A well-designed user test measures the actual performance of users on the site by observing how they actually use your website and identifying what is working or opportunities for improvement. Depending on the scope of the test, participants are given tasks to accomplish or they surf the site on their own. During the test recording software is used to track user behavior, mouse clicks, and keystrokes. The software is also able to record the computer screen and the participant's voice and facial expressions during testing. [More]

Website usability is all about making things easy. A customers experience on a website begins from the second they enter the site and is added upon through each "touchpoint" that the customer has on the site. A website is often a customer's first impression of a business, and is a great example of the complex relationship between usability and web design. An ugly website may be highly functional, but users assume that since the site cut corners with their design they also cut corners with their products or services. However, a beautiful website may lack in functionality causing users become frustrated and lose trust in the brand or leave the site all-together. [More]

Social media users love to be heard, and if you are listening they can provide a great service to your company.Gauge User DataBy implementing a website analytics tool such as Google Analytics you can see what content most interests your users, what content they are reading, what links they used to get to your site and what they searched for to find your site. If you know your user types, referring sites and what keywords they used to find your site you can then create more favorable content. By understanding this data it should in turn give you the answer as to why other sites trust you and what related topics you should consider.Free Focus GroupStandard focus groups are a marketer's dream, one that is often unfulfilled due to high costs. By polling your social media users you can create focus groups for free allowing you to research for product concept, price validation, location based product offers and positioning. Most social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn have appl... [More]

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results as opposed to Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion." - Wikipedia. In English please... Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting your website listed higher in search engines without paying for placement. It seems that in today's world anybody with a little bit of internet knowledge thinks that they can be an SEO Specialist: insert keywords here, submit site to search engines and wa-la instant SEO. Unfortunately it's not so easy; and neither is deciphering the legitimate SEO companies from the fly-by-nighters. Avoid these 5 SEO tricks and you will be on your way to a better ranked website without risking damage to your site or your reputation. 1. “We can successfully have your rankings increased within 48 hours!” SEO is a time consuming proces... [More]

More specifically - the importance of web standards. It's a big subject in the field of web design, and not an easy one to explain. There's a chance I should be picking something a little easier to start this off with, but what the heck, let's just jump right in, both feet! A Look Back The phrase "web standards" - or "standards-based design", or a number of other, similar, variations - refers to websites built in accordance with the W3C HTML and CSS rules. The W3C is an organization - possibly closer to a confederation - of designers, internet guru-type, and professionals in the field. Established in 1994, it had - and still has - the single goal of establishing a standard, usable, nonpartisan set of rules and regulation for website code. With the so-called Browser Wars just getting started at the time, there was a lot of need for an entity like this. Let's back up a minute. Let's step back even away from the web itself, and look at computing in the mid to late eighties. Yeah, I don... [More]

Welcome to the new OpenVision blog! Here we will discuss the latest in sc web design, web development, ecommerce internet marketing, paid advertising, and website actors and spokespersons. Learn more about our services, view our web portfolio, meet our management staff or team, or contact us.