The Big Red Fez  - How to Make Any Web Site Better - By Seth Godin

The Big Red Fez is short book on web site usability, and it was the first web marketing book I read. The analogy on the red fez is

to consider your website guest as someone with a short attention span, busy, and focused on getting what they want. If they were a monkey, they would need to see the Banana. On every page of your website, the visitor should know where they are, and be able to easily find where they want to go next.

 

While this is an old topic, it still warrants attention by many website owners. Why do you always seem to go through Azerbaijan and Afghanistan and 211 other countries in drop down menus when 98% of the visitors/buyers are probably from 2-5 countries they could list at the top of the menu?

• Every page should focus on ONE action you want the user to take. Too many decisions get them sidetracked, or they leave.

  Get visitors to a page that is as specific for their needs as possible. Segment regular visitors and new visitors as they require different information.

• You have as few as 3 seconds for people to figure out if your website is what they want.

• DO NOT have a web page that takes along time to load or that needs plug ins to work. [this may have been less of an issue for a few years as broadband became more ubiquitous, but is back as a people use mobile devices to surf]

• If people use 'search' on your site, and there are no results, don't just give them a page that tells them that, rather, try to engage them in some other way.

• Make your check out process easy & straightforward.

• Keep people's information, and keep it secure, so you do not have to ask them for it again.

• Don't try to make your website into a format that better suits another medium, like a TV commercial or a print catalogue.

• Split up forms into steps so people do not get overwhelmed with all of the questions.

• Test and Measure. Improve.