Understanding your Website from a Visitor Perspective

When many people own and run a website, it is very easy to focus on your own experience rather than that of a typical user. Many websites ignore to think from an audience / visitor perspective and fail miserably, even when they have ideas and resources to be a great success. As a result, many websites have great back-end design but fall short somewhere along the line when it comes to engaging with the public.

Software companies, in contrast to web designers, spend a lot of resources on testing their games with various control groups to gain a strong understanding of the user’s perspective. This is an example where website designers would do well and here’s how you can.

Performance testing

When you use cached versions of your website and work directly with the server itself, it is safe to say your interactions with the site are vastly different to those of a typical user. When a visitor first finds your website, they have to put up with the performance of your server so you need to make sure it’s functioning at its best.

For instance, how does your website perform under pressure and how much traffic can it handle? Active website monitoring is an important way to get an idea of how others will experience your site and you can learn more here.

Stress and penetration testing

Similarly, there are other areas you should consider. Could stress, such as a direct denial of service attack, shut down your server too easily?

Stress tests can help give you these answers while penetration tests can see how well defended you are against viruses and infections. If there are any loop holes, you will want to find them before hackers do in order to protect your users and your business.

These tests give you the perspective of an average user and showcase how easily or difficult a challenge to your website in seen by others. This should be done regularly to ensure you aren't falling behind on modern standards as new methods of attacking websites are encountered every single day.

Get feedback

Finally, while stress testing and performance testing have their benefits, there is nothing like direct feedback from other people. Whether it’s a contact form, e-mail address or social media, there are many ways users can get in touch with you and tell you about their experiences on your website.

Give them the options to do so and you have access to free, accurate and updated data specifically about your website.