Foolish Adventure

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Where an opinion is general, it is usually correct. ~ Jane Austen

Once you have a layout, all of this creation-type stuff is nearly at an end.

You’ve got, in your hot little hands, a product, made by you.

Great, isn’t it?

Now it’s just a matter of making sure it’s ready to go out into the world and to ensure that the people who buy it can use it once they have it. It’s pretty much the final step before you start veering into the sales process, and one that can be almost as nerve-wracking as the selling part is.

Yesterday, we mentioned thinking about who you could get your product to that might have some valuable insights.

Generally speaking, think about who you know that would fit your target market — and a few that aren’t even in the industry. (Non-industry people can tell you where you’re using too much jargon, and are often better at picking out typos or other information you’ve missed, since they don’t have the knowledge base to fill in any gaps in the content.)

Having that impartial set of eyes (or two) go over your work, looking for any glaring errors and/or places where things don’t sound right, can turn your product from just done to great.

ACTION TASK:
Today, contact one or two people on your potential beta-tester list.

Try to get your work into three to five sets of hands for a quick proofing, and ask them to get back to you ASAP with any changes.

Ask specifically for any places that are formatted incorrectly, or places where the information doesn’t flow well.

Ask whether the navigation works for them, and how the structure looks to them.

Ask a little bit about the layout — is it just okay? Is it distracting? Is it too dense/too sparse? Is it readable and, moreover, usable?

Remember, too: what comes back will likely be some errors, but also a fair bit of opinion. If you know your audience, you’ll still be a better judge than an outsider would be about your topic.

Make the commitment to have an open mind, but also, to use what it is that you already know about your customers.

TOMORROW:
It’s an easy catch-up day tomorrow.

You’ve worked pretty hard so far, so it’s time for a little brain-break. We’ll talk a little about last-minute changes and such, but for the most part…take a few minutes to relax, and enjoy the fact that you have a product.