The Internet bears some close resemblance to the early days of television when TV shows were little more than talking heads and glorified radio programs. It took a while for the real potential of television to be realized. Likewise, web sites that function only as electronic brochures are often missing the majority of their potential.
If you consider the fact that the web and Internet sales are growing every year, it makes sense that your business has a lot to gain by having an effective web site. Yet most web sites do not meet their expectations. Let's look at a few reasons why, and what can be done to be successful.
It's amazing how often this most basic mistake gets made, even by many web designers. When creating a web site, it is for your customers or clients, your visitors, and not for you the web site owner. Yes, that sounds awful, but if you take this to heart, the extra cash from your success will help restore your bruised ego.
To help clarify this principle, let's look at how the mistakes get made. One of the most common errors is a "we" focus. This is when a web site talks about themselves instead of speaking to the visitor. Humans on the Internet do not have to be polite, so they're not. If a site does not address their needs, they leave.
Another common error is assuming the visitors care about the same thing you do, or at least from the same perspective. When this mistake gets made, the result is a web site that talks to itself, or reads like it was written to a co-worker. To be successful, you must find out what is important to your visitor, and then deliver it.
There is one primary truth that your web designer absolutely must know to help you succeed online. The Internet is very, very different from all other media. The techniques that work offline will not work as well on a web site, and they may not work at all. People do not respond the same way online as they do offline.
The Internet can help you build relationships better than other media, and humans thrive on relationships. If you use the Internet to try to "sell" your visitors, this common error leads to disappointment. To succeed, the best approach is to "serve" your visitors and become relationship minded.
Due to the misuse of special effects and multimedia content in web design, it is important to say a few things about that. Large online companies have spent millions and millions of dollars researching web design and visitor behavior. There is nothing to gain by doing what this expensive research has shown to be profit killers.
Think about Google, eBay, Amazon, and other big names. Do you see wild animation and gizmos jumping all over the screen clamoring to distract your attention? You won't see anything that says, "Click here to enter" or "Skip Intro" either.
We are definitely not saying that multimedia content and special effects are bad, or that you should not use them. We strongly suggest caution though. If your web site design confuses or annoys your site visitors, you lose — permanently. Those visitors will leave and never come back.
It should also be noted that as user patterns have been studied, the results consistently show that well over 75% of web page users are drawn to the text before they even notice the graphics. People use web sites for information, yet all too often, graphics are emphasized more than they should be.
The statistics make sense when you think about it. If people are using search engines to find content, they will naturally be interested in the content if you have what they are looking for.
Good web page design is content driven and interactive. Good web design has sensible navigation and layout. The web site visitor can easily figure everything out, and they can easily find the content they are looking for. Good web design builds loyalty and relationships.
Be sure to get a FREE copy of 7 Secrets to Online Business Success which takes a more detailed look at key principles for succeeding online. Especially helpful are the examples which demonstrate how these principles have been proven to work in real life situations.
Please feel free to contact us with your web design questions or to discuss how we can help you succeed with a web site. Maybe you're happy with your design, but just not the performance. That's quite common, and we can help you. The next page reveals a checklist of important considerations for your web success.
Next.. Principles of Success in Web Design
Creative Business Services is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
