Well I have had a chance to talk to the site owners about the competitive review that I’ve done for them and touched on the sample personas. We have not had time to think about user profiling yet.

As you might imagine, this has been a completely new way of looking at a website for them. So far, they have used an enhanced “brochureware” approach to raising awareness of the company, backed up with advertising campaigns in national magazines covering the home and lifestyle niches.

Here’s a bit of hand-held footage of the shop so you can see where I am. (It’s so much easier with 2 cameras and a tripod )

(Tip: Those customer testimonials pinned to the shop noticeboard need to be put online Pronto! )

Thinking about what information the website visitors need to read to be able to make a confident purchasing decision has taken a bit of a backseat in terms of website goals for the site owners.

We had a look at the two sites I had picked for the competitive review and a major point came to light immediately.

Lots of the other sites offering fireplaces were competing solely on price by selling huge volumes of discount fireplaces from their warehouses – a totally different business model to the more specialised, personal service offered by the Chiswick Fireplace Company.

The site owners felt that it was difficult for inexperienced shoppers to make the right choice by clicking on images and buying purely based on price, materials and a few measurements. They explained there are a lot of unknown parameters involved when planning a new fireplace project and it’s not easy for a telephone customer serviced based seller to be able to work out all the specifics of a particular job. They told me on several occasions they had to help people who had not made a good choice of fireplace because they bought had bought online and their property/circumstances weren’t inspected first to check everything was going to be compatible.

On double-checking their site with them, it became clear that their many years of experience and expert judgement was not being communicated online very well. There is a small about us section, but it only skimmed the surface of the additional services that were available. The benefits expert assistance ensuring a hassle-free installation were not communicated effectively, leaving the site owners more likely to being judged on price alone. I felt this needed to be addressed as a priority.

The internet is very similar to teleportation in science fiction movies – you can end up somewhere totally within the blink of an eye, or a click of the mouse in the case of the web.

There’s no information like how long it took to get there from your previous location and there’s no looking out of the window to see if you’re travelling to the right sort of place.

That means it’s really important to clearly show the user:

1. the name of the website that they’re on
2. what the site is about or for
3. what they can do on the site and
4. what they need to do next

Without this information, the user becomes lost and is usually tempted to click straight back to the search results to find some other place that’s a bit more welcoming-  and what’s more, it’s unlikely they’ll come back.

The Man from Mars Test

At this point, you’re probably asking yourself, “What is the Man from Mars test”. To put it simply, could someone with no information about your site – our Martian – know what it’s for and how to use it within 4 seconds (why 4 seconds, well that’s the typical amount of time someone spends on a site working out what’s going on).

Try this exercise out with a few sites, and see how clearly the site communicates its purpose.

How to Create the Signposts for Your Site

There are some really simple things you can tweak to create some signposts so that people interpret your site effectively.

1. Make sure your site has a logo, especially if you’re handing out business cards with your logo on there
2. Have a tagline – that bit of text that goes with the logo, that explains why you’ve set up the company (or website). If this has got you stumped, there’s some good advice on Marcia Yudkin’s site on how to go about it
3. Make sure your navigation is clear and describes where people can go and what they can do, in language they understand..
4. A clear, prominent page title and some subheadings within your text
5. Add links to your About Us section, if people need to know more about you or your site.

There are lots of other ways to improve your online communications – my writing for the web tips section give more ideas.

When I am asked to review websites, four common problems present themselves.

• The Author Knows Best
  People who have written the copy think the visitor will read every word, and not skim the page for important information. However, people really don’t read web-copy. When they first reach a page , vsitors skim through looking for headings and sub-headings. If that initial research tells the visitor the information is relevent, they’ll stop and read it, otherwise they’ll click away.
• The Developer Knows Best
  Developers only look at a site in the context of it running properly without falling over.  As long as the search brings back results, or the navigation works properly, they are usually happy with the interface. They are less focused on aesthetics and the user experience. They also have a lot of IT skills, so they don’t notice something is complex (i.e. slow and annoying) for a typical user to use.
• The Design Agency Knows Best
   Agencies always want to “pimp a site to the max” because they think it’s good for their own online portfolio. (I know, I”ve done freelance work for them..). Unfortunately, simple, professional and effective cuts down the options for design agencies to showcase their creative skills, and of course the amount they can charge you, the customer. ”Upmarket” design and advertising agencies usually charge  thousands of dollars to come up with some pretty straight-forward advice before they even begin to start building your site! They”re simply outside the price range of smaller companies, non-profit organisations, and individuals.
• Building a Site for “You”
  Focusing on the needs of the business, or the site owner rather than the visitor is a common problem. Websites have often been based on converting the company brochure into an online presence, describing how wonderful each of the CEOs is, news content that hasn”t had a new article for 3 years,  case-studies and white papers have been dumped online because it’’s better than a blank space and more.  These sites are usually peppered with marketese and buzzwords, like “effective solutions provider”. Trust me users hate that. How do I know that – when was the last time you viewed corporate news when you went to buy something off amazon.com? This sort of dry, unfocused information does not help users answer the questions they have or help them get something done, like downloading a manual for a particular product.

If you’d like to know more about solving these problems, post up a question and I’ll do what I can to help.