Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

In an effort to curb lackadaisical request for site critiques and help members recieve more thoughtful from competent web professionals, I want to submit to my guideline of what an effective critique should look like.

My goal is to create a win/win/win situation b/w the website owner, reviewer, and SUN.

By following the guidelines below, you will get a better response and understanding of what makes for a great design.

The reviewer will better understand the goals of the website owner. Meanwhile, the website owner will understand that they need a goal and a strategy for their website to help them make money. And SUN will prove to be more useful by having guidelines instead what can seem like a Free For All at times :)

The suggested guidelines are as follows. I`ve bolded what members should consider inputing when asking for a review.

1. Do not just ask for a critique along the lines of "Hey everybody, check out my site. Bye!" It`s a bit trite, too vague and can be considered a thinly veiled advert. If you want people to spend 10-20 minutes analyzing and writing up a thoughtful answer, then you should spend at least 5-10 minutes explaining what your company is about and how you envision your site to compliment your business goals.
   
2. State the goals of your website and briefly let us know what your business is about. What do you hope to achieve from the site? Do you have a strategy? How does it fit in with your business?
3. Did you design this yourself or did someone design it for you? If you designed it yourself, what were your goals when you designed it? How many hours did it take for you to design it?
4. Try to develop a thick skin when getting a critique. Understandably, it`s your baby and no one likes to feel like they are being bashed, but give those who give you a critique the benefit of the doubt that they are just trying to help.
5. When you get a response, post back with your own response and don`t just abandon the thread all together. It`s rude and shows a lack of respect for the reviewers.
6. Post the url to the site. You`d be surprised as to how many don`t do this! And make sure it`s clickable.
   
7. Realize that there is more to a web design strategy than just pretty graphics and cool colors. How is the navigation? Web copy? Search engine strategies? Online marketing efforts?
8. Realize that there are some web professionals who can easily take 15-30 minutes of their time analyzing your site and typing up a response. Afterall, their response is indicative of their knowledge of design. Be appreciative of other people`s time especially when it`s pro bono.
9. In your subject heading, don`t type in "Website Critique". We already know that because that is what this forum is for. Be specific with your request. Include the company name or url and what type of critique you are asking for in the subject heading. You  may be seeking advice on the webcopy, content strategy, SEO, design architecture, or whatever, but be specific.

There are tons of competent web professionals around here but many of them won`t bother to help if the request for help isn`t proportionate to what the reviewer will offer in return.

Thanks guys,
Dean

Well said Dean - I`m new to SUN, a design pro and have made a couple of quick comments on some sites already. What you said is valuable and appreciated

Yes, great post. Very good for reference. Some people will post a website critique request just to promote and sell all their goodies. It will be helpful to be ready with a link to this thread for those who truly seek great, specific, site feedback. A forum view of other posts, together with your guidelines, might quickly educate folks if they are reminded as necessary.

And for those who engage in marketing by just saying `whadaya think?`...the longer protest version would be in order... http://www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts.asp ?TID=3235&PN=1

I agree with the guidelines and I understand why it is needed to an extent.  I am very new to both the entrepreneur world and to the SUN forums and I believe for someone who is a "newbie" there needs to be some set guidelines in place.  I myself have recently posted my site up for "critique" and I have to say that I was nervous in doing so.  I have responded to every "critique" so far and am appreciative of all the feedback.  (Hey, that`s actually one of your guidelines)  Because of this post I will probably post another "critique" request but I will be more detailed as to what I am looking for with regards to feedback.  Thanks HDean.

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Regards, Warren Endes Owner/Operator www.wedustuff.com wendes@wedustuff.com

You made some excellent additional comments to this original guidelines post titled, "Site Review 101 (guidelinesV1)."


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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Thanks guys. I`m glad that this is welcomed.

Vincent- Yeah, I noticed your guidelines re: V1.

Reading that caused me to write up this guideline. What can I say? You inspire me. I guess you can say that mine is V2 :)

I made this topic sticky as well - anyone prefer that we combine the content of the two topics into one (if I can do that, I`ll have to check)?  Or perhaps re-title them so that it`s clear they`re both addressing the same issue?

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chuck fuller

Thanks Chuck. I will edit my initial post so that it is not as long winded. I need to get  rid of some of the fluff in the beginning. There is alot in there and I can`t expect a reader to read through all of that.

Though, I believe that Vincent and I are talking about two different issues. He`s talking about what makes for a successful site. I`m talking about what makes for a successful site critique. You can`t have a successful site w/o having a successful critique ;)

Good point Dean - they`re both sticky, thanks to both you and Vincent for adding these to the discussion.

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chuck fuller

These are great suggestions - thanks for posting them.

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