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June 08 ABCs of Web Design Newsletter

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Question of the month

Question: I recently worked with a potential client. I was advising her on changes to make to her web site so that it would make money. Her site was not very well organized – she had very confusing organization for her information, especially the e-classes she wanted to sell on her site. Organizing information is very important because if people cannot find what they are looking for on your site, they will go somewhere else. Also, the last thing you want to do is to have your customers scroll down long pages looking for what they want to buy – they probably won’t do it. So what are the benefits of organizing information on your web site?

New testimonial:

"Theresa - I just wanted to let you know how much my business has increased since you took over my website. What I am delighted about is that I am receiving good, solid business leads from my target audience. How do you do that? The general comments I receive include "...saw you website..." or "...loved the before and after photos..." but most of all they ask me to call them to set an appointment. Here's another benefit you offer - you don't drag your feet. If I need something added or changed, it's done pronto. I am certainly not your only client yet your attention to detail and responsiveness make me feel very important. To me that's the sign of a true professional - same excellent customer service to big and small clients. Thanks you so much." Sylvia Watson, President, Healing Environments with Feng Shui

Answer: The most obvious answer to this question is that if users can find what they are looking for then they are happy. Happy users most likely turn into paying customers.

Organizing information on your web site into groups and levels that increases the user’s efficiency at finding what they are looking for. A happy user means a paying customer. It helps present the contents of the site in an easy-to-understand fashion. If a user has to use your Search function, they then cannot find what they are looking for on your web site and that is not a good thing. On an e-commerce site, users many have problems finding a product they are looking for, finding information about the product or how to buy the product. And this usually means they will leave your site without buying anything.

How do you organize a site?

From my usability analyst training: Look and see if your content has a logical organization that users will recognize. I like to look around at the site’s competition and see what they are doing and I also look at sites that I know are usability tested and see how they organize information.

The most logical organization of the e-classes for the site I advised on was by user because she referred to the users on her site by name. She did not like this idea, so my next suggestion was by subject or topic. She did not like that idea either.

Ways to group information:

• By topic
• By user
• By task
• By product/service
• By store /department

Different organizations for different content

If you know what you are looking for on a site, group the information alphabetically, chronologically or geographically. Also you can use a combination of the above categories called a Hybrid Scheme but you want to test this to ensure your users understand this scheme. Also, use a broad and shallow approach to keep the number of clicks to a minimum so the users can get to the information they want quickly.

Please send all questions to theresaw@columbus.rr.com.

To see the articles from my print web column, go to http://www.w-edge.com/articles.htm

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