Chapter 11. Who are you - should you tell a visitor?
Look Before
You Web

© 2001 - Barry Wroobel - Discovery Data Systems, inc.

Chapter 11. Who are you - should you tell a visitor?
(note: Set the left and right printer margins to 0.25" for printing)

Without any question, YES! If a visitor can not tell who you are, how to reach you (not just by e-mail), why should they do business with you? E-mail is a good way for a visitor to deliver some detailed information, but not much else. When a visitor is faced with the final conclusion that the only way to reach you is by e-mail, they generally start making some assumptions about your company. Assumptions like, you are a one-man-show operating out of your home after your regular job, and you do not want to give out your phone number. This completely blows away one of the unique benefits of being on the web - there is no way for a visitor to know how big any company is on the net. If you attempt to hide, then your visitor will start to make the assumptions.

Never lose track of the fact that you want the visitor to your website to become your customer. You want that visitor to feel warm and cozy about working with your company. When you are designing your website, put yourself in the place of a visitor. Don't do anything you would not want someone to do to you when you visit them. Do everything for your visitors that you would want someone else to do for you. If you are contemplating doing something on your site, ask yourself this question: "Would the bigger competitor do this?", or "What should I do to look like the big boys?", "What is my real purpose of putting this item on my site?".

© 2001 - Barry Wroobel - Discovery Data Systems, inc.
(note: Set left and right printer margins to 0.25" for printing)