UX EWORX

SEM Quote

Maria Ioannidou — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:47:05 GMT

Take advantage of our 40% Discount in All SEM & SEO Services

Search Engine Management (SEM) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) are concerned with promoting websites and achieving better search engine results. For more details, visit our Search Engine Management & Optimisation page.

You can request for SEM & SEO Consultancy Services of your website by completing this form. Please include a description of the Services that you need. Also, don't forget to type in the address (URL) of your website.

EWORX UX Consultants develop bespoke SEM methodology for their clients. Together with the website owners they analyse a website's SEO requirements and understand the target markets, they improve a website's SEO capability and consult on content strategies that will result in sustainable traffic and conversion growth rates.

You can first opt for a free evaluation of your website in terms of accessibility, usability and information architecture.

Simple terms: no obligation from your end, we only need valid contact details to contact you

Usability Quote

Maria Ioannidou — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:45:45 GMT

Take advantage of our 40% Discount in All Usability Services

You can request for a Usability Audit of your website by completing this form. Please include a description of the Usability Consultancy Services that you need. Also, don't forget to type in the website address (URL) you want us to audit.

A Usability Audit, is carried out by a UX Consultant who will test your website with your target audience and identify its strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, we can evaluate your website against universally recognised usability criteria. For more details, visit our Usability Audits and Consulting Services page.

Usability is all about your users' web experience and results in improved quality, increased conversion rates and customer loyalty. Usability Audit Services mainly include:

Usability Testing – test your website with your target audience and identify its strengths and weaknesses.

Heuristic/Expert Evaluations – allow experts to evaluate your website against universally recognised usability criteria.

You can first opt for a free evaluation of your website in terms of accessibility, usability and information architecture.

Simple terms: no obligation from your end, we only need valid contact details to contact you

Accessibility Quote

Maria Ioannidou — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:44:38 GMT

Take advantage of our 40% Discount in All Accessibility Services

You can request for an Accessibility Audit of your website by completing this form. Please include a description of the Accessibility Consultancy Services that you need. Also, don't forget to type in the website address (URL) you want us to audit.

An Accessibility Audit, is carried out by a UX Consultant who will assess your website's current Level of Accessibility and will identify key issues that are preventing your website from being Accessible to All. For more details, visit our Accessibility Audits and Consulting Services page.

Our UX Consultants have over ten years of experience in delivering accessibility services to our clients having contributed to a number of high profile European reports such as:

Measuring the Progress of eAccessibility in Europe (The MeAc Study)

Web accessibility in European countries: level of compliance with latest international accessibility specifications, notably WCAG 2.0, and approaches or plans to implement those specifications

You can first opt for a free evaluation of your website in terms of accessibility, usability and information architecture.

Simple terms: no obligation from your end, we only need valid contact details to contact you

Free Website Evaluation

Maria Ioannidou — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:30:27 GMT

Our experts can audit your website and help you understand why your users or customers may not be satisfied with your electronic service offering, so that you increase its traffic and conversion rates.

You can first opt for a free evaluation of your website by completing this form. It is a website review and assessment in terms of accessibility, usability and information architecture. In case the website analysis identifies any problems in these areas, we can provide consultancy services on what needs to change to engage your users. And we can build it for you. Moreover, after the free website assessment, you can take advantage of our 40% Discount on Accessibility, Usability and Search Engine Management Services.

Please, include some keywords which are important for your website. Also, don't forget to type in the address (URL) of the website you want us to check.

Simple terms: no obligation from your end, we only need valid contact details to send you the report in PDF

EU-Careers - A Revamp of the EPSO Website

Tilia Boussios — Thu, 05 May 2011 10:01:35 GMT

The European Personnel Selection office (EPSO) is the single point of contact for all EU citizens who wish to work for the European Institutions. EPSO's core mission is to provide a professional staff selection service on behalf of the European Union Institutions including the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the Ombudsman and others .

In 2010 the employer brand EU-Careers was established and as a consequence the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) began a revamp project for www.eu-careers.eu with the ambition to have in 2011 an attractive website and a content management system that is flexible enough to meet EPSO’s demands.

The purpose of this project was to provide EPSO with a number of services which would be used to launch the revamp of eu.careers. and in turn determine the design and technical requirements associated with a well designed and user friendly website which would contribute to EPSO business objectives and employer brand strategy in addition to its overall communication strategy. The services provided included:

Heuristic Assessment – the aim of which was to measure the EU-Careers website www.eu-careers.eu against accepted standards and good practice in web communication. The assessment addressed, among others, the following issues:
- Adherence to web conventions in design, format and navigation;
- Structure and navigation, especially consistency between the main site and sub-sites;
- Suitability of content for target audiences; and
- Overall Usability.
Automatic and Manual Accessibility Assessment – the aim of which was to measure the EU-Careers website conformance in relation to WCAG 1.0 AA
User Survey – the aim of which was to measure the satisfaction of EU-Careers users with the usabiity and services provided by the EU Careers website.
A Technical Evaluation of the Current EU Careers Content Management System – the purpose of which is to determine it suitability for the future EPSO websites requirements.
Web Analytics – the aim of which is to provide data and trends on the EU-Careers website.

home

Spyros Michailidis — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:16:00 GMT

Is your website suffering?

Information Architecture

Spyros Michailidis — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:25:00 GMT

Why is Information Architecture Important?

Information Architecture aims to categorise your website's information and content in a coherent structure and present it in a way that enables users to understand and access it quickly and intuitively.

The process of creating an effective information architecture is a sub-set of the usability activities involved in a project's development process.

Information Architecture Services

Our Information Architecture Process incorporates 6 steps:

We come to understand your business/contextual requirements and the proposed content for your website by reading all existing documentation, interviewing your stakeholders and undertaking a content inventory.

We then conduct card sorting exercises with a number of your representative users and then we evaluate the output of the card sorting exercises by looking for trends in grouping and labeling.

Our Information Architects then draft your website's information architecture by developing information groupings and hierarchies which are then once again evaluated with a number of your representative users in order to make sure that we are on the right track.

Once we all come to an agreement about your information groupings and hierarchies our Information Architects document the information architecture in the form of a draft site map.

We then use a number of techniques such as User Stories to define a number of common tasks which your users will undertake on your website and use low fidelity prototypes to represent how users will carry out these tasks and interact with your website.

Then we walk you, your project team and/or representative users through the low fidelity prototypes and collect everybody’s comments which we process and integrate into the development of more detailed page layouts supporting key user tasks. We repeat and expand this process until more detailed high fidelity prototypes are assembled.

At the end of the Information Architecture Process we will have developed your website's content structure, workflows and layout so that our web developers can then begin implementing your website.

Please contact us to find out more about our Information Architecture Services.

Search Engine Management

Georgia Kapralou — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:11:00 GMT

What is Search Engine Management?

An average of 80% of first time visitors to a website travel there through a search engine (such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.).

Search Engine Management (SEM) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) are concerned with promoting websites and achieving better search engine results. Their main objectives are to:

Increase your website's traffic by making sure your audience can find you;

Improve your website's visibility/popularity and brand exposure/awarenss;

Ensure you website is highly ranked within search engines.

Search Engine Management and Optimisation Services

Keyword Analysis and Optimisation: we will review your website and analyse and select the keywords that will attract potential customers and targeted visitors.

Competitive analysis: we will carry out a competitive market analysis to determine the SEO practices of your competitors in order to determine the appropriate SEO strategy for your website.

Website Optimisation (for Search Engines): we will optimise your website by improving both user-defined features such as content metadata and content structure and system-driven features such as website structure and URL conventions.

Search Engine Monitoring: we will monitor your website's performance to ensure continual return on your SEM and SEO investment.

Why EWORX

EWORX UX Consultant develop bespoke SEM methodology for their clients. Together with the website owners they analyse a website's SEO requirements and understand the target markets, they improve a website's SEO capability and consult on content strategies that will result in sustainable traffic growth rates. They have successfully undertaken SEM and SEO for both national and international clients including Eleftherotypia (Athens), Newstime (Athens) and the European Economic and Social Committee (Brussels).

Please contact us to find out more about our SEO and SEM Services

Usability Audits

Spyros Michailidis — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:28:00 GMT

What is Usability and Why Is It Important?

Usability is all about your users' web experience.

A usable website is an effective website in that it efficiently informs and promotes your brand, products and services.

It encourages your web visitors to explore your web offering, fulfil their online objectives and share their experiences with other users.

It results in improved quality, service, increased conversion rates and customer loyalty.

Usability Audit Services

Usability Testing – test your website with your target audience and identify its strengths and weaknesses.

Heuristic/Expert Evaluations – allow experts to evaluate your website against universally recognised usability criteria.

Other Usability Related Services

Information Architecture – together with our Information Architects use flexible tools such as wireframes which will allow you to organise and structure your website's content and then ask your target audience to evaluate it.

User Centred Design - together with our Information Architects and Web Designers we design your website using proven techniques such as prototyping with wireframes where your users will play an important part in validating your website design.

Online Surveys – gather feedback from your user base to see what they think about your website's usability as well as its content's relevance.

Why EWORX

Our UX Consultants have over ten years of experience in delivering usable websites to our clients. They have carried out Usability Testing, Expert Evaluations and Online Surveys for a number of international and local clients including the European Economic and Social Committee (Brussels), the European Foundation (Dublin), the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (Vienna) and Eleftherotypia (Athens), to name just a few.

Additionally, at EWORX, Usability is perceived as a pervasive element which is present throughout our entire web development life-cycle and maintenance approach.

Please contact us to find out more about our Usability Services

My Website Suffers from Poor Design

Georgia Kapralou — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

We frequently receive requests from our clients about redesigning the front/end of their websites. At EWORX we believe, that this is a rational reaction to major changes shaping the world wide web.

Websites like store fronts, should regularly review their front end web design particularly in view of changing web design techniques such as Web 2.0, which is making end users more design-aware.

Website end users are experiencing websites as their interaction with the real world: the main aim of websites therefore is to make this interaction as pleasant, fuss-free and attractive as possible, to ensure that visitors not only return but also recommend your website to others.

Common requests we receive include:

"My website is overloaded with content - it is time we relaunch/redesign our website!"

"My content management system is working perfectly - but the front/end just doesn't look right... "

"We would like to redesign our logo, home page and reconnect with our users."

So, what is Usability and What does it Offer ?

Usability is all about what your users' experience when they visit your website.

A usable website is a more effective website in that it can serve its purpose better, to inform and promote your brand, products and services.

Usability should not be confused with spectacular or flashy designs and complicated structures or - at the end - extreme abstraction. On the contrary, simple forms and uncluttered content, in well-defined spaces can help your users understand what you have to say and what you are offering to them.

At the end of the day, this will translate to better quality of service and better conversion rates for you.

At EWORX we offer out customers Design Services which help web owners design websites, that meet their web expectations.

Please contact us if you wish to know more about our Design Services

Related Services

My Website Structure is Ineffective

Georgia Kapralou — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:56:00 GMT

When a websites structure is not intuitive or a websites content is not easily accessed user frustration often sets in and consequently ineffective promotion of services and products takes place.

There are many reasons why this may happen: the website may have been built incrementally, resulting in a confusing structure; the content management system may not support website node management; or the design process may not have been thoroughly thought out.

As a result, we listen to customers requests such as:

"I have this really interesting sub-section with a lot of good content that my users cannot easily reach. Can we bring it to the forefront or somehow promote it?"

"My menu has 10 options and I am not sure whether a more compact approach would be more suitable".

"I would like my website to display (a) navigational information in all pages and (b) the list of unique services we offer throughout. Is this possible?"

"I would like to show relevant information in my webpages to ensure that my visitors stay longer. What is the right approach?"

At EWORX we offer our customers Design Services, which help web owners design websites, that meet their web expectations.

Please contact us if you wish to know more about our Design Services

Related Services

Incoming Traffic Is Low

Georgia Kapralou — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:01:00 GMT

Low website traffic is a common problem: website owners often believe that they should attract more traffic to their website and should generate more interest for their services given their initial investment.

Even if incoming traffic levels are acceptable, a website may suffer from high bounce rates or low pages per visit ratio or even few sales.

In many cases low website traffic can often be attributed to fierce competition however, strategies such as search engine and social media strategies in addition to banner advertising can increase traffic levels and promote new products.

Please contact us if you wish to know more about search engine and social media strategies or how to increase your web traffic in general

Related Services

Measuring the Progress of eAccessibiltiy in Europe: A Case Study

Zoe Marmara — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:57:00 GMT

The "Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe" (MeAC) study was launched as part of the follow-up to the European Commission's Communication on eAccessibility of 2005. This Communication highlighted the need for improving access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by people with disabilities. It also announced that a follow-up on the eAccessibility situation would be made two years after the Communication, at which time the Commission may consider additional measures. EWORX has successfully contributed to the current report which supports that follow-up, providing the results of an extensive benchmarking exercise and analysis on the status and progress of eAccessibility in Europe.

Within the context of this study EWORX was responsible for undertaking the Accessibility Audit of over 300 European websites. Checks undertaken are both manual and automatic. The reports produced by the study are publicly available.

Website Is Not Accessible

Georgia Kapralou — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:31:00 GMT

The Web is an increasingly important resource in many aspects of life including: education, employment, government, commerce, health care, recreation, and more. Today in the European Union alone there are over 50 million people with a disability.

By delivering digital communication in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities you are providing equal access to information for all citizens.

Furthermore, by providing accessible services protects your brand integrity and ensures that all your users are offered the same end user experience.

Web Accessibility is about making your website accessible to all internet users regardless of the browsing technologies they use. It also encompasses:

Ensuring that your websites web forms are accessible to all types of visitors so as to ensure that they eventually convert; and

The ease with which All your visitors view and process content.

Please contact us if you wish to know more about how you can increase your websites Accessibility

Related Services

Poor Conversion Rates

Georgia Kapralou — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:30:00 GMT

At EWORX, we manage a number of websites and we regularly consult business owners on their websites Conversion Strategies. Common challenges and questions we have successfully addressed are:

"How can I increase the number of visitors that register become members or sign-up for my newsletter?"

"How can I increase interest in and promote my line of products successfully in my e-shop?"

"How do I get my users to submit a comment on my website/blog and become active commentators?"

Conversion rates and strategies are different for each business; you may be interested in pushing a specific product or product line more aggressively, you may want to ensure that your visitors stay for more time on the website or, you may simply want to boost the sales per visit ratio.

Poor conversion rates are often a reflection of websites where a conversion strategy has not been factored into the initial design. Navigation elements, the positioning of objects in the screen, as well as the attractiveness and usability of the website are just some of the factors that affect conversion rates.

Please contact us if you wish to know more about how you can increase your websites Conversion Rates

Related Services

What is User Experience?

Georgia Kapralou — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:23:00 GMT

User Experience is all about how we interact with technology. There is technology that sits in the background and we know it's there, but we don't interact with it. Electricity, networks and magnetic storage, for example, are necessary for a website to work but they don't affect how the user uses it to retrieve information. On the contrary anything we interact with, from our mobile phone's touch screen to the social media service we like to use to contact our friends can be well or not so well designed thus offering a good or bad user experience.

Computer systems and applications can be very complicated but as far as how a user interacts with them there are some important aspects that designers must take into account:

Ease of use
Attractiveness
Accessibility
Fun and engagement.

Our UX team members have had the chance to realize in several occasions, how frustrating it can be for people to use badly designed systems.

Our aim is to help you offer your target audience the best possible user experience. This will make them feel happier when using your website or service and will also be more rewarding for you, because they'll want to stay with you and skip the competition. Brand loyalty is directly related to user experience. Technology must be functional, enabling, intuitive and can also be engaging and fun.

This website explains what matters, when it comes to offering a better user experience and how we can work with you to establish it.

Related Information

Wikipedia Entries:

Web Analytics

Georgia Kapralou — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:18:00 GMT

What is Web Analytics Why is it Important?

As a website owner you need to know how visitors find their way to your website.

More importantly, you need to know the source of the visitors who "convert" i.e purchase, download, register, call or perform actions that are the objective of your website and, ultimately, how much it will cost to deliver to and convert each visitor.

You need to know which campaign or strategy provides the highest return on your marketing investment.

Web Analytics allows you to collect, analyse and report on your web statistics data so that you can understand and optimise user experience and your website's effectiveness.

Web Analytics Services

UX Consultants will review your website logs and will advise you on which search engine initiatives best meet your goals.

We will recommend which keywords to drop and which to adopt, when to begin phasing out pay-per-click buys and when to rely on organic search results.

It is never a decision you have to make on your own. We use our expertise and industry knowledge to provide you with guidance and support throughout your website's lifecycle.

Web Analytic Services carried out by UX Consultants cover:

Analytics Monitoring
Keywords Analysis
Web Analytics Consulting.

Why EWORX

EWORX UX Consultants manage key web analytics accounts around the world. We monitor and consult Commercial Clients, Non Govermental Organisations and Non Profit Organisations operating in a variety of industries and markets.

Please contact us to find out more about our Web Analytics Services

Prototyping and Wireframes

Georgia Kapralou — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:17:00 GMT

Why do you Need Prototypes?

As part of our User Centred Website Design and Development approach we use prototyping to help us:

Understand and communicate your websites needs – we present visual representations of your website, so that you can see how it will be structured and navigated.

Enhance your websites usability – we validate your websites prototype with actual users, so as to make sure that your website complies with usability guidelines.

Speed up your websites development process – we accelerate the development process, because we have a better understanding of your websites requirements and have validated it through the prototyping process.

Prototyping Services

Prototyping, is carried out by our Information Architects and Web Designers, who will discuss with you your website’s requirements. Based on your requirements they will initiate our Prototype Design and Validation Methodology, which is carried out in 5 steps:

Planning - together with our Information Architects and Web Designers you will use a number of techniques such as User Stories and Use Cases to identify, how your website audience will use and interact with your website.

Low Fidelity Prototypes - our Information Architects and Web Designers will then begin to plan the first cut version of your website by mapping menus, text and input areas with the help of visual design tools such as wireframes. At this stage you receive a basic structure of your website without graphical or visual elements, which you will walk-through with our Design Team.

User Validation – our Design Team will then validate your low fidelity prototype with a group of your actual users, so as to make sure that the workflows, interaction and behaviour of your website is correct and is what they expected. We do this through methods such as focus groups, user testing and or user surveys. We will select the best approach for your website endeavour.

High Fidelity Prototypes – once we receive feedback from your users our Design Team will then expand your low fidelity prototype with interaction and navigation design, page architecture and visual design. This is an evolutionary process until the final version of your website takes shape.

User Validation - we then go back to your user group to validate our high fidelity prototype, before we begin the web development process.

You may also want to read more about Accessible Template Development.

Please contact us to find out more about our Prototyping Services.

Wireframe Example

Accessible Template Development

Georgia Kapralou — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:14:00 GMT

What are Accessible Templates and Why do you Need Them?

They are designed so that your users can directly access the content they are looking for.

They are optimised for Search Engines so that both your web ranking and your web traffic improve.

They are based on a CSS structure (no tables).

They comply with the latest Accessibility Standards – including accessible Ajax and Javascript.

They are cross–browser compatible.

They enhance your user’s interaction with your website and their overall digital experience.

Accessible Template Services

Web Template Design based on the latest User Centred Design Principles and Accessibility Standards.

Integration of accessible templates with your Content Management Systems (CMS). We can work with your developers or we can do this for you so as to create a consistent and accessible design across your entire website.

Please contact us to find out more about our Accessibility Template Services

Get a Quote Now!

Argyro Kazaki — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:28:00 GMT