Is your site usable? Give it the mom test

In the course of recruiting affiliates for clients and reviewing affiliate applications every day, I see a TON of sites… some good… and a LOT bad.

One of the most common mistakes I see people make is making their site so busy or cluttered that it’s impossible for your user to figure out what your point is and do what you want them to do.   Now, I  know that some people are going to use the “Leslie Gore Defense”  here and say “It’s my site and I’ll design it how I want to,” but if you have that attitude… and you are trying to make money with your site, you need to step back and think this through.

I can’t remember where I saw it, but someone suggested that you give your site the “Mom Test,” meaning that once you have a design you like, call your mom (or other relative web noob) over and ask them to jump on the site and take the action you want… or ask them what they see in front of them that is compelling.  If they don’t get it, you need to go back to the drawing board and work to focus the eye (and mind) of the reader on what you are trying to sell, or what action you are trying to generate.

Another suggestion I have seen made is to squint your eyes and look at your page and see what is clearly visible. If it’s not the item you want acted on, you may need to tweak a bit.

The idea in design is to draw the eye to the copy you want read, or the action you want taken.  If you are doing anything else, you are setting yourself back.

Happy Selling!