"Social Media: Is It Worth It?" ACU panel
Evaluating Your Website
Presented by:
Alan Hathaway, President/Owner
Jenny Knuth, Creative Director
David Williams, Account Executive
Evaluating Your Website
Current state of “the web”
– Engage customers
– Focus on goals
– Integrate
Evaluating Your Website
“I like...” -vs-
“I know...”
Top 6 ways to evaluate your website...
– Content
– Accessibility
– Usability
– Design
– Reliability
– Performance
Evaluating Your Website
Contentis king!
Evaluating Your Website: CONTENT
Evaluating Your Website: CONTENT
To keep your website relevant, review content regularly.
– Remove outdated/obsolete information.
– Add new content as it becomes available.
– Prune existing content.
– Use headers, charts and other visual aids.
– Split content into multiple pages when practical.
Evaluating Your Website: CONTENT
When creating new content…
– Write for your audience(s).
– Prioritize most-accessed, most-needed content.
– Make regular updates as incentive for return visits.
– Don”t forget too proofread!
Evaluating Your Website: CONTENT
Evaluating Your Website: CONTENT
Content creation tools:– ‘Skim (don’t read) these tips for writing for the web’
www.brownboots.com/blog
– The Yahoo! Style Guide
– Google AdWords
Evaluating Your Website: CONTENT
Managing content resources:– Content management system (CMS)
– Blogging = WordPress
AccessibilityContent ... check! Now make sure your audience can access it.
Evaluating Your Website: ACCESSIBILITY
Evaluating Your Website: ACCESSIBILITY
Account for users of all abilities and disabilities.
Evaluating Your Website: ACCESSIBILITY
Tips for making a website more accessible for disabled users:
– Add alt tags and captions to images.
– Make sure text isn’t too small.
– Provide transcripts of audio files.
– Keep questions/criteria close to form input fields.
– Allow users to turn off time limits.
– Display “contact us” info on every page.
Evaluating Your Website: ACCESSIBILITY
Account for wide variety of hardware and software.
– Avoid programs that are incompatible with popular platforms (e.g., Flash).
– If a universally compatible format is out there, use it (e.g., YouTube).
– In general, make content as easy to access as possible (e.g., body copy vs. PDF).
Evaluating Your Website: ACCESSIBILITY
Account for wide variety of devices out there, especially mobile.
– Smart phones already outsell PCs; 53% of American cell phone users have smart phones.
Evaluating Your Website: ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility + Mobile
– Evaluate your mobile needs:• Check site traffic/analytics.• Put yourself in a mobile user’s shoes.
– Implement a mobile strategy:• Prioritize what people want/need on the go.• Streamline content (microsite vs. responsive design).
Evaluating Your Website: ACCESSIBILITY
What about tablets?
Accessibility resources:
– Human accessibility:W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools
– Device accessibility:www.gomez.com www.mobilexweb.com
Evaluating Your Website: ACCESSIBILITY
UsabilityMaking sure it works well and that the average person can use it.
Evaluating Your Website: USABILITY
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Components of usability:
Predictable structure
Evaluating Your Website: USABILITY
Components of usability:
Expected behaviors /responses to user actions
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Components of usability:
Familiar & appropriatelanguage
Components of usability:
Consistent appearance
23Evaluating Your Website: USABILITY
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How do you do this...?
Sitemap
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How do you do this...?
Wireframes
Wireframe Tools:
• OmniGraffle
•http://iphonemockup.lkmc.ch/
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How do you do this...?
User testing
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+ your competitors are only 1 click away!
Why care...?
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Usability resources
www.clicktale.com
www.uxbooth.com
www.usabilityfirst.com
www.useit.com
Design“Little things make big things happen.”
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
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Objective criteria:
Design that supports brand styles and guidelines
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Objective criteria:
Strong design aesthetics
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Objective criteria:
Connect the dots• Take wireframes to the next level
• Use moodboards as necessary
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Objective criteria:
Smart integration of trends
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Top trends:
Mega dropdowns
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Top trends:
Mega footers
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Top trends:
Infographics!
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Top trends:
Illustrative websites
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Top trends:
BIG background images
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Design resources
Above the Fold - http://iampaddy.com/lifebelow600/
www.smashingmagazine.com
Creattica - www.faveup.com
Evaluating Your Website: DESIGN
Reliability
Evaluating Your Website: RELIABILITY
Speed - DesktopPercent below 256 kbps: 4.4 percent in Washington DC
1995 - 14kb
2012 - 980kb
http://tools.pingdom.com
Evaluating Your Website: RELIABILITY
Speed - Mobile
Dial it back a decade. The smaller the better for mobile landing pages.
How fast is your phone?
http://www.mobilespeedtest.com
Evaluating Your Website: RELIABILITY
Uptime
At some point your website will go down!
90% 36.5 days95% 18.25 days99% 3.65 days99.8% 17.52 hours
http://www.monitis.com
Evaluating Your Website: RELIABILITY
Performance
Evaluating Your Website: PERFORMANCE
Goals!
Evaluating Your Website: RELIABILITY
#1 Goal - Lead Generation
Starts and ends with SEO
Keyword selection (Google Keyword Tool)Keyword usage (blog!)Inbound links
Evaluating Your Website: RELIABILITY
BringingOrder to
the Chaos
Evaluating Your Website
Evaluating Your Website
- or -
Any questions?Thanks for listening!
Evaluating Your Website