|
Have a purpose when starting a website
design. Just like the design of a brochure has a specific purpose,
so should every page of your website. An architect does not design
an elaborate building, then try to figure out what someone might
do with it. Locating a great programmer who knows how to make HTML
sing, but knows nothing about ad design is a step in the wrong direction.
Remember, a simple, easy to follow and understandable text screen
with lots of information and a few reasonable sized photos of your
products will do more for the reader than any first place flash
design award on your wall.
As much as it may hurt your pride, however
great you think your website might be is almost irrelevant. What
is important is what the customer thinks of it! The programmer who
designs your web page is not going to live with the inquiries, or
lack thereof. YOU AND YOUR REPUTATION ARE! If you need help separating
the flash from the detail, a few dollars paid to an advertising
and marketing consultant can save many headaches in the future.
Keep in mind: If you make a good brochure, customers MAY mention
how they liked it. However, you will never hear from the customers
who read a bad brochure and threw it away. They won't call you for
anything! Your website is no different.
Pointers:
A. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS put a phone
number on EVERY page at least once. A
 marketing
expert once said that it not necessary to put a phone number on
every page. If
a customer
really wants to contact you, they will tear apart your site to find
a phone
number.
Well, maybe he was right, but in the process, the visitor will lose
track of where
they were
when they found what they were looking for. They will be very frustrated.
They
will also
start to wonder if they want to deal with a company who wants to
hide their
phone
number. People don't buy from computers, they don't buy from stores,
they buy
from people.
Home Depot is a perfect example. They do not have the lowest prices,
but
they do
have the best service. Home Depot is killing all of the competition
with the
exception
of those other stores that also offer outstanding service at similar
prices. If a
visitor
has found information that they are interested in, you do not want
them to lose
track
of it just to get your phone number. If you are serious about your
website, do not
isolate
yourself from your customer. Either you want customer contact or
you do not.
A
note about acronyms and phone numbers. Some of the acronyms that
companies are
using
to remember their phone numbers are really neat, and in many cases
helpful.
Especially
the type where a phone number can be replaced by a catchy word or
phase. But
when it
comes to your web page, after the acronym, SPELL
OUT ALL OF THE DIGITS!
Don't
make your visitor stumble around on a phone dial to figure out your
phone number.
They may
get it wrong, get frustrated and go to another competitor's web
page that has
a working
number!
An
e-mail address is also very good, if the visitor can find it and
wants to use it. Would
anyone
ever design a brochure with only an e-mail address to respond to
? No! Then why
put only
an e-mail address on your web page! A terrible thing to do in any
web page design
is to
make some button or hard to find location that the reader has to
go to in order to
contact
you. Put your e-mail, address, fax number, and yes, PHONE NUMBER!,
on the
bottom
of EVERY PAGE IN YOUR website!!!! When a customer finds something
they are
looking
for, don't make them go searching to some other page to call you!
If the customer
is looking
at one of your products that has his attention, YOU DON'T WANT HIM
TO
CHANGE
PAGES! You would not place an ad in a magazine and then make the
reader close
the magazine
and look somewhere else for your phone number. DON'T GET PHONE AND
FAX NUMBERS
MIXED UP! Potential customers don't like calling a phone number
to hear a
FAX tone
in their ear! Make contacting you easy, put the contact information
right in front
of them
AT THE SAME LOCATION ON EVERY PAGE!
If
you want to look like one of the "Big Boys", then 800
or (other toll free numbers)
make life
really easy for your customers. The additional cost today for this
type of service
is usually
free and the toll rates in many cases are the same or similar to
outgoing calls. If
you are
going to use 800 numbers, then make sure EVERYONE (even local calls)
can use
that number.
Most callers do not realize how close you are to them, or your regular
phone
number
is a local call for them. All they know is that they can not reach
you at the number
you provided.
Remember your potential customers are people. Making your 800 number
only accessible
to callers beyond a certain range can make the local ones feel cheated
or
less important!
How much do you really save by disallowing those local 800 calls?
You can
always
give new callers your local number on their first call.
Another
word about e-mail. E-mail is great especially for the viewer who
has a specific
request
or requirement. They can spell out all of those requirements in
their own words
and e-mail
them directly to you in a flash. Don't make the classic mistake
of putting an
e-mail
address to only the WEB MASTER! Make mail boxes to departments that
are
appropriate
for various questions or topics that a visitor might be addressing
(marketing,
sales,
support, etc.). There are really only three messages that a visitor
might leave, and
you are
really only interested in two of these. These are: "I like
your product, and how do I
get it
?", or "I think your product might be right, but I need
more information". These two
comments
should not go to the WEB MASTER, they should go to CUSTOMER SERVICE
or
SALES,
or TECHNICAL SUPPORT! You don't have the carpenter who built the
building you
work in
handle your sales leads, then why have your web page publisher (or
MIS) collect
your sales
leads! Get the leads going the right direction FAST from the start!
Oh yes, the
third
comment the viewer might send would appropriately be sent to the
WEB MASTER. It
might
read something like: "What a horrible web page, I can't find
anything in this mess!"
Do you
really want your sales leads mixed in with these?
B. Always put in a "contact us
page". Putting a picture of the managing people lends a more
personal
feel to your site. If you have an actual commercial place of business,
pictures of
your facility
may lend credibility to your company.
C. Make your information easy to access.
You may have to list what is available on your site
in several
different formats and indexes. Remember, not every visitor to your
website is
there
with the same purpose. Accommodate as many as you can in the easiest
way for
them.
D. For many websites, a list of commonly
asked questions and answers can be a time saver
for both
you and your visitor. In many industries, consumers have similar
problems and
questions.
Providing these questions and answers not only provides solutions
to your
visitors,
but also lets them know that their question is not unique and other
people have
had the
same question.
E. Pictures can be a great way to say
a 1000 words. But remember, pictures take a long
time to
download. Don't put in a huge picture that is not worth waiting
for. There is nothing
worse
than making a visitor wait for a long download just to find out
you are trying to
make a
fancy background.
F. Watch what you layer on top of each
other. One good way to really drive visitors AWAY
from your
site is to present a partial page to them, make them wait to download
some big
background
image, only to realize that it suddenly makes everything else on
the page
unreadable!
If you are going to use one of these images for a background, make
it small,
low resolution,
stretch it out if necessary, and screen (or gray) it WAY BACK! Just
this side
of visible.
G. Big solid black or colored backgrounds
can also be too flashy. While these may look eye
grabbing
or bold, they can make reading a Web Page difficult. Black or colored
areas
tastefully
used on a limited basis can add nicely to any design. But remember,
while a few
well placed
brush strokes of paint may look good, pouring in the whole gallon
won't
necessarily
look great !
© 2001 - Barry
Wroobel - Discovery Data Systems, inc.
(note: Set left and right printer margins
to 0.25" for printing)
|
