Web design is an interesting industry because it’s so subjective. A designer may create a wonderful web site, truly an amazing work or art, but it may not communicate effectively.
Here’s the rub: Web site designers are first and foremost artists. They’re primary goal is to create beauty. Yet, the Internet is about sharing information. The webs’ primary purpose is to deliver relevant information, regardless of how this information is packaged. Several years ago I owned a self-help web site that was truly pathetic from a design perspective - it was built on some lame template, had no images, and the layout was horrible. Yet, within a year or so I sold over 1,500 packages that helped people live a better life and had over 6,000 subscribers to my newsletter.
I then had a professional web site designer redevelop my web site. I thought the conversion rates would increase and more people would sign up for my newsletter. Nothing changed. The conversion rates remained the same and so did the percentage of people signing up for the newsletter. The fact is, it’s not so much about web design as it usability and valuable information.
Conversely, a small business needs to create a professional image. I recently met someone at a conference, looked the company up on the web, thought the presentation was horrible, and decided not to do business with them. The key is to balance usability, content, and professional web site design. The key to success is rarely one element (unless you visit www.craigslist.com, of course, which has little to do with anything graphical).
When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content is king along with inbound links. When it comes to giving a professional image, design is essential, and a poor design can cost you business without even knowing it. When it comes to presenting vital information, usability is the essential ingredient (which is why Blogs end up doing so well in search engine marketing).
You’ll notice on our web site we use this blog to provide valuable design and marketing information to small businesses south of Boston, and we use the corporate web site (www.sinatraco.com) to present our web site design service and design samples. Adding a blog to a web site design strategy is a great way to bridge the gap between valuable information and a professional image.
Usability is also essential. I found a great web site that has over 100 “best practice” usability tips (see link below). Some of my favorites include:
9. Redundancy in Navigation. Navigation is fundamental to website development so redundancy assures users will find what they are looking for. Some may be attracted to images, some may wish a descriptive text link and some may wish to see an embedded link which assures them that what they are clicking is what they want. It never hurts to make it easy for the user to find their way around even if that means pointing them directly to what you think they may want.
From Schkecy
42. Keep everything close. No matter how complex your directory structure may be, there’s no reason any page should be more than three clicks away from the home page.
From Bob Gladstein aka qwerty
Raise My Rank SEO Services
49. Keep the page simple. Direct the readers eyes to the important parts of the page. Overloading the page headlines and links in confuses people.
50. Be careful with animations & marquees. They distract a reader from reading your content.
51. Make links obvious. Don’t use the same font settings and color to make links visible only on a mouse-over.
From Bernard Ertl
SEO Help – search engine optimization reference, tutorial and advice
Full list of 101 web site design usability tips can be found here:
http://www.keyrelevance.com/articles/usability-tips.htm
If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site: www.sinatraco.com