Internet Marketing &
Business Promotion
Want A Flawless Site?
By Bob McElwain
How
often have you heard a webmaster say, "I just need
more hits?" How many times have you said this yourself,
maybe right out loud?
While more targeted traffic always helps, generating
it means wasted effort to the degree your site does
not accomplish its purpose. That is, until it performs
flawlessly. Advertising, for example, may fail simply
because your site is mishandling too many of the hits
generated.
So before launching further promotional efforts, look
to your site. Take a close hard look at everything about
it. Your objective is to improve overall performance.
This is the best starting point on your path to increased
sales.
Can You Handle Some Pain?
Want to discover some truly awesome flaws in your site?
Want to look reality square in the face? If you have
broad shoulders, try this.
Sit down beside a person interested in what your site
offers. Sit close, but back about a foot. You want to
be able see the screen and watch the hands and body
language. But you do not want to chat. Instead, you'll
be busy taking notes. And for sure you do not want to
make suggestions, for you want to observe whatever struggles
emerge.
Ahead of time, prepare a list of clearly defined tasks.
Include suggestions of a mind set. Things like, "Okay,
you're in a hurry, but you'd like to buy a 'name of
item' right now, if it sounds like a good deal."
Develop others from which you can select as the session
continues. It may be appropriate at some point to simply
ask, "Can you find such-and-such?"
Ask all to try an order, whether or not there is any
interest. See if subscribing to the newsletter grabs
attention. Maybe ask, "Would you like to tell a
friend about this site? Can you do so?" Build this
list with care and be sure your wording does not mislead.
For a real eye opener, ask them to find something that
isn't on the site.
Never Offer Help
When the tester stumbles, restrain yourself. Don't
jump in with a kind word to ease the situation. Just
take a deep breath, swallow, make note of where the
"fall" occurred, then observe intently what
the person does to resolve the dilemma.
Do this right, and you'll find it a truly humbling
experience. Here you are with a site you thought was
perfect. Yet here's a person stuck real good. Stay alert,
now. For he or she will likely stumble even further,
trying to get back on track.
Note the difference between your tester and future
visitors. Your tester will try to work through it. Your
visitors will exit.
How To Find Your Testers
This is the hard part. You want people who are as much
like your target as possible. Yet this can only be approximated.
And it's hard to find people willing to participate.
Thus you may be forced to take people clearly off target.
Teenagers are not good candidates for this kind of
testing. They are aggressive, unafraid, and could care
less. (But do grab hold of a couple, if you want to
see if your system can be broken! Teenagers thrive on
such a challenge.) You want testers who can at least
try to put themselves into a frame of mind you expect
your visitors to have.
Church and grocery store bulletin boards may work for
you. Or a brief announcement in a meeting of a local
organization, preferably in person. If your target is
a business person, hunt up someone with a business;
you can test during business hours without undo interruption.
What works best for me is to ask people to call, or
give me a phone number. When I connect with somebody
I feel can help, I offer fifty dollars for a half-hour
of time. Not as payment. Just as a way of saying, "Thanks."
Note I don't offer money up front, for it doesn't draw
the kind of person who can help.
I also go to them. There are three gains.
- The timing suits them.
- They are more comfortable in familiar surroundings.
- I get to see yet another system.
The latter is always enlightening.
I find that when testers get into things, they'll often
pound away for a couple of hours. Do this right, and
you'll come out of such sessions shaking your head in
near despair. You'll be exhausted, likely needing to
cope with rivulets of sweat.
If you haven't tried this approach, you may scoff at
the notion. Still, I suggest you give it a try. As a
programmer, I've used this method effectively to improve
my programs 10 times over. Often from working with only
4 or 5 people. I've had equal success in testing websites.
Usability On The Cheap
What you are doing with this sort of testing is a modest
usability study. Experts might scoff at such meager
efforts. But this is about as far a small business can
go.
In sit-down testing, many of the fine points will be
overlooked. But most of what really matters is available
from body language. Hesitations in entering keystrokes
or clicking with the mouse are easily noted. When your
tester leans closer to the screen, it may suggest content
hard to read, difficult to follow, or at least something
that interrupted the flow.
Work through this process with even a couple of people,
and you'll quickly discover how to spot the clues to
elements in your site that need a second look.
And the words matter. Not yours, for you have nothing
to say. But those your tester speaks offer clues of
pure gold. Ignore compliments or positive comments of
any kind. What you seek are clues to inadequacy.
Give this notion a try and you'll discover a bunch
of stuff about your site that needs rethinking. Make
some fixes, and you'll quickly improve site performance
significantly. Then, if you're up to it, find another
tester.
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About the Author
Abstracted from "Secrets Of A Really Successful
Website"
Bob McElwain, author of "Your Path To Success"
and
"Secrets To A Really Successful Website."
For
info, see http://sitetipsandtricks.com/webways/
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