Paragraphs, text, and words, oh my!
I ordered a few Peek tests from UserTesting.com for my new portfolio/bio site and learned quite a bit.
What you think is obvious is never obvious.
I needed to explain more clearly what the site was about. Fair enough. No problem, I can definitely make adjustments and I think they were quite necessary. Thank you testers!
However.
As you can see, there is a short paragraph in the fold. I kid you not, my 3 testers said these exact things:
“Hmm…I guess I probably should read.”
*Incredulous tone* “I have to read?”
*Exasperated tone — 10 seconds into the test* “I have to do some reading…I’m not sure I want to do some reading…”
<Rant>
REALLY?! It is a 2 sentence paragraph people. That is all. It’s not a textbook. It’s not even a short article. It is a short paragraph. That small block of text is not going to hurt you.
</rant>
Random is good, but not always best.
Now, I realize a shortcoming of these tests is that these people are not in the same mindset as someone who is looking for a freelancer. They are random people that are in UserTesting’s pool. I’m hoping my real audience is willing to go a little bit more in depth to make sure they’re hiring the right person. I could be wrong but…
In the end
I have decided to do a few things to ease skimming a little bit, but I’ve decided to leave that paragraph barrier there. Because if you can’t be bothered to read just a little bit about someone you want to hire, I’m not sure I want to be hired by you. I’m up for doing short quick projects, and never talking again, but I’m a personal person, and that’s how it is.
And for goodness sake, expand your mind and read a little bit! Oh, and here’s my website again.
