Source: By Stoney DeGeyter | Searchengineguide.com

Every day we get businesses coming to us looking to improve their search engine rankings. They want to talk about an SEO campaign but one quick look at their site and we see that SEO may not be the right approach for them. Usually in these cases the site needs a complete usability makeover.

These businesses, however don’t want to discuss website architecture, visitor usability, or even making their site search engine friendly. They want rankings and want them now.

These are small businesses looking to purchase a service that will get them near instant visibility and exposure. “We’ll take care of the rest,” is what they often imply. But therein lies the problem. SEO and SEM without good usability is like inviting people out to eat at a rat and roach infested restaurant. You may bring people in, but you won’t make them happy.

A real-world usability analogy
Lets take this restaurant analogy and extend it out a bit. Lets say that you own the restaurant. You start spending money on advertising and see more and more people trickling into the restaurant each night. But you notice something peculiar. Some who come through the doors turn right around and leave. Others come and eat, but you never seem them come back a second time.

You start running the numbers and find that each night about 300 people are coming through your doors but only 5% stay and eat. You’re selling about fifteen meals a night. You realize you have a problem. And the solution is… more advertising.

You know it’s the rats and roaches that are turning people away but you feel that if you just increase your advertising you’ll be able to sell more meals. It works. Each night more and more people come to your restaurant. Few stay but many more leave before they even taste your delicious cooking. Yet you are selling more meals so that’s a good thing.

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