How To Critique Your Web Site? Submitted by Brian Bearden, Zephyr Salvo Studios 713-481-3321 / 832-594-5390 / www.zSalvo.com / brian@zsalvo.com What does Brian Bearden look at when giving a website critique? For the past couple of shows I have been doing free on-air website critiques. Someone heard me, called me and their first question was... What do you look at when reviewing a website for one of your critiques? My reply to them was... same as visitors to your site will look at. I just know from my years of experience and visiting hundreds of websites a day what stands out to most visitors and what stands out to me. The first thing to realize is that time is valuable so people don’t have a lot time to waste. They want to get the information they are looking for and they will know quite quickly if your website is worth their time or not. You have less than a couple of seconds to grab their attention or they are hitting the back button or the X and they are gone. People read like a "Z" and so do I. We skim across the top of the site, we then move our eyes back to the left hand side and then across the bottom. This why getting your information “above the fold” as they call it is important. In the web world we call it before they have to scroll. On a side note, scrolling depends on the resolution they keep their monitor at and what resolution the site is designed in. 1. How fast does the site load? Do I have to click through an enter page or hit a skip intro button to get the actual site? 2. What I look at first is the overall look of the home page? Is it really busy and my eyes are all over the place or is there a flow to it? How does the overall site make me feel? 3. Can I tell from just glancing at the home page that this website going to help me solve my problem? Can I tell from the home page where I need to go to get the information that I need? Color and graphics play an important role here. Are the colors bright and the text is hard to read? Do they have so much text that they have a small font and the text is hard to read? 4. My eyes skim across the top of the site. This is why an across the top navigation systems is good. Is the company or organization’s name on the site? I may have typed in your web address or come from a search engine. 5. Are the page names generic like Services, Products, etc, or are they specific? Specific names and I only have to click once to get the information versus clicking services and trying to find what I’m looking for. 6. Contact Info – How do I get a hold of these people? Is the contact info readily available or not? This is a trust issue as well as a time issue. I found what I want, now how do I get a hold of them? 7. My eyes then skim back to the left hand side of the page. Another good reason for having vertical left hand navigation. Right hand navigation does not work well because people don’t look over there. 8. I came to the site for a reason, now I need to find what I’m looking for. I’m looking for a new phone system for my office. Good a navigation button called Phone Systems. I’m going there. 9. Click on that button and the Phone Systems page is under construction or the link does not work. I’m frustrated so I’m gone. Check next week's article for more info on how I critique a website. If you want a free website critique, call 713-783-8365 on Tuesday @ 3pm for a free on air website critique or email me at brian@zsalvo.com. About Our Show Expert: Brian Bearden is a Director and website redesign guy of Zephyr Salvo Studios. He has a true passion for the web and is glad to share is advice for making your website the best it can be. Visit www.zsalvo.com or www.upstreammarketing.net to see a sample of his design portfolio or call 832-594-5390 to schedule your free website consultation.