Generating targeted traffic and conducting website optimization are critical to increasing online sales. Ok, yeah, you already know that

But did you know that traffic generation and website optimization aren’t mutually exclusive? There are tactics that will help you accomplish both goals at the same time, and one FutureNow Partner recently spoke to me about a tactic that’s working well.

Our Partner is a software development firm that specializes in web-based applications and good old web development and design. They are currently gaining leads…

...continue to read "All Aces: Overlapping your Marketing Efforts for Better Results"

I saw something today that disturbed me a bit (see pic). What you see is a free icon set I found with the standard 30, 60 and 90-Day Money Back Guarantee emblazoned in gold. I’ve been seeing similar graphics on websites more and more lately.  We’re partly at fault because FutureNow helps businesses of all sizes by recommending design elements like these be put on their “to-do list.”

The disturbing thought is that if this style of “starburst” guarantee seal has…

...continue to read "Beware of Copycat Credibility"

Many of our clients are in the business of being Experts. Some are consultants, some are advisors, some highly-skilled professionals within their field. The challenge with using the Web to market one’s expertise is that the online world is full of charlatans, and most people who’ve hired a few “experts” have had at least one of them not live up to their claims and produce poor results.

Selling expertise face-to-face is quite bit easier. The true Expert’s skills come across in their…

...continue to read "Six Ways to Sell Your Expertise Online"

We at FutureNow sometimes wonder why more companies aren’t busy optimizing their websites and online marketing, or why those who are “on board” with the concept don’t always commit the right amount of resources towards the effort.

I’m not a mind-reader, but I think it’s due in part to an all-or-nothing mentality where nothing short of a full optimization ‘project’ is worth putting effort into.  Most companies are more interested in redesigning their websites all at once instead of incrementally, even though…

...continue to read "For Every Optimization, There’s a Pyramid, So Get Started"

The ecommerce shopping cart is a great place to run tests, as simple changes (layout, copy, color, etc.) often yield fantastic results.  There are unanswered questions in the minds of our customers that we think are obviously answered on the page, but they’re not.  If you’re not sure about what those unanswered questions are, you can back up a few steps and use personas or user testing to uncover them.

Here are 5 key, unanswered questions (beyond shipping costs) of the shopping…

...continue to read "The Shopping Cart: How to Answer the 5 Unanswered Customer Questions"

I couldn’t help but write down a few comments and links in response to a recent Smashing Magazine post.  Designed to Sell: 8 Useful Tips to Help Your Website Convert kicks major butt, and I thought you’d both enjoy the article and a few comments/additions thrown in for each of the 8 tips:

Tip 1: Subiminal Suggestion

Basically, make sure your design elements – and most especially your pictures – enhance your credibility and put visitors in the right emotional frame…

...continue to read "Comments on 8 Useful Conversion Tips"

Jakob Nielsen’s new post regarding how to optimize for online visitor’s F-patterned scanning is a must read.  There’s a lot of sound advice there, many of it confirming or aligning with Future Now recommendations.  Stuff like:

Don’t waste hyperlink words on non-descriptive or generic words.  Make links keyword rich and ensure that customers can predict where the link will take them.  Plan and link for maximum “scent” Use plain language.  In other words, talk to the dog in…

...continue to read "Doesn’t Graphic Design/Layout Affect Scanning Patterns?"

So your friend shows you this book he can’t stop raving about. After giving it the old dust-cover/random-flip-through examination, you pretty much decide to buy it. Now, when you arrive at amazon.com, my question is: are you at all interested in the book recommendations that Amazon has for you?

Absolutely not, right?  Or at least not yet.

You came to buy a specific book.  You’ve already got a task in mind and browsing random books aint it.  You’ll likely…

...continue to read "Does Online Browsing Bend the Laws of Scent and Relevance?"

You could say I look at homepages for a living.  Not really, but they’re one of the pages I analyze and optimize for a living.  I saw one I enjoyed the other day, so I’ll talk about the design, what I like about it, and make a few suggestions for improvement.

One of the first things I noticed (and liked) was that the homepage was quite tall.  Many designers seem averse to tall homepage designs, thinking that everything simply…

...continue to read "A Strong Homepage Design Dissected"

It’s a commonplace on the Internet that the traditional 30-second TV spot is dying.  What with increasing media fragmentation, the new “attention economy,” and TiVo/DVR’s, etc, etc.

Of course, there have always been some level-headed voices of dissent, but it was still interesting to read this bit of research on the effectiveness of fast-forwarded / DVR-ed ads.

Turns out that viewers have to pay attention to their TV Screens in order to fast forward through ads.  A real shocker that…

...continue to read "Early Rumors of Commercial’s Death Greatly Exaggerated"