As a Site Visitor, What do you LOVE to find the most? Options

[cre8pc]

Here's a crazy bunch of questions, and please don't ask me why. It's for something I'm rolling around in my head but thought I'd shoot some thoughts out to the Cre8ative Community (and beyond) too.

I know every site is different and you go to sites for different reasons. So, generally speaking:

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)

This thread is open to the public. I'd love varied input, so if you have a blog, please feel free to link to this thread. Thanks!

[Black_Knight]

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?
The thing I went there for. So anything that gets in the way of my reason for being on the site is bad (ads, popups, login-checks, etc)

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)
The thing I came there to do. If I went there for info, I read it. If I went there to buy, I shop. If I went to communicate, I hear what they have to say, and may respond if so moved. Again, anything that gets in the way of my reason for being on the site is bad (ads, popups, login-checks, etc)

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)
My browser? See answer 1 and 2. What brings me back is experience of good service, and the need for that service again. Neither alone does the trick, but failing either fails both.

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)
No, never been a member of a community site - damn waste of time

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?
The community.

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?
Yes. Both together.
If you have nothing in commmon, I mean really nothing, there can be nothing to discuss, and no common language to discuss it in. Discussion relies on finding common ground doesn't it?

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)
Does being an over-worked unpaid forum admin count? I'm thinking it probably does.

[A.N.Onym]

For the sake of reducing the global entropy, I'll say "what Ammon said"

Except for:

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)

Does doing some sports alone count?

[dgeary9]

Clearly I'm less focused than Ammon...

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?

If I have a purpose, an easy path to achieve it, but I'm highly distractable - I really like sites with something interesting that catches my attention - related to my initial purpose, but growing it in a direction that I wasn't expecting. I use the web often to brainstorm and research, and I'm not very linear - I appreciate a site that leads me down an interesting side path.

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)

Almost all my commonly visited sites are forums or blogs - I have a relationship with these folks. "Professional" info I tend to use feeds.

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)

Diversity - something to keep my mind occupied for a few minutes, updates on my friends.

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)

I actually don't stick around many - I tend to participate deeply in a few. Because of that, I think I have pretty high standards for what deserves my time.

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?

People who think and feel differently than I do - and people who think and feel very similarly. Both feed different needs.

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?

Both - so long as the differences are expressed with a reasonable amount of respect, which is actually where a lot of online communities seem to founder.

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)

Yup, although being a parent has reshaped my issues some. I'm pretty involved in the next election at the moment as well.

[JohnMu]

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?
It used to be: the thing I was looking for. Now, it has changed: the first thing I look for are signs of "trustability". Is this site real, honest, content-oriented? Or is it spam, a spam-feeder, etc? Or perhaps a spam-type site that still contains true content? If it is "real, honest and content-oriented", how can I be certain that the people behind the content have verified the contents and are worth my trust? Is the site pushing views one way or another that I cannot (or do not want to) share? There are so many signs of one side or another, and often they get mixed up. "Honest", "amateur" webmasters can easily end up with a site that looks just like any other webspam site because they think it looks professional that way...

When things get in my way I try to get them out of my way. If things are really dodgy (eg "IE-only", popup-breeding, etc) then I'll pass the site and ignore it. Only if I cannot find any other good site will I try to get past those kinds of barriers.

After that I look at the content.

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)
I only go to "discussion" sites often: forums, news groups and sometimes blogs. When I go, I only go to the "newest postings" page and work my way down, opening each thread in a new tab.
I hate scrolling news fields and polls - things that distract from what I came there for.
The only other sites I go to often are search engines .

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)
For the forums / news groups I come back because of the people that participate in the discussions. The site itself does not bring me back - it's the community. For the most part, the site itself could be a text-based telnet BBS as long as the people remain the same.

When I have the time for a break, I like to open my RSS reader and scroll through the blog postings of the feeds I'm subscribed to; sometimes I open the postings, sometimes I just read them in the RSS reader, sometimes I just browse the headlines. When I open blog postings in the browser (from the RSS reader) it's usually to read the comments left by the readers, not really for the posting itself.

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)
Yes. But only on very, very few sites (perhaps 3-4 where I go often).

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?
Just on the web (mainly). I love to read - and if I can find a community where I feel at home, I'll stay and read it all (if possible). If that's too much then I usually drop the site altogether. I'm picky in that regard.

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?
Besides the common interests and divers backgrounds, I like community sites where I can identify myself with the style of the postings. It doesn't matter if I have common interests but the people there are not my wavelength -- I'll spend my time elsewhere. Sites where disrespect is tolerated and real discussion is not wanted usually do not see me a second time .

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)
No. Sometimes a short bit of local support, but nothing lasting. I find local communities (in general) are often put together because they "need" to be together because of where they are. They are not together because they value each other highly, because they all have the same wavelength, because they respect each others opinions: they are forced to be together even if they don't want it. I find those kinds of situations tiring, they force me to shut up about things I feel strongly about (for fear of running into unnecessary, unproductive discussions), they force me to "fit in" in places where I feel I don't really fit in. Sure there are exceptions and sometimes necessity makes you do things you wouldn't otherwise: but in general I'm a comfortable person and I prefer to spend my time and energy with people (on the web or in real life) that I feel comfortable with. Is that a social disorder?

[lee.n3o]

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?
Most of the time to look for what I actually wanted - But then find myself doing a view source (This seems to be happening more and more).

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)
Only go to a few places often - Mainly look for the latest news posted since the day before.

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)
Funny People... Interesting stuff... Jokes etc.. (Stuff to get you through the grind of daily life... hehehehe)

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)
I would say 80% of the sites I visit are commmunity based (Forums that is - Don't do myspace I hate it) .. I think the whole point of the internet is to share information and meet interesting people...

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?
The theme... For example... Two main forums I visit (Here... And my Nissan GTIR site...).. I find both V interesting and have freinds on both

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?
Personally I join because I have something in common - And I feel I have something to offer the community and vice versa....

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)
Yes - I now help run the local football (Soccer) club that I have been playing for, for over 10 years.

This post has been edited by jimmysmithjnr: Jul 27 2006, 02:23 AM

[Tom Anthony]

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?

At the most general level, there are 2 scenarios here.

1) I went here looking for something particular, be it information or a product. So I will first do a sub-concious trust evaluation of the site - sometimes I turn back here before even searching for what I came looking for.

If I think the site looks trustworthy then I will look for what I came here for. If I have a specific product (a Wunderkin's Blue Widget Mk II) in mind, I will enter it in the search field (they do have a search field, right?!). If I am looking for a generic product (a coloured widget), I will start at the navigation and drill down through the categories.

2) I arrived at this site having followed a link from one of my regular sites (maybe it was mentioned in a forum thread or blog post). I've normally followed it because it sounds like a source of information I mighht be interested in using in the future.

In this case, I will look to see what the latest content is, probably skim over some of that and decide if I am going to bookmark it or not. Unless something really grabs my attention, I won't read the content in detail yet (I am probably halfway through the thread or blog post). I might keep it in a tab to come back to when I am done with whatever I was reading though.

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)

New content. Be it blog posts, new threads or news articles.

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)

Great content; whatever the format.

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?

I am a member of a few forums, but I only really get in deep when it is an open format and I feel I am getting to know the people.

These forums are great like that:

- people have avatars that help me identify them as someone I've read before (avatars are more memorable than names on a new forum with loads of people)

- we are allowed to post links to our own stuff, I enjoy going to your blogs and learning a bit about you so I know who you all are

- the whole attitude is informal and fun

WebmasterWorld forums, while they are a great source of info at times, kinda suck in this regard:

- no avatars, just hundreds of names

- no links, who am I speaking to? it also takes 10 times longer to communicate problems with sites.

- these things are enforce strictly. I understand why, but it ruins the atmosphere a bit

Short answer: its all about the people.

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?

The learning experiences are a definite plus. What you need to have in common is you are respectful and both their to learn and have fun.

The differences can be good as they are a great way to learn and expand your understanding.

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)

Not as much as I should be. I do martial arts, and help with the juniors class, and also made their website. Other than that, I've done bits and pieces, but nothing on a recurring basis.

[Ruud]

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?

Depends, of course but often I will pay attention to the top of the page to find out where it is I have arrived; a shop? a forum? a manufacturer? a blog? a techno site? etc.

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)

For feeds I go to the feed ... (kind of a 'duh?' feeling here...), maybe to the article it links to.
The couple of sites I visit regularly I check the forum-front (new posts?), blog front or the front of the category I'm interested in.

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)

The sites I tend to come back to or use regularly act as a hub or portal. They cover a specific area of interest and report on and link to articles/tips/news elsewhere.

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)

Yes and no. I'm attracted to information sites and often fora and newsgroups and such have good info.

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?

Information, tips, tricks.

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?

I like to join to exchange information and learn from it.

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?)

Not anymore.

[cre8pc]

You people are awesome!

The answers vary on a person's background, career, and habits (to name a few). This is further proof of the value of user personas and using them as the basis for discovery and writing requirements for a website or application. Personas are still sort of an "eyes gloss over" kind of term (either over used or never heard of) but the exercise - even in some teeny way of doing it, helps to understand the VALUE of knowing why people are coming to a site.

'Nother question.

Do you think you're more inclined to stay with a site that you've found in search engines if you click on, and land, on their homepage or a landing page they've specifically created for the searcher to follow? (Can you tell the difference between these types of pages?)

I've sat in conferences and heard the numbers by marketers. They insist that landing pages drive up conversions, but they test the heck of out of them and make a lot of changes until it performs they way they want it to. I've often wondered...is this worth the hassle and if so, worth paying search engine marketers to put more time into?

(okay, that was more than question. Sorry.) (PS. Ammon, you crack me up! )

[Black_Knight]

Do you think you're more inclined to stay with a site that you've found in search engines if you click on, and land, on their homepage or a landing page they've specifically created for the searcher to follow? (Can you tell the difference between these types of pages?)
I prefer usually to land on the specific page relating to my query (assuming a specific query) but of course I know a lot more about how the search engines may deliver a homepage in preference over a highly specific page despite the best intentions of the designers at times.

So, I'll stick with a site from the homepage if I can clearly see where to find what I was looking for from there. If I can't see a clear path, well, it had better be a good site and exclusive content I came for, or else I'm far more likely to go back to the SERP than to spend more time trying to figure out the site structure.

Time is generally very valuable to me for many tasks. I will read for pleasure for hours. But when I'm searching for an answer to a question, I expect to be given that answer swiftly and clearly. A site that doesn't provide me with that answer before making me suffer a lot of irrelevant stuff is as rude to me as a person who acted the same way to a direct question.

As a related note, I almost never use an on-site search.

I guess I'm just far too used to not finding what I want in most site-search, and what I know is there. The one exception to that is Forums, and I generally do get good results with forum search, even where others report difficulty. On non-forum sites however, I have (and I tested extensively) almost always found what I was really seeking faster through browsing to it than I do searching for it.

Sometimes site-search reminds me all too much of those old text-based adventure games in the early days of computer games. I know what I want to say, and I know it is there, but I just can't seem to work out how the designer might have expected me to phrase it...

[Ruud]

Do you think you're more inclined to stay with a site that you've found in search engines if you click on, and land, on their homepage or a landing page they've specifically created for the searcher to follow? (Can you tell the difference between these types of pages?)

Ooh... I'm afraid I don't know how long the string is

In general I don't stay at the page I arrive at. If I land deep in the site it's certain I will go to see the home page. If I have a feeling I'm so deep in that I'll never find my first page back I'll open the other link(s) in another tab.

That very specific blog post is great -- but now I'll see if other posts in this category are worth it, if the blog/site itself is worth it.

If the site or the extend of coverage of my main reason to land at the site/page is good enough I might come back.

Truth be told though; virtually every site in my bookmarks is a specific reference page or a tool. Sometimes a shortcut to a search (Google news about Amsterdam, for example).

When I come across a page, article, post, or site that might be interesting I often put it in my @Read folder. When that folder has a good number of entries I scan through them.

If a site contains regularly updated material I want to read or be aware of it lands in my feedreader FeedDemon. If there is no feed -- delete. I have no time to go from site to site to site to see if there is something new...

So in my case the only way to increase your chances of me coming back are to have interesting posts/articles with regular enough new content which you make available to me in the form of a feed.

As a related note, I almost never use an on-site search.

Curious if you do use site-specific search as provided by a search engine?

[JohnMu]

If I look for something in a search engine, I usually want an *answer* to a specific problem / question, not a general page on the topic. I want the most detailed landing page money can buy.

If I wonder why Windows 2000 SP4 gets a blue screen with stop code 0x1E after updating to URP, I don't want to land on www.microsoft.com. Who cares if they had the solution linked from the front page, I want a direct link to some hotfix or knowledge base entry. I want a solution

Have you ever searched for something topical that would merit finding the homepage? If so, did you ever buy something there? Who in their right mind would search for "discount travel" or even "online book store" and buy something from Amazon? (ok ok -- I know: there are enough to make it worthwhile )

In the rare cases where I want to get to know more topical websites, I usually start with a few and follow the links. I find the few seeder sites by doing detailed searches. If I like the detail pages from a site, I might like the site in general -- I learn to trust a site in general by trusting detailed content (anyone can write a general home page, but do they really know their stuff and can they bring it across? Only a detail page can tell).

John

Edit: On site seach here is terrible . Even searching Google for entries here is terrible. Many sites however have great on-site search functions, especially if they are searching a database of entries (ok, I admit I use it mainly for technical applications, perhaps that's not true for everything)

This post has been edited by softplus: Jul 27 2006, 01:13 PM

[Wit]

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?
I usually look at the first bit that looks like plain text. I often skip the headers - same as when I'm reading my newspaper.

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)
I mainly visit SEO forums so I always go for the New Posts list

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)
Membership = bookmarks

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)
Oh, yeah, but I'm not into chat. Forums? Sure!

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?
I wanna exchange ideas with my buddies and post the odd st00pid comment. Can't help it LOL

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?
I don't like to join new communities, if only because my time is limited. So the only thing I want to have in common is (ancient) membership.

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)
No, I can't be ars*d. Sorry. I'm a SEO hobbyist, not a local do-gooder

[canadianchick]

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?

When I visit a new site, it's usually because the listing in the search engines seemed most relevant to what I was looking for. Therefore, I instantly scan the site to determine how relevant it was to my search - if it looks like it contains the things I'm looking for.

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)

There's only three types of sites I visit regularly: forums, "advice column" type sites, and my favourite recipe site. For the first two, I look for the new information right away. For the recipe site, I hit the search field right away to find new inspiration for dinner.

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)

I return to forums because I enjoy the interaction with people interested in topics I'm interested in. I return to my column sites because I enjoy the wit of the person writing. I return to the recipe site because of the sheer volume of information on there that I need to access. It's really sticky.

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)

I am attracted to community sites, and belong to many forums and discussion lists. Don't care for MySpace.

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?

Lots of discussion. There's nothing more scary than an empty forum or list. Drama and controversy are good, sometimes. I like reading differing viewpoints and debates and learning how and why people think they way they do about different topics.

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?

I only join communities where I have something in common with the other members - usually, it's a uniting interest.

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)

To be honest, not much.

Do you think you're more inclined to stay with a site that you've found in search engines if you click on, and land, on their homepage or a landing page they've specifically created for the searcher to follow?

That depends on how relevant the homepage is to my search.

I've been doing a lot of online shopping lately. I've come across some sites (and usually they are niche sites, specializing in one product and doing it well) that let me click to exactly what I'm looking for in just 1 click. I will stay on those pages, for sure.

If I arrive at a landing page, I read it... but I usually head to the home page anyways because I want to see all the products they have that may be related to my search. Uh, do my comments even answer the question?

I will only click away from a home page if it looks like they don't carry much of what I'm looking for. For example, I have been shopping for a specific style of handbag by a certain designer. If I land on a home page that looks like it may only have 1 or 2 items in the style I'm looking for, but 7 392 other handbags in other styles... I'll leave. I don't have time to sift through the results.

[dgeary9]

Do you think you're more inclined to stay with a site that you've found in search engines if you click on, and land, on their homepage or a landing page they've specifically created for the searcher to follow?

If I'm doing a fairly specific search, I actually wish a lot more searches got me to specific pages. One of the reasons I never click on ads is that when I search on a specific term, they put my nice specific search as a header and then link me through to their home page. I have a little more tolerance when a site home page comes up in the organic search. If I wanted generic home pages, I would have put in a more generic search term...

That said, I expect any page I land on to give me a decent flavor for the site I'm on and a sense of where the heck in the site I am (breadcrumb trails, simple navigational cues). I hate that feeling of "if I leave this page I'll never be able to find it again". I also like landing pages that give me multiple options of where to go next, I don't like the flavors that try to push me into a short-cut buying decision.

I've sat in conferences and heard the numbers by marketers. They insist that landing pages drive up conversions, but they test the heck of out of them and make a lot of changes until it performs they way they want it to. I've often wondered...is this worth the hassle and if so, worth paying search engine marketers to put more time into?

Umm, isn't that the argument people usually make against investing in usability research ?

I've seen landing page optimization be extremely effective - you can capture folks deep into the buying process who are searching for something very specific. You can also target a market that your main site might alienate without a bit more of an introduction. I think the key, however, is that search engine marketers aren't the only ones to pay . Some of the best landing pages I've seen were the results of user testing - identifying a group of site visitors who respond positively to a different point of entry into the site than the home page.

[cre8pc]

Umm, isn't that the argument people usually make against investing in usability research

I'm weird that way! I always question and re-question, even if its about what I do and why I do it. Keeps me honest

[randfish]

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?

The design of the site is covered in the first 2-3 seconds, and it usually leaves an impression about what the site wants to achieve and the quality behind it - size, focus, money, commercialization, etc. Just a glance can tell me if it's made by an amateur webmaster, an early-stage professional designer (the kind who charge a few hundred dollars), a design firm, etc.

Once I'm through the design, I see headlines and titles - if words and subjects pop out at me as being interesting (or photos and illustrations), my eye will glide to them and read a bit more.

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments...)

Blogs alsmot universally - it provides the most updated, current data and if I need a reference or resource, I'm usually searching or visiting a bookmark.

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various "sticky"..)

A blog is great for bringing me back. Once I read or see a blog that has more than a few entries I like, I add it to my favorites list and will only remove it if I don't continue to see value.

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)

I'm a member of forums like Cre8asite, HighRankings, SEW, etc. primarily because of the industry I'm in. I doubt I'd be on sites like MySpace or others if I didn't have either a clear goal or a like-minded group I was seeking to learn from.

4. If you're a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?

I enjoy the ability to help people and to have connections, even with folks I've never met in person. Certainly I feel that the world would be a better place if we all had thousands of connections outside our own small frames of reference, and web communities are a great way to do that.

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?

There has to be some common ground or common interest in order to form a community - sites like MySpace that have little focus are rare, though I hve my own suspicions about why they flourish...

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org's, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don't be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don't need to.)

I give money and occassionaly time to several local and International groups focused on womens rights and gay rights. Those are two big areas of passion for me.

[A.N.Onym]

Usually, when searching, I know exactly what to type to get the page I want, be it a 3 or 7 keyword phrase.
Sometimes I use more keywords than necessary to make sure, so yes, I'd expect to land at the page I was aiming at.

However, I also understand that if a homepage shows up at #1, it is for a reason so I might check the cache of the homepage to make sure. But generally, when searching, the first thing I check are the SERPs pages: titles, snippets, if I the page is high enough in the SERPs, but I don't see anything there, I check the cache.

Lately, I found myself checking cache more and more often, because it is faster to check the cache than to visit a homepage. Google loads faster than most websites and I don't mind the cache interface that much.

If I get enough 'scent' from the title and snippets, I click away.

If I land at a landing page, and it matches my needs, I'll read it to the point when I don't need it and see if there is anything interesting on the site, if the information was worthy and useful enough. Sometimes a landing page is honoured to be included in my bookmarks.

Sometimes, it is included in my "Read" bookmark folder which holds what I want to read later and never do. This is probably caused that I read stuff later in the day and the text was not formatted for fast scanning.

Generally, if I land at the homepage for a very specific search query, I expect to have a clue where to go next. Hopefully, right from the top navigation, but most often from secondary navigation. It'd be much better if what I seek is featured in the main body on the homepage. I wouldn't mind landing at such homepage at all, as only very specific pages (unless they have lots of links) beat a homepage in the SERPs.

If the homepage doesn't have much paths I can take to find what I came for, and unless I will die if I don't get the information (the latest usability report on user behaviour, for instance), I'll go back to Google. There are so many pages with similar information. However, if I don't find the info in my first round of search, I'll use the site: search in Google.

As for site search, I don't use it except for on my own blog for faster navigation between entries (I know what I want, what I will find and what keywords to use) and on Cre8asiteforums. However, for Cre8asite I tend to use Google's site: search as well, lately. I simply enter enough specific keywords to see what I want at #1. I havent' had a failure with Google finding something at Cre8.

P.S. Dang, that's a lot of "I"s there. Well, that's a user testing report, what do I expect

[bragadocchio]

Ok, I've been purposefully not reading the responses to the questions until I've had a chance to come up with some answers on my own.

1. What is usually the FIRST thing you look for when you get to a new site?

The two most common reasons why I would visit a new site would be either by following a link from a blog or forum or email, or by following a link from search engine results.

I usually look for a number of things on a new site, but the first thing I'll try to see is how it matches what was said about it in the blog/forum/email, or whether matches my intention when I entered a query. If it isn't a match, I'll usually leave. If it appears to be a match, I'll look at some other things on the site.

For the search result, if it's a bad match, I'll go back to the search results and look at a couple more - if none of them are what I'm looking for, I'll try to change or refine my query.

2. For sites you go to often (like your feeds, bookmarks, faves), what kinds of things do you go to first? (ie their blog, news, polls, comments…)

It really depends upon my relationship to the site. If it is the forums here, I'll try to look at the administration section of the forums, and then new posts, and then responses to things I may have written.

For other forums, I'll look at responses to things that I may have posted recently first, and then new posts.

Many sites that I go to frequently are blogs that I look at in an RSS feed reader first, so if it is a full post feed, I've possibly read the whole thing, and am now looking at if people have posted comments, or if there are images that might not have shown in the feed reader.

For some other frequently visited sites, there are some strategies that I will use that really are particular to those sites, such as looking at the assignment database at the US Patent office before trying to search for new patents and patent applications. I know how many assigned patents and patent applications there are for companies like Google and Yahoo, so if the number of results for those searches in the assignment database has changed, I know there are new ones to look for.

2a. What brings you back to these sites? (feeds, emails, various “sticky”..)

Personality, style, people. I do the same thing with stores and restaurants - I don't go back to a restaurant even if I liked the food a lot, if I don't like the people who run the place. I often would rather shop at my local bookstore and music store than elsewhere, because I really like the people who run those places.

3. Do you find you belong to community sites or are attracted to them more? (forums, Myspace, community oriented portals, discussion lists, clubs)

I'm a quiet and shy kind of person, and don't like hanging out it big community sites. There are a number of forums and blogs that I visit regularly, but don't post or comment at.

4. If you’re a community oriented person, both on the web or just in real-life, what gets you jazzed up about it and holds your interest?

The chance to share some words and idea with people who are smart and engaging, and willing to share their experiences and thoughts.

5. Do you think you have to have something in common with other community members, or do you think you like to join because of the differences and learning experiences?

Both - it's good to have a mix.

6. Are any of you involved in your local community? (sports, schools, volunteers for anything, church org’s, environment, causes you believe in?) (Don’t be afraid to tell about them here, but you also don’t need to.)

I've been trying to get more involved in the local business community, and attended the last meeting the downtown merchant association had, and am planning on going to their next.

I'm also planning on attending more of the City Council meetings my town has two times a month - sometimes it's good to have someone there to ask the hard questions. I really haven't had any good questions for them before, but I have one that might have them panic during the next meeting.

I also recently joined a grassroots local community that is trying to bring a greater conciousness of sustainability, and quality of life to the area I live within.