Why some websites are hard to use

When people visit your website it is absolutely critical to make it easy for them to find what they are interested in. An important way to help people to find information is to use categories. Categories are used on websites to help people navigate and find information.

On a website content can be tagged with terms. Similar groups of tags are often referred to as categories. For example the terms red and blue belong to the colour category.

Helpful tips to remember when tagging content

• Tags should describe what a visitor might find. Tags should not be vague.
• Tags should be used by more than one item of content. Consider how you would react if you visited a term with only one item of content. Most likely you would be left with the impression that the website did not have much information about that topic.
• When tagging content it is important to remember that your categories are for your visitors. Always use terms that your visitors would use.
• Categories help people understand what your website is all about. Consider presenting tags to visitors using a tag cloud where the more important terms are highlighted. This will help people to quickly get an idea about what your website is all about.
• Remember tags are not categories. Categories are collections of tags.
• Revisit and revise. Update your categories every 3 to 6 months.

Don't make your website hard to use

Do you enjoy using websites that are easy to use? Next time you visit a website that is a joy to use have a look at how the categories are structured. Study what is it that you like about the grouping of terms and category names. 

Visit your website and see if it is easy to use

Visit your website and see if it is easy or hard to use? Remember that you know what is in your website and ask the question... was it easy or hard to find what I was looking for? If the answer is... it was difficult to find what I was looking for then now think about how hard it might be for your visitors to find stuff. And remember your visitors don't know what is in your website.

Do you need help with categories?

To help me with tagging I often find that it is useful to find a service that has a list of community generated tags. For example in the case of http://www.websiteplus.com.au I will often refer to what is in the http://www.delicious.com/tag/ list of community generated tags.

Do you need help with finding lists of tags that you can use on your website? Leave a comment and let us know if you would like a suggestion about  finding helpful information. How do you tag content? We look forward to hearing your thoughts.