Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

Dear Juliet,

Hello. I trust all is well in Inverurie.

Here is my humble two cents' worth on your site for SESEF:

To engage people, consider adding things to your home page banner. I don't see any signs of a lot of interaction and environment type images in it: One the Earth side, wind power, wave power, acid rain, nuclear waste, roadside trash, recycling, etc., etc.,.

Before you bring your dog and pony show to MY school to teach MY students, I want to be engaged and this means you showing me images of happy, engaged children learning about the things you teach. Your banner is one place to do this. Thrill my kids. Help me delight my colleagues in the staff room.

Make me firmly believe that your site is THE place to come to to learn new things about the Scottish environment and its many jewels and treasures.

I'm not talking tourist information stuff. I'm talking about your website's contents making me leap toward the phone as if my beard was on fire to call YOU and get you or one of your astonishingly gifted colleagues to come to MY wee school, whether it's on North Uist or Unst, or in Kirkcaldy or down to the Borders, and tell my kids everything you know.

If I'm your target teacher, this means I want to see proof of
your development officers and forum members doing their thing throughout Scotland (from the outer Islands, to the remotest Highland schools, right down to the fancy, schmancy stuff in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and down into the Lowlands.

Wee pictures of fluffy white clouds on blue backgrounds are all very fine and good for yer feathered friends to flirt and flurry across, but as an image, the pale blue yonder does not a sales statement make.

You tell people "we work with teachers, schools, colleges, public institutions, science centres, museums, industry and universities ..."

Good for you. Now, show me the proof lassie!

Also on your banner heading, your logo's text needs some
de-cyphering because it appears to be written in Klingon (or in wee wriggly worms or something). But as pretty as it might be, tell me in English, next to the logo, just what your organization is.

Consider splitting the line lengths of the title of your organization
so that they appear as below, and so that the text is ini the same font as your main introductory text.

Proposed line splits as follows:

Scottish
Earth
Science
Education
Forum

... this way you can keep the text nice and tight against your
logo, keep the wee wriggly worms, and not mop up too much of the visual space for your main header.

You with me?

Far right in the same space, you might want to add a sign up for more information and a sign up for our newsletter box: name, e-mail address, SEND button, and have this on every page.

Or, possibly even better, stop the line length of the text that begins: "The Scottish Earth Science Education Forum (SESEF) is an association of ... blah, blah, blah, stop this line length so that it's the same length as the box currently titled RESOURCES, and use the space above the post card image as a place to add a sign up for your newsletter box. But again, keep this box on every page, and in the same place.

Sign up boxes in these places (or it could be one box with check boxes for "more details" and/or your "newsletter" in the space above your postcard image but not on your banner image), sign up boxes in these places will allow you to build your list.

Adding engaging images on your banner might mean doing away with your Earth symbol, a suggestion that I'm sure will have Professor Monro spluttering into his morning tea. But the gain to your list will offset the loss of the planet (I know I'm a tad off your mission statement here, but it's all meant metaphorically).

Also on your home page, consider placing testimonials from teachers in one of the spots currently taken up by your post card style images, and also consider having testimonials on EVERY page, always in the same place, but always different.

Teachers want to know what other teachers think. So gather
this information and use it. It's vital social proof and it will work wonders for your sign up rates, especially if potential sign-ups could e-mail the testimonial giver to get even more information straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

And in another one of your post card spots, plant a video of kids having fun learning about the environment. And if your video includes a wee interview with a celebrity (what's Muriel Gray "the gallus besom" up to these days? Is she still climbing Monroes? Or Billy Connelly? www.billyconnolly.com, or Sean Connery?), then all the better because again, it gives you instant cache and positioning.

Celebrity endorsement like this is HUGE and there's no shame in asking these people for a few minutes of their time, some support, or a few wee words of encouragement to the kiddies. All huge mentor and self esteem building stuff and well worth building on and milking for all you can get out of it.

None of this "Well, they might not have the time" hiding behind the wall stuff. They'll never get the chance to turn you down if you don't ask them.

And generally, celebrities are no different to you or I. They all pull their trousers on one leg at a time. Ask them for help and they might just say yes.

On your ABOUT US page, your line length is waaaaaaaaay too long.

You've got some valuable real estate there. Why not include more video of your people in action?

Or a pod cast from Professor Monro?

Also, mug shots of all your key people.

Some of them'll protest I'm sure, but pictures of real people and with life links to e-mail them (it could all go to a central address at your end) all adds to the image and gives you and your colleagues more credibility.

Your contact page has another Rannoch Moor-sized chunk of nothingness on it. You may want to revisit this.

Consider shifting your contact fields up the page (so that everything fits above the fold as it were), move them to the right, and then use the free space on the left for more keyword-rich, benefit driven material in bullet form, plus your mailing address, your telephone and fax numbers, a map showing where you are, and a general e-mail address for the wee timorous souls who are form-a-phobes.

Likewise there's a huge page of nothingness on your site map page. Could you use the space better somehow? Perhaps with a linear format?

I'm not sure on that one and there are far wiser minds on this forum than mine when it comes to site architecture, so you might want to seek other counsel to help with this issue.

Lordy, Juliet! Apologies for droning on and on, but sometimes I just gat a tad carried away. With a ten year background in marketing and design for non-profits (among other things) I'm passionate about this kind of stuff and I truly hope my comments are of use to you.

The world needs more resources like SESEF and it's obvious you've worked extremely hard on the site. Keyword research on your topics will serve you really well, and of incredible value, a survey sent to teachers all over Scotland could also offer valuable feedback.

The links below might help with school and environmental organization contact details, but apologies if you already have this information.

www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment

The trick is to find out what people want and then give it to them.

I hope this is of benefit to you. And from a Brit too!

Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Dear Juliet,

You are most welcome and I hope my advice is of use.

Site map wise (in fact, all links-wise), there's probably no
harm in repeating all links as simple text links (along with
e-mail, newsletter sign up, and so on) at the bottom of the
page.

This might also be an ideal place to put your privacy policy, website terms of use (if you're going to have such documents), and any other links your users might find useful.

A note on web development generally that's worth bearing in mind is that if your web developer is not a part of your organization (and even if this person is) that this person works for you.

Designer they may be, and a fine one too, but generally, what many designers have a grasp of in terms of layout, they often lack in terms of client needs focus and end user practicality. And before any designers out there get all huffy at this opinion, I AM a designer (among other things), with almost 25 years in the game to back me up, and this is both my experience, and my considered opinion.

Juliet, you call the tune, you make the demands, and you seek
the solutions because you are the one that has to answer to a committee, and to your users if the website does not deliver as expected or as promised.

Much is made of usability studies, but what's so often lacking in these studies is needs of the everyday user and his or her varying degrees of familiarity (or lack thereof) with website navigation.

Put your user (teachers, lecturers, scientists and others) and his or her varying personas ahead of any and all in-house politics, the influence of other people's websites, and the thoughts and feelings of the people closest to the project (including yourself), and focus on the needs of the user.

Attend to the needs of your users (and keep attending to them with surveys and feedback requests, and then act on your findings) and I can pretty much guarantee that your website's effectiveness will be three Monroes higher in terms of its function and results than those of most other organizations competing for a similar audience.

To maintain the higher ground, one must take it. One must make it one's own. And one must defend it against the usurper. Not that I have any strong feelings on this you understand!

Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA