We've written on dozens of topics to do with web marketing and e-commerce.

A few examples: Designing Online Forms (June '06), Pop-up Surveys for User Feedback -- pros and cons (May 06), B2B vs B2C E-mail Marketing (March '06), RSS Feeds (Feb. '06), Timed Online Offers (Jan. '06), Multi-Channel Offer (Oct. '05), Localized Search (March '05). See the Archives for more.

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Sample articles from recent issues

Accessibility Tips (July 2006)

We've all read about the importance of using alt tags (a way to label pictures) so that visually impaired web users know what's there, but I recently had my eyes opened much further when doing usability testing with users of JAWS, a major screen-reader program for the blind. Here are a few simple tips to take you beyond that very important alt-tag bit:

• When an article continues on another page, don't simply label it "more" or "click here". The screen-reader picks out links so they can scan the page by hearing the links read out loud. So a link such as "Web accessibility tips - more" will be much more helpful.
• Use html header tags for headers instead of simply a bolder or larger font. The screen-reading program also helps users scan pages by reading out headers.
• Have a link to  text-only version available near the top of the page.  This saves them having to wade through tons of "graphic" links that are irrelevant to them.
• Flash does not work well with screen-reading programs. If you must use flash, summarize its contents in text format.
• Think left to right, top to bottom. That's the order in which most screen readers tell users what is on the page. So ideally you want to put your most important information in the top left. (For English and most European language-speakers, that holds true too. We are accustomed to reading in that order.)

Why "why" matters (May 2006)

We recently tested a bank website in which one of the bits of information applicants for a personal account had to supply was a driver's license number. This irritated quite a few potential customers. As one of them commented, "Are they saying that someone without a driver's license cannot open a bank account?"

Implications:

• Ask yourself first, do you really need that information? The less you ask for, the more people will be willing to sign up.
• Always explain why you need any personal information you ask for.

Here's a good example of a bank website explaining their reasoning. (Original article linked to a site screenshot.)

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