Surprisingly, there are still people who have difficultly recognizing a hyperlink when they see one. The problem occurs particularly with links embedded within articles. While it's a great way reference external sources, hyperlinks within an article are often confused for emphasized text.

For example...


While many of us are experienced enough to know that the underlined text in the example above is a link, many more still don't realize they can click on that text.

I know this for a fact, because I get phone calls about this everyday.

I publish many other blogs besides this one, and many of those blogs are "product blogs", where I write reviews of products, or announce new products. Every article I write has a link to the manufacturer's website, or a link to a retailer. Someone will conduct a Google search for that product, and often times they find my blog.

Then, they'll call me on the phone asking me how they can purchase this product, or if I'm still selling it. The conversation goes something like this...

Caller: "Hi, I'm wondering if you're still selling the one gallon size of Soft Paws?"

Me: "Well, we don't sell products, we just write articles about products"

Caller: "Well, where can I buy it?".

Me: "In the article you read, there is a link to the manufacturer's website."

Caller: "I didn't see any link in the article".

Me: "It's there. Look for some words that are underlined, and then move your mouse pointer over it."

Caller: "Oh, I see it now! Thank you."

This conversation happens with greater severity during the Christmas season. In fact, I just received such a call this morning, around 6:30am Pacific time, while I was still sleeping.

Albeit as a real estate agent, you're not selling products. But if such a person needed your services, and they visited your website, they might also not realize that the underlined text are links.

Jakob Neilsen, who is perhaps the most respected authority on website usability, wrote a book entitled, Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency, where he said, "One of the most important aspects of usability is consistency in user interfaces." What he means is that today everyone's website works differently from one another, and this causes people to become confused in how to use a website. There are just as many websites that removed the underline on their hyperlinks, as there are websites that use them.

Here are some tips you can employ that might help your web-challenged visitors navigate better...

1. All links should be underlined. If you set the text-decoration parameter to "none" in your CSS, then turn it back on (remove the parameter altogether). I realize that links without underlines might look cool, but your visitors don't really care about the aesthetic appearance of your links.



2. Or, instead of underlines, use dashes or dots. More websites these days are doing this instead because it still gives the appearance of an underlined link, but the dashes or dots set it apart from emphasized text. For example, check out CSSPortal's examples on this: http://www.cssportal.com/hyperlinks/
   
   
3. Try also placing parentheses around the (hyperlinked text).
   
   
4. Use italics for emphasized text. This will create some additional differentiation from hyperlinked text.



5. Use call-to-action-words, like, "Click here". My favorite way to do this is to present a call-to-action statement, and then display the URL as a hyperlink. For example...




6. Linked text should consist of no more than three words as a general rule. The more words you string together in a single link, the more it starts to look like emphasized text.

Labels: Linking Strategies, Usability