2009-08-07T10:36:49Z true <p>I'm spending the day at Google's Local Government event in London listening to google talk about their products and services - I thought I'd share their top tips for good websites, since I know lots of councils struggle to get their sites right.&nbsp; Originally written for ecommerce sites (Amazon etc) these tips need some adaptation for government, but not as much as you might think - after all, it's better to get people transacting online, reducing the costs of dealing with calls and paperwork that paying parking fines can generate.&nbsp; So here are their top 10 tips:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol> <li>bring me to the right page - link to the right page, ensure key messages are visible, mirror key points from ads in your landing page (getting this right gives a 20% reduction in the number of people who leave a site without performing any action)</li> <li>make your homepage useful - reaffirm your brand and site purpose, test new features, inform users of these features, make it easy to navigate further</li> <li>help me navigate - make service categories visible, highlight where to go next, use easy-to-understand terms</li> <li>give me the right results when I search - check quality of results, allow users to sort results, make site earch visible, lay out search results clearly (gives a 20% reduction in the number of people who left without performing any action and a 7% increase in the number of people who bought something)</li> <li>display services clearly - provide a clear layout and design, group services logically, enable cross-referencing (gives a 7% increase in the number of people who bought something)</li> <li>give me the details I need - summarise key service details, make your call-to-action button visible, provide clear images (gives a 14% increase in the number of people who add a product to their basket)</li> <li>make registration optional - allow conversion without registration, highlight the benefits of registering, make registration easy (23% of checkout abandonments occur due to required registration)</li> <li>make it easy to enquire - don't ask for unnecessary details, expedite the process, show transparent steps, avoid distractions </li> <li>reassure me - offer security, clarify what happens after payment, offer transparency(gives a 1.8% increase in the number of people who bought something)</li> <li>Let users design your website - it's all about testing the site</li> </ol> <p>I'll blog more about the whole day and my take on things in the next couple of days!</p> text 37 web 2009-08-07T10:36:49Z 3