What makes a successful website - a primer for businessmen
21 November, 2008
This is the first of a series of articles about web design for business owners. I will try to keep away from technical language where possible - forgive me for the occasional lapse.
Web design is somewhat of an enigma to Bob the businessman. Popular opinion dictates that "Anyone can build a website". Some do (sic). Is it really that easy?
Truth be told, building a website is easy. Building it well is not. Unbeknownst to most people, it takes far more than just a good design to make a successful website. It takes a little luck and a lot of know-how. Read on, and I'll try to explain.
A successful website needs a good design. I'm not talking about your flash-laden 30-seconds-to-load-splash-screen type design either - some of the worst websites start out this way. I'm talking about a good, clean layout that lends itself to usability and user-friendliness. I'm talking clear, consistent navigation throughout. The successful website is easy to use for the first-time visitor, and has clear directions to help the visitor get to his goal - whether that be to read an article, download a file or order a product. What use is a site that confuses a potential customer? Research shows that the average internet visitor will make up his mind within the first 15-30 seconds of viewing your website before deciding to move on or not. That's an extremely short time to make an impression - and it can be easily wasted by a confusing layout or slow-loading/broken page.
A successful website is well written. Ever heard of the saying, "Content is King"? I cannot stress this enough: content is extremely important. You may have the best design in the world - but without content to place on that website, you are not going to attract anyone. On the contrary - good content will often cause a visitor to overlook bad design. It stands to reason that the search engines place a high value on content - ultimately that is what the customer is looking for. Write well, write in plain language (unless you happen to have a scientific or medical dictionary for a website!), and write often. Fresh content keeps your customers coming back. 'Nuff said.
A successful website should be properly coded. More and more we are seeing browsers that follow web standards. Even Internet Explorer 8 is threatening to follow the pack. A well written website can be easily maintained, accessible by all, quick to download to a customer's browser - you get the picture? With CSS, unobtrusive (and gracefully degrading) javascript and modern HTML it becomes a relatively simple task to serve your content on various browsers, devices (mobile phones, anyone?), and platforms - all of which mean you reach a potentially larger audience.
A successful website is accessible. This concept is heard far too little in the web design salesroom, yet it contains so much power. In our striving to create the grandest design, utilising the latest and greatest technology, we forget that not all have access to the latest browser. Not all choose to install Flash. Not all are able to access huge broadband pipes, and as such have disabled images. Not all choose to run Java or Javascript, whether for security reasons or otherwise. Lastly, not all are able to see, and are using screen readers to view your website. A successful website takes all of these possibilities into account - and still delivers.
The last point I wish to touch on at this time is this: A successful website is able to be found. A recent survey found that up to 80% of websites surveyed were not easily found on (or indexed by) search engines. It is one thing handing out your business card with your website on it - it is quite another to be on the first page of a search result. Most websites fail dismally in this area, to a large extent because of the factors mentioned above. Search Engine Optimisation is not an exact science either, but a good web developer can take certain steps to ensure a higher ranking for those keywords that count (without resorting to keyword manipulation, I might add). Once again, this is a concept that is hardly touched on in the drawing rooms of website design, due possibly to a misunderstanding on the part of business, the designer, or both. Suffice to say a website that can't be found is a waste.
I intend to expand on the above points in later articles, and will link to them from here where applicable. Keep on coming back as I expand on what was mentioned here.