It’s 2008 and we are in the internet age.  I know it, you know it, but it seems that some people don’t quite seem to have grasped it.  Here’s an example: I tried using my student loan company’s website to pay off (a very small part of) my loan, and was greeted with an appalling website.  While it looked very nice, it was clearly designed by someone who did not plan on using the website.  I managed to eventually do what I wanted to do, but the entire user experience didn’t encourage me to use the site again. There have been other times when I have been on Flash-based websites that looked nice, but wouldn’t even let me copy and paste text from the site, due to the nature of Flash.

The point that I’m trying to make is that people will only use a website if it makes the entire experience as simple and pain free as possible.  A website acts as a company’s online ‘shop window’. The message contained in the website’s text needs to reinforce the company’s message in the real world in order for the site to be effective.  A website that is confusing or does not present a clear message will not be popular.

A website audit can help ensure that a site is easy to use, and that the message being presented supports the company’s offline message.  After all, as the internet becomes more and more important in our lives, it is the companies with the most accessible sites that will prosper.

Luke Davies