Wootton SEO
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • SEO
    • Web Design
    • Social Media
    • Paid Search
    • Content Writing
    • Online Reputation
  • Case Studies
  • Resources
    • SEO News & Blog
    • Tutorials
    • Code Snippets
  • Contact

Learning From Your Users

25 April 2017 | by Peter Wootton | Design, Branding
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Learning From Your Users
Advertisement Artistry Blog Conceptual
  • 300

In this, the second of a six-part column we look at the best way of learning from your users and their needs.

You know that Friday afternoon feeling, when the To do’ list has been completed (or moved to Monday) but there are still a couple of hours left in the day? Do you get the guilty temptation to nosey on Facebook, Twitter etc? Well go right ahead – in fact, make this part of your weekly routine! When your boss asks what you are doing, it’s ‘Digital Ethnography’; the art of hanging out with your customers and prospects online.

Many professional service firms obsess about the design of their site without building any real understanding of their users. Firms expend disproportionate energy on their home page, ignoring the fact that only 25% of users who arrive at their site see this, whilst the rest deep-link to content directly from search. In fact, a user may be making decisions about whether to hire you or your competitor without ever reaching your website.

So how do you better acquaint yourself with your users? Monitor the ‘buzz’; at its simplest, this means visiting key forums and social communities regularly and seeing what’s being talked about. Ideally, it means a structured review. Free tools such as Social Mention, Social Seek, Boardreader and Klout allow you to monitor keywords across a wide range of social networks and measure your current influence, or deploy one of the heavy-hitting enterprise tools such as Sentimetrics or Radian6.

Whilst everyone knows that Google Analytics and the like provide headline site statistics, few have spent the time establishing goals and performance indicators that provide valuable insight into how users are interacting with your site. A few days experimenting or some expert help can reap massive rewards.

But don’t rely on quantitative data. Invest in a few bottles of wine; invite a panel of sample users to tell you about their online experience. Ask them what they are looking for on the web, what motivates them to visit a site and what would drive them to take the all-important next step.

Arrange some one-to-one user testing with target users. Avoid being seduced by gadgetry such as eye-tracking and test labs. Sitting with a user for half an hour and asking them to guide you through tasks on your website, almost always surfaces big problems and highlights opportunities.

Finally, apply your learning. Not through one massive site redesign (though sometimes it’s needed), but through regular site refinement, experimentation and evaluation. Concentrate on one aspect of your digital offering, learn from your users and apply this to improve their experience. Do this and you will quickly deliver improved business performance and create a real competitive edge.

Peter Wootton

Top Ranking SEO Expert & Consultant - Ranked Top On Google For "SEO Manchester". Specialist in Technical SEO.

All posts by Peter Wootton
Related Posts
17 july 2017 | by Peter Wootton Learning From Your Users

In this, the second of a six-part column we look at the best way of learning from your users and their needs. You know that Friday afternoon feeling, when the To do’ list has been completed (or moved to Monday) but there are still a couple of hours left in the day? Do you get

03 July 2017 | by Peter Wootton Learning From Your Users

In this, the second of a six-part column we look at the best way of learning from your users and their needs. You know that Friday afternoon feeling, when the To do’ list has been completed (or moved to Monday) but there are still a couple of hours left in the day? Do you get

22 June 2017 | by Peter Wootton Learning From Your Users

In this, the second of a six-part column we look at the best way of learning from your users and their needs. You know that Friday afternoon feeling, when the To do’ list has been completed (or moved to Monday) but there are still a couple of hours left in the day? Do you get

02 June 2017 | by Peter Wootton Learning From Your Users

In this, the second of a six-part column we look at the best way of learning from your users and their needs. You know that Friday afternoon feeling, when the To do’ list has been completed (or moved to Monday) but there are still a couple of hours left in the day? Do you get

10 Comments
  • Herman Miller Reply
    17 july 2017, 6:05 pm

    Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries.

    • Alexander Harvard Reply
      17 july 2017, 6:05 pm

      Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries.

  • Jennifer Freeman Reply
    17 july 2017, 6:05 pm

    Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries.

Write A Comments
Search
About Me
Google Panda Friendly SEO

Peter Wootton is a highly experienced technical SEO consultant who's working in the SEO industry for over a decade.

He has a great comprehensive understanding of all aspects of SEO including but not limited to: Keyword Research, Technical SEO, Outreach, Link Building, Automation & more.

He's also been featured in Grow Traffics Leading SEOs In The UK (2018).

About Author
Follow Us
Categories
  • Business 2
  • Digital Marketing 4
  • PPC 5
  • SEO 39
  • Uncategorised 16
  • Web Design 12
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Explore Portfolio
Popular post
  • 16 Ways You Can Improve Traffic Conversions On Your Site
    16 Ways You Can Improve Traffic Conversions On Your Site 25th February 2021
  • A Guide to Combining Colours & Colour Schemes For Great Web Design
    A Guide to Combining Colours & Colour Schemes For Great Web Design 25th February 2021
  • Responsive Design Is a Way Forward, Not for Everyone Though
    Responsive Design Is a Way Forward, Not for Everyone Though 25th February 2021
  • Learning From Your Users
    Learning From Your Users 18th November 2019
tags cloud
AdWordsAhrefsAppleBingBloggingCanonicalisationConversion Rate OptimisationeCommerceFreelanceGoogleGzipiOSjQueryKeywordsLoading Time OptimisationMajestic SEOMatt CuttsPenguinRedirectsSculptSecuritySEOSitelinksSSLSteve JobsWordPress
Archive
  • February 2021 (3)
  • November 2019 (11)
  • August 2019 (1)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (6)
  • September 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (17)
  • October 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (11)
  • June 2016 (1)
  • October 2015 (4)
  • May 2015 (1)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (5)
  • February 2014 (1)
  • May 2013 (1)
  • February 2013 (1)
  • April 2012 (1)
Newsletter
Manchester Based SEO Consultants
On Social Networks
About Wootton SEO

Peter Wootton is a Manchester based SEO Consultant who has been doing SEO over a decade.

He has extensive knowledge in all aspects of SEO and has built up a wealth of experience in not only SEO but a range of digital marketing services including: Reputation Management, Web Development, Social Media Marketing & Pay Per Click Advertising.

Latest SEO News
  • 16 Ways You Can Improve Traffic Conversions On Your Site
    16 Ways You Can Impr... 25th Feb 2021 | by Peter Wootton
  • A Guide to Combining Colours & Colour Schemes For Great Web Design
    A Guide to Combining... 25th Feb 2021 | by Peter Wootton
  • Responsive Design Is a Way Forward, Not for Everyone Though
    Responsive Design Is... 25th Feb 2021 | by Peter Wootton
Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Do you want to learn fresh, new marketing tactics that actually work?

Just enter your email address below to subscribe to my newsletter.

Follow Our Instagram
    WOOTTON SEO IS RATED 5 OUT OF 5 BASED ON 10 REVIEWS.
    © 2019 WOOTTON SEO | SEO MANCHESTER
    Posting....