Adding an animation, whether it be flash, an animated gif, or a video clip, is a great way to grab a user’s attention on a website. It is also a way to give visual representation that may make understanding a concept easier than with just text or a static image. Motion from the animation will attract the user’s eye and will get them to at least notice it. What you want to convey when you get their attention is the key.

My first task in Flash here at DDA was actually to make a text item do a quick spin at set intervals. This was because it was a key link on the site and we wanted to make sure that people noticed it and knew where it was to click on.

Currently, we are using animation to get a message across more easily. We have some product spins on a site and we want to let the user know that these are available to view if they click. So we are adding little flash animations of an arrow circling some “360 degree” text. This grabs attention and gets the message across quickly and easily once the focus is on the animation. The alternative was just standard text which isn’t very attention grabbing at all in comparison.

Some animation, when carefully thought out, can add a great deal to your website in the area of usability. Try using them in your own site, but don’t overdo it either. Too much animation can actually add confusion. Aim for a delicate balance and ask yourself if every animation has a purpose before you decide to add it.

You’ve been optimizing away and now you have great rankings for your site and you’re getting lots of quality traffic, but wait, why is no one converting into a customer?

Oh yes, that’s right, I forgot all about usability.

As silly as this may seem, clients who are excited about search engine ranking often focus too much on them and how to generate more traffic when their energy may be better spent converting the existing traffic into clients.

Usability is a huge topic and should be addressed from the very preplanned stage of a website. A little footnote here, if you present your content in a user-friendly way, then more often than not, that is an ideal way for the search engine spiders to find and digest your content as well.

The Golden rule is to make sure that a user can find the information they are looking for with the minimal amount of effort. Keep that in mind and you shouldn’t go wrong.

On a more complicated level, this breaks down into a million sub categories. Take the simple task of adding pictures to your site. How many images do I use? What style is best? What format? What size? How compressed should it be? What is the ratio of text to images?

For example, if I’m buying a piece of jewelry, what is more important to the user — how it looks, what it looks like from a different view, the dimensions of it, how much it costs, or the size of it?

All of these are important but if all are presented with the same weight, the consumer would be overwhelmed.

Once you have decided how to present that information, did you take into account the users level of expertise? Now do I mean the user level of comfort navigating a website/using a computer or the user’s knowledgeablity of jewelry? Of course I meant both and both have to be factored in.

Suddenly it’s a lot more complicated than just putting up a picture of a broach.

There is a solution and it’s Us. That is DDA. We have more than a decade of experience in creating user-friendly websites, so stop by to check out our new building, and while you’re here, let us show you how we can convert your traffic into sales.

Whether it’s asked at the dinner table or when we have a quiet minute once the kids are in bed, this is the question that on some days I feel that I need an hour to answer.

Do I explain every single thing that I have done in one day’s time?
Do I include the three loads of wash that I washed, dried, folded and put away?
Should I mention that I completely emptied the refrigerator, cleaned all surfaces and then put everything back so it looks nice and neat?
Do I explain that I vacuumed the downstairs, including the steps and used that long angled accessory, that I’m not sure if it even has a real name, and went along the walls and into every crevice?
Do I even dare to mention changing all of the sheets and “febreze-ing” every room in the house?

Sometimes I feel this question is asked as a form of conversation starter, with the hopes of the answer being “Nothing much” with a shrug of the shoulders. This is the response I get from my daughter when I ask what she did at school today.

But my answer usually is focused on what I did during my hours at DDA. While seated behind my desk and tackling my role as search engine optimization specialist, I did several things yesterday. I was included in a website optimization review meeting, in which we discussed search engine rankings, content development and website usability. I worked on several websites, each one dramatically different from the next. I enrolled a new website into our SureThing Optimization Program, submitted press releases, and the list goes on and on. It is nice to know that each day brings something new and my answer to “what did you do today” varies from day to day.

This is only at DDA of course, because there is still at least 2 loads of wash just waiting for me when I get home today…