Cameron Olthuis

Brian Provost wrote a great article outlining 8 simple steps for building traffic for your Internet startup. Here is his list…

1. Defensible traffic
2. Buy good domain names
3. Hire competent Internet people
3 a. Hold off on hiring MBA’s
4. Understand the cost of traffic
5. Build links
6. Engage your community
7. Engage social media
8. Push, pull, prod, and poke marketing

I’d like to add another one.

9. Usability - Nothing will keep a visitor from returning to your site more than poor usability. If they can’t figure out the value prop or how to use the site then you’ve just lost that person that you worked so hard to attract. And chance are they won’t ever return. It also helps if you have something of value in the first place.

My vote for quote of the day goes to Mark Zabrammy…

Granted, while design trends like gradients, large fonts, and high contrast graphics may fade, the idea of simplifying information and accessibility is here to stay.

Source: Three Minds

Bad design is better, blah blah blah. Markus from Plentyoffish.com is at again, trying to convince us all that bad design is better, or not . He’s added a little twist this time, saying that sometimes it’s better and sometimes it’s not. Bad design is never better my friend.

I can understand the point Markus is trying to make…

Users don’t want to be distracted by useless graphics, colors, features etc.

But wait, no one is saying that useless graphics and features are better, and that’s not what makes for good design. But that doesn’t mean bad design is better. The only reason Plentyoffish makes money is because 1) it’s free, and 2) the rankings. Try charging your customers and see what happens. Your success has nothing to do with the fact that it’s a god-awful design.

Good UI and proper design will win every single time, hands down. Before you start asking if designers are clued in, get a clue yourself!

I critiqued a whole bunch of web 2.0 sites on a combination of design and usability aspects, placing more importance on the usability aspect. I tried to focus more on sites that provide a good community oriented experience, designs that encourage people to participate. After all, that’s the staple of what “web 2.0″ is.

The final result is 10 sites that I feel are the best combination of both good design and usability. The list is in no particular order.

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What makes MySpace and You Tube so popular?

YouTube and MySpace are runaway hits because they combine two attributes rarely found together in tech products. They’re easy to use, and they don’t tell you what to do.

The Article is a great read. It says, MySpace and You Tube are popular because…

1) Everything is one click easy.
2) They get out of the way and the let users do what they want.
3) No extra software to install.

One of the most basic rules of usability is don’t make you users think. Everything should be obvious and it just needs to work without making your users think.

Make everything one click easy.