(This tip is provided to you from the e-book, “5 Steps for a Successful E-Commerce Web Site,” available for download now.)
Here’s a fact that some Web site creators find hard to swallow: Your Web site was not meant for you.
Sure, you may have poured your heart and soul into designing and building it, but your site is for your visitors. It’s more important that it appeals to them than to you.
So how can you ensure that you’ve put together a site that doesn’t put off others? Try these three things before you announce your site to the Web world.
- Recruit some live testers. Have friends, employees and a few known Web addicts sit down and test drive your site. Find people who will give you honest feedback. Watch them navigate your site on their terms. Maybe give them a task to find some piece of information. Afterwards, ask them if they have questions about your site, if the site seems to flow right, if it’s attractive and engaging, if they could find things easily. Don’t react defensively to negative comments. Instead, write them down and take a hard look at your site to determine if they’re right.
- Submit your site to online forums. Site review forums such as our Show and Tell at the Customer Gallery are another good place to get unbiased feedback. The downside is that you have no guarantee that someone will take the time to look over your site. The upside is that when people do look it over, they are pretty thoughtful since they have to write down what they are thinking.
- Get fussy about the details. We all know that the little things say a lot. So before you launch your site, make sure the fit and finish are good. By that, I mean go over your spelling and grammar closely (or find a good copy editor who can). Make sure your images are crisp and clear. Check if your pages load quickly. Quality control and professionalism go hand in hand.
You can get additional pre-launch testing advice in our free e-book, “5 Steps to a Successful E-Commerce Web Site,” which you can download here. This is a great little guide put together by our friends at StartupNation and it is worth looking at for a lot of reasons.
Also, I’m interested in hearing about any techniques you use to save yourself from embarrassment, faux pas, and other Web site blunders. Sign in and share with us!
Loriann Ikeda