Pitfalls, traps and other disasters for website owners.
The Dark Side
Getting a site that ”sucks”
For the record, "suck" (believe it or not) is a valid technical Internet term. It is most often used in conjunction with:
Any website that is less than current Internet standards suggest for appearance, functionality, visitor friendliness or all of the preceeding.
What makes a site suck are things like:
Amateurish appearance and construction. A prime indicator are those sites where you always have to return to the Home Page to select another page on the site (among others).
It’s just a brochure. What’s wrong with that? Short explanation:
J. Conrad Levinson, author of the highly-regarded Guerilla Marketing books notes that current-day website visitors are often more sophisticated than their owners realize. Gone are the casual "surfers" of just 5 years ago. What Internet visitors demand from a website these days are:
A way to get current information - immediately. Email you? Ha! Forget it! If they can’t find what they want on your site just by looking at it, they will go to another site where they can...
A way to communicate with others or the site owner for special situations - immediately. Given a choice between a website that opens a visitor’s email program so they can compose a message or filling out a simple contact form - they will go for the contact form every time.
Solve their personal goals for being on the Internet - in the least amount of time possible. Can they pay you with a credit card for a deposite for your service? Can they pay invoices online with plastic? Can they fillout a questionnaire to save them time? If not - why bother with a website?
Anything that flashes on a website, be it a graphic, a Flash movie or text. Most visitors (myself included) cannot get away from those sites fast enough!
Artsy websites or sites so overladen with photos their overall appearance is inconsistent with the nature of the site.
And, as they say, the list goes on (and on and on...).
The real "catch" is that the implied "standards" for websites change about every 6 months. What is "good" today might be considered "inappropriate" in short order.
HirMon & Associates will tell you this in person (and we hope to meet you one day), but until then there is one way to avoid ending up with a site that sucks:
Do some serious marketing research.
Quite often, we get clients that are so tunnel-visioned about their concept for a website that we have to almost whack them up side the head to get their attention!
Here’s how to get started:
Take a minimum of one week and chase down every website you can find that has a topic similar to the one you have in mind. Open your word processor and note:
The website address
What you like about the site
What you don’t like about the site
What are they doing that you haven’t thought of
Play "visitor" and note how well can you find information or "do things" on their site
Remember: Your business is not unique. For any given topic, I can usually find a mimimum of 10,000-20,000 sites with a similar focus. That’s your competition - learn everything you can and avoid the temptation to do a quick-and-dirty evaluation for every site.
Try thinking like a visitor to your site. The basic pages that go into a site are probably going to represent the "most commonly asked for information;" go one step further:
What other kinds of information might you provide on your website? It is common for a number of sites to offer free downloads of things like: flyers, brochures, price lists, menus, samples of work and so forth.
Do you mail out a Press Kit of any sort? Put it online as a download and save a bunch of money in postage costs alone!
Is there some sort of form you need filled out as part of your business? Put it online and let the visitors do the work. Even if they are hesitant to do so, you can always access your own site and fill out the form for them!
How "convenient" can you make your site? A lot of these articles suggest providing a way for client to make deposits and pay invoices online - and that is the God’s honest truth - most clients prefer to get details like that over and done with in the quickest way possible!
What can you give away (as in: for free) on your website as an incentive to keep visitors coming back regularly (remember that old sales wheeze: Keep your name in front of potential clients as often as you can?) Get creative.
That’s where to start and if you need further assistance, try our Contact Page.
