Forms are a recognised part of life, we fill in job applications, purchase products, create accounts and many other functions.  But the length and content required can and very often is a major off put to customers.

This article discussed 4 key reasons why users hate forms and also provides some thought as to simple techniques that if used wisely can improve the chances of customers filling in and completing the process.

Things about Web forms that drive visitors away from your online store:

1. Forced to fill a long form that demands too much unnecessary information
2. Lack of clarity regarding what kind of input is required for a particular field
3. Not finding the right options in the fields where text input doesn’t work
4. Form doesn’t save and the user is asked to fill the whole form again for a single error

Article: read more

With the recent updates from Google, which target sites that have carried out bad practice when it comes to gaining search engine ranking position. It is important to understand how to remove links that you have no access to and are flagging concern in the relevant search engines.

I’m currently working with two ecommerce sites that have both suffered an automatic penalty from Google as a result of bad in-bound link profiles.  Searching the internet provides a large number of posts saying that it is possible to recover sites using the Google Disavow tool and also the Bing tool-set.

Both Bing and Google webmasters provide links and instruction of how to submit a list of potentially bad links to assist in the search engines ignoring them when considering the site for inclusion in the search engine results page.

The links provide access to the disavow tools and some explanation of how to use.

Google:

Disavow Tool Hlep Article: read more

Bing:

Disavow Tool Help Article: read more

I’ve worked with a range of companies of late where the website has been recently re-designed but still fails to deliver the required functionality and flexibility.  It typically relates to a lack in the original specification and requirements developed at the start of the project.

Here’s a list from an article recently released that can form the basis for a useful and informed discussion with a developer.

1. Pick a web development company that delivers good projects and websites
2. Ensure you have access to the source code or CMS, incase you part company, what happens
3. Where is the hosting service provider
4. How flexible is the CMS, can I customise it.
5. How many developers will work on the website
6. What’s the Cost of hourly development, once site is released for changes
7. Does the platform (CMS) allows plenty of room to grow and expand
8. What elements are neccessary in the site for driving sales
9. Ask for SEO friendly HTML structure – page urls, ability to modify page titles and descriptions
10. Requriemetns for browsing products – is it by category, size, price, or anything else
11. How do we handle international version of the site
12. Is there a mobile visible theme for website
13. Gifts, event or programs option for website