I am a small business owner. What can a website do for me? 
A website can offer your business many advantages, including a:
- More professional company image
- Improved branding
- Increased sales
- Inexpensive advertising
- Edge on the competition
- Better customer relations
- A website can help your business reach new customers, keep you in closer contact with your current customers, and enable you to respond quickly and efficiently in a rapidly changing market.
How much time does it take to build a web site?
A web site can be completed in as little as a few days to several months. Completion time would depend on several factors: (1) the size of the web site and (2) the amount of time it takes the site owner to offer feedback on the web design in progress and to provide relevant content (images, pictures, text, etc.) for the web site.
Can I just design a website on my own?
- Of course! If you like HTML, CSS, SSL, CGI, SSI, XML, PHP, CFM, JSP, ASP, DHTML, SHTML, Flash, Java.
- If you don't want to spend months learning the basic foundations of web design, you might want to let a professional designer develop your site.
How can I promote my website?
Search engine and directory submissions, negotiating cross-links with other sites, set up affiliate programs, put your URL on all correpondence and marketing materials, e-mail marketing and that's just the beginning.
Can you guarantee my site will be listed in all the search engines?
No, and no reputable company should make these guarantees! However, all of the sites BijouMIND Design developes, optimizes and submits to the search engines are eventually indexed.
If I build a geat website, will they come?
If you build it, promote it, nuture it, update it, they will definitely come. Simply creating a web site will not generate lots of traffic and will not cause your web site to be immediately listed in all the search engines. Building a web site is only the first step in an overall marketing plan. We will submit your completed web site to the search engines that are still accepting free submissions, but we cannot guarantee if and when the search engines will index any web site. We can also provide you with other online advertising venues which provide immediate exposure for your site.
What kind of services will I need once the site is completed?
Some web sites require minimal maintenance while some require daily updates. Be sure to discuss your site's future needs with BijouMIND Design.
How much does a website cost?
The investment you make in your web site development project will vary depending on the complexity of the site, visual sophistication and the type of programs you require on the site. There are hundreds of variables that will affect the cost of your project, but ultimately what it comes down to is time and materials. The more time and/or materials it takes, the more your project will cost.
We have two levels of design work at the present time. Below are the price ranges. If you have a basic outline of what you want in your site, that will be very helpful in moving the project forward.
1. Quick Sites: Cost Range $250 - $750
These designs require less development time and expense and allows you to customize the web site to reflect your company's branding, color scheme, and logo. BijouMIND Design offers affordable designs starting at $250 for the first page and $85 for each additional page plus any custom web applications. You may have as many pages as you want and you may also choose your own design, color scheme and layout or you may browse our section and select a design style which can be customized to reflect your business' unique style.
2. Custom Designed Featured Sites $1,500 +
These are websites which, in addition to the basic HTML pages, have added features ranging from Flash, databases, e-commerce shopping carts, affiliate programs, newsletter programs, message boards, chat forums, interactive search features, content management software, cgi programs and many other web applications and/or software configured and installed. A custom designed web site usually starts at around $1,000 for up to 15 pages and $85 for each additional page, plus any other custom web applications which may be needed. We would prefer to give customized quotes for each custom designed website based on the amount of pages and other applications which you may require.
What is your payment policy?
Payment policies vary depending on the size and scope of the project. We require a deposit of one-half (1/2) of the project price in order to begin development. The remaining balance is paid prior to the web site being launched.
Do you offer some kind of assurance to ensure that my work will be done on time and within specifications?
Yes, we do. To make clear our mutual understanding of the web design project, we do not undertake any project without first preparing and executing a Website Development plan, which outlines in writing the terms and specifications of the proposed web design project. This Agreement contains the terms (website specifications, delivery time, payment terms, etc.) to which we agreed prior to starting the project.
What ingredients should a "good" website have?
Effective design, sound navigation, pertinent content, fast loading pages and lots of attention.
My daughter is learning HTML in college. Why should I hire a developer?
There's more to the web than HTML. A web developer will bring expertise, information and knowledge about current technologies and trends and much more to your project.
How do I choose a web developer?
- Finding qualified site designers is an incredible challenge. Due to the tremendous shortage of good designers and the large demand for web sites, many design groups have waiting lists of up to six months.
- Start a list of the design groups which somehow get your attention (good design, marketing skills, past performance, etc.) and write them down. Your goal at this point should be to narrow it down to the three most qualified firms. The easiest way I know of to do this is to simply eliminate the bad ones.
- Go through your list by visiting the Web site of each company. Is their own site well designed? Do they do great work for their clients? Can they help bring publicity to you? These are all questions you need to ask yourself. Start crossing out the companies which you don't have a good feeling about, until you're left with three.
- Contact the best three. At this point you should have some pretty good people on your list. Call or email to let them know that you're interested in having them design a site for you. Tell them in detail what you want and expect from a web site. You should not have to wait more than a week for a response from each of them. Realize that these companies are now doing work on your behalf for no pay.
- Typically a firm will spend 1 hour per $1,000 dollars preparing a response in order to get your business. You should not expect them to do any "free" design work or give you lots of ideas. If you show that you value their time and creativity, the relationship will get off on the right foot.
- Ask for and check at least 3 references. Now check the references (3 minimum) of these groups while they're preparing their responses to you. Try to find out what working with them is like. Ask the hard questions. No project ever works out exactly as planned and problems always occur. Find out how they handle adversity. A little bit of homework here can save you a lot of misery later.
- Make the choice. Depending on the quality of the responses you receive and the impressions you get from the references, you should now have a good feeling for who you'd like to work with. Trust your instincts now. Don't make a judgement based on price alone. If you like the most expensive group much more than the others, contact them and see if you can come up with a way to get the costs more in line with what you can afford.
After designing the web-site, if it needs to be updated what is your maintenance fee to do this?
We offer free technical support and 30 days free maintenance/updates is provided following site completion, installation and publishing. If you anticipate minor changes/updates on an infrequent basis after the 30 day grace period, web site maintenance requests are invoiced at $50.00 per hour in 1/2 hour increments, after all maintenance requests have been completed to your satisfaction.
If you need updates to your website, just send us a request via fax or email and it will be completed, normally within 24 hours.
We can also provide you tools which will enable you or your staff to make minor updates to your website via your web browser. This is just another option.
If there are any problems, how are they corrected? Support service?
If there are problems with the website's functionality, that would be our responsibility. You are hiring a web designer/developer to not only design your website, but make sure it is functional across all platforms and make sure your users are getting the most benefit from your website. If there is a server related problem, your web designer would interract with the web hosting company to resolve those problems. We have close relationships with several hosting companies and understand how they work and speak their "language."
Would we need to use your company to revise and update our website?
You can call on us at any time to revise and update the website. This is an ongoing service we provide to all our clients. Or, in the alternative, you can select any designer of your choice. After we have completed a website, we will provide you with (1) all the source files and code (2) a document which contains all the passwords, usernames, database information and any other information related to the website. Any experienced web designer should be able to follow through.
When Is An Optimal Time To Do Usability Testing?
Usability Activities for Three Phases of Design
Pre-design
- Analyze the goals, tasks, data, environments and psychological characteristics of your users.
- Conduct participatory UI design sessions with your users to build paper prototypes of the user-interface.
Conceptual Design and Prototyping
- Conduct usability activities such as walkthroughs, task-based scenarios, and interviews to verify design assumptions and identify problem areas from the users' perspective.
- Apply techniques such as paper or electronic prototyping
- Refine these prototypes through usability testing.
- Create high fidelity prototypes, which are usability tested.
- Conduct site visits, task analyses, interviews, surveys, needs assessment.
- Collect baseline measures.
- Implement User-Centered Design Methods in the UI Design Process
Post-design (Implementation)
- Conduct on-site observations and post-implementation interviews validating that the site has been designed for low bandwidth
- Designed and tested with various browsers
- Navigation is user orientated
- Compare current measures to baseline measures
Why The Focus On Usability?
From a user's perspective usability is important because it can make the difference between performing a task accurately or not, completing a job or not, between enjoying a process or being frustrated. From a developer's perspective usability is important because it can mean the difference between success and failure. Given a choice, people will tend to use websites that are more usable. From a management point of view, websites with poor usability can reduce a productive transaction to a level of performance worse than without computers at all. In all cases, lack of usability can cost time and effort, and can greatly determine success or failure of a site.
Usability testing helps the BijouMIND Usability Center team determine how easy a web site is to use and understand, before it is released. Testing a website in the Usability Lab can improve quality, ensure clearer documentation, reduce the number of development problems, decrease maintenance costs and yield higher productivity.
What Are The Benefits Of Usability Testing?
- Faster and cheaper development. Upfront design means fewer changes late in the development cycle. This can decrease development time by 33-50%.
- Fewer change requests. Eighty percent of changes occurring in the maintenance phase are the result of unforeseen user requirements. We identify these requirements early in design.
- Decreased support costs. We decrease training, help desk and documentation costs by designing websites which are easy to learn for the new user and efficient to use for the experienced user.
- Improved employee productivity. If you are designing a website for internal use, we can improve your employees' productivity by decreasing their training, supporting their tasks, decreasing their errors and improving their satisfaction.
- Increased Sales. Usable websites have a competitive edge over less usable websites. You can promote this as a market differentiator.
- Improved Trade Press. An effective user-interface can improve your website's reviews in the trade publications. For example, Infoworld now dedicates about 25% of its space in review articles to usability.
- Improved Quality. The upfront usability analysis, design and iteration greatly reduce the number and severity of your UI design problems.
- Uncover, and remedy, usability problems early in the design process. This leads to faster and cheaper development no surprises at the end of the design.
- Economically compare design alternatives.
- Ensure that there are no usability show-stoppers before releasing the product.
- Compare your site's usability against your major competitors.
- We focus on fast, economical testing which has little impact on your schedule.
- Quickly identifies the most severe usability problems.
- Specifically indicate how to fix these problems.
- Generate good questions for future usability testing.
- Points out aspects of the design process which may be causing these usability problems.
- Design recommendations will yield:
- Fewer change requests
- Smoother beta testing
- Improved sales
- Improved user-productivity
- Decreased support and training costs
- Improved site reviews.
What are the Deliverables from Usability Testing?
1. A Usability Summary Analysis report which includes:
- User Profile
- Test Plan
- Testing Methods
- Task Scenarios
- Usability Testing Findings
- Design Recommendations
2. Highlight Videotape illustrating the main points of each test.
How Do You Achieve High Usability?
The primary key to achieving a high degree of usability is to focus design efforts on the intended user of the site. Many techniques exist to determine who the users are, how they work, and how to use this information to guide design. During the design of a site, specific benchmarks for determining the degree of usability of a site should be set. Examples of these include such measures as time to perform a task, number of errors, and how a user feels after using a site.
The most reliable method for ensuring usability is to test actual users on a working site. Unfortunately, time and costs usually prevent this ideal approach. Alternatives include user testing on site prototypes, evaluation by usability experts, and cognitive modeling. Another key technique for maximizing usability is to employ iterative design in the process. After a prototype or working site is tested, results from the testing should guide the next of design. This process should continue until an acceptable level of usability is reached.
What Are The BijouMIND Usability Services?
A usability consultant at BijouMIND is available to help apply a user-centered approach to the design, development and evaluation of your website’s products and services. The consultant advises on selecting appropriate user-centered activities – those most likely to provide useful data - to help guide design decisions or identify problems in existing sites. Through education, mentoring and modeling, the usability consultant guides developers and/or stakeholders in how-to, conducting and interpreting the results of user-centered activities.
Usability consulting services can help with the following items:
- Identify appropriate and relevant usability activities relevant to your specific project or stage of development.
- Plan and conduct usability activities
- Analyze the data from usability activities
- Make design decisions based on user data
- Learn the concepts and techniques of user-centered design through presentations, workshops and (more informally) by example while participating on project teams.
If you are considering incorporating usability activities into your project , the following list provides a general overview of some typical services, resources and sample usability activities. Please keep in mind that each project is unique and specific activities are customized to provide the most useful data for your project .
Develop User Profiles
Good internet user interface design is premised in part on a clear understanding of the critical characteristics of the intended user population. We can apply such techniques as structured interviews and questionnaires to gather pertinent data on skill set, educational level, job experience level, technology literacy, attitudes and motivational level, and demographics from which we draw implications for interface design.
Task Analysis
Good internet user interface design is also premised on a clear understanding of the users' current job and tasks, underlying goals, and mental models of their work process and products. Structured and unstructured interviews, field observation, goal structure analysis and usage studies are among the techniques we apply to uncover key aspects of the tasks being automated and translate them into user interface requirements.
User Interface Style Guides/Standards
To achieve quality and consistency in Internet user interfaces, a set of standards which adhere to sound user interface design principles needs to be developed and applied, within and/or across sites. We have extensive experience developing corporate, project family and application Style Guides, and can work with you to both develop and implement user interface design standards at the appropriate level.
User Interface Design Consulting
Drawing upon our knowledge, experience and expertise in cognitive psychology, usability principles and the design process, we can manage, facilitate and consult to the design team to help generate an optimal first pass at interface design for your site. While no one can optimize a user interface without applying usability testing and evaluation techniques, usability experts can help focus the design effort effectively, and provide invaluable input so that the first draft design is closer to the mark, minimizing the iterative testing and redesign effort down the line.
User Interface Assessment
Applying our experience and expertise, we can evaluate the prototype interface, identify potential problems and opportunities for improvement, and offer specific recommendations for change. Studies have shown that such "heuristic evaluations" by usability experts usually predicts a large percentage of what would be revealed by formal usability testing techniques. Independent assessments by more than one usability expert have been shown to catch the majority of problems, which would be revealed by testing. When budgets preclude formal testing, a quick assessment test can provide a very cost-effective alternative.
Usability Testing
We are skilled and experienced in designing and conducting formal usability tests on paper and pencil simulations, prototypes and complete sites. We uncover key usability goals, design appropriate test scenarios, supporting materials and facilities, recruit appropriate test users, collect, analyze and interpret performance data and subjective user reactions, draw conclusions and make specific recommendations for design improvements.
User Feedback
If you are about to start development of a new website, or the development of a website that will integrate with a current website, you need the information that Usability Testing provides. If you’re just entering the maintenance and enhancements phase for a website, gathering feedback from users of the website can provide valuable insights on how to design the user interface for the new development. We are skilled in a variety of techniques, including structured interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, usage studies and formal usability tests, which we can apply to obtain critical feedback from users, which will allow you to improve the usability of new releases and products.
Where Is A Usability Test Conducted And What Equipment Is Involved?
Our usability lab, located in Phoenix AZ, provides a first class environment for clients and end users. The lab is equipped with multiple cameras to provide various views of the user and the website.
The usability lab contains the following:
- User and observation room separated by a one-way glass
- Video cameras and direct-feed PC screen viewing
- Video mixing equipment and a 25" color video monitor and audio feed
- An audio/video recording for capturing user comments and interviews
- Biofeedback hardware and software to record user physiological responses.
What Is A Typical Usability Test Like?
Prior to the lab session, BijouMIND Usability Center Manager works with the project team to plan the study and assist in writing and reviewing testing scenarios, recruits users, and conducts a walk-through of the scenarios.
The lab session typically includes a full rehearsal in the lab and two days of testing with eight users each day. Clients can provide observers for all sessions and a “tolerant user” for the pilot session. A tolerant user is someone who will walk through the test in advance and help to identify any problems in the test that need to be corrected.
After the lab session, BijouMIND Usability Center Manager consolidates the list of findings that resulted from the users involved in the test. From the list of findings, The BijouMIND Usability Center Manager may meet with the project team and compiles an action list, with each action item being assigned a priority and a proposed solution. The project team and client is provided with a summary report and session videotapes.
How Do I Request BijouMIND Consulting Services?
To request an initial consulting session regarding your project contact BijouMIND
What Is The Usability Lab?
The Usability Lab is a specially equipped facility that provides an environment for developers, project managers, web site designers and clients to evaluate the effectiveness of web sites. The BijouMIND Usability Center staff use the lab to evaluate new websites, enhancements to existing websites, web site navigation, and web page layouts from the end user’s perspective.
The Usability Lab consists of two rooms: an evaluation room and control room. Separated by a one-way mirror, and an array of computing, audio, and video equipment to facilitate observing, recording and editing data from usability sessions or other user-centered design activities.
In the evaluation room, the user sits at a workstation and works through a list of tasks using a test script and the website being tested. The work area is designed to help make the user feel as comfortable as possible in this controlled environment.
Two remote-controlled cameras are positioned outside the user’s line of vision to capture the user’s facial expressions, the keyboard and mouse as well as the user’s body language as the test is conducted. The cameras focused on the user helps BijouMIND staff to detect user frustration or confusion.
A microphone is also placed on the user’s desk and the user is encouraged to think aloud and voice any thoughts he or she has as the test progresses.
A digital recording is made of on-screen displays of the browser window that appear on the screen as the user works.
Keystroke software can document the user’s keystrokes, so that if a user calls up a screen that BijouMIND staff did not expect to see, it is possible to go back, see which keys were struck, and refine the navigational sequence to make it easier for the user.
Biofeedback hardware and software is used to record user physiological responses.
What Is Usability Testing?
Usability is the quality of a site that makes it easy to learn, easy to use, easy to remember, error tolerant, and subjectively pleasing. Usability is the major focus of the field of Human Factors Engineering.
We shouldn't have to think about what makes a website usable. A good yardstick for determining the usability of a website is the following list of questions you should ask when thinking about your project :
- Is it easy to learn?
- Is it efficient to use?
- Can a user recover quickly from errors?
- Is it easy to remember what to do?
- Is it fun to use?
- Is it visually pleasing?
The focus of a usability test is the user's experience with a project or process. During a usability test, the BijouMIND Usability Center consultants gather user feedback to improve website design. The consultants will facilitate and manage the test, as the project management observes individuals representing the target market using the product. BijouMIND Usability Center consultants gather data and participate in analysis. The BijouMIND Usability Center Manager takes the team through a analysis process, sorting usability findings into design categories. This helps organize the design and redesign process.
Usability testing provides both short-term and long-term results. The immediate result of usability testing is a list of specific and general recommendations for improving the website for end users. The longer-term benefit of The BijouMIND Usability Program’s service is a better understanding of how to design more usable and marketable websites by increasing and managing user input throughout the project development cycle.
What Is Usability Management?
There is an old saying: if you haven't got the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?
Usability management refers to the process of sustaining a high level of usability awareness throughout the project development cycle. It makes usability a way of life, a natural part of the design and development process.
BijouMIND conducts usability testing within the broader context of a comprehensive, proactive quality management process. It is critical to test websites to see that they work effectively; but, in the long run, testing alone is not the best way to assure the quality and usability of websites. Quality and usability need to be designed into the project from the beginning and throughout the development and life cycles of the website.
As a leading Internet development organization, BijouMIND’ experienced usability testing has integrated other user-centered design processes into project development:
- Implementing internal guidelines for designing usable websites
- Developing internal usability review processes to supplement formal usability testing
- Gathering specific usability feedback from beta testing, partners, and employees
- Using prototyping, user analysis, and task analysis to gather early usability feedback
- Reviewing competitors' designs and relevant industry examples of usable design
Integrating these activities into the project development process is usability management. Usability testing is the best way to begin, and will continue to serve a critical role in assuring that project s are well-designed; but the value of usability testing is increased when it is part of a usability management program.
How Do I Convince The Client That Testing Is Worthwhile And Cost-Effective?
In the past, companies competed for project sales by increasing functionality, performance, reliability and support, and decreasing cost. More recently however, a new aspect of the Internet has emerged as a dimension of capturing and maintaining a competitive edge: the quality of the user interface. Suppose the profit margin on a project was $100, and 250 more items would be sold if the user interface were more competitive. This additional usability would then be worth $25,000.
Poorly designed user interfaces carry a cost not only in customer satisfaction, but also in real overhead in customer support. Supporting customers with troubleshooting and data recovery can be very expensive. Designing a less confusing and less error-prone interface can reduce the need for high customer support costs. Supposing a company has 600 customer organizations, whose users call in for help and need an average of 15 minutes per call to solve their problems. And, suppose engineering a more usable interface could eliminate 4 calls per customer per year. This represents savings in customer support time of 15 weeks per year.
Why Do Usability Testing?
Poor user interface design can have a significant effect on user productivity. Consider a very simple transaction, such as filling in an on-line data entry form. Suppose a website has 20 end users, who perform this transaction approximately 80 times a day (quite typical for high frequency users). This adds up to 368,000 transactions per year (20 users working 230 days a year, performing 80 transactions per day). If a screen could be redesigned to reduce the transaction time per screen by 10 seconds, savings of 1022 hours, or 25.5 person-weeks could be realized. If improvement on a single screen of the site could increase productivity by 1/2 of a person-year, clearly improvements across the whole site will have a very dramatic effect on productivity.
Why Is Usability Critical To My Site’s Success?
Creating a usable customer access point will revolutionize your website, creating complete customer experience, increased visits and repeat sales. Those principles apply even if your site’s sole objective is to provide information or entertainment. The bottom line is to engage your customers in an experience that satisfies their preferences.
Developing an improved relationship with your customer is more than simply upgrading your website for an enhanced experience. Incorporating faster loading pages, smaller graphics, and stronger content is only the beginning. A simple reorganization of icons on your page may improve click-thorough rates by the thousands. To gain the edge when it comes to winning the wallets of your customers, you must continuously test your site with your users and change to meet their needs. Customer feedback is an invaluable asset to understanding who your customers are and how they navigate your site.
What Is A Typical Testing Plan?
The BijouMIND Usability Center Manager determines the focus of the usability test, with the assistance of the client and Project Lead. Some of the typical points of emphasis for each usability tests are as follows:
What Are Basic Usability Principles?
Know your users. Know the tasks your users perform. Know what performance means to your uses. These are questions you should be asking yourself as a site is designed:
- · Is it efficient?
- · Can tasks be performed with keyboard strokes? (Important for power users.)
- · Does the site reflect a clear understanding of how users do their work?
- Are response times fast enough to keep users in a flow state?
- Is it intuitive?
- Does it take advantage of users' mental models?
- Does it behave consistently throughout?
- Is it visually consistent?
- Is it supportive?
- Does it allow mistakes to be easily undone?
- Does it provide advice? Tools? Reference materials?
- Is it engaging?
- Do users feel in control?
- Do users enjoy their experience?
What Types Of Usability Testing Are There And When Should Each Be Performed?
In general, there are five types of usability tests.
Exploratory Test: Usually conducted early in the design process to test preliminary design concepts such as the overall organization, navigation and metaphor used in the project .
Assessment Test: This is usually conducted after the high-level organization of the website is worked out. It identifies specific usability problems which need to be remedied. Whereas the exploratory test examines the effectiveness of the high-level concepts, the assessment test measures how well this design is implemented.
Validation Test: Usually conducted late in design. This test determines how the website measures up to previously defined usability goals. It can also provide a type of disaster insurance, determining if there are any show-stopping usability problems to be aware of.
Comparison Test: A comparison compares two or more design alternatives. This may be one aspect of a particular design or it might be a comparison of your project against your major competitor.
Competitive Analysis: A comparison compares two or more competitive websites of your client’s competition. This may be one aspect of the client’s current site or it might be a comparison of the de against your major competitor.
How do you decide what to test?
Based on surveys and customer feedback, we determine what things you, our customers, are using your site for. Our tests focus on the most important, and most frequently used areas of the website. However, this doesn't mean we ignore the less-used functions.
Do You Ever Test In A Lab?
Yes. While we don't do all of our testing and evaluation in a lab setting, we do quite a bit of it there. We recently built a state-of-the-art lab in our Phoenix, AZ facility.
The benefit of using a lab is that developers can watch the tests and see where the website is hard-to-use. In the lab, developers can observe without interrupting the tester's train of thought. Also, by videotaping the sessions, we can see problems that we missed during the testing.
Where Do You Find Testers?
We find testers in a variety of ways. Some of them are referrals from the client, such as actual intranet uses. Most test participants are from a user database supplied from a third-party marketing agency. We supply the agency with a participant profile and prescreening questionnaire.
Do You Test The People?
NO! We are never testing the people who participate in our studies. We are, however, testing the website they are working with. The idea is to learn where the website fails and where it is easy, not to see how much the tester knows about the site.
How Do You Get Testers To Come To Tests?
In most standard usability tests, lasting from one to two hours, we offer an hourly compensation fee.
Is Everyone Who Works On The Project Involved In Usability?
People from every functional area are involved in some way in usability testing, including: Development, Product Management, Quality Control, Consulting, and of course, website Design and Usability. At the very least, people read reports or participate in debrief meetings. Everyone is encouraged to talk with real users, and to attend usability evaluations in the labs.
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WELCOME TO BijouMIND Design
