Day Trip Media: When People Don't Comprehend The Web

Sunday, 15 February 2009

When People Don't Comprehend The Web

I'm a great believer in the principles of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) when it comes to web design, you just need to look at any of my websites to see that. It still amazes me the way some people use the web and completely misinterpret the whole function and hierarchy of it all. I think a lot of casual users still struggle to understand what's going on. Running a number of websites, this is something I see time and time again in the way people interact with my sites, and I think it's worth taking a moment to look at some of these issues and how you should respond to them and could potentially benefit from them.

Navigation And The Address Bar

First up is navigation, and how many people actually get to the websites they want. This is an area that lots of people have covered in other places, and one I've mentioned on forums in the past. It boils down to the simple fact that a lot of people don't actually know how to use an address bar on their browser. I see it time and time again, people hitting my sites by means of a search on Google for www.mysitesurl.com or a similar URL string. Rather than type a known URL in the address bar, they type it in the search box and then navigate to the site via the search results.

Now, as a webmaster you can benefit from this behaviour. More often than not Google will list the proper URL first, but not always. If you've written a piece about site X on your blog, then as well as using the brand name, why not also use the URL as text in your piece - ie. Visit Site X at www.sitex.com. In some cases you can get a lot of extra traffic from these sort of searches and directly benefit from adding such a small little but of text.

I have pages on various sites that feature another site's URL as text that rank higher than the actual site that has the URL being searched for. Obviously for maximum benefit the page content should also reflect the content of the target site. People hitting your page will no doubt check what you have to say about the site before following one of your well placed affiliate links to the site they originally wanted. It's also worth noting that as a site owner you should make sure your site also ranks top for itself in this sort of URL search, and if it doesn't featuring your URL as part of the text on the site, maybe in a footer can help lift it.

Branded By Association

The next observation runs around branding and the way people don't actually pay attention to where they are. As an affiliate you're able to add branding and by-association authority to your sites in the graphics, banners, titles, URLs and text you use. Sometimes people don't pay attention to the fact they're not on the site they think they are, and assume because you carry this affiliate branding, you are the actual site in question. Don't believe me? Here's some recent examples of contact via various affiliate sites.

"Request to see how much the bingo is - Could you please tell me how much the bingo is on a friday evening?"

"Could you please tell me what time your main session starts tonight?"

"Tena Pants - Can you please email me a brochure, and add me to your mailing list to keep me up to date with new products?"

In all these cases, the people didn't realise that they weren't at the site they wanted to be at. I'd have thought the by-association branding on my site was quite subtle and would in no way give the impression that my site was anything more than a brand in its own right featuring information on a collection of related brands. But it seems that people skim through so quickly that they aren't paying attention, or more likely aware that they 'should' be paying attention to where they are.

Now, as a webmaster it doesn't take me more than a few seconds to sort these sort of queries out. I found a link for the mailing list for the one person and sent them details of how to sign up, for the other two I actually checked which club they wanted and got them the phone number, after pointing out the site wasn't the brand they wanted but another one.

I could have just ignored the mails, as I'm sure many out there do. For me though I think helping these people is a part of what I do, and by pointing out my brand as part of sending them the correct information, it may give them positive feelings about it and make them want to tell their friends about my site and the help they got from it. I've always enjoyed helping people out, so this sort of activity comes naturally to me, and as long as it doesn't eat much time, I think it's an activity worth doing. I think a lot of this lack of understanding comes down to one of the biggest things people don't do online, and that's read.

Reading's For Books, Not The Web

It's something I read time and time again, people just skim information online, they don't actually read most of it (unless you're reading this of course...) and I see examples of this in the mail I get via my sites as well. For instance, I have a couple of sites that feature eBay listings. There are large disclaimers right next to the listings saying something along the lines of "this is not our stock, it's what's on eBay by a variety of sellers. Any problems you have with these items will need to be taken up with eBay and the seller." This sort of information takes up lots of the page and is in a couple of places, but do people read it? What do you think?

"Hi...I'm looking for a 1965 strat 250K pot with a stamp date code of 137.6501. You happen to have one?"

"I recentely bought a canvas art of a 4 pane picure of Charlie Chaplin in a bowler. I LOVE IT. I was wondering if you having a 4 pane picture of a blond labrador retriever's head....???"

"Wanted: '59-'62 slab board custom color P-Bass. Refret and/or no OHSC OK"

So obviously they see me affiliate site and assume that it's actually my stock, despite the fact I've clearly listed over and over again that it's third party items completely unrelated to the site owner. My instinct tells me people just skim right over the the info, even in brief form and look straight at the listings. Literally, many have little comprehension and understanding of the form and function of the site they're on. They frequently fail to read simple instructions, let alone look at the Ts and Cs and disclaimers at the site. Let's face it though, when did you last read the small print of the site you were planning on buying from? It's now wonder people make these assumptions about my site and then email me as if I was a proper retailer.

Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do to benefit from these sort of enquiries, but I do send them an email explaining I'm not stocking the items but eBay is, then send them a nice affiliate link and tell them to search at eBay for the items themselves. Once again, this sort of response is one that many webmasters would avoid, but I think it takes seconds and is good karma for your site if it gets the misguided emailer talking about you and the help you gave.

As seasoned web users, it's always easy for us to scoff at how many actually interact with the web, or worse still expect them to do alien activities that we take as second nature. Many webmasters are guilty of doing the same though - there are plenty that create sites that expect users to do stuff that they themselves would never do or use (that's a whole other post though).

I think once you embrace the fact that people have difficulty using the web, you consciously think of ways to make their experience of your own sites that little bit better. Hopefully the above points will help you do the same when you're making your own sites or planning them. Don't take your own experience as the entry level, think of it as though you were a new and clueless web user and design and plan from there, it will only benefit your sites in the long term.

Posted by Dio Bach at 11:29

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