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101 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very basic overview of web usability in general; few specifics on writing, October 31, 2007
This review is from: Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand (Paperback)
I'm a usability researcher who's looking to get some concrete suggestions about how to write better for the web. That's what I was hoping to find in this book--a guide with detailed suggestions for how to do this type of technical writing. Instead, there are very few concrete suggestions in this book about how to write well, other than vague platitudes about keeping phrases short, and providing users with the content they'd like to see. Duh.
I read this thing cover to cover in about an hour. Mostly I learned that "killer" rhymes with "filler." A lot. If it has not yet occurred to you that you might want to talk to your customers about what they're looking for on your webpage, then I guess this book would be for you and would provide you with that revolutionary insight. That's all the advice there is in this book--talk to your customers to find out the content they're looking for on your webpage, and then deliver that content to them in small, easily digestible phrases. Again, duh.
For people who are just starting out on this type of research, there's really no detailed advice on how to conduct this "talking to your users to find out what they want" research though (other than some more platitudes like "be a good listener."). If you want more detailed advice on how to do research like this, I'd say search the web for "wants and needs analysis" because that's basically what this guy is recommending. If you can't find enough things for free on the web about that, there is a good chapter in the book "Understanding your users" by Catherine Courage on this technique. That book is also great for giving you a wide toolset of techniques for usability.
He also gets a little bit into persona creation, which is basically a fancy way of saying it helps to imagine who your customers are and have a picture of them in your mind as you design your user experience. Again, you can find free stuff on the web about this or check out Tamara Adlin and John Pruitt's book "The Persona Lifestyle" to get lots of great information about this technique.
If you're truly just starting out trying to figure out how to make your website better and you don't know where to begin, I think a way better guide is Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think." That book provides a great overall context for providing great user experiences in general.
I am looking forward to reading the new Ginny Redish book on this subject! Her stuff has been high quality in the past and so I expect she will have a bunch of actual information on how to write for the web as opposed to the filler in this book. It's pretty ironic that a book all about providing great content without a bunch of filler is...a bunch of filler. It was a killer for me but not in the way it intended to be.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a book for the technical minded., April 19, 2009
This review is from: Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand (Paperback)
I did like the author's writing style to some degree here, but I was very surprised to see a book on usability testing where no actual usability testing was performed as part of research for the book. I am a technical person and marketing books usually bore me. As did this one.
This book had no examples, and I didn't get the impression that the author had really done any actual usability testing at all. It seems he just took notes over a period of a time and then published them. Where is the hard work? Where are the examples? Tables of data? Proof of concept? How do I know what you are saying is good advice?
This book didn't "clue me in" to what is available to the world today. For example, no references to utilities that are available such as "heat maps" and "graffiti analysis", which today I can't do without.
I have 2-3 key recommendations for you for usability testing:
1. Make sure to check out crazyegg.com and getclicky.com, these sites will help you solve almost every website issue you have for $20 a month combined.
2. Get the Ginny Reddish book "Letting Go of the Words." I left a sterling review for that book, as did over 100 other people. It is my #1 most referred web book. Any opinions expressed in the Reddish book are all backed up by over a hundred examples. Reddish explains that no one reads the web -- they BROWSE. Her book proves her own concept.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Web content finally matures, July 8, 2007
This review is from: Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand (Paperback)
I've read a few books about web content and website management over the years, including some of Gerry McGovern's previous works. Some are good, some ok, many terrible. This is the first book where I feel a real maturity has been reached. Gerry totally gets it. He focuses on the real issues impacting sites with pin point accuracy, and offers real, tested solutions to fix them. If you follow the suggestions in this book your site *will* improve, and by improve, I don't mean something fuzzy, but I mean help you achieve real, measurable business goals. I learnt a lot from this book and will no doubt continue to.
The back cover of the book says if you only buy one book, make it this one. I couldn't agree more.
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