Would Your Website Pass a Usability Test? Affordable usability audits can weed out glaring trouble spots. A range of services are available to help for less than $200.

One of the first suggestions that digital and social media marketing consultant Kendrick "Kenny" Jahng makes to clients is to put their websites through a usability test. Case in point: A recent client, confident about the design and intuitive layout of his site, was shocked to discover that users were ignoring key aspects, even though the information was in bold type.

"They just didn't see those elements," says Jahng, founder of Livingston, N.J.-based Big Click Syndicate. "Which told us we needed to change the layout."

A common misperception is that going outside the company for objective user testing requires a large--and expensive--squad of people. But website consultant Tim Peter in Long Valley, N.J., says a handful of testers is sufficient. "You'll start to see what's wrong after three or four people go through the site," Peter says.