Research shows that customers cannot find what they are looking for on Web sites about 60 percent of the time. This leads to wasted time, increased frustration, and loss of visitors and trust.

Online service delivery of web product is a hugely important step in launching a web product or service. There are steps that need to be in place in order to achieve a successful, user-friendly and easy to use online tool. I am specifically referring to a website as an online tool or service. Building a website takes a village, literally, from the web developers, to designers, content creators/editors/copywriters, to project managers, there is a lot that goes into designing and building a website.

Probably one of the most important steps in launching a website is planning for and implementing usability testing before its official launch. I have been managing a very large web project for the past year, and I am currently at the phase where I need to work with my project support staff to create usability and site assessment Q&A for the testing work group. So I started to think about what the word, ‘usability’ mean. It is often over used in web speak but, what does it really mean? I like to say it as simply as the usefulness of the site. Attaining a better web practice means that Web managers have to put themselves in the users’ shoes when designing and curating content for a website, especially for a resources site where users go to get information they need to do their jobs and/or make their lives easier.

Creating a checklist to help identify and promote better practice is necessary when thinking about how to test a new Website and/or web resources for users. Developing and maintaining websites and web-based services requires that project managers consider users’ experience of how the they will access web resources. Conducting usability test on website before its launch is crucial. Moreover, it will help to identity any issues that may have been missed during the design phase.

Additional tips to help you attain high usability standards for your website:

1. Create a usability testing schedule—pick a day to test the site every month or every 90 days, it really depends on your schedule and how frequently new content is being pushed to the site. If you post new content or update old pages frequently (say more than five times per week) then once a month is ideal. Conversely, if you add new content or update old content a few times a month, perhaps a 90-day schedule might be sufficient. Irrespective of what schedule you choose, make sure that you add usability testing to your calendar and to-do list to ensure that you’re consistently meeting your users’ needs in terms of how things are aggregated on your organization website.
2. Educate your staff on the importance of writing plainly for the web—if you work in web then you know the importance of writing in plain language for the web. The web is a very different kind of medium / tool in the sense that users are looking for something specific and if they cannot find it on your website, they will quickly go to your competitors. And who wants that, right? If you collect donations on your website, make it obvious + easy for donors to donate to your cause. If you release new products regularly, create a prominent call out on your home page so users can click-through to view all your new items and how they can purchase. If you need to drive up traffic to your social media pages on Facebook and drum up following on Twitter, make it easy for followers to find and connect with you online.
3. Make your site accessible, useful and usable—there are different types of web visitors but oftentimes web managers forget about users with disability, i.e., blind or those using assistive technology to access the web. It is important to recognize and plan for these visitors as they require even more user-centered design in order to get the information they need using their assistive technology devices. Create documents that are 508 complaint, especially for those organizations utilizing government grants and funds to fund a web project is crucial, as it is the top requirement. Section 508 is a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires that electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained or used by the Federal government be accessible to people with disabilities.

What steps have you taken to ensure usability on your organization’s website?