Upgrading a great website

Last year I was at the award ceremony of the Usability Awards 2010. For the website www.helenahoeve.nl there was a honorable mention. During this ceremony I learned some things to improve the website.

This is what I have done:

1. Changed the font from serif to sans-serif.
   This change has some impact. The top menu was too large now, so 
2. I had to remove a menu item in the top menu.
   Luckily did this change improve the readability. Due to this change I was able to
3. Display a darker background.
   Both the old and the new backgroumd was based on a picture of grass. With the new background that is more clear.
   In the bottom menu was the call for action: "Make a reservation now"
4. I have replaced the call for action in the bottom menu into: "Check availability".
   This is a more inviting call for action. Of course the goal of the website is that people makes reservations, so 
5. I made clear call to action buttons for "Make a reservation".
   For the call to action buttons I used the same grass background as for the top and bottom menu. It looks really nice.
6. The text of the bottom menu is modified a little due to the fact there is another call to action now.
7. At the page "reviews" and "back at home" I have a clear call to action to write a review.
8. At the contact page there are even three call to action buttons now.
   "Make a reservation", "Write a review" and "Mail".
9. Very important is of course the call to action button "Make a reservation" at the page "Availability".
10. At the page "Availability" I have changed the text a little. I includes now the phrase "now" to create an urgency to make a reservation.
11. The HTML code is upgraded form XHTML 1.0 to HTML 5 for all pages.
    The most important feature of HTML 5 is that you are now able to use
12. A placeholder for all "text" fields.
13. The appropiate fields are changed from "text" to "email", "url", "search".
14. Some fields are marked as required now.

I believe that these small changes improve the usability of the website.

The Belgian Usability Awards 2010

For the Belgian Usability Awards 2010 are the following sites nominated:

1. www.uitinvlaamsbrabant.be
2. www.kdg.be
3. www.newpharma.be
4. www.mobistar.be
5. www.toerismevlaamsbrabant.be
6. www.agsob.be
7. www.middelkerke.be
8. www.kriskras.be
9. www.connections.be
10. www.sibelga.be

The scores according to the Dutch Web Guidelines are:

1. www.uitinvlaamsbrabant.be 38 points;
2. www.kdg.be 37 points;
3. www.newpharma.be 35 points;
4. www.mobistar.be 34 points;
5. www.toerismevlaamsbrabant.be 34 points;
6. www.agsob.be 40 points;
7. www.middelkerke.be 31 points;
8. www.kriskras.be 37 points;
9. www.connections.be 29 points;
10. www.sibelga.be/nl 37 points.

None of these sites got the same score as www.helenahoeve.nl (41 points).


The validation results of these sites are:

1. www.uitinvlaamsbrabant.be Not valid, 6 errors;
2. www.kdg.be Not valid, 15 errors, 2 warnings;
3. www.newpharma.be Not valid, 19 errors;
4. www.mobistar.be Not valid, 1 error;
5. www.toerismevlaamsbrabant.be Not valid, 14 errors, 21 warnings;
6. www.agsob.be Not valid, 2 errors;
7. www.middelkerke.be Not valid, 81 errors, 3 warnings;
8. www.kriskras.be Not valid, 27 errors, 2 warnings;
9. www.connections.be Not valid, 32 errors, 19 warnings;
10. www.sibelga.be/nl Not valid, 1 error.

Unlike the Helenahoeve none of the candidates validate.

The loadtime of these sites are:

1. www.uitinvlaamsbrabant.be 7.9 seconds;
2. www.kdg.be 10.7 seconds;
3. www.newpharma.be 0.5 seconds;
4. www.mobistar.be 0.6 seconds;
5. www.toerismevlaamsbrabant.be 7 seconds;
6. www.agsob.be 10.4 seconds;
7. www.middelkerke.be 2.2 seconds;
8. www.kriskras.be 5 seconds;
9. www.connections.be 4.7 seconds;
10. www.sibelga.be/nl 5.3 seconds;

How liguid are the designs (when does the horizontal scrollbar appear on a 1024x768 screen):

1. www.uitinvlaamsbrabant.be 1 x "CTRL +";
2. www.kdg.be 1 x "CTRL +";
3. www.newpharma.be 1 x "CTRL +";
4. www.mobistar.be 0 x "CTRL +"!;
5. www.toerismevlaamsbrabant.be 0 x "CTRL +"!;
6. www.agsob.be 1 x "CTRL +";
7. www.middelkerke.be 0 x "CTRL +"!;
8. www.kriskras.be No horizontal scroll at all!;
9. www.connections.be 1 x "CTRL +";
10. www.sibelga.be 1 x "CTRL +";

Is it easy to contact the organisation. Is there a real e-mail address or a contact form.

1. www.uitinvlaamsbrabant.be  no e-mail address, there is a contact form;
2. www.kdg.be  e-mail address, no contact form;
3. www.newpharma.be  no e-mail address, there is a contact form;
4. www.mobistar.be  no e-mail address, there is a contact form wizard;
5. www.toerismevlaamsbrabant.be  e-mail address and contact form;
6. www.agsob.be  e-mail address and contact form;
7. www.middelkerke.be  e-mail address, no contact form;
8. www.kriskras.be  e-mail address, no contact form;
9. www.connections.be e-mail address, but no link to the promised contact form;
10. www.sibelga.be  no e-mail address, there is a contact form;

So at the end I think that non of these sites should win the usability award seen from a technical perspective. When I browse the sites I think the winner will be www.uitinvlaamsbrabant.be

Click Through Rate

Based on Google Webmaster Tools for the period 26 May - 24 June 2010 the Helenahoeve got the following Click Through Ratings:



minicampings zeeuws vlaanderen 57%
cadzand haaientanden 48%
boerencamping zeeuws vlaanderen 43%
boerencampings zeeuws vlaanderen 43%
haaientanden zoeken 43%
campings in zeeuws vlaanderen 40%
molka spel 38%
campings zeeuws vlaanderen 36%
struisvogeleieren te koop 35%
camping zeeuws vlaanderen 29%
haaientanden cadzand 28%
molka 24%
minicamping zeeuws vlaanderen 23%
goedkope stacaravan huren 20%
goedkoop kamperen 15%
helenahoeve 14%
fotospeurtocht 11%
bowlen cartoon 11%
camping zeeland goedkoop 11%
paardenmelkerij 11%
privacy 11%
meeste zonuren nederland 11%
minicamping cadzand 11%
boerderijcamping zeeland 10%
zonuren nederland 9%
boerencamping zeeland 7%
trampoline ingraven 7%
struisvogelboerderij 6%
boerencampings zeeland 5%
havenfeesten terneuzen 4%
trampoline 2%
jeu de boules 2%
dolfinarium 2%
dolfinarium brugge 2%
haaientanden 1%
boerderijcamping 1%

Top 20 of search terms used

The top 20 (actual 22 due to some ties) of used search terms based on Google Webmaster Tools for the period 26 May - 24 June are:

1. trampoline
2. haaientanden
3. boerencamping zeeland
4. jeu de boules
5. camping zeeuws vlaanderen
6. campings zeeuws vlaanderen
7. dolfinarium
8. boerderijcamping
9. havenfeesten terneuzen
10. boerderijcamping zeeland
11. goedkoop kamperen
12. kleine kinderen
13. speurtocht
14. struisvogelboerderij
15. fotospeurtocht
16. trampoline springen
17. zeeuws vlaanderen
18. bowlen cartoon
19. camping zeeland goedkoop
20. dolfinarium brugge
21. helenahoeve
22. het zwin

Search terms which appear at position 1, 2, 3

Based on Google Webmaster Tools for the period 26 May - 24 June 2010 there where 894 search terms used. 282 of these search terms have an average ranking of 10 or less. I will show you the 77 search terms with an average ranking of 3 or less:

1. haaientanden zeeland 1
2. grasmaaier race bergharen 1
3. gemiddelde neerslag nederland 1
4. haaientanden zoeken 1
5. westerschelde strand 1
6. haaientanden zoeken zeeland 1
7. zonne uren nederland 1
8. wollig schaap 1
9. minicampings zeeuws vlaanderen 1,1
10. bowlen cartoon 1,2
11. camping terneuzen 1,2
12. stoommuseum maldegem 1,3
13. eindeloze kronkel 1,4
14. fietsen in zeeuws vlaanderen 1,5
15. rietsigaren 1,5
16. zonne-uren 1,7
17. minicamping zeeuws vlaanderen 1,8
18. camping zeeuwsvlaanderen 2
19. zelf jenever stoken 2
20. middelheim beeldentuin 2
21. fietsnetwerk zeeland 2
22. camping zeeuws vlaanderen 2
23. struisvogel boerderij 2
24. gemiddelde regenval nederland 2
25. zeeuws vlaanderen camping 2
26. helenahoeve biervliet 2
27. helenahoeve camping 2
28. meeste zonuren 2
29. boerencamping zeeuws vlaanderen 2
30. helena hoeve 2
31. beeldentuin antwerpen 2
32. boerencampings zeeuws vlaanderen 2
33. haven feesten terneuzen 2
34. camping in zeeuws vlaanderen 2
35. boerderijcamping zeeuws vlaanderen 2
36. terneuzen havenfeesten 2
37. camping symbool 2
38. boerencamping nieuwvliet 2
39. zwin belgium 2
40. haven feest terneuzen 2
41. havenfeest terneuzen 2,1
42. campings zeeuws vlaanderen 2,1
43. ballonvaart belgie 2,1
44. campings in zeeuws vlaanderen 2,1
45. havenfeesten terneuzen 2,2
46. brugge dolfinarium 2,2
47. beeldenpark antwerpen 2,2
48. goedkoop kamperen zeeland 2,2
49. de eindeloze kronkel 2,2
50. struisvogeleieren te koop 2,3
51. helenahoeve 2,4
52. jenever stoken 2,4
53. grasmaaier race 2,5
54. meeste zonuren nederland 2,5
55. campings zeeuwsvlaanderen 2,5
56. molenstenen 2,5
57. haaientanden cadzand 2,8
58. strand breskens 2,8
59. portaal van vlaanderen terneuzen 2,9
60. caravans for rent 3
61. middelheim antwerpen beeldentuin 3
62. kinderen in zandbak 3
63. speurtocht activiteiten 3
64. zeeuws vlaanderen campings 3
65. aantal zonuren nederland 3
66. struisvogelei kopen 3
67. zonneuren 3
68. zonneuren nederland 3
69. goedkoop stacaravan huren 3
70. gemiddelde neerslag in nederland 3
71. camping de ploeg groede 3
72. struisvogel te koop 3
73. zeeuws vlaanderen natuur 3
74. terneuzen camping 3
75. helena's hoeve 3
76. gemiddelde neerslag 3
77. camping andeer 3

Trends and Visits

Google Trends gives an overview of the search terms used. Camping related search terms have a strong relation with the season. In the winter nobody cares about the website. However in July a lot of people are searching for a camping.

When you take a look at our visits, you see that we follow this trend.

So I decided that in the summertime I keep the site as is, and make structural improvements in September, October, November and December.

Global Traffic Rank

Discovered a new tool for measuring the popularity of a website thewebinfo.com. What is the most popular site of my favorite list of test sites:

1. bol.com 3121
2. funda.nl 3301
3. helenahoeve.nl 3347391 
4. nu.nl 579
5. philips.nl 124369 
6. postbus51.nl 183339 
7. rabobank.nl 1999
8. vrom.nl 148059 
9. wehkamp.nl 6154 
10. wnf.nl 174260 

These numbers are difficult to compare. With the log10 function the numbers are easier to understand. The ranking is:

1. nu.nl, rabobank.nl and bol.com  (log10 rounded is 3);
2. funda.nl and wehkamp.nl (log10 rounded is 4);
3. philips.nl, vrom.nl, wnf.nl and postbus51.nl (log10 rounded is 5);
4. helenahoeve.nl (log10 rounded is 7).

The top 5 is the same as discovered earlier. See A fistfull of dollars.