How "Usable" is Your Website?

Website usability is a fairly new field of expertise. Let's think about the evolution of business websites on the Internet for a moment, and the need for Usability Consulting will become apparent. First, there were websites and web pages. Then a few companies got smart, developing and managing databases of large numbers of websites. Those companies were the beginnings of the search engines we have today. As the number of sites on the Internet grew, search engines became more important to business owners with websites, because it wasn't enough just to be on the web-- it became important to be found on the web. Nowadays, there are so many businesses with websites on the Internet that it's not enough for a customer to simply find you on the web's search engines. Your customers need to intuitively find what they are looking for on your site, and your site needs to meet their needs quickly or they are prone to clicking on the Back button to find the next business on the list. The necessity to streamline a website for such qualities as intuitiveness, aesthetics, and functionality while minimizing the numbers of clicks and pages to sort through is what makes up Website Usability.

Usability is subjectively measured in terms of stickiness, or how inclined your customer is to remain on your site once they find it. When you consider that the average visitor that stumbles across a website through a search engine spends about 12 to 15 seconds looking it over before clicking the Back button, Website Usability considerations become very important. If yours is the site they stick to for more than 15 seconds when they find you, the chances of your visitors bookmarking your site and returning to it are exponentially greater than the site they depart from via their browser's Back button.

We evaluate Website Usability through a number of criteria, including Layout, Image Usage, Text, Navigation, and Resources. When we're done, we provide you with a comprehensive report that gives our analysis and assessment of your website, so that you can measure, monitor, adjust and control your website's characteristics and content online.

If you have an existing website through another web developer, our process is akin to having a second set of eyes proofread their work. To avoid conflicts of interest, our own site designs undergo Usability Assessments by in-house developers and consultants other than those who constructed the website design. This assures you a quality web design that is revised impartially and objectively as part of your WebDrafter.com Internet solution.

Keep ahead of your competition by having your site compared to those of your three biggest competitors. Make your website more powerful than you thought possible by having it compound traffic to your business through successful marketing and optimization. When WebDrafter.com provides a Usability Consultation to your business, you will receive a full report, including detailed criteria, explanations, recommendations and relevant statistics for changes you may want to consider making to your website. Choose from a General Report or a Detailed Report based on your business' needs.

If you are just beginning your research on the topic, we appreciate your considering us as your solutions provider. If you are already working with another provider and are seeking confirmation, suggestion or reassurance, we're here to help too; consider us a qualified "second opinion." If you are frustrated with a website that you already have, we can help you evaluate its merits and mitigate its weaknesses, or we can offer you a completely fresh redesign that will evolve with your changing needs.

For more information, please visit our Website Learning Center page, or fill out a Website Quote Request and we will contact you at your convenience.