Good content that people want to use is central to a successful website. How it is presented is also crucial to its effectiveness. Our considerable experience of all the following techniques means that we can ensure your content is tailored to your users' needs, easy for them to use and accessible – for people and for search engines.
In the blink of an eye, internet users make up their minds about the quality of a website. Recent research has shown that people form their first impressions of web pages in just a 20th of a second.
These snap decisions users make about the quality of a web page have a lasting impact on their opinions. This is because of what is known to psychologists as the ‛halo effect’. If people believe a website looks good, then this positive impression will spread to other areas, such as the content, credibility and usability.
Creating a fast-loading, professional, well-designed website, which quickly communicates the appropriate mood to your desired audience is vital.
How people absorb information from websites is different from how they do from printed materials. On the web, people tend to browse or scan information, rather than really ‛read’ it the way they would read a book or a magazine article.
Studies have shown that:
Therefore when writing for the web you need to:
Envoy will help you adapt your text to work effectively on the web.
The credibility of a website is harmed by incorrect grammar, spelling or punctuation, typographical errors and broken links. Our background in publishing means that we understand the importance of attention to detail and implementing production procedures and schedules which ensure that webpages are thoroughly checked.
Getting people to read web pages is difficult, which means that paying careful attention to good typography is very important. Recent changes in web technology has given web-designers much more control over how type appears on-screen. At envoy we pay particular attention to choosing legible fonts, defining a column width which is comfortable for the eye and adjusting leading (the space between lines) to ensure that text is engaging and easy to read.
Typography which is suitable for the printed page is applied to the printer-friendly pages. For instance, the font can be altered and width of the text made to fill the full width of the A4 printed page. This will make the pages easier to read and save paper and ink.
We have considerable experience of creating, sourcing and optimising photographs, static and animated graphics for the web (view examples). All images carry 'alt' text and credit lines feature where necessary.
Finding our way around the virtual world is different from elsewhere; lots of cues that we depend on in the real world simply aren't in this environment.
Clear, simple and consistent navigation is vital. It lets people know where they are, what they can do and gives them confidence in the website.
envoy carries out usability testing to ensure that our websites are intuitive to use.
If people can't understand something, they simply won't engage with it. All of us, when we are able to, avoid things which make our lives more difficult.
Someone visiting a website might be able to get what they want from it, eventually, and they will persevere if it is the only place they can get that information; but ideally you want to help them to get what they want with the minimum time and effort – then, having had a good experience, they will keep coming back.
Good usability is achieved by gaining a good understanding of the users' experience of a website, mainly through observation. Usability testing with quite small numbers (five or six people) during the development of a website can yield very useful results.
envoy worked with the Joseph Rowntee Foundation to improve the usability of their existing website. Firstly determining their main user tasks and then carring out a full usability evaluation and making recommendations.
envoy carries out usability testing throughout the development of a project. View the comments from the Virago website pre-launch testers.
“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
Tim Berners-Lee,
W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
We include a range of features to ensure that websites are accessible, for example:
To view some of these features, visit the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine access page.
envoy websites are built to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and use valid CSS.
The quality and accessibility of your content will have a big impact on your ranking with search engines. Your ranking can be further enhanced by writing keyword-rich copy and ensuring that the information is presented in a search engine-friendly way.
envoy worked with Propellernet, one of the leading specialist search engine marketing companies, to implement a range of techniques to enhance OrionBooks’ search engine rankings.
envoy takes into consideration the behaviour of search engines right from the start of any project.
