Do the Steve Krug home page test

A good home page sets the tone for your site.  That’s why your home page needs to be clear. It lets people know who you are and what you can do for them.

Not everyone enters on the home page, but many still do. When first time visitors come to your home page, will they understand what it’s about?  According to usability expert Steve Krug, “more often than you’d expect, the answer is a surprising and revealing no.”

Test your home page according to Steve Krug’s script.

• Invite a few people to look at your homepage.
• Ask them to briefly describe the site and what they make of it.
• Specifically:  What strikes you about the site? What can you do here? What it’s for?

Although a few people is not a scientific sample, you can gain insights that improve your site’s usability.  I did when I tested my website: wordsandideas.nl.

After testing my home page on three people, I tested my work page.  They understood my home page, but two of them didn’t realize that the thumbnails on my work page were writing samples that should be clicked.  To solve this, I placed “see work” with an arrow in the first thumbnail.

If you are interested in testing your home page or your whole site, pick up Steve Krug’s latest book Rocket Surgery Made Easy.  In his personable way, he outlines a do it yourself approach for finding and fixing usability mistakes.

Like his other book, Don’t Make Me Think, it’s a learning experience that makes you smile.

Like this post?  Share it.  Written by Don Seidenberg.