Whether your website provides your distributor or clients with password protected materials, or is available for the entire world to see and access, the process of website optimization and usability testing is equally as important.

Some businesses may have a website dedicated to each individual purpose, perhaps for privacy or security reasons, or perhaps one was created after the other. Whatever the case is, ensuring public facing pages are optimized for both their visitors and for search engines is a no-brainer. Is this the case for sites intended for a very small, specific audience? Of course!

Programmers have a knack of being great at one thing, and that’s programming.  They aren’t, let’s say… the best when it comes to visual design, or usability (I’m anticipating a few smacks to the back of the head right about now). Ask them to code anything and they will, and chances are it will work exactly as it should. However, ask a client to use the application without applying any usability testing or optimization, and you’re in for a world of hurt.

you will be handed a project from a team of programmers, with colours you thought only existed in a wardrobe from the 1970′s

There’s a reason quality assurance can quite often become the largest consumer of man hours on a project. The more complex a project is, the more time will be required to ensure it works as advertised and that any concerns are wiped away.

Quite often, you will be handed a project from a team of programmers, with colours you thought only existed in a wardrobe from the 1970′s, as well as cramped spacing, along with nothing but text, text and more text. Hand this over to a client and expect them to raise an eyebrow, or two. This is where optimization and usability testing come into play.

By performing a complete walk-through of the application, necessary changes can then be made to its style, look and feel. Any occurrences of cumbersome, confusing or navigation, content or section layouts are also rectified, allowing for an easier user experience.

You’ve optimized your public-facing website for your visitors, right? Well, I hate to break it to you, but your private intranet or secured website is being used by humans as well, and should be developed with that in mind.

This process is no different than traditional SEO, only with a more limited audience in mind.