Good web page design
Just about every web page designer has a different view of what good web page design is. Some consider graphic design the deciding factor. Others consider interactive Flash as the end all of good web design. And still others consider good use of technology, or content or copy or navigation or…
We take a completely different approach to web design. To us there is only one consideration in determining if a web design is good. Simply put, a good web design is one that accomplishes the goals of the web site.
Far too often businesses (especially small businesses) find a web designer and tell them to build a web site with little or no thought about what the web site is supposed to accomplish… what the goals of the site are. While this can produce some exceptionally beautiful or technologically advanced web sites it seldom produces effective web sites.
So the first step in creating a good web site design has nothing to do with design and everything to do with business. The first step is defining the goals of your company and aligning the goals of your web site to your business goals.
Alignment is different for every business. For instance, some businesses may decide to create a web site that accepts orders to offload some of the phone orders they get because the phone orders require more sales time than online orders. If that is the goal of the site then you want to create a site with a simple product navigation and order process.
On the other hand, if your products almost always require a one-to-one telephone conversation your web site doesn’t need a simple order process. It needs to carefully present the options and then entice the customer to call.
Alignment is the process of insuring that all processes in your business (including your web site) are aligned with your business goals. Simply put, you must make sure that each section of your web site works toward meeting at least one of your business goals. This should be the design basis for every section of your site and everything drives from these goals. Without alignment, it’s impossible to have an effective web site. Even if it works great, it’s not going to move you toward meeting your business goals.
The second step in creating a good web site design is to make sure that each section of your site is tied to a business goal.
Let’s walk through a simple illustration of this. You have a business goal of increasing sales by 20% but you don’t want to add sales people. Your products are complex and the buying decision generally takes months. You know that it generally takes five sales contacts before a sale is made. Most of these sales contacts answer exactly the same customer questions. What can your web site do to help you toward your business goal?
There are several possibilities. You could have a Q & A section of the web site that answers the most often asked questions from your customers. Another approach may be to create an email list of potential customers and send them occasional emails with a list of commonly asked questions. Still another approach would be to have a random selection of those questions that change every time they see the page on your opening page. Each would have a link to the answers. To be successful this section of your site would have to reduce the average number of sales calls to close a sale.
Sure, graphic design, navigation, content and technology are important to a good design. But the fact is, the most beautifully designed site in the world… the slickest Flash site in the world… the most advanced technology site in the world… will do you little good if it does not move you toward meeting or exceeding your business goals.
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