Website Evaluation
Tools
The
internet serves many purposes, such as an instrument for communication and as
an entertainment device but at its most basic level it is a way for many people
to obtain information. The internet is a growing part of the business world, an
important one too and not all websites are created equally, so marketers and
website programmers have website evaluation tools to help them designing better
websites.
A websites usability is of the upmost importance to its
success. A websites usability has to do with how easily the user can navigate
through the site, the sites ability to deliver to the user what they need and
the overall user experience. One of the main tools used to evaluate a websites
usability is a usability test. To
sum up usability testing, it is a measuring aid to see how the website measures
up to the expectations of those in the websites target market and how ‘user
friendly’ the website is.
Usability testing can be broken down into three steps:
Concept testing
is the first step of usability testing and it does not actually deal with the
site’s content, but rather the general idea or theme of the site and how it
will be presented to the end user. At this stage in the usability testing the
website has not been designed and marketers are only interested in people’s
opinions on how practical they feel the website setup would be. Marketers will
use general ideas and themes at this point in the testing because the website
itself has not been programmed yet.
Prototype testing
is the second step in the usability testing. At this point the site will have
been designed and the programmers will be taking steps to making the website
functional. At the prototype testing stage marketers and researchers are able
to get some feedback about the site, what people like and dislike. Prototype
testing is when many changes to a webpages visual appearance will be altered.
Full usability
testing is the final stage of usability testing and it takes place when the
website is complete and fully functional. This part of the usability testing
only takes place once a website has been uploaded to a server and is the last
step before the website is opened to everyone. At this point the website will
be setup in a way that the programmers and marketers feel the user would like
it to be, and how they would expect the site to be.
The general performance of a website is also important,
people want information and they want it quickly. There are several tools that
monitor websites and record how long a user was on the page, what they clicked
on and even if they hovered over a link and did not click on it. An example of
one of these website evaluation tools is ClickTale. www.clicktale.com
Sources:
·
Internet Marketing: Integrating online and
offline sources
Mike Rizzetto #000124208
it is great information I read. As you mentioned about the three steps of "Usability testing" are made me figure out the procedure of the websites evaluation tools that should be consider when creating new website.
ReplyDeleteGood job! Website evaluation provides standard and advice to improve web design and service in various ways. More importantly, it offers this concept that we have expectation and method to measure it, which would play an irrepalceable role in web sustainable development.
ReplyDeleteExcellent Post! Website evaluation tools are proven to decrease support costs, increase user satisfaction, and save on development and redesign efforts.
DeleteGood read Mike, Marketers should be aware of these three steps when creating a new website. Along with these three steps, the quality and performance is still the most important factor of creating a useful website.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Mike. I agree with you Mr. Davis when you say all marketers should be aware, and understand these three steps when creating a new website. The evaluation is essential in improving your website, and measuring the success of it as well.
ReplyDeleteyou are right Tyler, besides measuring the usability and the expection of users,These tools also measure the success of meeting your objectives.
DeleteGreat Post Mike all those steps are new to me. I will now be more observant of these three steps when ever creating a site of my own.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you all, Davis did a great job. Full usiability tesitng, concept testing, and prototype testing are unique tools to use in evaluating your website.I did not about website testing, but this posting has given me great idea. Thanks Davis.
ReplyDeleteIt is so important that marketers understand these three steps when designing a website. Not all websites have the same target markets which mean they all need to adjust how the content is being delivered to them, and what makes these readers stay on the website.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! I agree that it is important for all marketers to understand the concept of website evaluations and to also use these three steps when creating a website. To create and improve a website the evaluation of it is essential.
ReplyDeleteGOod read Mr. Rizzetto, I also agree that website evaluation tools are important when designing a website. The three steps you mention in your post are crucial for designers to look at when creating a website. If you do not use web evaluation tools your website may fail.
ReplyDeleteGood Post Mike Rizzetto, I agree with you that website evaluation tools helps the marketers and web designers to create a website that can lead to success, because through website evaluation they can easily determine and collect all the details they require for designing a better website with evaluated information.
ReplyDeletewe've all been on those sites which dont work on our browser or just dont do what theyre supposed to. i like how you broke it down in 3 sections. if website builders follow the guidelines, their business will not be handicapped by a poor website design. very good post!
ReplyDeleteReferring back to the beginning of your blog Mike; where you talk about how the internet is used to obtain information. I know Christina DeVries asked us all in class one day how many times we search in Google for information everyday, I swear I use Google search on average 10 times a day while I'm in school. Outside of school I might use it approximately 2 or 3 times a day on average. But according to Google Annual Search Statistics in 2011 there were annual searches of 1,722,071,000,000. While there was an average of 4,717,000,000 searches per day. This proves my point.
ReplyDeleteHere is where I found these stats:
http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/
I actually did some testing at my co-op job over the last summer. We were testing to see the functionality of the cookies, and seeing if the tracking worked properly for conversions. It's actually amazing how simple it all is, the fact that a cookie is just a pixel which is tracked (to put it simply) is just mind boggling to me.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that the two major reasons people use the internet is to obtain information and to communicate with others..
ReplyDeleteJanelle's stat's are just amazing on how often people actually do GOOGLE things.. i google everything as well.. My mobile phone's browser is a google search engine so i can type anything in and get instant results - it is very functional.
Good post Michael :)
Great list of tools that can help you to determine how well your site has been designed, if a page is accessible or not and how well it performs compare with other websites
ReplyDeletewell written post Mike,
ReplyDeleteJanelle, thanks for providing these statistcs.
Its very important that a business evaluates it's website, as it will be able to identify how well it's website is and therefore improve it! The website that was mentioned in class (www.marketing.grader.com) is very effective!
Good job Mike. The website evaluation tools are essential to put forth a quality website. Being able to monitor what users have clicked on is an interesting way to track its usability. a very interesting and effective tool. Lets just hope marketers and website developers are as thorough with the process as you were with this post.
ReplyDeleteGreat article, there are many different types of web evaluation tools and many different types of programs that help aid in the evaluation and are ready to download at the click of a button. A web evaluation program that is easy to use and very accurate is google analytics. Anyone who owns a web page and wants to monitor there performance with high effeciency and accuracy i suggest you give google analytics a try. cheers
ReplyDeleteGood information! Thanks Mike. Your website may fall if your evaluation tool is poor.
ReplyDelete