WEBSITE CRITIQUE – MAKING YOUR WEBSITE WORK HARDER

You’ve got your SEO sorted and potential customers are flooding onto your site.

But why aren’t these ‘visitors’ buying ?

Could it be that the functionality and design of your site is depressing those all-important conversion rates ?

So why not ask for an independent assessment of your website, carried out through the eyes of a potential customer ?

A customer who is not concerned about SEO, metatags, and keywords.

Nor the latest flash or animation techniques.

But a customer who wants to purchase, wants the purchase to be quick, easy and straightforward, but also wants to know they are buying from a trusted, credible and professional business.

Websighters specialise in carrying out reviews of websites from the customer’s point of view with particular focus on:

Ease, speed and logic of navigation, forwards and backwards. Appearance of website – does it look professional ? does it inspire confidence ? Does the website enhance or reduce the likelihood of a potential customer buying ?

Websighters have years of experience in evaluating hard-copy sales brochures for these same attributes and have now extended their expertise to include websites, recognising that websites are now accepted as being the first ‘port of call’ for anyone looking to procure products or services.

The Websighter review – how much will it cost and how quickly will it be done ?

A Websighter review normally costs around £200, although this will depend on the size and complexity of the website. A formal quote would be provided before any work is commenced.

The normal turnround time for a Websighter review is 5 working days from the commissioning of the review to the submission of a written report detailing the findings.

Note: if brochures/websites contain technical data and information Websighters would not look to comment on the accuracy of this data as clearly this can be highly specialised and outside the knowledge base of the reviewer.

Design

• Is it too cluttered ?
• Is the branding a) consistent b) omnipresent
• Is the use of colour appropriate ?
• Are too many font colours used ?
• Is there too much flash ?
• Is there too much animation ?
• Is the pageing and tabbing logical ?
• Are bios/team profiles provided (if appropriate) ?

Navigation

• Are the navigation buttons, thumbnails, drop-downs etc a) easy to find ? b) intuitive ? c) appropriate ?
• Can you get to where you want in less than 3 clicks ?
• Is backward navigation logical ?

Content

• Is the content relevant ?
• Does it read well ?
• Is the use of ‘English’ appropriate ?
• If there is a ‘news’ section is it a) current ? b) pertinent ?

Security

• Can the customer be certain that there is an acceptable level of security of sensitive information ?
• And that the security is actually functioning ?

Overall

• Does it look professional ?
• Does it inspire confidence ?
• Does it make buying easy ?

WEBSITE CRITIQUE – A BRAND NEW SERVICE OFFERED BY POWERSCRIBE

Over the last few years, more and more of our clients have asked for our comments on the look and feel of their website and how it may appear to the ‘outside world’.

We recognise that the appearance and professionalism of a website is key to influencing that all-important decision faced by every potential customer arriving on your site as to whether to buy or not.

We also recognise that experts in SEO and website design can often look at a website from a different perspective from which a potential customer will view it.

After all, a customer wants to feel that they are dealing with a trustworthy and professional business and will expect the website to reflect these ideals, as well as being quick and easy to navigate.

They will not be interested in how effective that website is at attracting visitors, nor whether they are using the latest in flash and animation techniques.

Indeed, flash and animation can often deter potential customers from looking further at a site if they are too precocious or time-consuming.

So, in recognition of this, we have enlisted the services of Peter Cunliffe, who has years of experience in evaluating the effectiveness of sales literature, and who has already carried out website critique services on an ad hoc basis for Powerscribe for a number of years.

Peter holds a qualification in Editorial Skills (including proofreading and copy-editing) from Chapterhouse but is keen to point out that his main focus when reviewing websites is to look at them through the eyes of the potential customer.

As Peter says:

‘When you have gone to the trouble of making sure that your website appears at the top of the search engines, it would be criminal for your website itself to then scupper your chances of ‘making that sale’ by not being as professional and easy to navigate as a customer would expect.’

Websites are a vital advertising medium in today’s world and a professional-looking website will greatly increase the likelihood of a potential customer actually making a purchase from, or making contact with a view to securing the services of, your business – at a fraction of the cost of an expensive advertising campaign !

So, why not give it a go – Peter’s website critiques can cost as little as £150.