This very interesting question came up at one of the events I was attending.  I was talking about how I had my site reviewed by a very skilled individual and they offered me advice based on a clients perspective instead of my own. Well that got the ball rolling and now the comments that followed where “my friends all like my site so why should I pay someone to do it”.  And here is my response….

It is great to have business friends and colleagues review and critique your site.  Many times they will find grammar or even (gasp!) spelling errors.  They also will look at it from a business standpoint and offer opinions that they have based on professional expertise.  They will also will know what is appealing to the eye and what information they are looking for when visiting other business sites.

However, you should not have family and friends review your site because, well to be honest, their opinion will be biased.  They will look at your site from a personal point just like you have done when building it and if it is bad, will not tell you how bad it is.  Friends and family will also not look at your site as your business calling card but more of a “Hey they have a site!”.

So what should you do?  You can post to your site to professional forums that you belong to and ask for critiques.  Be ready for honest opinions and feedback.  You can ask other professionals in your field for their opinions, remember however this is your competition.  Or you can hire someone to review and critique your site.  Which I think is a best option because it is an unbiased opinion.

I would suggest you have your site reviewed for both content and visual flow.  This may mean that you will need two evaluations.  The concept is to attract clients to your website so therefore it must be interesting as well as look interesting.  You will need to know if you are hitting the right keywords, conveying the correct message and getting the right clients to view your services/products.

All the best,

Lee Drozak ~ My Office Assistant

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