professional competitive analysis to see how your website stacks up to your competition. You will then get personalized recommendations for the most cost effective ways to expand your online presence and increase your website ROI.

7. The Search is On. Do you know what SEO is? Search engine optimization improves your rank on sites like Google and Yahoo! A few keywords can catapult your ranking in only a few months.

I continue to see small business websites that have not yet tapped into this opportunity. Step out into the search engine spotlight by investing in SEO. Consult with an SEO specialist to determine how you define your organization/products and how to capitalize on your strengths while  attracting new customers.

6. Be Smart and Social. Do some social media due diligence to find out if your industry cares about tweets, friends or followers before you invest valuable resources in social media.

Have your web designer do research on the viability and potential for social media. Do a test run to see the results. Be bold, think outside the box, and you might just be surprised!

In addition to Ms. Keyes recommendations, I also strongly suggest that small businesses put in place a regular web analytics schedule. This will enable you to see how well or poorly your website is performing monthly or quarterly. Then your web designer will suggest simple, practical improvements to increase the effectiveness of your site.

Mindspring Design adopts the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Designers | the professional association for design) Design Framework. This process is adopted in whole or in part for all our current and future web design projects.

Why incorporate a process? This framework helps our clients understand what is involved in the design process. Creating branding and websites is not just an ethereal, serendipitous journey. Design decisions are based on research, communication, problem-solving and innovation. Our clients are well-informed collaborators throughout the process, and their business goals are a top priority. View successful case studies here.

Contact Mindspring Design at 856-393-0385 to see how incorporating this framework into your next website project can generate value for your small business.

Mindspring Design also has developed its own exclusive, comprehensive 62-point system for creating and assessing your printed graphics materials.