Overall, most sites performed above average but there were some notable concerns which all website owners should consider:

• Overall, sites are getting easier to use. However, responsiveness to customer enquiries received a low score.
• 67% of the sites did respond to customer enquiries, most within 1 business day. 12% however did not respond at all.
• Most sites do provide privacy policies, but in some cases they are unclear. For example, about 1/2 of the sites surveyed do not provide information to a client about whether they can opt in or out of a mailing list when they provide contact information. Further, 12% of sites with privacy policies are unclear about what the information is used for.
• 80% of websites use forms which are not designed for users with disabilities.

Overall, the top 3 sites were Microsoft (#1), Hewlett Packard (#2), and IBM (#3).

The bottom 3 sites were: Weyerhaeuser (# 98, Johnson Controls (#99) and Supervalu (#100).

The survey does outline some key points which all site owners should consider when building or revising a website:

1. Privacy policies are important to users. Many site users look for a privacy policy when it comes to information sharing. They want to know where the information is going.
2. Most websites are not equipped to offer services to disabled people. Simple things like alt tags on images can help improve usability of a site for people with disabilities.
3. Only 2/3 of sites respond to customer enquiries and even then almost 20% of those took more than 4 days to respond. Customer response should be as important on the website as it is in the business.
4. Ease of use is still an important factor. Obviously if you want your site to not only perform in search engines, but drive sales to your business it has to be easy to navigate and use. Make sure there are ample opportunities for site visitors to convert, whether that is a form submittal, an information request or actual product purchase, it is important that there are no barriers.

Ultimately, design isn't the only issue. While an efficient design can help site users find what they want quickly and easily, it is not the only consideration. Privacy policies and features for users with disabilities are two key areas which many sites overlook, but are found to be important to many users.

Before you rush out and spend a few thousand dollars on a cool flash animation, perhaps you should take a critical look at your site and see how user friendly it is? Get some friends or family to take a look at your site and report back their findings to you. Don't be afraid of the criticism you may get, because in the end it will be helpful. In most cases a site owner is so familiar with his own site he doesn't always see its shortcomings. Therefore an unfamiliar eye can help spot potential problems. An unfamiliar but trained eye can not only spot problems, but offer solutions.

Also remember that this isn't a one time operation. As website users become savvier, what they look for in a website also becomes more sophisticated. Users nowadays are looking for clean, impressive professional looking sites with the right balance of text and images. The site must have accurately written content with no spelling or grammatical errors.

So when reviewing your own site, consider your customer. What are they looking for on your site? Perhaps you could contact your existing customers and ask their opinions. Another tactic is to offer an email link on every page asking for user input. Once you''ve collected enough information you should start seeing trends. These trends identify your customers - even your target customer. Once you know what your target customer wants you can then figure out how to build the site they want to see.

Rob Sullivan
Production Manager
Enquiro.com

Copyright 2004 - Searchengineposition Inc.