making the most from your site

At bit10 we always like to keep an eye on how well web sites are working. At the recent Internet World show we conducted a Web Effectiveness Survey across a whole range of visitors. The objective was to find out how well people thought their web site was performing -- a subject close to the heart of most visitors to the show -- and it threw up some surprising results.

The 10 questions covered a range of repeated mistakes found during our usability tests, and highlighted the key elements required to make the most out of a site. Participants in the survey ranged from public sector organisations to large e-commerce online vendors, and all see their website as crucial to their business.

Key findings include:

• 45% of businesses have no way of monitoring or measuring how their website is being used;
  
  
• 40% of respondents felt that their website visitors do not look at the areas of their website they would want them to;
  
  
• 77% believe their site isn’t as easy to use as it should be;
  
  
• 81% of respondents believed that it is easy to find their site;
  
  
• 65% of businesses admitted that their site wasn’t making the difference to the business that it potentially could.

All this means that a large number of people really don't know how well their site performance, and the majority believe there is considerable room for improvement! Fortunately, the team here at bit10 is on hand to help.

our recommendations:

There are lots of things that you can do to make your site more effective for your business. However, based on our survey results, here some quick-wins and some really high returns.

Getting visitors to the site is one thing, but ensuring they stay there and find the information they need is another. Companies spend a small fortune on marketing and SEO but then ignore usability and clear information architecture. Get a good statistics programme in place and learn how to use it! Implement a plan-do-review-iterate policy with your site. Do your stats show your users are more interested in a different product to the one your MD wanted to promote? Then put that one on your front page! Tailor your site to meet the needs of your users, not your internal committees. Websites should evolve with your business. You wouldn’t leave a poster campaign up on the wall 3 years after a promotion has ended and nor should you leave a website live with old data.  Google loves new content, and so do your visitors. If you have a news section update it regularly or take it down. Simple.

For more recommendations on how to get the most from your website, contact our team through enquiries@bit10.net or on +44 (0) 24 7685 3222.