A High Rank & Job Finished? Think Again

Enter 'Usability'—website usability is much more difficult than obtaining a high search ranking in South Africa.

You have to convert high rank into business. There are plenty of examples of highly ranked, dreadful websites. Usability is simply how easy a website makes it for a visitor to achieve the result he wants - and these will be the results you want.

Regardless of how highly your website is ranked, if it is the proverbial pig's dinner, it will never succeed. Good ranking without top notch usability will keep your website in first gear.

Indexing of your websites is done by software that ranks only criteria that affect your search rankings. The true arbiter of usability is a human who will regard your website very differently. He will be at your website in order to make a decision—do this, go there, order that etc..

Several components must reach a high standard. The content has to engage your unknown visitor, be informal yet knowledgeable, friendly yet authoritative. The content is the sole reason for the website - no content; no website. Few website designers are adept at quality website content.

The navigation must be simple and logical. Letting him come back to pages that he has already visited is going to annoy him.

Remember that you charge your visitors to read your website. You are charging them their time. Waste their time and you will lose them.