Effective web site design starts with a plan that
identifies why you need a web site and what you want to accomplish
with it. You need a clear understanding of your goals and you need
to be able to articulate them clearly to your web site designer.
Start by asking yourself or your team these
questions, give the answers serious consideration and you will be on
your way to achieving what many companies never do; an effective web
site design. There are no 'correct' answers. Your web site will be
as individual as your company is.
Why do YOU have a web site?
The answer to this question is absolutely crucial and while the
focus of your web site may change over time it must always reflect
who you are and what you are doing in your business.
If all you need
is a spot where clients can find pertinent company information such
as contact info and product lines then your web site design can be
fairly static and likely inexpensive, relative of course to the
volume of content on it. It is unlikely that this type of site would
require a lot of updating.
If on the other hand
you expect your clients and/or staff to be able to use the web site
to stay abreast of changes or news then you will need to commit a
budget for ongoing maintenance and updates. Depending on the volume
of these changes, this could end up being substantially more than
the original website design.
Make this decision carefully, there are
many things your web site designer can do to lessen the cost of
future updates. More importantly, make sure that this is necessary.
It's all find and good to have a "What's New" page but if nothing is
ever new, or you have no committed, repeat audience, there is no
point in including the page in the first place.
Know your audience and give them no more or no less than what they
are looking for.
Do we want to
sell products or services on our web site?
Not
all products lend themselves well to a fully e-commerce sale and not
all websites need to be e-commerce enabled. Knowing which part of
the sales cycle your web site will fit into will help you identify
the type and volume of content required on it. It will also
determine to a great extent the effort you need to put into
attracting your target audience and dictate the frequency of web
updates if they are required.
Who is our target audience
Without
blowing the budget on demographic studies you should still be able
to identify fairly easily who your target audience is. This can
dictate how you are going to reach them and what type of experience
they will expect on arriving at your website. If you are selling
graphics and multimedia products, your website will need to be
lively, colourful and contemporary above all else.
If on the other
hand you are selling brand name products, you will want to convey
this message quickly and provide a fast, informative interface
allowing them to find and purchase their product without a lot of
bells and whistles. If you are providing a web interface to a known
group and not expecting any 'drop in' sales you would take a much
different approach than if you are hoping to attract and sell to the
general public. The KISS acronym applies fully here. Give them what
they want with a minimum of fuss or waiting.
How will we bring traffic to our web site?
This is probably second in importance only to "Why do YOU have a
Website?". If you plan on telling your visitors about your website
via business cards, letters, catalogs or media, and you are happy
with this approach then your options are wide open when it comes to
design. If however you hope to attract new business, that you cannot
reach with these methods, then your website design must be Search
Engine Friendly above all else.
Search engine
friendly websites are predominantly textual rather than graphical,
easy to navigate, well labelled and heavy on product or service
detail. The more successfully optimized web sites are product and
service centric, rather than 'company based'.
Every aspect of your
design must reflect and highlight your product, your service or the
customer needs that they fulfill. Phrases such as "Welcome to our
website" have no business on a page designed to bring traffic. There
are no "search engine secrets" or "tricks" to get you into the top
10 but there are a myriad of opportunities to give the search
engines what they want and several more ways of ensuring that you
never do. Easily 80% of traffic to NTech websites come from the
search engines.
Who
is more important, repeat visitors or new visitors
If you want visitors to come back, you need to give them a reason.
Whether it be current events, special offers or something humourous,
you will need to make your website a destination. This can take a
lot of work and is probably best handled by in-house staff to reduce
costs.
This does not mean re-designing your website or updating the
"look". While there may be good arguments for doing so periodically,
if all that changes is the "look" and it is basically the same old
content then it will have little sustained effect on traffic.
If your product is in demand, your pricing is reasonable and you
have the infrastructure to deliver then new visitors are your
primary target and you need to concentrate a great deal of effort to
optimally positioning your web site in the major search engines and
directories. You may also consider Pay Per Click advertising if the
sales close rate and profit margin warrant the expense.
Keep in mind, for a new visitor, everything about your website is
new, and as long as you don't promise anything new the next time
they visit they will probably be just as happy to find the web
design and navigation just as they left it should they come back.
The absolute worst thing you can show a new visitor is a NEWS page
with content that is 6 months old. You might as well just stamp
CLOSED across the entire web site.
This copyrighted content can be displayed on your website or
newsletter as long as it is credited and linked to NTech at
www.ntechwebs.com
All other use is strictly prohibited.
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