Animal Allies Humane Society (AAHS) is interested in revamping and relaunching the website within the next 6-8 months. Roberts offers several suggestions on website effectiveness that AAHS should take into consideration through the redesign process.

One of the items to be addressed is the navigation. What are logical headers? Logical paths for the drop down menu? One simple way for AAHS to identify possible combinations is to use card sorting (Roberts 279). A group of volunteers/users of the website may be able to identify better a better organizational framework for the site.

Another important part of testing that AAHS should incorporate is the use of a focus group. The group would be asked to complete a task or find specific information. Through a simple testing process of the former online donation form, AAHS found that the online giving process was cumbersome and confusing. After switching to another provider, online donations increased! The same principal is true for the rest of the site. A focus group would be able to identify problems in the site before the public was given full access.  (Roberts 280)

Although a site redesign is an exciting time, no organization can afford to miss the important step of evaluating web site effectiveness before going live.