When I first started webmastering I was a bit scared of getting feedback. The fear of someone telling me “your web design is absolutely rubbish” was the main reason, I would take the critiscm personally (looking back I have no idea why!). So I would just do my designs so that I think they looked ok and then that would be that.
In recent times I found the true value of getting feedback, as well as the different types of feedback you can get and also how to provoke the most feedback.
Types Of Feedback
Rather than just asking “what do you think of my site?”, it is good to be specific on areas you are most concerned about. So try asking simply about your color scheme of dark purple/light blue/silver, or whatever yours is. Other things to ask about are; navigation bar, logo, ad placements or font format.
Recently I did a post asking for people to test the load speed of my website. You can some software to test load speed but I always find when you ask actual people it varies a fair bit. So this is always a good one to ask.
How To Provoke Most Feedback
From looking at forums I’ve noticed the posts that get the least action are normally the “what do you think on my website?” questions. Other users think they are going to have to visit the site and comment on just about everything. Here are a few ways to provoke the most feedback.
- Ask a specific question about your web design EG “do you like my logo? how would you change it?”
- Be short in your post. No point rambling on about how you came to your current situation. Just politely ask the question and you’re done.
- Say you won’t need much time. In my post title I often put “What do you think about my Blah Blah – 30 seconds of your time please”. If a user knows your thread is only going to take him 30 seconds to read, look at your site & respond he will be more likely to view your thread.
- Put the nature of your website in your title EG “Please look at the color scheme on my health website”. I have found this leads other owners of health websites to be much more inclined to look at your site.
- Do follow up posts. Once you’ve started the thread don’t just leave it for others to post. When you have a few replies add your own reply saying thanks for the feedback, good points made etc, then ask for more. Keeps bumping the thread and makes it look more popular.
- Offer green rep in return for feedback. This may encourage posters who only care about reputation/post count but one way to encourage replies is to say you will give a green rep to those who reply.
Feedback is very important because it helps you improve your website and gives you an idea of what the majority of people think of your website, rather than just yourself. Best of all feedback can be received absolutely free and for minimal effort – win, win situation!
Image: Nirak
