About Koss UK

After following the growth of computer popularity throughout the 80s and into the 90s and coming through the days of CompuServe and AOL with a yearning to learn more and more about how users actually 'use' their computers and what became the mainstream 'Internet', I studied everything I could get my grubby hands on - in order to become an 'expert' in user habits, trends and "what makes people buy and what sends them scurrying for the exits - or, in Internet terms, the dreaded 'back' button". Side-note: those who read my articles and who know me, know how much I hate the term 'expert' as much as the word 'guru' - everyone with a mouse is an expert these days.

Having witnessed the overwhelming growth of the 'website design' market and the array of software that enabled anyone to "throw a website together in a weekend", it was obvious that millions of people would, ultimately, get a few things wrong; "what most people didn't have a clue about was (a) marketing and (b) their users - people were expected to actually use, read, and navigate through this mess of pages that a lot of people had created at the kitchen table".

What I found frustrating was "although most software came with a decent technical manual (how to use the software), very few people were writing manuals about how to design a usable and effective website. Hence, so few people actually did".

And then it got worse...
Along came Macromedia Flash and with it an endless battle for the designers to wow their clients and confuse the heck out of their site traffic. Sure, there was (and still is) a lot of great looking and very clever websites out there but who cares! Mrs Jones who wants a new washing machine is only interested in her problems and find (and buying) her new washing machine) - she couldn't care less about the bells and whistles and 'when you put your mouse over there this dooflip thingy pops up'.

Another big thing that started to happen was people were developing content that was not (and still isn't) standard web content. Stuff that simply didn't work for most people without waiting ages for the content to load or having to download a plug in (in the days before most people actually knew what 'plug-ins' were (amazingly, many still don't). But, nevertheless, Java, JavaScript, ASP, PHP, CSS, OMG etc - each with the inevitable sprinkling of 'wow' were taking over and developers were in coding heaven...

The biggest problem though:
So few people were thinking about the end user...
It was like buying a TV that had a remote control with no text on the buttons. Hardly anyone knew what to do. For the typical website visitor it was all guess work - and the designers just didn't (and many still don't) get it. Remember the couple of decades where people couldn't program their VCR? Those are the folks with cash in their pockets ready to buy from these websites that had been built without users in mind. So guess what? They weren't buying because, quite frankly, the websites were poorly designed and the user couldn't figure out how to buy.

Amazon to the rescue...
All of a sudden, there were experts and authors and world renowned speakers - gurus that we'd never heard of suddenly appearing on the scene and Amazon was eating it up. Where did all these website design and usability experts come from? "I knew of one or two of them and was a complete believer but what drove me nuts was the self-proclaimed 'gurus' regurgitating what the Godfather of Usability Jakob Nielsen had been writing about for decades..."

I must admit, if you've got a few hundred pounds to spare, pop over to Amazon and buy as many as you can afford. It will make you a better Internet marketer and give you a better understanding of what makes websites work and what can make them fail miserably.

But we don't all have time to learn.
Sure enough, a few years ago I was asked my opinion about a website. The response wasn't good. Oh no. They. like so many other website owners, thought their website was fantastic - and easy to use. But that was their opinion. I pulled together a few completely independent 'opinions' of the website and it totally shocked the owner.

I suggested that 'he' read a few books and also recommended reading some of the reports available from the NNG Group. But I was told, in no uncertain terms, that "I'm not forking out all that money and I certainly haven't time for all that". Now I must admit, a lot of these books and the reports from NNG are extremely pricey - and the other stumbling block is that business owners are busy running their business - few have time to read books and reports.

And, hence...

The launch of Koss UK
I knew I couldn't help many businesses if I simply offered 'website makeovers' (which I will still do for select clients) as that can prove time consuming and expensive. But what I could do is provide my 'opinion' and point out what's wrong (and right) on a website (in my opinion) so that the owner could make the changes or delegate the task to someone else with clear and concise instructions. This way I could help more website owners in less time.

I looked at all the alternatives. Buying all the books was out of the question for most busy business people. Buying thousands of pounds worth of 'expert' services was too costly. Wading through vast reports was costly and extremely daunting. Hiring the services of the world's 'top' usability experts ran into thousands of dollars (up to a staggering forty five thousand dollars!).

So here we are... 2011 already...
In addition to the typical website designing, content creation and distribution across all key platforms and the full range of Internet services, I now provide website reviews that make sense and are easy to follow. The sort of thing that any small to medium size business can benefit from either internally or by ensuring their designers make the right changes to enhance their online efforts.