Evaluate Your Current Site

• Does the Web site meet your organization's objectives and your usability goals?
• Is the site meeting the needs of your users?
• Does the Web site comply with basic Web guidelines?

Before you begin to design a Web site, it is wise to review and evaluate what you have now. By reviewing what currently exists, you can identify what is working well and the areas that need improvement.

Ask these questions when evaluating your current Web site:

Does the Web site meet your organization's objectives and your usability goals?

Review the site to see how well the site is currently meeting your organization's objectives and the usability goals you have set for the site. If you have not set any organizational objectives, see the Questions to Ask at Kick-Off Meetings (PDF-33KB). If you have not set usability goals for your users' typical scenarios, learn how to Set Measurable Usability Goals.

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Is the site meeting the needs of your users?

Consider how well the site is fulfilling users' goals by reviewing the types of users who visit your site and the reasons they come to the Web site. Gathering information from users is essential to understanding how well users can find information on your Web site, how efficiently they can use the functionality on the site, how well they understand your content, and how much they enjoy using your Web site. To gather information from users:

Review users' emails and phone calls

• Review the emails that users send to the Web master (or other email addresses included on your site) to identify issues that users are struggling with.
• Write down the questions that users call your organization about. If no one is keeping track of these calls, find the person who answers calls and get that person to keep a log of callers' questions in the callers' words.
• If your Web site includes an option for users to post questions to the site, review the questions that users have sent. These questions tell you what users want to know.

Evaluate your Web logs and search logs

• Look at your Web logs to see how users are using the Web site. How many users go beyond the home page? Which pages of your site are the most popular? What items are users searching for on the site? What words are people using as they search?

Conduct an online survey

• Use a survey to ask users how they use the Web site. For example, you may want to ask users "What information were you looking for today?" and "Did you find it?" These types of questions help you learn how well people can use your site. Read more about Surveys (Online).

Conduct a usability test

• Test your site with representative users to see how well your site is meeting the needs of users. During the usability test, you'll identify usability issues with your site, as well as benchmark your site. This benchmark study will not only allow you to ensure you do not repeat the same usability mistakes, it will also help you measure future improvements. Read more about usability testing.

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Does the Web site comply with basic Web guidelines?

Also review the site to see how well it adheres to common Web standards and best practices. You may want to:

Conduct a heuristic evaluation.

• A heuristic evaluation is typically performed by one or more usability experts who review your goals as well as your users' scenarios and identify potential usability issues on your site. Read more about Heuristic Evaluation.

Review the Research-Based Usability and Web Design Guidelines.

• The Research-Based Usability and Web Design Guidelines are based on the latest research in usability, human factors, cognitive psychology and other Web design sciences. The guidelines offer practical advice for improving the usability of your Web site.

Examine OMB policies.

• The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a set of policies for all Federal public Web sites. Review the OMB policies.

The characteristics other than name and picture come from the data you gathered in learning about your users. For example, you may have quotes from interviews or surveys or usability testing.

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Next steps

One of the most important keys in evaluating your current site is understanding your users. The article on Learn About Users introduces you to several ways to find out more about the people who come to your site, the people whom you want to come to your site, what they look for, whether they find it, and how they would organize the information on your site.

You may also want to start your Content Inventory and do that at the same time that you are learning more about your users.

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