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Usability Consulting: assessing usability problems with a Web site

The Problem: You have a site, and it's working pretty well, but you want more from it. Perhaps you've noticed your customers slipping away to the competition. It could be that your Inbox is filling up with complaints, and someone in the company has decided it's high time to fix the causes.

The Solution: Ensuring that your site engages the visitor and convinces them to convert from the visitor role to that of a "user" requires more than slick graphics. From a simple Expert Evaluation (Heuristic Evaluation, in some languages) to Focus Groups to deeper Ethnographic Methods, finding out how real people use your Web site or application is the only real way to know where your design falls short.

What is "usability" anyway?

Usability is anything which helps your sites visitor do what they came there for more easily. Usability is proven to enhance user loyalty, return business, increased brand awareness and increased sales (just in case any of those are important to you). All of my services have this as their primary goal.

• Developing solid business goals so we can direct the project to deliver a known product is "usability".
• Defining your audience so you can understand what specific tasks they will want to carry out within the goals of the site is "usability".
• Developing content and functional applications which provides easy access to those tasks is "usability".
• Organizing that content so it makes sense both to people who already understand it and those unfamiliar is "usability".
• Creating labels and navigation which provides intuitive access to this organized information is "usability".
• "Tuning" a site so that it can be read and used by visitors with disabilities is "usability". OK, it's "Accessibility", but it's good.

Every project is a little different

So get in touch today! Call and we'll talk a little about your needs. If you would like to meet after that, I offer a no obligation consultation so we can find a way to make your site attract more visitors, convert them into customers and retain them as loyal users.