Data Doesn’t Deceive

Sorry for all of that alliteration in the title. Sometimes I just can’t help myself. All of those years of preaching are hard to shake off!

However, there is truth in the title and it’s time to face the truth you’ve uncovered about your website from the data you’ve collected this week. Look at it this way: at least you now have real data about your site!

Gather All of the Data

Now it’s time to pull all of your data together. You have your spreadsheet where you’ve recorded your notes from:

clicking through everything on your website (navigation, links, email, forms)

reading and evaluating all of the content on your website (content = text, pictures, media)

observing three users use your website

viewing your website on different browsers and devices (who did the extra credit?)

Gather an Internal Team

It’s very likely you inherited your current website. Maybe some of the original content creators are still with your company or organization. Maybe not. Either way, now’s the time to put together a small internal team to cull through all of the data you’ve compiled.

Here are a few things to look for as you look at your data:

1. What needs to be changed on the website right now? Events that have already occurred, any incorrect information, errors, and the like are easily fixed and will improve how you are perceived.

2. Identify all of the content you’d like to keep but still that needs updating. This is the information you want to keep on the website.

3. Make a list of who you are trying to reach with your website and what you want them to do when they get there. The better the picture you create of your user and what exactly you want them to do, the better your website!

4. Are you thinking you can get by with some updating or is it time for a new website?

Enlist the Experts

There’s a strong tendency to do things ourselves in our self-starting, tight economic environment. There are always ways we can stretch our resources by cutting corners. Your website, however, is not one of those areas.

Technology is changing constantly and the sheer number of devices that must be considered when developing any website is daunting. How websites are used has evolved significantly even in the last year. As with a textbook, your website runs the risk of being outdated or using old technology by the time it’s published! Unless you are a developer who is part of this evolution, you need experts who can maximize the life and usefulness of your website.

Here a few things a web developer who is invested in your web experience will be asking or talking about:

1. Who is your audience(s) and how are you reaching your audience(s) now? How is that working? In other words, is that how your audience wants to be reached?

2. Technology and how people use that technology are shifting faster now than ever. Browsers are updating on the average of every six weeks. You need to know your website will still work when technology beyond your control changes.

3. Are you interested in how your website can be a useful tool, integrating other objectives for your business or organization?