Has
Your Design Firm Run Amuck With Your Web Site?
by: Lee Traupel
What's happening to good web site design? Somehow
we creative types at interactive and traditional ad
agencies have run amuck - we're building web sites
that may dazzle the senses, but don't really communicate
much about our client's business or products and services!
1. Somehow I don't think anyone has a burning desire
to spend 30-60 seconds on the Index page of a web
site while another fancy Flash animation loads, complete
with snazzy graphics, audio, and way cool cutting
edge graphics - not!! People want to get real information,
not razzle-dazzle graphics showing how great a developer
is using the latest whiz bang technology!
2. I thought Frames went out of style like adding
a .com to your company's name. Apparently not, as
there are still lots of web sites using Frames - forcing
users to see a web site with mix and match (bad) graphics,
odd menus and just a plain ugly interface.
3. I some times wonder if some of my fellow design
geeks all own Adobe stock, or they are just trying
to make sure HTML disappears as a content standard.
The last thing many people want is to sit and watch
as their 56 kbps dial up struggles with opening a
doc in Adobe's proprietary PDF format - many click
off and are gone to the next web site. Content should
be offered in HTML or Word format, both of which open
instantly - no, I don't own any Microsoft shares!
4. Another popular time waster appears to be designing
web sites that require people to list all of their
contact points, including first born children, their
dog's pedigree - etc. Registration forms should be
short and no more than 4-5 entries that just require
fundamental contact information.
5. What's the value in running contests, games and
other technology-enabled multimedia content on a web
site? Recent studies have indicated most of the online
user community isn't interested in a web site that
drives branding - they simply want information about
a company's goods and services.
6. The web is a wonderful medium for customer acquisition
but it also works as a valuable tool for building
dialogue with customers - approx 75% of the online
community does not mind filling out short forms that
ask them questions about goods and services, or providing
feedback. More sites should ask people for their opinions
and reviews - they don't mind sharing them and these
comments provide valuable insight.
7. Content is still one of, if not the most important
variables in good web site design. Today's savvy surfer
doesn't want content presented in book form; they
want short paragraphs with lots of white space, not
long textual columns in a type font that forces anyone
over 30 (perish the thought there are people on the
web over 30) to put on their glasses and squint at
the screen.
8. We marketing types jumped on the community bandwagon
12-18 months back - you couldn't read an article about
web site marketing unless "community" wasn't
included as a buzzword du jour! Well, times have changed,
or maybe we all came to our senses - today's web user
wants baseline information they don't want to chat
with other users via web site or read about shared
interests - give them information in "content
bytes' and let AOL worry about building a community!
About The Author
Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of business development
and marketing experience - he is the founder of Intelective
Communications, Inc., http://www.intelective.com,
a results-driven marketing services company providing
proprietary services to clients encompassing startups
to public companies. Lee@intelective.com
Lee@intelective.com
