FAQ’s
Explain “Call to Action”?
Every site must have a purpose, whether that’s to deliver information in the hope that it will answer your customer’s questions and stop them ‘phoning you (such as the McAfee site) or that you’ll buy something (eBay) or that you’ll keep coming back to the site (e.g. Computer Weekly or other online news resources) etc. Most sites have more than one Call to Action, although all will have a primary purpose.
Why’s my site not delivering business?
This could be down to a number of reasons, maybe the site has no profile (i.e. it’s not registered with Search Engines; there are no 3rd party website links into it, you’ve not promoted it); or that visitors are coming to the site and they don’t like it either because it doesn’t live up to their expectations, or it looks unprofessional, or you’ve mis-sold it or it can’t be viewed on certain screens or certain browsers…..the list goes on. We would need to discuss this with you as the issues are different in every case – give us a call or drop us an email!
What is the “fold”?
This refers to the area of the screen that can only be reached by scrolling down. To ensure that your message is conveyed effectively, as a rule of thumb there should be little or no scroll on the Home page and all essential information should be contained above the fold line
What is Web Analytics?
Analytics is the newest buzzword on the web and refers to the assessment of website statistical information to allow informed decisions to be made on how to change the website. Unfortunately this is only part of the picture. It only tells you what people did on your website, not what they didn’t do. That is to say it’s re-active not pro-active. Data needs to be understood, not just acted upon, or you could do more harm than good to your online conversion rates
Why is Accessibility important?
- 8.6 million people in the UK are living with disabilities (source Disabled Rights Commission)
- 2 million people in the UK have sight problems (Royal National Institute for the Blind)
- 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women in the UK are colour blind (Institute of Electrical Engineers)
- 12 million people in the UK over 60 (UK government statistics)
Obviously there is overlap in some of these numbers, however it is safe to say that any website built without considering such a large percentage of the population, at best is limiting its audience and at worst is flouting the law. After all the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act states that “a service provider has to take reasonable steps to change a practice which makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services.” (DDA 4.7 p39) and follows this by stating “What services are affected by the Disability Discrimination Act? An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service to the public on its website. This is a provision of a service and is subject to the act.” (DDA 2.13 – 2.17 p11-13)
It has been the mantra of Tim Berners Lee, founder of the web and a Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that “The Power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.” To this end the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) sets guidelines in order that accessible websites can be designed. The guidelines fall in to 3 priority levels:
Priority 1 – MUST be satisfied otherwise some groups of people will be unable to access information on a site.
Priority 2 – SHOULD be satisfied or else it will be very difficult to access information.
Priority 3 – MAY be satisfied otherwise some people will find it difficult to access information.
At present “reasonable steps” in relation to UK law means broadly achieving Level 1 priority (although if we look to the rest of Europe they see Priority 2 as the benchmark and it has been muted that the UK government may move to this)
At the end of the day, it is important to remember that it’s not just registered blind people who may want to access your website through a screen reader, it may be the colour blind who can’t see the text due to the colour combinations, or it could be people with motor neurons disease who need to use a programme such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, or it maybe someone with poor eyesight who needs to increase the size of the text or it could just be someone who’s older who wants a clear and intuitive web experience. And it’s not just these groupings, everyone wants a website that’s easy to follow, that presents information in a clear and intuitive manner and generally is a pleasurable experience.
If your website doesn’t conform, you’re not alone, a 2004 RNIB survey found that 81% of websites in the UK don’t even hit the very basic level of accessibility. Up until now there has been really very little comeback for companies who don’t conform (apart from less business than they could have possibly achieved), but be warned the tide is turning and companies are starting to be brought to account. Compliance at the basic level is very easy to achieve and makes for a better experience for all users of your site.
