The latest Website Usability News http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/ 2008-11-21T00:00:00Z Microsoft has launched an online store in the US, selling its programs as downloads.Following its opening on Thursday, software brands such as Office, Windows, Xbox and Zune have been made available in the shop, with a plan for the company's hardware to be sold too.According to a Microsoft team blog, its store is also set to be accessible to users ... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/Internet marketing: Microsoft launches retail site/18880515/ 2008-11-17 00:00:00 Usability can play a crucial role in affecting online conversion rates, according to one expert.Writing for the American Chronicle, copywriting specialist Karon Thackston said that website features which may make sense to marketers will not always do the same for consumers.This should be borne in mind when building and refining website content as j... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/Poor usability 'can harm conversions'/18825213/ 2008-10-14 00:00:00 Better internal linking can help webmasters to improve both usability and the visibility of their sites to the major search engines, it has been suggested.A new post by Google's Maile Ohye on the Webmaster Central Blog has looked at the implications of a comprehensive link architecture for both user satisfaction and search engine optimisation (SEO)... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/Google highlights usability importance of link architecture/18814566/ 2008-10-07 00:00:00 Online retailers should work on their navigational menus to make them as usable as possible following research suggesting some of the UK's biggest brands fail to do this.This is according to Mihkel Jaatma of eye-tracking technology firm Realeyes.it, who wrote on the E-consultancy blog that the usability of a top-level menu can have a significant im... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/Navigation menus 'important for usability'/18810124/ 2008-10-03 00:00:00 Businesses looking to boost both online and offline custom would do well to ensure web users can easily access company locations from their website, it has been advised.Writing in his latest Alertbox column, usability guru Jakob Nielsen said that it is vital to make sure potential customers can find their closest store or branch via the website qui... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/Usability 'important' for company address search/18781372/ 2008-09-16 00:00:00 Google has recommended that web developers undertake extensive usability testing and create search engine-friendly pages to improve the likelihood that their sites will be viewable in all browsers.Writing on the Webmaster Central blog, Google developer programs tech lead Maile Ohye explained that there are several basic tenets to adhere to when bui... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/SEO-friendly pages, usability tests 'good for browser compatibility'/18768730/ 2008-09-08 00:00:00 Many online advertisers and retailers see the acquisition of a generic domain name (GDN) as necessary, one expert has suggested.According to a spokesman from Domainmonster.com, a UK-based domain registration services provider, there are many businesses that are opting for easy-to-find web addresses as part of a general "marketing spend".M... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/GDNs represent a 'necessary marketing spend' /18490737/ 2008-02-29 00:00:00 The field of generically named websites could open up even further with one expert suggesting that more geographic regions could soon have their own domains.According to IT Week, the reality of geographically focussed generic top-level domains (gTLDs) is increasing thanks to recent moves by Icann to ease industry laws governing domains.The website ... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/More geographic domains expected/18376688/ 2007-11-30 00:00:00 A number of news organisations and publishers have expressed concern over how their websites are listed by search engines, it has emerged.According to the Associated Press, the group has put plans into place to increase the level of flexibility in restricting access and listing individual pages.It is reported that the indexing software, robot.txt, ... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/News companies seek search amendments/18375259/ 2007-11-29 00:00:00 Increased importance is being applied to the blogging network following a deal that could see blogs copyrighted, according to BizReport.The deal, which involves online aggregator Newstex and the Copyright Clearance Center, is expected to have a significant effect on the online advertising industry and according to some could change the way people l... http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/Blogs 'could become more valuable' to marketers/18372478/ 2007-11-27 00:00:00