Almost everyone knows someone who claims to be able to make websites. If you have spent even a little time surfing the internet, you have probably seen many bad websites that look like they were designed by the kid next door, and they probably were.
Unfortunately, many people still believe that just having a website is enough, as if the technology alone will make them look professional. Sadly, these people often fall victim to the promises of cheap websites or do-it-yourself packages promising professional looking websites. The results are shoddy, ineffective and downright embarrassing websites.
In a survey performed by Consumer WebWatch, an average of 46.1% of the participants cited design look when evaluating the credibility of a website. 28.5% mentioned information design and structure, and 25.1% cited information focus. (Consumer WebWatch, March 2003)
Crafting an effective and beautiful website, on the other hand, requires much more than simply being able to write HTML code. It requires an understanding of the principles behind great websites and a true commitment to excellence. On the web, just as in the real world, the old maxim holds true: you get what you pay for.
So while the allure of a cheap website will always exist, the savvy customer will be able to see it for what it is: a surefire way to appear unprofessional, untrustworthy and in a word cheap.
Plan. A good plan includes a budget, clear goals and a solid understanding of your needs.
Design. An effective design is based on solid principles and an understanding of your visitors' psychology.
Promote. A good website can only become great if people know where to find it. Consequently, a solid promotion strategy is a must.
Maintain. A great website is updated regularly to retain its appeal.
In the following sections we will discuss each of these essential ingredients in detail. When finished, you should have a solid understanding of the basic principles of website design.
Everything great begins with a great plan. You set goals, define your audience, produce content and organize and list your technological needs. This process produces a site specification sheet which serves as the blue print for the rest of the website creation process.
The planning stage asks the following questions:
A. Setting goals and defining your budget
It is impossible for anyone to tell you what your website should do. Only you know your business or organization. It is crucial that you define a budget and set clear goals. Many websites fail simply because their creators never decided what they wanted to accomplish. Other sites fail because they attempt to accomplish too much, and their budgets spiral out of control.
First, decide how much you want to spend. This allows you to set your goals accordingly and avoid spending too much on the latest gimmick. Knowing how much to spend also allows you to get the most for your money. You can approach the design process asking, "How much can I accomplish with this budget?" instead of "How much does this cost?" Having a budget puts you, not the designer, in control of your money.
Next, set a few clearly defined goals that your website should accomplish. If your business sells widgets, for example, one of your website's goals would be to persuade visitors to purchase your widgets. This may include an online store or an online brochure, which proves that your widgets are better than the competition's and provides directions to your real world store. The goal of a website promoting a concert might be to inform users of the time and location of the concert and to tell them where to purchase tickets. Because every website is different, your goals will be unique to your site.
Finally, decide when you want to complete your website. Having a specific deadline motivates you to do the work on time and provides a tangible limit to the site's scope. A deadline also allows the designer to establish a timeline for the website's production process.
The process of defining a budget and setting goals is not always a linear process. Sometimes your budget decisions are influenced by your goals and by your deadline. Nevertheless, entering a project with a good idea of how much you want to spend, what you want to accomplish and when you want it completed will greatly enhance your experience and your chances of success.
Questions to ask:
B. Define your target audience
Defining your audience is crucial in order to create an effective website. Knowing who you are speaking to dictates how you will present your information, what kinds of technologies you use and what gimmicks to avoid.
Questions to ask:
C. Content inventory and organization
After you have set your goals and defined your target audience, you need to inventory and produce your content. On the web, content is king. All the flashy animations in the world will be useless if you do not offer your visitors interesting content.
You may have already created have some or all of the content you need. You can inventory that content and discover what other content you need to create. Or you may need to create all of your content from scratch.
Once you have your content, you can begin to organize it in a logical way. This process will create an outline from which your website's structure emerges. It is best to organize your content with your target audience in mind.
Questions to ask:
D. Functional requirements
Now that you've got content, what are you going to do with it? Functional requirements are the tasks that your website needs to perform. For example, a photography website might want to let visitors search for pictures based on keywords. Having a list of functional requirements gives you a clear idea of how your site will accomplish its goals. It prevents the slow increase of cost and size during the design phase known as "scope creep."
Questions to ask:
E. Technological requirements
The final stage in the planning process is to decide on your technological requirements. What technologies does the site need to perform its functions and accomplish its goals?
All websites need a domain name and site hosting, and depending on the functional requirements, you may also need database capabilities and specific server technologies, such as PHP or CGI.
Questions to ask:
The key to a well-designed website is a visitor-centered approach. This means using principles of design to balance the content your visitors want, with the eye candy they need to keep them interested.
A. visitor-centered
A website which appeals to the boss may make him happy, but unless the site also appeals to the customer it is useless. Many websites fail because they do not take into account this basic need to cater to the visitors.
If the site loads too slowly or frustrates with cryptic navigation, only the most stalwart of web users will stick around to explore it. With most visitors, a website only has 10 to 15 seconds to grab and keep their attention. If they cannot find what they are looking for, or the site takes longer than that to load, they simply click the back button and never return.
B. content versus candy
A common mistake is to choose flashy eye candy over sophisticated presentation of content. A Flash intro may look pretty, but your visitors will quickly grow tired of sitting through the long download times and pointless graphics.
Minimalism is rapidly becoming the rule on the web. Less is more meaning less candy and more content is the key to success. But this does not mean that your site should look bad! A sophisticated design utilizing color, style and graphics is a good way to draw attention and keep it. Minimalism doesn't mean boring; it means balance and concern for your visitors' experience.
The World Wide Web is big. Very big. It is much bigger than the largest city, and your site will not just "be found" by those wandering by. You've got to promote it. There are many ways to do this, and what you choose depends on your budget, your goals and other factors.
A. Limit scope
First you must limit your scope. Does your website support a real world business or location? Who is your target audience? Where are they located?
The answers to questions like these help you create an effective promotion strategy. If you want people to come to your coffee house located in Denver, Colorado, it doesn't make much sense to target New Yorkers. On the other hand, if you provide services not bound to a physical location your strategy will be much different. The following is a brief list of the most common ways to promote a website.
B. Search engine placement
For small websites, search engines are not always the best or most effective means of promotion. Nevertheless, they are usually the first place people turn to get the word out about their website, so we will discuss them first.
Being placed on the popular search engines is an art form as much as it is a science. There are many strategies involved in making your site optimized for search engines, but these can only take you so far. Google, for example, is currently the most popular search engine in the world, but no one can "submit" their site to Google. Instead, Google automatically searches the entire web for new sites and lists them according to relevance and popularity.
Another method of being placed on search engines is paying for advertising space. All the major search engines allow this in one way or another. Most charge a per-click fee. These fees can range from a few cents to several dollars, depending on the popularity of the keywords with which the ad appears.
C. Word-of-mouth and self promotion
For small websites word-of-mouth or self promotion is by far the most effective advertising. Happy customers will tell their friends.
Another style of word-of-mouth promotion is being linked with websites frequented by the target audience. You can exchange links with other websites, or if you provide very useful content you may find that interested parties begin to link to you as a resource!
Self promotion is using what you already to get the word out. Simply printing the URL on your business card or adding to your printed flyer is very effective.
D. WWW advertising
So-called "banner ads" are almost ubiquitous on the web today. Because of this, they have lost much of their effectiveness. Nevertheless, a well-placed banner ad can help direct traffic to your website. There are many link exchange programs which place your banner ad in rotation on several websites. A targeted approach, however, is more useful.
E. Email advertising
Spam is more than just an annoyance. It clogs mail servers, slows web traffic and is a nightmare for users. Moreover, the response rate on most email advertisement is less then 1%. Obviously just blasting emails to as many people as possible is not responsible promotion.
A well-designed subscription email newsletter, however, can be very effective. By providing visitors with useful and pertinent content, you can create a long-lasting relationship that will grow.
F. Non-digital advertising
Just because a website is digital doesn't mean that you can't use print! The power of newspaper, magazine and other such ads is enormous. Just like any advertising campaign, you should be certain to target your audience and advertise in publications and venues that your audience frequently uses.
Of course television and radio present another realm of possibilities. In the end, promoting your website must become a part of your overall promotion strategy.
You've got a website; you've been promoting it, but how do you keep it fresh? Fresh, useful content is the key to a successful website, so a solid maintenance strategy is a must. You can either have an outside source maintain your site, do it yourself or do some of it yourself and have an outside source do the rest. Your choice will depend on how complex your site is and on your budget.
A. Going it alone
If you choose to maintain your website yourself, you have many things to consider. First, you should consider your level of knowledge. There are desktop software packages that make website maintenance relatively easy, but you must have a certain level of competency in order to use them effectively. The more complex your site becomes, the more you must know. Nevertheless, these packages are typically the most cost efficient way of maintaining your site since they typically cost about $100.
Another option is a web-based content management system. These systems have the benefit of requiring less knowledge to use, but are more expensive to obtain because the designer must create one to fit your site. Moreover, they can be somewhat restrictive in what they allow you to update.
You can even purchase professional designing software and do all the maintenance yourself. These packages are quite expensive and require a great deal of knowledge in order to use them effectively. Also, unless you are very careful, it is easy to damage the underlying structure of your website.
B. Leaving it to the professionals
If you decide you don't want the hassle of maintaining your own site, you can always work through an outside source. Usually this is done by contacting your source and simply telling them what you want changed and letting them change it.
The drawback to this form of maintenance is the time lag and cost. Maintaining your website yourself is instantaneous, and it only costs the price of the software and your time. Letting a professional do it requires working within their hours and paying for their time. In the long run, however, having a professional maintain your site may save you a lot of time and headache, and it carries the comfort of knowing that it will be done right.
Contact Info
phone: 314-973-7294
email: bbooth (at) lucidgreen (dot) net