Stage 1 - Style Over
Substance
The first stage is to
design a site that the
CEO, venture
capitalists, and ad
agencies like to see.
There are all types of
"bells and whistles" in
this design. An entire
site might be a Flash
site. Or there might be
some beautiful
JavaScript mouse over
effects or drop-down
menus in the design.
It's always a pretty
design, but the message
is clear -- style over
substance.
Stage 2 - Designing for
Online Visibility
In Stage 2, the
reality of an
ineffective web design
begins to hit, usually
around 3-6 months after
the initial launch. A
site will typically get
rejected by many of the
major directories, not
be indexed by the major
search engines, or not
get the traffic or sales
that were projected
based on the various
types of marketing
strategies used.
Typically, that's when
companies decide that
they will try to hire a
professional online
marketer to promote the
site. Doorway page
companies, in some way,
shape or form, rear
their ugly heads.
Unfortunately, many
web site owners fall for
a doorway page company's
pitch because the
beautifully designed
site couldn't possibly
be the problem with low
site traffic. Yahoo
might have rejected a
site, or the site might
have been listed in
Yahoo and the company
cannot understand why
they have no description
next to their company
name. But in no way
would many ad agencies
or doorway page
companies want to tell
potential clients the
truth -- they simply did
not design and write an
effective web site --
because it would mean
losing thousands of
dollars in business.
Stage 3 - Designing for
Your Audience
By Stage 3, after
spending an exorbitant
amount of money on
pretty web site designs
and various marketing
strategies, web site
owners generally figure
out that they did not
design or write an
effective Web site for
their target audience.
Typically, web site
owners will bring in a
usability expert to
analyze potential
problems and present
various solutions.
Bringing in a search
engine marketing expert
to help with
search-engine friendly
design early in the
design phase can save a
company thousands of
dollars in online
marketing costs.
Stage 4 - Site Redesign
After careful
usability and search
engine visibility
analyses, web site
owners finally have an
effective web site. A
web site that is written,
coded and designed for
user friendliness and
search engine visibility
generally gets the most
traffic and resulting
sales because it was
written, programmed, and
designed for end users.
Conclusion
Web sites should
always be designed with
your target audience in
mind, not your own
personal preferences.
Colors have meaning.
Professional designers
understand the
psychology of color and
the use of white space to best
project the image your
audience wishes to see.
(For example, try not to
use the color red on a
financial site.)
Understanding the
products/services/information
your target audience is
searching for is
paramount to designing
and maintaining an
effective web site. When
you launch a site, you
might have to make an
educated guess as to
what your target
audience wants. After
that, tools such as site
statistics software and
reporting from site
searches tell you
exactly what your
visitors are looking
for. Then content and
marketing strategies can
be adjusted accordingly.
Unless the advanced
technology clearly
benefits end users, do
not use it on your site.
If your venture
capitalists or CEOs or
lawyers like the site,
ask if they are going to
spend the thousands or
millions of dollars to
keep you in business.
They're not.
Your target audience
who will ultimately
determine the success or
failure of your web site |
