Complexity impedes website performance

Too many organisations lose sight of the fact that their website should be a self service enabler (or maybe they never got it in the first place). Adding more services and more content just provides more opportunities for the visitor to take a wrong turn.

Conversion copy case studies

If you write web content, this article is worth a look - even if you're not in the business of creating conversion copy. The list of examples just shows the value of reviewing your copy - ideally testing with end users. The impact of a few apparently subtle changes can be enormous.

Mobile in Higher Ed survey results 2013

We all know use of mobile touchscreen devices is on the rise, but little is written specifically about the university sector. Karine Joly has repeated her annual survey of US Higher Ed web managers to provide a summary of analytics data and colleges' approach to accommodating these visitors.

Web writing quick tips videos

Five short videos on improving your web writing, with a focus on higher education.

Measuring marketing impact & customer experience

Understanding your customers' experience and the impact of your marketing activity (on and offline) should be a priority for 2013. If you're committed to improving the user experience and getting value for money out of your marketing expenditure then plan to measure.

User testing & analytics ROI case studies

Econsultancy present 8 examples of when testing an really interface paid off.

Content writing checklist

A neat little reminder for when you're writing new content. How many of these points can you check off with your last article?

Analytics - essential practices

This paper from UXmag provides 10 essential steps to setting up and using analytics properly. To be honest, I think the first 4 aren't really about analytics at all - more about an effective, focused website.

University website complexity

Too much choice confuses. It can paralyse. Matt Klawitter shares his experience working on US university website redesigns, the research that informed and backed up decisions, and the culture that continues to resist a drive for greater simplicity.

Choosing the right web metrics

Gerry McGovern writes about measuring online performance. He says - "Just because something is easy to measure doesn't mean we should measure it."

Title tag guidelines

Web page titles are so easily overlooked at times, when they are fundamental to both usability and search engine performance.

Copywriting tips for SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is often a big issue for website owners at the University of Edinburgh. This article covers some excellent advice that every copywriter should put into practice.Most will have a positive impact on your content's usability and accessibility too.

Despite what you may suspect or have heard, there is no magic wand or secret tricks to improve your web pages' ranking. It really is down to your content - how useful it is to your readers and how well you structure it.

This meetcontent.com article distills this into 9 top tips.

SEO Copywriting for Content Contributors - article by Rick Allen

Avoiding your next site redesign - Lou Rosenfeld

I attended a seminar by Lou Rosenfeld last week - "Adaptable Information Architecture; How to say no to your next website redesign". It was a great session, and his slides are available online.

Search site analytics - Lou Rosenfeld interviews

A collection of recent interviews with Lou Rosenfeld who this year wrote an excellent, must-read book - Search Site Analyitcs.

Metrics don't equal success

A pithy, but worthwhile reminder of why we shouldn't get too caught up in various metrics collected through web analytics packages.

Data-driven decision making

A great article on website analytics - how to use them to best effect. For yourself and for your organisation.

Click analysis - Research group homepages

I recently ran a click analysis study across 10 research institute homepages in our Medical School. The study only collected data on visitors from outside the University network to exclude as many staff and current student clicks as possible. Unsurprisingly, user behaviour and priorities were the same regardless of the design employed.

Compare search terms - google web trends

Web Trends is a really useful tool to bookmark if you're interested in what people are searching for on Google.

What not to measure

A quick reminder from Gerry McGovern about why judging your website by the number of visits you get is not a particularly clever thing to do.

$12m - the cost of one extra field

An interesting little case study that emphasises the value of testing a form before publishing it. In this instance, $12 million per year.