It is time to revisit this subject because it is such an important one.
Your website is your home base online. If site visitors have problems navigating your site or carrying out functions, it is unlikely these visitors will return.
I have been trying out new sites recently as part of the outreach for my new novel CIA FALL GUY, and I have continually run into issues.
For example, I signed up at one website and chose my username and password. After getting the authorization link I tried to sign in with my username. Only it turned out that, although the prompt said “username,” it meant email.
Does your website say one thing and mean another when asking someone to sign in?
Another time I added the U.S. and U.K. Amazon links for a physical book but was only given the option of a single Kindle link with no prompt for which Amazon country site. The site was out of the U.K. but I’m in the U.S., so I put in the U.S. Amazon site Kindle link.
If a site asks for both U.S. and U.K. Amazon physical book links, shouldn’t the site also ask for both U.S. and U.K. Kindle links?
Does your website have a lopsided information form?
On a new video site the editing function did not include the time clock on the imported YouTube video. I had spent time on YouTube.com clocking the edits I wanted. But once inside the new site’s editing function I could not utilize the specific time code notes I had made.
Is your website missing an important element such as this on a function offered on your site?
Of course there are websites that many of us frequent even though they are often difficult to use. Amazon is one such site that comes to mind for a number of reasons too long to list here.
Yet, as almost all of us are not the giant that Amazon is, we do need to make it as pleasant and easy as possible for visitors to our site.
At the moment Yael is in the midst of a redesign of our site. She is considering both appearance and functions.
I learned the retail concept of changing things around many years ago when I was the marketing person for a unique toy store in Beverly Hills.
The manager of the store continually changed things around. At first I could not understand why go to all this work. She explained to me that people like to see different things when they re-visit a store – this makes the store more visually exciting.
Although Yael and I do not want our site to look so wildly different that people do not recognize the site, we are going for a different “look.” Perhaps we should think of this as a new seasonal appearance.
And if you are unsure whether your website is user friendly, we offer a service to provide a written report with recommendations for improving your website. Click here now to learn about our website review service.
© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the co-founder of the online marketing company Miller Mosaic LLC. She is also the author of fiction and nonfiction books, and her newest fiction book is CIA FALL GUY. Click here to buy ebook CIA FALL GUY for $2.99 on Kindle Select — free for Amazon Prime members.
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The useability of a website is defined as being able to do the things you want to, rather than the things you have to… Good design is transparent.