Warmest Greetings,

Web Site Usability. It's not a Question of Why, but For Who and Why Not?  

:: Thursday, September 30, 2004 ::

A remarkable thing happened last week. Well, actually, a few of them.

The first one is that after years and years on the Internet yacking it up about search engine optimization and later, web site usability techniques and enhancements, I finally left my cozy home office and traveled to a conference. There, I met many of the people I've been working with and have "met" online for years.

It may sound like this was an easy thing, but for me, it was agonizing. The past year has been tough, for many business and personal reasons. I stopped running every day and it shows. The worst thing a person can do is stop exercising when they're under stress, and I broke that rule. I put on weight and have been feeling like a blob. I really didn't want anyone to see me this way.

Especially on my first trip out the door.

I attended Jill Whalen's High Rankings Seminar in Boston, Mass. last week. She and her High Rankings Forums associates, all of whom work in fields related to search engine optimization and have their own companies, presented two days of talks and workshops, plus a large dinner gathering.

I was invited to assist Scottie Claiborne with her Usability workshop. There, I marveled at how vital my work still is.

For weeks it felt like I needed to justify usability to people. It seemed as though where ever I went, people demanded to know why anyone needed usability inspections, or insisted that a usability practioner must prove their worth by establishing a dollar value return on any investment for their services. After joining an email discussion list that is not about usability, the first question to appear after I joined was to ask everyone on the list how usable the Usability Professionals Association web site design is. I felt very unwelcome.

In the Usability workshop with Scottie, we went around the room and did impromptu evaluations of the web sites of those in the audience. Those people whose sites we didn't get to were unhappy because, after watching us point things out, it was drop dead obvious that everyone in the room was having usability problems and wanted solutions.

I came away from the seminar feeling needed, and it's been awhile since I've felt that way about my work. Nearly everyone in that workshop was still not sure who their target market is, or were focused on one segment, but still had a web site on the Internet expecting to generate revenue. Some attendees were dependent on their web designers, who clearly weren't trained in user centered design. Small companies are being mislead by inadequate information and poor advice.

When you come to work every day, as I do, and converse with people who know what they're doing, it's easy to forget the thousands who don't.

So I Put Together

How To Quench Your Web Site Visitors Thirst. It's a compilation of practical information that can be applied by any Internet startup, small or medium business. It's especially written for people who aren't afraid to spend a few bucks for information that will teach them how to increase sales, traffic and newsletter subscription sign ups.

For many company owners, this is something they can hand to their web designer with instructions to do everything on the lists, or else.

Courage

And, lo and behold, though I didn't want my picture taken, I was too busy laughing and having a good time to let my women-must-look-like-models ego ruin all my fun.

My seminar photo album is here.

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 9/30/2004 06:06:57 PM

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