From the Editor

When we think about our websites, we often think in terms of how many sales we make from it, if it’s updated with the latest content, and how it’s performing in the search engines. These are all important to consider, but sometimes we forget to look at our websites through our visitors’ eyes. That’s why you’ll see advice below on how you can assess the user experience on your website.

Don’t forget: I’ll be presenting the SCORE workshop on search engine optimization and improving a website’s effectiveness April 1. If you’re in the Lancaster, PA, area, it’s not too late to register!

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All the best,

Adam J. Barkafski

Website DesignHow usability tests improve your website

One often overlooked part of the web design process isn’t technological at all. It doesn’t involve fancy coding or difficult concepts. It involves the most important part of your business or organization: people!…

How can you assess your website visitors’ experience?…

Insightful TipWhat do your errors say about you?

While we’re discussing the user experience on a website, we must not forget about error pages and messages. Do people repeatedly try to go to the same page on your website, only to be greeted by a “Page Not Found” error message? You should monitor your error logs to see if these error messages are one-time occurrences (probably user error) or if there are patterns (a page was moved, or an incorrect link is somewhere).

If you notice patterns in your error logs, then it’s time to call your web designer and ask for something called “URL redirection” or “301 redirection” on those bad web addresses. This will allow someone to be taken to the right page (if they use a bad address that was redirected), rather than see the error and be frustrated.

If you don’t know how to check your error logs, talk to your web designer or web host. You can also set up something to check error pages in your Google Analytics account. Checking your errors is one more way to improve the user experience.