Card sorting is a beneficial and often forgotten tool of the trade for Information Architects.  If you want to revamp, redesign, or start from scratch with your website then you should take advantage of card sorting.  If you already have a staff that uses the Internet then you should have a good audience for the card sort.

The most difficult thing about a card sort is getting people to think outside of the box.  If you have an existing website and you want to redesign it, you may not want to use your site in the card sort.  This is especially true if you are using the card sort for an intranet portal.  Chances are that your staff uses your intranet portal as silos of information and once they see familiar categories they will have a very difficult time at rethinking their current methodologies and practices.

To start your sort you will need at least 1 package of index cards.  They don’t have to be giant in size, but don’t use the mini cards.  You want people to be able to read what you have written on the cards.   The next step involves writing categories or navigation headers on each card.  If you are starting from scratch with a new site, take a look at some of the other websites in your industry.  Write down those navigation terms and headings that make sense for your business as well as some you think don’t fit as well.  When creating a card sort it is easy to become very involved in the process and to start customizing the sort for your ideas only.  Remember, you are using this sort to get feedback from everyone on the new site and you want to make sure that it is usable by multiple audiences.  Now because some websites can be very deep in tiers, you should stick with creating no more than three levels of the site.  This would include the top navigation, and then two sub-levels.  Make sure you have created enough cards for these levels.

Once you have created all your cards, you will need a large conference room or you can use multiple offices for the sort.  Ideally you should have at least two groups of people, and these people should be mixed together by experiences, cultures, gender, and education.   If you have a large conference room available, first start off by explaining the purpose of the card sort and the rules for the card sort (see below).

Now that you have your two teams of people (note: this will require that you have two copies of your cards), mix up each set of cards and give them to the teams.  Ask the teams to create the top-level navigation and the other sub-levels.  Because this is not a three-dimensional exercise, just ask the teams to lay out the cards either on a table or the floor in a top-to-bottom scheme.  The top-level navigation will be at the top, and the under each navigational header for the top level, place the next level, and so on.  To save space, a common practice is to stack cards on top of each other.  If you don’t have the large conference room, just place each team in a separate office and check on each from time to time.  In some ways this can be a better situation so that the teams don’t feed off of each other.

A time limit will need to be placed on the sort.  Give the staff at least thirty to forty-five minutes for the sort.  They should not need more than ninety minutes, and they will probably be bored at this point anyway.  After the sort has reached the time limit, take a picture of each team’s work.  The next step is up to you and time restrictions.  If you have planned this exercise to use an entire afternoon, a helpful post-sort activity is to bring the two teams to one room and go over the different ideas that each team came up with.  A whiteboard is helpful here and each team can write on the board their top-level navigation headers and some examples of sub-levels.  Discussion between the two teams here is very beneficial because the teams will learn how different people use the Internet and web sites.

If you are using the card sort for a redesign of the site and performing the sort with staff that already use the existing site, you will have problems with this exercise.  Your staff probably may not think the site needs to be changed, as it would involve changing work patterns.  You may want to do a sort with a competitor’s website and not tell your staff who the site belongs to.  At the end of the activity, compare the two teams and then try to apply the commonalities to your site.

Card sorts can be very beneficial to web site work or web-based applications.  One of the disadvantages of the card sort is the time it takes to not only setup the sort, but also the time involved in analyzing and reporting the data back to the users.

Sample Card sort rules:

(1) time limit - this should be enforced strictly
(2) No use of laptops/computers - this is to prevent users from looking at websites on the Internet
(3) Assign a team leader so that team members keep on task

I’ve been in staffing for over 9 years, four of which I spent working with mid and senior level marketers within Fortune 500 companies. The job seeking world has shifted dramatically since I began, particularly after the Tech Bubble burst and post 9/11. As a result of these events, thousands of people were laid off, causing an ensuing flood of candidates in the marketplace looking for a job, any job!

Sure, email and the internet have helped the job searchers, but not in the way it can today. In fact in 2009 – a mere eight years later – technology is available to the “Average Joe” (not necessarily a plumber) consumer at very low or no cost to job search. As a result, the public at large has the ability (through online discourse) to discover at the click of a mouse which jobs, products, and services will fit their needs and lifestyle. It has always been the case that consumers rely on friends, family members and colleagues to influence their purchasing decisions. Now that people have hundreds of Facebook “Friends”, LinkedIn contacts, and Twitter “followers”, this has never been truer; especially when we’re talking about seeking employment.

On the other side of the coin, the same can be said for companies looking for employees – searching for the perfect fit – only nowadays, the employers’ “networks” have become their staff. I speak regularly with organizations that are looking for quality referrals from their own employees. Think about it: an employee who’s job is to, say, count widgets, or assist an advertising executive (in other words, someone removed from the HR function entirely) is now armed with the ability to influence their employer’s hiring decisions merely by virtue of their participation in social media – the employee’s membership in Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter for example.

It’s a win-win. Employers can save money and ARE saving money by relying on employees who have countless social media, LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook friends, in addition to friends they find at networking events or association meetings such as the AMA, BMA, etc. Employees gain connections and insight into their own industries or other industries.

Not only do employers rely on who their employees know personally, they rely on what and who their employees recommend – such as reputable staffing and search firms. Enter: Brand You. The blind, resume-sending of the past is slowly creeping to a halt. That practice has not only saturated the job market with C.V. SPAM, it provides little in the way of real information for decision makers.

The Social Media revolution happening now is enabling people to engage with thousands of strangers who ultimately influence purchase decisions. Creating a personal brand is going to be a key factor in how companies engage their customers. Dave Armano of Critical Mass has recently coined the phrase “Brandividualism” – take a look.  The same methodology of Brandividualism can be said for marketers who are networking to find their next great career move.

As I was researching for this blog I came across this fantastic article called “Brand You“, regarding personal branding. It was written by Tom Peters who is a well-known journalist and Social Media guru. It’s a thoughtful piece that addresses the power of email and the internet.

I agree with Tom when he says, “The key to any personal branding campaign is ‘word-of-mouth marketing.’  Your network of friends, colleagues, clients, and customers is the most important marketing vehicle you’ve got; what they say about you and your contributions is what the market will ultimately gauge as the value of your brand. So the big trick to building your brand is to find ways to nurture your network of colleagues – consciously.”

This quote speaks to me personally as I worked for a Word of Mouth Marketing agency The Zocalo Group. It makes sense that, via emerging technology, Word of Mouth (WOM) would be a very useful way to help develop your personal brand in the marketplace.

Peters makes it clear that technology has changed the way people search for jobs and emphasizes the need of quality presentation and tech savvy:

“Partly it’s a matter of substance: what you have to say and how well you get it said. But it’s also a matter of style. On the Net, do your communications demonstrate a command of the technology? In meetings, do you keep your contributions short and to the point? It even gets down to the level of your brand, your business card: Have you designed a cool-looking logo for your own card? Are you demonstrating an appreciation for design that shows you understand that packaging counts – a lot – in a crowded world?”

After reading this blog I realized this was not written last year or even this year. It was written in 1997! I thought it was incredibly interesting that the content is still completely relevant today.  We are living in a new world filled with new technology and applications that are being created every day. It’s important to remember that we can utilize these new tools but it is mission critical that you need to add value and leadership 1-on-1 with your audience regardless if it is your customer or a prospective employer.

Recently on Tom’s blog he had a guest writer, Raj Setty, who wrote an article about personal brand and what it’s NOT supposed to be. Very insightful information, which can help you understand how to use social media to create a personal brand; by NOT thinking of it in these terms.

Despite 9/11, an ongoing economic downturn, and several other major world and industry events, things haven’t changed much since 2001 or 1997, for that matter. Yes, there are a lot of new ways to help craft your personal marketing message through new technology advances. Ultimately, it comes down to adding content, expertise, and experience to gain organic market share – timeless concepts, really.

Word of Mouth Marketing is ages old. The 2.0 version has only enabled us to talk on an individual basis to many more people via dedicated streams of communication. It’s sort of like being at a cocktail party where you’re trading dentist recommendations, only now, you have the entire worldwide web at your fingertips (in addition to that martini).

Have you ever heard the phrase that math is the universal language?  How about music?

Historians and sociologists would agree that it is our desire to be social that truly brings us together.  Could Facebook be our universal social network?

140 million users can’t be wrong.  That is the most recent statistic provided by “Inside Facebook” - an organization that tracks and watches the trends of the social networking monster.  Facebook is certainly not a US-bound tool, but rather an international language of status updates, photos, and shared interest groups.  95 million users are based outside of the US, which accounts for nearly 70% of the Facebook audience.  The tool is translated in over 100 different languages.

So are you on Facebook?  Or MySpace?  Well, it appears as though Facebook is now twice the size of MySpace, so it may be time to move your profile over.

Why should you care?

It’s who you know of course!  Have you ever asked a friend to pass a resume on to their boss before?  Ever thought that knowing someone at a company would give you an edge during the interview process.  Facebook makes that idea an explosive reality.

It is so easy to connect to folks through a social networking site such as Facebook, that it takes all the pressure off networking.  Those that disregard or do not take advantage of the opportunities provided by online social networking are just missing out in the long run.

Plenty of people believe that it “never hurts to ask”.  That could not be more true given the spider web of online connections made available to you through a site such as Facebook.  Being a part of the phenomenon gives you the chance to find work, find employees, and stay connected to top members of your industry.

Even more important - the global economy.  One would be remiss to consider the US the only shopping ground for new employees or new positions.  Expand your horizons!  How about finding a job with BMW in Germany or Giorgio Armani in Italy.  Perhaps Asia is more your style, what about Nintendo in Japan?  It is possible!  Reaching out to friends, colleagues, and acquaintances could get you a connection you never imagined.

What have your experiences been with making connections online?  Has Facebook made a difference to your career or networking abilities?  It’s a tricky new environment, so please share your successes and well as your failures - so that all of us can better navigate the online networking environment.

In today’s economy - knowing how to network online has never been more important.  It is truly “who you know” that can lead to job security and business success.  Check out this video for how to get started.