The importance of peer review

By Paola Bassanese

 

After much deliberating and designing your website, you think the work ends at launch, with the occasional update and possibly the odd blog post.

 

But what if your much loved website does not come up with the goods? In other words: what if your beautifully crafted website is just a glorified brochure and is not converting web visitors into paying clients?

That’s where peer review becomes an invaluable business tool.

Suggested reading: The importance of writing a business plan

I joined the February blogging challenge started by Kelli Wise and Dawn Barclay;  all participants to the challenge receive support and encouragement from Kelli and Dawn by email.

One of the emails invited us participants to try and get someone else to look at our website, ideally a client. So, armed with this information, I went to my trusted twitter to get some feedback. Hey presto, soon I received some wonderful insights from my peers that I put straight into practice.

I need a peer review of my website, is it easy to navigate? Can you find what you are looking for easily? Thank you! http://t.co/TdWRlKSH

— Paola Bassanese (@paolaenergya) February 11, 2013

Thanks to all the wonderful input from Allissa, Ben and Cindy, I went back to the drawing board and made some changes to my website navigation.

To give you some examples:

• I changed the Contact Us page to How To Book page

• the Video Tutorials page is now called Learn With Video (I wanted to call it Fun with Flags like Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory)

• I said goodbye to Testimonials to make way for What Clients Say

Most importantly, it was Allissa‘s comment on making it easier for people visiting my website to book an appointment with me that made me reconsider the design and navigation of my beloved website.

Are you going to look at your website with a fresh pair of eyes? Are you going to ask for a peer review? I’ll be happy to have a little browse of your website if you like!