Here’s a checklist Jason Fried (from 37 Signals) wrote for reviewing a design. It popped up on my Basecamp to-do’s that I needed to review the design for SmallBizTriage.com, so I figured I’d do it publicly. I’ve removed some items from the list not relevant to me.
SITE: www.SmallBizTriage.com
What does it say?
- About – good mission statement, a team list, top testimonial … on the bottom
- Blog – i have recent blog about ice cream
- Clients – we have clients across many industries, none are big box or franchises
- Contact – contact us, nothing personal, no maps, no social media counts, no smaller accounts, no team link
- What we Do (HOME) – we help small biz owners get more customers & we can help
What does it mean?
- About – we really give a shit and are real humans
- Blog – we have a blog, so what
- Clients – we’ve had a lot of clients this year
- Contact – not much
- What we Do (HOME) – If you are a Small Biz Owner and need help, you are in the right spot.
Why do we need to say that here?
- About – Team, Marketing Definition can easily go
- Blog – breadth of knowledge, allow self-guided exploration of small biz, free resources
- Clients – how we helped them? maybe.
- Contact – give several methods for contacting us.
- What we Do (HOME) – It’s the home page … first impression.
If you stopped reading here, what’s the message?
- About – this if for you if are in DIRE need … but not any other kind of need
- Blog – none, no calls to action
- Clients – that we help Mfg, Industrial, Health and Beauty businesses in Washington State
- Contact – we have three offices, are active on three platforms, and have an actual phone number
- What we Do (HOME) – This site is for Small Biz Owners
What’s the take away after 8 seconds?
- About – an arrow and “Marketing” definition – OUCH
- Blog – recent article, classic picture, catchy “non-MBA” headline
- Clients – that we help Mfg, Industrial, Health and Beauty businesses
- Contact – we have three offices, are active on three platforms, and have an actual phone number
- What we Do (HOME) – Small Biz Triage helps small business owners
How does this make you feel?
- About – bored
- Blog – slightly interested, if I like ice cream
- Clients – BORED
- Contact – confused … nothing is prominent on the page
- What we Do (HOME) – confused … *how* do you help
What’s down below?
- About – well laid out team listing with fun bios
- Blog – more blog, recent posts, no comments, footer call to action
- Clients – good call to action, and secondary call to action (no learn more though, hmmmmm)
- Contact – nothing (except recent articles)
- What we Do (HOME) – A definition of the word “triage” & Recent blog posts
How else can we say this?
- About – shorter OR have someone else tell the story (Testimonials) with link to a seperate team page
- Blog – n/a
- Clients – Visuals, Graphics, Logos, Columns, Total Stats (# clients, across # of industries, X amt of $’s)
- Contact – simpler … or more options (we can test with A/B experiment) … or lose it and make it a same-page jump
- What we Do (HOME) – with an image
What’s memorable about this?
- About – the fun bios
- Blog – good photo, good headline … eyes not drawn anywhere though
- Clients – not a damn thing
- Contact – not much
- What we Do (HOME) – nothing
Who needs to know that?
- About – anyone interested in who they are working with OR why we do what we do
- Blog – all small biz owners that give a shit about their business
- Clients – anyone that needs help trusting us
- Contact – anyone who wants to interact with us
- What we Do (HOME) – Above the Fold: all small biz owners visiting the site, below the fold: only people that don’t know what triage is
What’s the payoff?
- About – NONE
- Blog – knowledge baby
- Clients – not much
- Contact – a phone number (that’s rare these days)
- What we Do (HOME) – more information & a way to contact me to solve a problem … can i solve any problems
What does someone know now that they didn’t know before?
- About – team size, that we do marketing, philosophy / strategy
- Blog – a LOT
- Clients – that we are not a ecommerce company, and we work with “real” businesses
- Contact – we do social media – triple yikes!
- What we Do (HOME) – That Small Biz Triage helps small biz owners by prioritizing their needs.
Why is that worth a click?
- About – only one thing to click on, tough to see and no it’s not worth it
- Blog – nothing to click on … OUCH
- Clients – nothing to click on above the fold other than a menu … double-OUCH
- Contact – I dunno
- What we Do (HOME) – Drop us a Line … it’s not really worth a click … Let me Earn Your Business … satiating a little curiosity … maybe?
Is that worth scrolling?
- About – NO
- Blog – YES
- Clients – maybe we should tell them to scroll … or use categorical page jumps
- Contact – n/a
- What we Do (HOME) – nope
What’s the simpler version of this?
- About – shorten the copy … make a learn more option, add a hire us call to action
- Blog – remove menu and/or logo … otherwise very minimal
- Clients – side-scroller (gallery style) … logos are clunky though … an info-graphic
- Contact – just a phone number and pop-up link for all of the other ways of getting in touch. nothing else … or lose it entirely, and incorporate into header as well via javascript pop-up.
- What we Do (HOME) – Make it all on one page, remove the definition (but make a small pop-up with the definition if someone needs it) … include testimonials, a blog teaser for ‘not ready to buy’ visitors
Why that order?
- About – because I’m an idiot
- Blog – n/a
- Clients – made sense … masculine and feminine from the get go
- Contact – order of preference … colors on the icons make me look down before I look up. a problem.
- What we Do (HOME) -getting to the point … the brand personality
Why would this make them choose that?
- About – it wouldn’t
- Blog – no choice available
- Clients – no choice available
- Contact – preference
- What we Do (HOME) – there is not real choice … should there be more choices?
Why would someone leave at this point?
- About – no clear call to action, no clear non-sales call to action
- Blog – no call to action, no alternative topics, no options other than a menu and scrolling
- Clients – no call to action, or anything clickable until the bottom
- Contact – no clear preferred choice. no payoff communicated
- What we Do (HOME)
- They aren’t a small biz owner
- They don’t need help of any kind
- They are confused by what we do
- They don’t see what they need done listed
- They don’t see any social proof above the fold.
What’s missing?
- About – where we are & where are customers are
- Blog – no call to action, no alternative topics, no options other than a menu and scrolling
- Clients – call to action
- Contact – other social media icons. form for those that like that, link to pro-bono page.
- What we Do (HOME) – how we do it, social proof above the fold.
What’s the obvious next step?
- About – there isn’t one
- Blog – NONE
- Clients – NONE without some serious scrolling (no benefit to scroll)
- Contact – lots of next steps … too many.
- What we Do (HOME) – Drop us a line & no clear secondary call to action
Would it matter if someone missed that?
- About – not really … the team bit is important for injecting humanity into it.
- Blog – nothing to miss except the menu
- Clients – maybe
- Contact – nope
- What we Do (HOME)
- Triage – NO
- Blog – Maybe
- Menu – NO
Does that make it easier or harder?
- About – harder … page is a mess
- Blog – easier if they are just wanting to read without distraction
- Clients – forces them to scroll if they want any pay-off
- Contact – no clutter
- What we Do (HOME)
- lack of buttons makes it harder … forces them to read
- lack of clutter makes it easier for small biz owners to self-identify
Would this be better as a sentence or a picture?
- About – both
- Blog – n/a
- Clients – combo
- Contact – picture or photo (black and white)
- What we Do (HOME)
- calls to action should be graphical
- a picture of who they are
- a picture of who we are
- a graphic of what we do
Where’s the verb?
- About: making, draw, are, is, help, make
- Blog – none
- Clients – trusted
- Contact – contact, meet
- What we Do (HOME): Drop, Ear, help, Call
What matters here?
- About – not a one man shop … rest isn’t clearly communicated
- Blog – compelling content … no next step ID’d
- Clients – breadth and depth
- Contact – lots of options.
- What we Do (HOME) – everything above the fold … below the fold is expendable in its current form
What would happen if we got rid of that?
- About – don’t know
- Blog – in-direct effect (SEO), and makes it difficult to see copywriting for the web when we don’t have a blog
- Clients – one of the top traffic pages … we’d lose some trust points
- Contact – not much.
- What we Do (HOME) – Below the fold … don’t know … not much probably. Above the fold … confusion.
Why is this better?
- About – there’s no discussion of alternatives or internal / external competition
- Blog – no selling or distraction, just education
- Clients – very simple, no distractions
- Contact – n/a
- What we Do (HOME) – no comparisons are made
How can we make this more obvious?
- About – say it bluntly … use photos … “we help these people solve this problem”
- Blog – tell them why they should read the blog, and what else is “behind the curtain”
- Clients – put it all above the fold and tell them why the breadth and depth makes us more competitive / a better choice
- Contact – highlight the easiest way, then make the options all same-sized.
- What we Do (HOME)
- buttons for calls to action
- before / after pics
- client categories
- service categories
Is it obvious what happens next?
- About – nope
- Blog – nope
- Clients – nope
- Contact – nope
- What we Do (HOME) – nope … maybe it’s obvious that it takes a phone call (or email)
Whew … it took awhile, but now I have a clear idea what needs doing. Coming next week … the Landing Page Checklist
CONCLUSIONS:
- Snippets of every page should be incorporated on the home page, so we don’t lose anyone if they read but don’t click
- a call to action and “explore more” call to action should be on EVERY page
- testimonials page should be integrated with the clients page
- at least one relevant testimonial should appear on EVERY page
- Facebook “Recommend” Count in the header strip, far right
- Follower / Subscriber / etc… counts on relevant pages (sidebar maybe)
- Recent articles only belong on “certain” sidebars … rest should be customized based on content (cross-linking)
- the next step should be customized and made clear and consistent in each frame (no scrolling required)
Short answer … I need more visuals, need to make the calls to action VERY clear, and I need more real estate to minimize scrolling.
FYI, Here’s the original version of the checklist. What do you think?
