HTML, XHTML & CSS

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Part VI: The Part of Tens
This reality check is also why reading all feedback you get is a must. Go out
and solicit as much feedback as you can handle. (Don’t worry; you’ll soon
have more.) But carefully consider all feedback that you read — and implement
the ideas that actually bid fair to improve your Web offerings. Oh, and
it’s a really good idea to respond to feedback with personal e-mail, to make
sure your users know you’re reading what they’re saying. If you don’t have
time to do that, make some!
The most finicky and picky of users can be an incredible asset: Who better
to pick over your newest pages and to point out the small, subtle errors or
flaws they so revel in finding? Your pages will have contributed mightily to
the advance of society by actually finding a legitimate use for the universal
delight in nitpicking. Your users can develop a real stake in boosting your
site’s success, too. Working with users gets them more involved, and helps
guide the content of your Web pages (if not the rest of your professional or
obsessional life). Who could ask for more? Put it this way: You may yet find
out, and it could be very helpful.
If You Give to Them, They’ll Give to You!
Sometimes, simply asking for feedback or providing surveys for users to fill
out doesn’t produce the results you want — either in quality or in volume.
Remember the days when you’d occasionally get a dollar bill in the mail to
encourage you to fill out a form? It’s hard to deliver cold, hard cash via the
Internet, but a little creativity on your part should make it easy for you to
offer your users something of value in exchange for their time and input. It
could be an extra month on a subscription, discounts on products or services,
or some kind of freebie by mail. (Maybe you can finally unload those
stuffed Gila monsters you bought for that trade show last year. . . .)
There’s another way you can give back to your users that might not cost
you too much. An offer to send participants the results of your survey, or to
otherwise share what you learn, may be all the incentive participants need
to take the time to tell you what they think, or to answer your questions. Just
remember that you’re asking your users to give of their time and energy, so
it’s only polite to offer something in return.