Creating Effective Web Sites
Does this ever happen to you? You design a new site. You love it. It’s the hottest thing you’ve ever made. Then you close the Photoshop file for a couple days. When you open it you hate it. What happened?
You were too close to it. You couldn’t see straight. Closing the project and revisiting it a couple days later gives you a fresh perspective. It allows you to be more objective.
Unfortunately, the same thing can happen at any point in the design and development process. It can happen with the writing, the layout, the programming or the marketing. The good news is that the Internet is fluid and nothing is locked in stone. If something needs to change, you can change it, because it’s digital. One of the best ways to get this distance is to just remove yourself from the equation. Even after a couple days you can still be so close to a project that you can not see it objectively, like someone who’s never seen the site before. That’s why assembling a group of people to test the site can prove invaluable. Preferably, use people who are in your target market. If you’re selling video games, don’t bother asking your grandma what she thinks. Find people who would likely use the site. But don’t just get their feedback. Actually watch them as they surf the site. See where they click first. What paths do they follow through the site? Are those the paths that lead to your desired action, like a sale through a shopping cart?
It doesn’t have to be a formal thing either. Many marketing companies spend millions on testing with control groups, and that’s not a bad thing, but if your budget won’t support that, then just do what you can. Asking five other people is better than not asking anyone at all. These informal straw polls can reveal glaring issues that otherwise may have gone unnoticed.
Try not to get offended. You’re obviously going to hear some negative feedback. Your initial reaction will almost always be defensive. Don’t try to explain why things are the way they are. Just take the criticism and evaluate whether or not it’s worthy of further discussion. Sometimes taking a couple days to digest the information can also be helpful, so you let your defenses down. If you’re even a little bothered by the results of the critique, just put it on hold and usually a few days will allow you to accept the feedback as a positive thing rather than a negative thing.
Hope that helps.
