We conducted internal website usability testing several months ago in my office and it was quite helpful. We made several signficant changes to the site based on common roadblocks for users. It is now time for us to bring in outsiders and have them test our website. Experts suggest making testing easy so that you do it often. A colleague mentioned using a webinar format; however, that is not ideal, but it prompted me to Google “remote web usability testing.” Why hadn’t I thought of that. There are several articles about the subject and many shared best practices (based on actual experiences). It may definitely be the quickest and most effective way to address this need in the near future.

There are a number of vendors that offer desktop sharing as part of their web conferencing package. However, I happened to stumble upon GoToAssist when I searched “remote desktop assistance”–probably because they paid money to ensure a prominent location in a yellow box above the other search results. The website says,  

GoToAssist Express Beta is completely free. When GoToAssist Express is released for purchase, it will cost $9.95 for a Day Pass; $69 for a month-to-month subscription or $660 for an annual subscription.

It may be worth testing to find out how difficult it is to download the plug in and use. Who knows when it will be released for purchase, but even at approximately $10 it’s a steal.