Tag: persistent navigation

You can build email circulation over forty different ways, and we’ve got all the case studies to prove it! If you’re subscribed to our email newsletter, then you’re living proof that the tips I’m about to share actually work. One of them even worked on you … Continue

Claim your FREE digital copy of Building Subscription Websites: The 9 Most Profitable Subscription Website Business Models now. … Continue

Catch up on the Mequoda Daily’s blog posts for this past week … Continue

A persistent navigation is specifically valuable when websites are complex, with a lot of pages and options. This can include a blog, service information, different storefronts, and an about us section.

When users come to your site, it should be clear where they are within your site. They should know where to find your content, products, … Continue

These website homepage ideas will help you provide a better user experience through website design

Audience engagement is quickly becoming a very important metric to follow. Google is recognizing social signals and wants to provide search results that engage consumers with great content.

Below I’ve listed eight website homepage ideas, which can help you offer a better … Continue

Eight in-depth guidelines for analyzing your own website homepages

As someone who’s looked at your website every day for a long time, you probably have no business reviewing your own website. There are probably things in the back of your mind that you’ve kept a mental checklist of – items that need to be optimized, altered … Continue

Catch up on the Mequoda Daily’s blog posts for this past week … Continue

Is inconsistent navigation leaving users feeling lost on your site?

With inconsistent navigation, the ‘Back’ button is your best friend. An important aspect of good website homepage design is persistent navigation. It’s one of 14 points we analyze using the Mequoda Website Scorecard, what we believe to be the top 14 best practices for … Continue

GolfVacationInsider.com scores well, but adding video and encouraging user-generated content could bring it to the next level

We put Golf Vacation Insider to the Mequoda Website Design Review Scorecard test. This popular website is aimed at those who go on golf vacations or who are interested in places to play golf. In addition to the … Continue

This week we took a look at Ragan.com, a popular site for communicators, and put it to the Mequoda Website Design Review Scorecard.

1. Strategic Intent: A

At first look it’s easy to see that the homepage of this site is about the content. This site is the free entry point for content into the larger Ragan … Continue

See how Dark Daily holds up to the Mequoda Website Design Review Scorecard

This week we used the Mequoda Website Design Review Scorecard to review Dark Daily. Dark Daily is a news/e-briefing site whose audience includes clinical laboratories and pathology labs. Its is part of a family of sites from The Dark Intelligence Group, which … Continue

We explored America’s Test Kitchen to see how it held up to the Mequoda Website Design Review Scorecard. America’s Test Kitchen is the “Uber” brand for multiple magazines, a TV show and a number of products. We use the Mequoda Website Design Review Scorecard to evaluate the website component of their overall strategy.

1. Strategic Intent: … Continue

Online PR Tips, Tricks and Traps Explores the Evolution of Online PR Techniques … Continue

See how this popular news website scored on the Mequoda Design Scorecard
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Business Management Daily has a strong online presence with a user-friendly website
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This revealing Mequoda/SIPA Webinar Offers 41 Sources You Could be Using to Increase Website Traffic & Attract Qualified Email Subscribers … Continue

See why Artist Daily received an A

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This informative webinar on SEO copywriting reveals the SEO copywriting secrets and SEO copywriting tips of top online SEO copywriting experts.
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We visited our own site to show you how it ranks
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We revisited Better Homes & Gardens’ website design to see what’s been improved since our last review … Continue

Computerworld.com has overcome the hurdle of letting their print roots go … Continue

The Mequoda Website Scorecard encourages you to score your website on each of the 14 Mequoda Best Practice Guidelines, add them together and arrive at a cumulative score. The goal is to emphasize the importance of balanced, usable websites. Your website should achieve respectable scores in all areas, rather than over-emphasizing a single area or … Continue

Complimentary Guidelines and Case Studies for Designing Subscription Websites
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Gain access to our free report Subscription Website Design: 14 Guidelines and 13 Case Studies for Designing Subscription Websites … Continue

Website Design Reviews are written by the Mequoda Research Team, based on our Website Design Scorecard that features 14 website design guidelines, and focuses on the websites of today’s top publishers.

To create the 14 website design guidelines, we’ve reviewed hundreds of websites and interviewed dozens of website publishers. We’ve conducted a series of expert usability … Continue

With Topic landing pages, persistent navigation is the key to success

The key to success is to send users to landing pages that are specifically designed to fulfill their goals. Any page where there is a direct response transaction — whether or not money is exchanged — is a landing page. For every type of … Continue

If your users are Hansel and Gretel, then your website is the woods, and your navigation is their breadcrumb … Continue

Identifying and prioritizing your usability lab results is the most interesting and valuable part

Once you conduct your usability lab, it will become very obvious to you very quickly, which areas need improvement. More often than not, there will be more than one user who will experience frustration with certain tasks on your website. … Continue

Time spent on your site and revenue are effected by site design

If you are going to have a website at all, make sure it is designed well.

Yesterday’s Daily illustrated how important website design is to conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

Every visitor to your website has a finite amount of time before they reach a breaking … Continue

Today, most would-be travelers start their journeys online by researching destinations, carrier schedules, accommodations and free web mapping services.

In order to compete with travel agencies and agents, travel information publishers, who traditionally published books, magazines and newsletters, have migrated to the Internet and become online publishers. Some have created retail websites whose primary objective is … Continue

House of White Birches, a division of the Dynamic Resource Group, is an experienced print publisher. It has an enviable collection of magazines and book titles. It has carved out several profitable special-interest niches that it addresses with excellent products. But like many other successful print publishers, its Internet marketing strategy is not well executed.

The … Continue

The key to persistent navigation is to help the user find anything on the site, fast. No clicking about, desperately hitting the back button. Make it clear where they are, and how to get somewhere else. Even with deep layers of content, multiple topics and content formats, covering three continents—Forbes.com answers this challenge. The navigation … Continue

With Advertisers Footing the Bill, Forbes.com has Built a Website Offering a Superior—and Free—Online Content Experience for Users.

Forbes.com is part of (do I really need to say this?) the Forbes family publishing business. Including the familiar Forbes magazine, the websites Forbes.com and ForbesAutos.com, spin-off magazines such as ForbesLife, business and investing specialty newsletters, a business … Continue

The Site that Earned a Top Score in 2004 Hasn’t Lost Too Much Ground. The Lesson Here is Simply a Wake-Up Call—for Online Publishers, Continuous Improvement is a Requirement Just to Keep Up.

Readers familiar with Mequoda as Internet Media Review (IMR), might remember that Discover.com was given the number one Best Practice Ranking for Consumer … Continue

With A’s in Strategic Intent, Relationship Building and Brand Preference, it’s Hardly Surprising that this Non-Profit is an Online Leader in the Paid Membership Website Category.

Consumer Reports’ successful membership website strategy has earned them over two million online subscribers (as of November, 2005). Averaging well over 20,000 new online subscribers per month, it’s obvious this … Continue

CooksIllustrated.com has Earned High Marks in Relationship Building and Readability. Other Areas Such as Community Building Display a Good Infrastructure that Could Really be Impressive with a Little More Promotion.
Mequoda has previously covered the Boston Common Press’s media network in America’s Test Kitchen Media Network Case Study by Jane E. Zarem. The membership website (and … Continue

Persistent navigation is the simple concept of ensuring that the navigation to complete an online activity is the same experience each time that the user returns to the site to pursue that activity. Five years ago this was a real problem, as site navigation changed frequently. As a result, the user was constantly lost or … Continue

Knitter’s Review is a six-year-old site run by a small group of enthusiasts. Their story in the About pages tells of publishing veteran Clara Parkes, who left the rat race where she produced large scale websites and escaped to the peace of rural Maine to focus on doing something she loved. She has two compatriots … Continue

MarthaStewart.com Stands Out for Integration of TV and Magazine Content Online, but Otherwise the Site is Doing Poorly on Some Key Usability Guidelines.

You almost can’t have a dinner party without someone making a “Martha Stewart” comment at some point during the evening. Beyond being a mere household name, Martha Stewart has become synonymous with home … Continue

Knitters Review is a Great Web-product for the Target Audience of Knitters. It’s Easy to Use, Easy to Read, Easy to Interact With and the Brand has Integrity.

Knitter’s Review is a six-year-old site run by a small group of enthusiasts. Their story in the About pages tells of publishing veteran Clara Parkes, who left the … Continue

Reader’s Digest Online Version is a Great Example of an Old Brand Taking their Show Online Successfully

Reader’s Digest is so well known and widely read that almost everybody has picked up a copy at some point in their lives. Founded in 1922, the family friendly, feel-good favorite is also the flagship of a billion dollar … Continue

An Online-Only Membership Website is a Good Idea for Melcrum, and The Hub is Taking the Right Steps to Bring the Promised Value to Both the Company and to the Audience.

The Hub for Internal Communicators is a membership website with research, information and tools for communication professionals. The product and the audience are identified in … Continue

WoodcraftMagazine.com is a Sturdy Site That Will Serve the Purposes of the Master Brand, but Won’t Warm the Hearts of the Audience.

Woodcraft Supply Corp. is a leading seller of woodworking tools. The company has been around for 75 years and sells via retail, online and in over 3 million catalogues globally. Expanding the woodcrafting empire, … Continue

The Incredible Website Usability of Craigslist.org is a Key Component in the Success of this Community Phenomenon.

Craigslist.org (CL) was a simple online community classified site started in 1995 by Craig Newmark (yes, Virginia, there is a Craig). The originally-non-profit site was incorporated in 1999. There are 190 versions of the website—localized by city—throughout the world, … Continue

The Publishers of the Wine Enthusiast Magazine Have Done it Right. They Have Created a Series of Websites that Complement Each Other and Effectively Lead Visitors to Make a Buying Decision.

WineEnthusiast.com is an online catalog that offers a comprehensive selection of all things wine related. The only thing the site doesn’t offer is wine. But … Continue

AOL’s New Entertainment Site, TMZ.com Has Everything Going For It. In Addition to Having a Great Background, the Excellent Website Design Scores for TMZ.com Make it Easy to Predict a Shining Future

On December 8, 2005, AOL’s expected press release announcing the launch of the new entertainment site, TMZ.com, hit the buzz-makers. The commentary? Only that … Continue

Our Campaign to Stamp Out Bad Website Design Turns Ugly with a Visit to ManagingYourHR.com, Which In No Way Resembles What This Reviewer Imagines it Should=

For me, the two most important of the 14 Mequoda System Website Design and Usability Guidelines address strategic intent and aesthetics. … Continue

The Motley Fool Website Provides Relevant and Engaging Content in a Readily Accessible Fashion, Combining Effective Use of Content Webification, Relationship and Community Building and Proper Navigation

Tom and David Gardner have made a career of being foolish, and foolishly brilliant. They have created a brand that is well recognized within the investment community and without. … Continue

WritersMarket.com is a Pay-For-Access, Online Database of Incalculable Value to Freelance Writers that Cross-Sells Print Publications and other Products Owned by its Publisher as it Helps Build a Priceless Customer List
Online databases sold by subscription are big business for LexisNexis, R.R. Bowker, Thomson and other traditional publishers of directories.

The idea makes a lot of sense. … Continue

The Most Pressing Question About VanityFair.com is the Strategy of the Site. Is it a True Content Site or Just Marketing Print Subscriptions?

Vanity Fair is one of those cultural icons that doesn’t have to introduce itself. But, being a bit of a cultural dork myself, I’ll let them do it anyway: … Continue