I recently attended an event in Montreal where Albert Lai spoke. Albert’s a serial entrepreneur with a number of successes (and failures) under his belt. Great speaker. One of the things he said really stuck in my mind (which I’m paraphrasing), “It’s all about the market. Don’t do things based on your own personal whims of what you think is right or wrong, good or bad. Listen to the market. It’s always right. And you’re typically wrong.”

It’s important advice – especially for startups – because we often live in a bubble building our web apps till our heart’s content, thinking we’ve just invented the next Google. It’s not that entrepreneurs don’t seek out advice, but whether we listen to it is another story. One of the biggest hindrances to taking advice (even our own) is time. We’re rushing to launch, building as quickly as we can to get a head start on the competition, and we don’t necessarily have time to sit back, get good feedback, assess it and adjust accordingly.

Nowhere is this clearer than in people’s websites. Most people will agree on the importance of design. There are exceptions (think: Plenty of Fish) which in my mind just prove the rule. Where most websites fail is in their organization and navigation. And in their missions. What’s the goal of your website? If you don’t have a clear answer to that you need one as soon as possible.

Everyone will “test” design out — just ask a bunch of people, “Does this new design look good?” But information architecture, navigation and the effectiveness of a website in meeting your goals … people just don’t test those things enough.

(more…)