Tried & Tested
Here at Vizcom, we’re a merry little bunch of people who love our jobs and exceeding customers’ expectations- it makes us smile making them smile. Through our work, we come into contact with plenty of different kinds of people, but by far, the most interesting are the Baffled Website Owners.
Often they come to us with an existing business and a website that, for some reason or another is not attracting
any extra customers. Sometimes the Baffled Website Owner designed and built the website themselves, or perhaps a friend did it, or even another company (yes, we know we’re not the only ones!) but for some unknown reason, it’s
just not attracting fresh customers or generating any leads.
We offer the Baffled Website Owner a nice cup of tea and we ask them some questions to find out what the problem is and how it could be solved, and after years of this, we have compiled a small checklist of the questions we usually ask for you to apply to your own website. It’s not that we don’t want you to come and see us, but when
you’re on the internet at late at night and you think we can help you with your website, we can’t at that moment
in time. We’re not being rude. We’re asleep.
So are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.
with ‘fresh eyes’, and there’s no more ideal person than a total stranger. They don’t know you, and so won’t feel inclined to tell you nice things to make you feel better and will be totally honest whilst dissecting your virtual work of art.
There are three ways of doing this; you can ask a friend of a friend, someone who you’ve never met before and doesn’t know of you, to fill in a quick survey via your mutual friend. Don’t worry about what questions to put on your survey, we’ll help you with those shortly. The second option is by braving the internet and publishing the address of your website and your survey on Facebook Notes or a similar medium. You’re probably best using your personal profile for this as you don’t want to give potential customers and fans of your business page the idea that you don’t know what you’re doing! This way you’ll get a mixed bag of answers, as some people will obviously know you personally and others on your friends list will be acquaintances and colleagues so will probably be more honest in their opinions.
The third and final option if you and your business have a bit of a budget to play with is to use www.htmail.com.
For a small fee, this site will provide a link to your site and mail people encouraging them to rate it based on navigational style, colour scheme, etc. This obviously takes less effort than mailing or displaying your own survey out to people, but it does cost you, and doesn’t guarantee that the information gained is quality. Htmail is still worth perusal to see what they can offer you and your business site if you’re pressed for time and need feedback now.
If you choose to create your own survey and facilitate the asking of strangers by yourself, we’ve combined a list
of questions at the bottom of the article to help you, but first, onto…
Now you can see it this way, ask yourself honestly if the colours and layout used on your front page are aesthetically pleasing. This is, of course, a very difficult factor to get just right. Like watching an episode of Changing Rooms in the late 90s, some people really admired Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowens’ finished projects- they were bright and colourful, stylish and trendy. But on other occasions, the inhabitants of the room that Lawrence had worked on were aghast with the results- they hated the brash colour scheme and the abstract designs. Still squinting, flick through the various pages of your site. Are the colours smooth and applicable to your business or are you blinded by primary brightness? Is the layout consistent on every page? If it’s not, it should be! If you website at this point is still within the pen-and-paper stage, you’re at an advantage already. Design the template for your front page and use this as you create each new page to ensure your site is fully consistent the whole way through, and that all of the links within the template, such as any breadcrumbs, navigational buttons and menu bars are current, up-to-date and take you were you should go.
If you didn’t read last month’s Marketing Tips, we discussed fonts and colours and how they should reflect the mission of your business. Click here for an in-depth look at Colours & Fonts.
Equally, if you have a lot of information to display, such as the inner workings of a specific product, or the different aspects of a procedure or service you’re supplying, then use bullet points and short, factual descriptions to get the information across. Try not to fill the page with large paragraphs of text, which can be daunting to some visitors.
The best way to contact people in this way is to give them a call if you have their contact details and ask them to quote you a testimonial over the phone. This way you are more likely to get an honest testimonial, probably served with a dish of feedback on the side and a nice five star relish- that’s opposed to emailing strangers and expecting them to take the time out of their busy day to rate your website and services.
You could sweeten the favour with a discount or perhaps a link from your site back to theirs- this alone will encourage many of your previous customers to take part. A stranger is only a friend you haven’t yet met, and you’ll find that most people are happy to give their opinion on something when asked personally, and it builds on your professional relationship with your customer, ensuring that they’re more likely to return to you for more business in the future.
Once you have collected a number of testimonials, say eight or nine, be sure to put these on a separate page of your site, or if the testimonials discuss a specific product or service, perhaps include them on the relevant page? Customers are more likely to purchase goods if there’s an honest review provided alongside the product specifications.
1. What does the company do?
2. How easy did you find the site to navigate to what you wanted?
3. Do you like the logo/trademark?
4. Do you like the colour scheme?
5. Do you like the layout?
6. Was the text on each page clear, informative and legible?
7. (If there is an online catalogue) Were the images and product descriptions helpful and explanatory?
8. Is there anything that you disliked or would put you off from purchasing goods from this site?
9. Is there anything you really liked about this website?
10. Would you purchase goods from this website in the future?
Now armed with your website address and a list of questions, you can either publish the survey to a Facebook Note on your personal profile (and perhaps reference it in a Twitter update for extra traffic?) and pass the questions and web address onto some trust friends who are willing to get their colleagues/friends to rate the site for you.
Perhaps you could offer those taking part in your survey a discount on products and services, or if they’re business owners too- a link exchange which would be beneficial to their own website. There’s also plenty of business networking sites with forums dedicated to users rating each others’ sites- maybe you could post your survey up there too?
Allow a couple of weeks for the research to be returned and from the information learned, plan any necessary changes. Try not to get disenchanted with any bad comments and try and view it all as constructive criticism, and enjoy the positive comments which will confirm that you and your business website are indeed on the right path.
Often they come to us with an existing business and a website that, for some reason or another is not attracting
any extra customers. Sometimes the Baffled Website Owner designed and built the website themselves, or perhaps a friend did it, or even another company (yes, we know we’re not the only ones!) but for some unknown reason, it’s
just not attracting fresh customers or generating any leads.
We offer the Baffled Website Owner a nice cup of tea and we ask them some questions to find out what the problem is and how it could be solved, and after years of this, we have compiled a small checklist of the questions we usually ask for you to apply to your own website. It’s not that we don’t want you to come and see us, but when
you’re on the internet at late at night and you think we can help you with your website, we can’t at that moment
in time. We’re not being rude. We’re asleep.
So are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.
Question number 1- Is your website clear?
Of course, you’re going to agree it is, so perhaps the best way to gauge this is have someone with look it overwith ‘fresh eyes’, and there’s no more ideal person than a total stranger. They don’t know you, and so won’t feel inclined to tell you nice things to make you feel better and will be totally honest whilst dissecting your virtual work of art.
There are three ways of doing this; you can ask a friend of a friend, someone who you’ve never met before and doesn’t know of you, to fill in a quick survey via your mutual friend. Don’t worry about what questions to put on your survey, we’ll help you with those shortly. The second option is by braving the internet and publishing the address of your website and your survey on Facebook Notes or a similar medium. You’re probably best using your personal profile for this as you don’t want to give potential customers and fans of your business page the idea that you don’t know what you’re doing! This way you’ll get a mixed bag of answers, as some people will obviously know you personally and others on your friends list will be acquaintances and colleagues so will probably be more honest in their opinions.
The third and final option if you and your business have a bit of a budget to play with is to use www.htmail.com.
For a small fee, this site will provide a link to your site and mail people encouraging them to rate it based on navigational style, colour scheme, etc. This obviously takes less effort than mailing or displaying your own survey out to people, but it does cost you, and doesn’t guarantee that the information gained is quality. Htmail is still worth perusal to see what they can offer you and your business site if you’re pressed for time and need feedback now.
If you choose to create your own survey and facilitate the asking of strangers by yourself, we’ve combined a list
of questions at the bottom of the article to help you, but first, onto…
Question number 2- How does your website look?
Log onto your website and you’ll obviously hit the homepage first. Now look at it through squinted eyes, or if your eyesight is bad anyway, take your glasses off. When you see your front page this way, your attention will be held by the colours and layout of bars, menus and subtitles as opposed to the text.Now you can see it this way, ask yourself honestly if the colours and layout used on your front page are aesthetically pleasing. This is, of course, a very difficult factor to get just right. Like watching an episode of Changing Rooms in the late 90s, some people really admired Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowens’ finished projects- they were bright and colourful, stylish and trendy. But on other occasions, the inhabitants of the room that Lawrence had worked on were aghast with the results- they hated the brash colour scheme and the abstract designs. Still squinting, flick through the various pages of your site. Are the colours smooth and applicable to your business or are you blinded by primary brightness? Is the layout consistent on every page? If it’s not, it should be! If you website at this point is still within the pen-and-paper stage, you’re at an advantage already. Design the template for your front page and use this as you create each new page to ensure your site is fully consistent the whole way through, and that all of the links within the template, such as any breadcrumbs, navigational buttons and menu bars are current, up-to-date and take you were you should go.
If you didn’t read last month’s Marketing Tips, we discussed fonts and colours and how they should reflect the mission of your business. Click here for an in-depth look at Colours & Fonts.
Question number 3- Is your website copy appealing?
Website copy is the term used to describe the text on your website. It’s all very nice having a stylish site with nice colours and lots of pictures, but what about the text? Is it informative, factual and in some way (of course this applies to the nature of your company) entertaining? Or is it mostly copied across most of the pages on your site? If the latter applies- shame on you! If a potential customer visits your website, and decides to wade in deeper that just your home page, you need to deliver more information to them, as that’s obviously what they seek- some copied text does not satisfy that urge.Equally, if you have a lot of information to display, such as the inner workings of a specific product, or the different aspects of a procedure or service you’re supplying, then use bullet points and short, factual descriptions to get the information across. Try not to fill the page with large paragraphs of text, which can be daunting to some visitors.
Question number 4- Has anyone used your site yet?
Obviously, if your website is still in the pen-and-paper stage, this doesn’t not apply to you yet, but it’s worth making a note to follow this up in the future. However, if your site has been active for a while, take the time to contact some of your existing customers to provide you with a testimonial.The best way to contact people in this way is to give them a call if you have their contact details and ask them to quote you a testimonial over the phone. This way you are more likely to get an honest testimonial, probably served with a dish of feedback on the side and a nice five star relish- that’s opposed to emailing strangers and expecting them to take the time out of their busy day to rate your website and services.
You could sweeten the favour with a discount or perhaps a link from your site back to theirs- this alone will encourage many of your previous customers to take part. A stranger is only a friend you haven’t yet met, and you’ll find that most people are happy to give their opinion on something when asked personally, and it builds on your professional relationship with your customer, ensuring that they’re more likely to return to you for more business in the future.
Once you have collected a number of testimonials, say eight or nine, be sure to put these on a separate page of your site, or if the testimonials discuss a specific product or service, perhaps include them on the relevant page? Customers are more likely to purchase goods if there’s an honest review provided alongside the product specifications.
A stranger to you can view your site through fresh eyes
So now, hopefully, you’ve been through your own website with a fine-toothed comb and made any recommended adjustments? Good stuff. Now, if you’re going to take it a step further, you need to have complete strangers rate your site. You don’t have to use these questions word for word, but something along these lines will give you a pretty good idea of how your site appears to others:1. What does the company do?
2. How easy did you find the site to navigate to what you wanted?
3. Do you like the logo/trademark?
4. Do you like the colour scheme?
5. Do you like the layout?
6. Was the text on each page clear, informative and legible?
7. (If there is an online catalogue) Were the images and product descriptions helpful and explanatory?
8. Is there anything that you disliked or would put you off from purchasing goods from this site?
9. Is there anything you really liked about this website?
10. Would you purchase goods from this website in the future?
Now armed with your website address and a list of questions, you can either publish the survey to a Facebook Note on your personal profile (and perhaps reference it in a Twitter update for extra traffic?) and pass the questions and web address onto some trust friends who are willing to get their colleagues/friends to rate the site for you.
Perhaps you could offer those taking part in your survey a discount on products and services, or if they’re business owners too- a link exchange which would be beneficial to their own website. There’s also plenty of business networking sites with forums dedicated to users rating each others’ sites- maybe you could post your survey up there too?
Allow a couple of weeks for the research to be returned and from the information learned, plan any necessary changes. Try not to get disenchanted with any bad comments and try and view it all as constructive criticism, and enjoy the positive comments which will confirm that you and your business website are indeed on the right path.