Check Your Web Site
Why is it that with the importance of the internet to business, so many organizations don't check the quality of their web site? Using the web is to some extent an emotional experience and this needs people to experience it.
Most of us use the internet to shop to some extent, be that a book from Amazon or shopping from an online supermarket.
As a high street shopper, the ability to move from one store to another takes time and effort.
The ability to ask a shop assistant for help is simple.
On the internet it is not so easy.
We hit problems and change site at the click of a button - opportunity missed! Zero time and effort and zero tolerance for problems or challenges that make shopping harder to achieve.
Some organizations are happy to rely on automated tools to assess their website/s, but can they really experience the web site as their designers intended? Programs are as intelligent as the programmer and whilst they may be very good, recognizing that the layout of a page is jarring on the eye is going to be hard to achieve to say the least.
Websites are critical to all of us and with 15% of all retail trade in the UK conducted on line and whilst the credit crunch is hitting retail elsewhere, the effectiveness of the web ensures that it remains buoyant.
When things are important to us as individuals, like cars, we take care of them by performing regular services, to ensure that they are safe and will perform the next time they are needed.
We do not like to have failures occur.
A breakdown, be it at home or on a journey, is something to be avoided.
Web sites are now a medium often used by organizations as their prime marketing tool, reinforcement of their brand or as a means of communicating internally or externally.
Some organizations only exist through their web site.
Therefore the importance of the internet to the owner is potentially extremely high and could result in the success or failure of their business, or a large proportion of it.
Because of this, web sites are often changing, with new products on offer, new goods to sell or a new message to put across.
Some of these changes are made by means of adding new software or functionality and a lot are handled by making changes to content.
The reality is that web sites grow, alter and adjust regularly and that often, finding the time to ensure that everything is as it should be, is difficult.
It is potentially not realised that Software Testing is geared towards exactly this kind of situation.
Regular checks can be performed to ensure that the user experience remains positive; that links work, that metadata and keywords exist for each and every page, that graphics are present and align, that search mechanisms and other functionality work as intended.
These are simple tests that can be performed at minimal cost.
So why is this investment not being made.
If the loss of a sale is criminal, then maximizing the internet experience of your customers should be at the top of the list for Webmasters, Marketing Managers and IT Managers the world over.
When was the last time you checked your site?
Most of us use the internet to shop to some extent, be that a book from Amazon or shopping from an online supermarket.
As a high street shopper, the ability to move from one store to another takes time and effort.
The ability to ask a shop assistant for help is simple.
On the internet it is not so easy.
We hit problems and change site at the click of a button - opportunity missed! Zero time and effort and zero tolerance for problems or challenges that make shopping harder to achieve.
Some organizations are happy to rely on automated tools to assess their website/s, but can they really experience the web site as their designers intended? Programs are as intelligent as the programmer and whilst they may be very good, recognizing that the layout of a page is jarring on the eye is going to be hard to achieve to say the least.
Websites are critical to all of us and with 15% of all retail trade in the UK conducted on line and whilst the credit crunch is hitting retail elsewhere, the effectiveness of the web ensures that it remains buoyant.
When things are important to us as individuals, like cars, we take care of them by performing regular services, to ensure that they are safe and will perform the next time they are needed.
We do not like to have failures occur.
A breakdown, be it at home or on a journey, is something to be avoided.
Web sites are now a medium often used by organizations as their prime marketing tool, reinforcement of their brand or as a means of communicating internally or externally.
Some organizations only exist through their web site.
Therefore the importance of the internet to the owner is potentially extremely high and could result in the success or failure of their business, or a large proportion of it.
Because of this, web sites are often changing, with new products on offer, new goods to sell or a new message to put across.
Some of these changes are made by means of adding new software or functionality and a lot are handled by making changes to content.
The reality is that web sites grow, alter and adjust regularly and that often, finding the time to ensure that everything is as it should be, is difficult.
It is potentially not realised that Software Testing is geared towards exactly this kind of situation.
Regular checks can be performed to ensure that the user experience remains positive; that links work, that metadata and keywords exist for each and every page, that graphics are present and align, that search mechanisms and other functionality work as intended.
These are simple tests that can be performed at minimal cost.
So why is this investment not being made.
If the loss of a sale is criminal, then maximizing the internet experience of your customers should be at the top of the list for Webmasters, Marketing Managers and IT Managers the world over.
When was the last time you checked your site?
