Next week, we're hosting a usability seminar at the National Press Club titled "Putting Audiences First, Again and Again." Registration has been steady, but it's at half the clip of our previous session "Social Sites for Social Good."

This is a shame, because this session's topic is equally important.

Certainly Facebook, MySpace, digg.com and all of the other new social sites possess huge potential to build prominence, recruit supporters, and drive traffic. Orgs need to be actively incorporating social approaches into their online strategy -- as Tim has pointed out previously.

But it can't be at the expense of fundamentals.

Usability gets to the essence of why some sites succeed more than others. It's what separates the iPod from the Zune. Those of us who build web sites spend a lot of time hypothesizing about how our visitors experience our sites. Rarely do we actually sit back and watch them in action.

For this reason, next week we're dedicating a significant portion of our session to useful examples of straightforward usability testing. Many of us know we should be testing our designs and sites, but we think its too complicated, too expensive, or too time-consuming. Or we think we can't convince the boss that it's worthwhile.

Next week, our presenters are going put these myths to rest. Speakers from FDA, Voice of America, senate.gov, and the Environmental Defense Fund will explain how they approached usability testing. They'll explain its benefits, and how the results satisfied their visitors, and propelled their mission.

So while social media help connect people with your organization and bring them to your site, good user experience is what keeps them coming back.

There's still time to register. I hope you'll join us!