WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK: The very worst thing you could do to your website

Some new data released last week found what all website designers would love to know – the worst things you could possibly do to your site to annoy users.

And what comes at the top of the list may surprise you. It isn’t anything to do with visual design, but rather information – users hate it when you bury hard to find information at the bottom of your site.

So what does this mean for SMEs?

When you’re designing a website, you need to have the most important data easily accessible. And that means a well-designed navigation tree.

Put all the most important information in categories and then advertise them in bold at the top of the page. Even better still, put that information on the home page – depending on what it is, of course. Information like phone numbers and social media links should definitely sit on the first page a user sees.

So don’t spend too much time fretting about the best design possible, even though that’s important. Get your information right first, and make sure users can find what they want.

There’s never been a better time to get acquired

The latest PwC Media Outlook has singled out online commerce – and especially the use of smartphones for online shopping – as a key growth area for the next four years. In fact, online spending is set to outstrip growth in online advertising for one of the first times in history.

All this comes at a time when online businesses are being snapped up left and right. Last week, we saw Optus purchase restaurant review site Eatability and just two weeks ago Catch of the Day bought an online deals site for children’s items and homewares.

Experts are now saying this is a sign of a maturing market. And that means if you’re building an online business, now is a very good time to get noticed.

So if you want to make yourself attractive to a buyer, now’s the time to do it. Put the hard yards in and get some attention.

Delivery failure is a business failure

One of the biggest problems in online retail is delivery failure. A large portion of parcels sent don’t get delivered on the first try: people aren’t at home, the post office isn’t open after business hours, and then the cycle continues.

Toll Holdings has attempted to fix this problem by teaming up with Victorian newsagents, so they can act as pick-up points for parcels. It’s a good idea, and will hopefully help more people receive their purchases quicker.

It’s also a good idea for SMEs. If you’re an eCommerce business, you should be thinking about this delivery problem and incorporating a solution. Can you offer something to offset the possibility of buyers not being able to pick something up when they want?

Free shipping is the obvious example here. But surely you can think up something better.

Yet another hacking attempt

Last week, AAPT admitted it had been hacked by the online group Anonymous. The hackers claimed to have stolen about 40 gigabytes of data, and begun “dumping” earlier this week.

In many ways this case is a study for how businesses should go about shutting down hacking attempts – Melbourne IT had the servers cut off within an hour. But it also shows how vulnerable businesses are to these types of attacks.

It serves as a timely reminder. Protecting your data can never be too expensive – it is of the utmost importance that you protect whatever you have. AAPT may be a larger business, but hackers target smaller companies as well. Don’t let your business be next.