While using the snazziest possible methods to attract customers or readers is one approach, new stats underline the importance of keeping everything simple and friendly, too.  Jakob Nielsen reports that only 76 percent of the people in a certain group managed to do something as easy as perform a search on Google.

Nielsen writes, “Also, for this round of research we’re deliberately recruiting above-average users, so the success rate across all Internet users is probably lower than our finding. . . .  So, the fact that 1/4 of users can’t do it is a striking demonstration that you can’t rely on your own experience if you want to reach a broader audience.”

Gigantic “Click Here” signs, followed by instructions on whether to left- or right-click, might be a little much, but when considering both marketing and design, user-friendliness deserves some consideration.

Also, as speakers at SES New York and an entry on the Google Webmaster Central Blog have emphasized in the last week or so, search engines often appreciate high levels of usability, so you’ll be doing yourself a favor in more ways than one.

Hat tip to Tamar Weinberg.

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