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Everything You Need to Know About UX User Experience Research

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Everything You Need to Know About UX User Experience ResearchUX research, also known as user experience research, is used by both small and large corporations to help determine what customers want and need in a product, experience or website. Unfortunately though, when consumers hear this term, they have no idea what it means that they often ask what is user experience research. Learning more about UX user experience research can help you to better understand what this research is and how it can be used. Read on to learn more about user experience research.

What is User Experience Research? 

User experience research, also known as UX research, involves studying individuals and evaluating their response. User research may be done when consumers are testing out a new website, looking at a protype product, looking at or listening to advertisement material, or utilizing a service. All in all, a team evaluates the response of the user when they are utilizing something new, and then obtains feedback from the user about their experience with the product, service, advertisement or website. This allows companies to get honest feedback about items before they launch them or roll them out to all of their current customers.

Why is User Experience Research Important? 

User experience research is extremely important for a number of different reasons. These days, there is a lot of competition among businesses. As such, businesses want to do what they can to stand out. Utilizing user experience research allows you to get feedback about your ideas, products or services before you spend the money further developing the product or rolling it out. This gives you unique insight into whether there is a market for your product or service, what people are willing to pay for that product or service, or whether the idea may be a flop. Knowing this before you invest a lot of time or money into your idea can help you to spend on great ideas and help you to cut off bad ideas before they drain your business of valuable money and resources.

What Are the Different User Experience Research Methods? 

When it comes to user experience research, there are a lot of research methods that can be used to gain valuable insight into different users’ experiences. One of the ways that experience can be researched is with focus groups or surveys. Remote usability testing, diary studies, card sorting and interviews are a few of the other research methods that are used. Different companies use different methods, based on what they think is the ideal way to test out their website, advertising methods, products or services. When it comes to user experience research, there is no right or wrong way to get feedback on these items, which is what makes the process so interesting. You can use different methods to obtain feedback, and that feedback can then be used to help you develop new products, make changes to existing services, or determine whether to bring a product to market.

If you have never heard of UX research, you may find yourself asking what is user experience research. However, once you know what user research is, why it is used and what methods are used, you will better understand how valuable this type of research is. This type of research is so valuable because it helps companies learn more about consumers, allowing them to tailor websites, products and services to their customers and enhance their user experience. This also helps to ensure that consumers have the experience, products and services that they want, need and expect. User experience research is changing the way that business operate and the day-to-day lives of consumers.

SEO Strategies You Need to Know in 2020

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |SEO Strategies|SEO Strategies You Need to Know in 2020If you own or manage an online business, you will be aware that you need to nail SEO to drive your sales and beat your competition. What you will also know is that SEO is a constantly changing game, one that requires astute oversight of an evolving strategy. Here are some strategies that are vital to know in 2020.

E.A.T Up

Your E.A.T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) are vital when looking to beat the competition on the search engine results page (SERP). All things being equal, the most trustworthy website – with the highest E.A.T – will place the highest every time. There are different ways of approaching upping your E.A.T, but Searchbloom’s A.R.T strategy is a good place to start. It recommends you focus on Authority, Relevancy, and Technology. That means getting backlinks from high-authority sites only and trying to avoid backlinks from untrustworthy sites, optimizing content so search engines can understand what your content is and who will benefit from consuming it, and having great tech – providing users with great experiences facilitated by easy-to-use websites.

BERT Optimization

In 2019, Google launched BERT, a new algorithm that solicited much attention in the SEO world. However, BERT optimization was different from optimizing for the Medic update or previous algorithmic changes. That’s because BERT focused better than ever on intent instead of simply jumping through hoops. Optimizing for BERT means that your content will have to provide actual value to users, instead of just luring users onto a website with clickbait. Keyword research, once the focus of all SEO, might become an afterthought. The agencies that want to perform well in 2020 will be the ones that actually take time to talk with their customers and find out what sort of content they want to consume.

StrategyDriven Online Marketer & Website Developer Magazine


UX

UX stands for user experience. Incorporating UX into your 2020 SEO strategy is essential. You need to think of the user journey, focus on how you might be found on the SERP, how your landing page might impact your users, and what they will keep in their minds after they have visited your site (and how you will remarket to them). Google has been promoting good technical best practices for a while – Martin Splitt at Google has been focusing on technical issues for a long time and how they could potentially impact SEO with his blog ’50 Lines of Code’. It was Splitt who single-handedly reduced the company’s use of the infinite scroll by explaining the JavaScript issues that can lead to index issues.

Chrome has also started to issue “slow warning badges,” suggesting that site and page speeds are going to be more important than ever, so optimizing not just how your users can navigate and interact with your site, but also how quickly they can do so, will be key. It will be a hard balance between clever, minimal code and introducing important features to your site that users will love. If you really want to nail SEO this year, it might be time to get a professional coder on board.

Why UX Is Essential for your Website

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Why UX Is Essential for your Website

There are so many aspects that go into a successful website, but the user experience is undoubtedly one of the most important. When we’re looking to rank our websites, it’s easy to pay attention to what we think the search engines want and forget that it’s real-life humans who are actually going to be using our website.

Poor user experience can impact your website in many different ways. We’ve all been on a terrible website, which makes the simplest things so difficult, and it can be seriously irritating. However, frustrating your users is only one example of the many problems a poor user experience can cause.

Whether it’s conversion rates, ability to rank, or advertising costs, a poor UX can have serious consequences for your website. To find out if you need a UX revamp, get an audit from someone who offers affordable SEO services.

Ability to Rank

The reason so many people keep going to Google to get their information is because they trust it to give them the best results to answer their queries. If Google suddenly started sending you to websites with a poor UX, then it wouldn’t be long before you tried out a different search engine.

Consequently, Google does all it can to not send its users to websites with poor UX. There are many aspects that enter into Google’s algorithms, and some of them correlate closely with user experience.

For example, if your website doesn’t load properly, then people are going to leave your page without interacting with it, increasing your bounce rate. A high bounce rate signals to Google that users don’t find your page useful, and as a result, you’re less likely to rank well.

Conversion Rates

So, the chances are, you’re already getting less organic traffic because of a poor UX, but the problems don’t stop there.

Converting your website visitors into customers is about building a relationship, and if you have bad UX, this relationship is going to get off on the wrong foot. If you can’t put together a website that works for your users, why would they expect that your products can?

UX problems vary in size, but whether they’re having a small effect on your conversion rates or a big one, that’s money that you’re losing out on. Earning a sale is hard enough, so don’t let a UX problem make it even more difficult.

Advertising Costs

Whichever way you look at it, UX problems are going to make your advertising more expensive. If you’re judging it by cost per conversion, then you’re still going to be paying for the same amount of clicks, but as previously mentioned, you’re less likely to convert those clicks, bringing your cost up.

It’s possible a poor user experience can also mean you pay more for every click you get. Search engines use a quality score to judge how relevant your advert is, and a poor UX can lead to a lower quality score. This means Google is less likely to show your ad, and you can end up paying more when they do.

Whichever way you look at it, user experience is something you want to keep a close eye on, because it can make a huge difference to your website.

 

Five Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Website in 2019

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Website Design|Five Innovative Approaches To Improve Your Website in 2019Is your website taking too long to grow and reach the numbers you envision? You’re not alone. Millions of others like you are competing for the vast resources the internet offers and this means only the fittest survives and thrives here.

One of the shortest routes to internet success is to be innovative in all the critical facets of web management – from the backend to the frontend where your audience interacts with your online business. With this in mind, we share five street-smart approaches that will transform your website’s fortunes fast and sustainably.

Be customer-oriented

Regardless of the niche you’re in, there will always be that ideal audience you intend to attract to your business. With this knowledge, your goal is to maintain a style that vibes on all levels with these people. Some of the key areas to take into consideration include the content you offer them, the design used for your site, and even the site’s speed which has to be quick enough to ensure your visitors are not bouncing back.

So, how do you go about that?

For starters, ensure your first impression is superb. Use colors, themes, font types, and layouts that your ideal users find appealing to their eyes. In addition, the content should be just as good as your visuals. In essence, impress your customers by offering exactly what they expect. Give incentives if that’s what your visitors are hunting, create genuine products if you’re in such an industry, or capture the attention of your readers with rich information. In short, strive to deliver and surpass client expectations.

Optimize all web elements

Let’s face it, one of your biggest goals as an online business owner is to be able to attract a decent amount of traffic to your site. To grow your organic traffic, you will want to learn how search engines work especially the factors they take into considerations when ranking sites. For example, you might have the best designs, phenomenal content, and the fastest web host to your disposal, but if the search engine is unable to index your web elements, your visibility will suffer. So, what’s the solution?

Use web elements that major search engines like Google support and optimize them. If you heavily use videos and images on your site, be sure to add relevant SEO titles and meta descriptions to them. Besides, you need to use a speedy web host to effectively serve content to visitors and reduce your site’s bounce-back rate. Mangomatter is a good place to begin your search for a reputable host provider if you’re in the market for one. Finally, make sure your web elements are accessible within the shortest time by any browser.

Focus on providing value

Nearly every visitor that lands on your website is curious about your brand and eager to identify the value it has in it for them. To convert a big number of these visitors, how about you outline the benefits your business offers them as quickly as they reach your site?

While it can be tempting to include all the amazing things you are, avoid making the mistake of cluttering your pages as this will only end up taking away their attention from the important parts like buy buttons.
Try to focus more on the solution you have for the audience and be strategic with your calls-to-action to boost conversions.

Choose your partners wisely

Your website may have groundbreaking solutions for your prospects but without the right partners, all your efforts could prove futile. By partners, we mean your hosting provider, content creators, web programmers, and anyone else who is part of your website. These parties determine the perception that your visitors develop of your business while visiting it.

A good approach is to have these parties working harmoniously together. For example, help your content creators optimize content that your hosting provider can serve quickly on demand. Similarly, direct your programmers to use coding languages that your host supports by default.

Plan and communicate before making a move

As has been our primary theme throughout this post, your website must be valuable, informative, and flexible to the needs of its visitors. To effectively achieve this, you must make calculated moves including planning and reviewing each of your strategies before implementing it. While at it, explore how different strategies affect your existing users and ensure they don’t put them off. But above all, make sure to communicate the changes beforehand.

For example, if it’s a brand redesign, let your customers be part of the rebranding process as this proves that you value their opinions. Remember, they need to feel respected, and communicating such major changes to them is something they’d appreciate highly.

Which other approach are you using to boost results on your site and to improve user experience? Share with us in the comments below.