How to Really Test the Effectiveness of Your Website

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Your friends probably all have the link to your website. And I'm sure you've probably asked them at one time or another, “So...what do you think of my site?” And chances are, depending on the types of characters you associate with, the response was something along the lines of “It's great!” or maybe “It's sweet!” or maybe even “Have mercy!” (if you happen to be friends with Uncle Jesse).

And yeah, that probably gave you a 10-second ego boost, but it didn't give you a whole lot of information about the strengths and weaknesses of your site's usability.

Next time the topic of your website comes up with your friends, here's how you can make it a little more productive.

That's What Friends Are For

Friends make great guinea pigs when it comes to testing out your site. Let's say the primary goal of your website is to collect contact information so you can add visitors to your mailing list. If the form for that is located on your “Contact Us” page, you need to make sure that a visitor to your site can get there quickly and easily.

So enlist a friend to pretend to be a customer. Set him up at the computer, tell him his goal is to get to the “Contact Us” page, and set him loose. And then just watch. Watch his face for signs of confusion or frustration, take note of where his cursor is and where he eventually clicks, and measure how long it takes him to accomplish the task. And if he's a really good friend, ask him to navigate to the form from various different parts of your website, and take note of how that goes.

This basically gives you the chance to see how a real person interacts with your site. Was it a quick and painless experience? Or was it a challenge?

Your Friends Might Be Too Nice

The truth is, if you ask your friends for their opinions about your website (or your clothes, or your haircut, or your significant other, for that matter), they're probably going to tell you what you want to hear. But if you ask them to use the site and watch them in action, you're more likely to find out the truth about your site.