The usability of your website is what makes the difference in making a visitor a long time user or just a click through. Usability means that you have a clean interface and your entire page is simple and easy to use for any visitor. I have searched the internet for you to help you find the easiest and cheapest way to find out if your site is usable. Below I have complied the top 5 tools that I find beneficial to review your website usability.

Whether it is a blog or a business website you need to have other people review your work because most of the time programmers and designers make very bad testers. I can vouch for that. I have submitted my site as well as some of the sites I have created to various usability websites and have always received cheers and jeers. Of course, all the jeers nailed my issues right on the head and I quickly fixed them to make the site more user friendly....so take these reviewer's comments to heart, most of the time they are just trying to help you.

1. Five Second Test

I have used this website the most because it gets reactions of the layout and feel of your site without alot of people trying to be politically correct. They give you the information you need without all the fluff.

With this website you only have 5 seconds to see an image uploaded by someone else then you have to write down the things that stood out for you. Sometimes you will have people that say a color is to bright, or the words are all mushed up....their views usually speak for the general public. I am sure you have heard that you have five seconds to grab the attention of your visitor or they will leave....this test is kinda like that. If your uploaded images gab attention then you are doing fine, if not then you may need to work on the website with some of the suggestions they provide.

2. Loop 11

Loop 11 allows you to invite users to use a live interactive environment to complete a series of taks and questions about the project. Loop 11 say their website allows you to understand user behavior.

Loop 11 charges a flat fee of $350 for their services. This service allows you to have many users complete as many tasks as you need them to as well as answer as many questions as you need them to. The price may be a little steep, but they let you try yourfirst project for free. I am sure that the features are limited in this free trial, but you can get the idea of whether or not this type of usability testing is up your alley.

3. Feedback Army

Feedback army is one of the cheapest usability tools that is not completely free. At the small cost of just $10 you get 10 responses.

With its fast response time you will most likely not get detailed answers, but you will get genuine responses to your project. Your project is not available to the public, but you can view the responses using a special link that Feedback Army provides you with.

4. Google Website Optimizer

Google is very good at providing webmaster with great tools. The website optimizer is one of those tools. With this FREE tool you can do split testing with actual visitor input.

With split testing you can give two different versions of one page and get visitor responses for both. You get intuitive reporting to help you get the most from your website.

5. (SMT) Simple Mouse Tracking

Sime Mouse Tracking (SMT) provides you with real time recording of mouse movement on your website. With this free download you can see exactly what your visitors do while they are on your site.

With a few simple javascripts you are able to determine what your visitors like and what gets on their nerves. The only bad thing for some users is that it requires a PHP server to run on, but it does not required PHP page....some this may effect some developers but most developers will not have an issue.

How many reviewers do I need?

Have an opinion about our article? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. We respect the DO FOLLOW rule so "you comment, we follow".

Be sure to stay tuned: follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook and grab the RSS.

POSTED BY:ERIC
USABILITY, WEBSITE DESIGN, TOP, TEN, 10

Comments -- Add Your Own

1

Matt W.

October 17, 2009, 8:17 pm

I use the five second test all the time. I wish they would give more then five seconds to review a image, but I guess those 5 seconds are the most important.