16 Questions for Website Owners
If you have a website, when was the last time you REALLY looked at it?I'm going to ask you to try something - bear with me on this, as it's really important.
Pick a morning where you can put aside an hour or two and make an Appointment with yourself in your diary. It's best if you're fresh and alert, so first thing in the morning is a good idea.
Make a tea or coffee, feel relaxed, turn off the email announcement, turn off the cellphone, put your normal phone on voicemail, and commit yourself to looking - REALLY looking - at your website.
Pretend this is the first time you've visited the site, so let's do a search on the internet for your domain name or product, and when the results appear, pick any page which isn't the Home page.
What do you see?
- Can you tell immediately what this website is about?
- With a quick glance can you work out what product or service is available on this website?
- Without jumping to the Home page, do you think other website visitors might KNOW what the site is all about - if they landed on any one of the 'internal' web pages?
- If your answer is 'Yes!', that's fantastic! Give yourself a chocolate biscuit.
- If your answer is 'No.', then you've got work to do ... and fast!
- Start making notes about the page you're on ...
- Is it obvious what this site does or sells?
- Is it easy to see HOW to buy or find the product or service?
- Is there a 'call to action' asking you to buy, read, click or do something?
- Is the navigation easy to understand and follow?
- Is there an easy way to contact the website owner [or Support Team] - by phone or email - within one click?
- Is the information fresh and up-to-date, or has it been on the webpages for a couple of months or more?
- If there are photos or images, are they sharp and clear and relevant?
- Is the font size easy to read?
- Is the design pleasing, and not too cluttered?
- If this WASN'T your site, would you think it was great?
I want you to consider all these questions, and be honest with yourself. Could your site do with a bit of housekeeping? Just so you won't think that yours would be the only one that might need a bit of a tweak, I should let you know that most websites need a bit of tidying up quite regularly. The website owners who never bother to look at their websites with fresh eyes are really missing out.
If you've got lots of regular clients and visitors, you'll be amazed at the difference a change of photo or background colour can make.
It pleases the visitors - and most importantly - it lets them know YOU care about your own website enough to make it welcoming.
So go make that appointment now, and let me know how you go! I'd love to hear about the changes you put in place.
Cheers
posted by BuildAWebsiteTonight @ 6:26 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Teena
Good points, all!
I was thinking just last night that we might all do well to make the first page we build for a new web site NOT the usual Home page, but rather the About page.
The About page is the essence of your site -- a 30-Second Online 'Elevator Pitch', so to speak.
If you build this page first, you will have worked out how to succinctly state what your site does. Then, when you build the Home page, you can incorporate all those points.
At least, this method would have given me a clearer focus of what was needed on my home page (http://www.snapshotjourneys.com).
But like so much of web design and web businesses, even with the best business plan, we have to keep learning and modifying as we go.
Thanks for some intersting oints to consider.
Karen in Canada
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home