Website Usability Consultant - How to Select One

When building a new website, or assessing an existing one, there are two types of consultants whose input is critical to the success of your site. One is a Usability consultant and the other, a SEO consultant. This article will discuss the former.

A Usability consultant is an expert in the area of online consumer behavior. His or hers expertise includes: knowledge of all industry norms and standards of website usability including navigation, layout, category/button/link labeling, e-commerce functions and more. The consultant can assess a site to determine if it is user friendly or if it will cause frustration and dissatisfaction among site visitors, resulting in lost sales and opportunities. The assessment should not be in general terms - but very specific to all components of a web page and the site as a whole.

When selecting a Usability Consultant to assess and/or test your test make sure that they have experience with the type of site you own (such as e-commerce, service oriented (lawyers, libraries, etc.), or informational). Ensure that they have actually conducted usability testing in a focus group research facility with participants recruited based on specific criteria pertinent to the website.
Question the potential consultant as to the type of report you will be receiving. Aside from being well written, it must contain screen shots of your web pages with clear detail as to problems found and, as importantly, actionable recommendations to fix them. Ask for a prioritized list of the recommendations.

The website usability consultant you select must also be extremely knowledgeable in SEO (search engine optimization) and website metrics. Usability and SEO are closely linked and the affects of both are reflected to your site's metrics.

Lastly - ask for references. A Usability consultant should gladly provide you with several.

Optimized Usability- Copyright 2009