Sphinn is great for marketing associated with search engines, but it would be good to see more prominence given to other equally important factors such as Usability that determine a website’s effectiveness.
11 Comments
11 Comments
Comments
I was going to tease and ask if Kim sent you. But, of course, you’re right.
All I did was tell Barry I shot my cannon off again. He likes it when I play with the ammo :)
I was just thinking about this. It would be nice to have a little change of interest.
Was there even a category for usability when Sphinn initially went live?
We didn’t have usability when we launched, and after Kim noted that oversight, I added it. I also added a domaining category. I’m sure we’ll add more down the line. As for the post, I guess you’re saying look, usability is stuck in a corner again, since it’s not a top level category. Well, it won’t be, in the near term. Lots of other categories aren’t, either. The ones you see are the ones that seems to make the most sense for a site focused on search, search marketing and online marketing. As for Usability being second to last in the Online Marketing section, that’s simply because it was the second to last category we added. "Perhaps one shouldn’t read too much into this. However unfortunately it so often reflects how much attention is paid to Usability in the website design process. Perhaps if those of us who care keep mentioning it at every opportunity, eventually more people will smell the coffee." Or feel kind of hen-pecked. Look, there’s a category for usability. Most people are not drilling into the categories to find things in particular or to submit that way. They find something of interest, then they submit, and they browse what’s new. So I’ll flip it back to you. First it was a complaint that usability had no "home." Now it’s a complaint that the home isn’t somehow prime real estate. You have the best prime real estate if you want it -- What’s New. Just go find some compelling things on usability and submit them :)
Please don’t feel hen-pecked, Danny. The post was just a reminder that we should never forget about Usability. This is not a social media website about total website effectiveness but is focused specifically on Search Marketing. Usability is not part of that, but at least you’ve opened the door to discuss this here. Thanks for that. :)
For the record, just to avoid any possible misunderstandings...I’m THRILLED and pleased out the gazoo that Danny put a Usability category here. It’s a progressive move and unique. What usability place has an SEO category? Barry linked to my latest brain dump on seo and usability, but when I wrote it, I wasn’t thinking of Sphinn or what happened. Danny, you’re doing fine. This is an awesome place and your team should be proud.
"Most people are not drilling into the categories to find things in particular or to submit that way. They find something of interest, then they submit, and they browse what’s new." I wondered about that, Danny. Thanks for explaining that. I wondered if I was supposed to drill down in that way, but I guess your analytics must show what’s happening. Are most people going hot>new and then possibly on to submit? That’s what I’d guess.
Yep, most go to Hot, then to New, plus they jump to individual topics. Over time, I expect more to go into particular categories. When we get the category feeds up, that will also probably help. And thanks for the reassurance on the usability side!
I’m also glad to see usability here. Too often overlooked yet can change ROI by 100% :)
^^ what tim said :)