Part 1: WebWord, usability and lessons learned

How did WebWord come about?
I founded WebWord for several reasons. First, I wanted to help everyone better understand usability. Most people don't understand usability. It is a process, attribute, and philosophy. There is an interesting paradox at work here. Usability is all about simplicity, yet it is not a simple concept!

I also founded WebWord so that I would have a place to capture my ideas about usability, particularly regarding the Internet. Several years ago, I literally had hundreds of little notes stuck in notebooks and books. I was getting tired of having all this information buzzing around uselessly. So, I captured several of my core ideas and wrote some articles. That initial launch really cleared my mind; it lifted the fog.

Finally, as many people know, I have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. What better way to channel it?

Your site, WebWord, is a wonderful resource for up to the minute information. How do you keep up on a daily basis with all the content issues? And when was the last time you had a vacation?
Sometimes I swear that the Internet was created just for me. It is a paradise of information. It is a holy land for people who crave knowledge and understanding.

Most people do not believe me when I say that I would love to have even more information available at my fingertips. I love articles and research papers. Give me more, and don't hold back. I learned a long time ago to that I could pretty easily find my way through even the most dense information fog. The more information you can throw at me, the better.

I'm terribly focused on usability topics. If I can't find something on usability, I think and think and think until I see something. I try to relate everything to usability. Rats, astrology, microphones, or paper cups -- whatever I can find. I'm trying to tell a story each and every day. It is a challenge but it is worth it because people love it. That's why folks come back again and again.

In case you were curious, WebWord generates pretty good traffic: 1000 visitors per day and just about 2000 page views per day.

Vacation? Who cares about a vacation when every day is a WebWord day? Seriously, I'm doing exactly what I want. WebWord.com is a vacation destination. That's the point, don't you think? Shouldn't we all be doing what we enjoy? Isn't that the goal? Shouldn't we help other people? Shouldn't we get paid for these things?

What are some lessons you've learned in regard to establishing your site and its newsletter base?

• Provide fresh content or offer an excellent service.
• Try to be consistent.
• Try to get someone to review your material before you send it out.
• Be human.
• Avoid hiding behind any buzzwords or jargon.
• Assume that people are interested in your website.
• Encourage human interaction and try to start conversations.
• When in doubt keep it simple.
• If it doesn't add value, get rid of it because people don't have time.
• You will probably have to spend time, not money, to succeed.
• Focus, focus, focus.
• Help people until it hurts.
• Don't be afraid to talk about your competitors; link to them.

What is the ultimate goal you want to achieve with your website?
To make money. Tons and tons of money. And to generate loads of traffic. Traffic generates money. With money, you can drive even more traffic, which drives up revenues. It is totally selfish cycle! What is great is that our website and our consulting services will help you to make money. The more we help people, and the more you make, the more money we make. It's true. That's what a lot of companies don't understand. If you help people, you win.

The reality is that WebWord is a consulting firm. We do usability testing and all that jazz. We know we are really good at testing and we know that we understand usability really well. If people are interested in improving their website and if they want to understand their customers, they should take a look at our services page.

By the way, here are some puzzles for you. How do you know that we know how to do usability testing? Why should you trust us? Do you even know what usability is? We solve these puzzles by giving away content on WebWord.com day after day. It gives us a way to show the world that we know a few things about usability. We get it. We know our stuff. We are leaders. If you spend some time on WebWord you realize that we are sincere and we are trying to help you. If you don't need our services, we don't care. Please freeload. Read our content. Visit our links. Spend time wallowing in our news.

Continued...