Utah Web Design » Web Design

Don’t Make Me Think

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:52:13 +0000

One of the most frustrating things I hate about browsing the internet and going on people’s websites is the fact that I can’t find information and I have to think about what they are trying to offer or say.

This is where effective site navigation and more simply put, directions for a monkey. The average internet user reads on a 3rd to 6th grade level and do not want to have to uncover, dig, or do massive research to find things.

People do not go onto the internet to go on a massive mission to try and uncover secret information, they go on the internet to find information in the simplest and easiest way possible. To make your mission easier as a website owner you have to make the way people can find information on your website the easiest way possible.

The overall goal as an internet business owner is to:

get people to your website
help them find very good valuable information
help them to want to come back

So the best way to do this is as you are running your internet business you should ask yourself this question: Am I making my visitors have to think hard to be on my website?

As an internet user myself I hate being on websites where I have to think about what I am doing. Browsing a website should be as easy as walking or chewing gum. I know not everyone can walk and chew gum at the same time and that is just a fact of life.

But the majority of people can and so when they are on a website they want it to be just another thing that they do on a consistent basis. The better you can guide people and help them find things then the higher success you will recieve.

Think about Google, they are the foremost successful company in helping people find information on anything. Google’s mission says it all, they want to build the best search engine in the world and organize the world’s content and information so people can find it.

As you look at the advances of Google you can see how they have made this possible. Although Google has some of the most powerful technology in the world they make it very easy to find information. Anyone can use Google because it is so simple to use.

This is how every website should work. Awesome technology and services that is easy to use for everyone.

So as an internet user I beg you when you build your website:

Don’t Make Me Think

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Add A Frequently Asked Questions Page

admin — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:40:11 +0000

Every industry has its own type of questions that people ask over and over again. There are a couple things you could do:

1. Keep answering the questions

2. Put a list of FAQ on your website with your answers

3. Print out a sheet with FAQ

My advice is to do number 2 and 3. By placing some of the most frequently asked questions on your website it will decrease the amount of questions that people ask over and over. Plus it will allow you to refer customers to your website.

Often people do not use their website as a tool. A website should have enough information on it that a customer can receive a lot of answers and information without having to talk to customer service reps. You should always refer people to your website as much as possible.

For example lets say you are asking me a question and I answer it along with another one, this is perfect to be answering peoples questions but far to many people miss the chance to send people to their website. In this instance I would answer the questions and then say “we have a lot more information on our website as well that might be of use to you”.

Remember the purpose of having a website is to help you sell whatever you offer whether it is a product or service. Having a FAQ page is by far one of the most useful tools to have on your website. Use your website as a you would use a roomful of customer service reps and sales reps.

This is why having a website is so useful is because it can do a lot of the repititious answering and taking orders and free up your time to do other things. Having a website is supposed to make your company look bigger and the best way to do that is to let it answer a lot of the frequently asked questions so you do not have to.

Let your website do a lot of the hard work.

This will help you in your marketing efforts greatly. Search engines also can see that you have frequently asked pages and know that your website is trying to of benefit to users and they love that.

When building a FAQ page there are different ways to do it. You might do the top 10 questions or whatever you feel are the most asked questions. Always allow for people to go back to the top of the page after each question and answer as this will help them find things fast as well.

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Using Anchor Points

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:34:20 +0000

When designing a website you have to appeal to the eyes of a reader. You have to grab their attention in a relatively short amount of time. Here you can see what looks like an outline of a paper that you would write for an assignment. When you see this structure you will see the anchor points.

This layout is nice and cleanly organized to easily find information. As you can see there are what we call anchor points that will draw the eye: clients, web development, web design, web marketing, service areas, and forms. These are to the left with their sub-categories indented making the parent of the sub-categories stand out. These are anchor points that will draw the eye as a visitor comes to the site.

A visitor generally makes a decision if they are going to continue to stay on a website within 8 seconds. That is a very short time span that a website owner has to grab the visitors attention. By using anchor points it will also help navigate a user to what they would be most interested in.

The navigation of a site is like road signs. The more clear and concise they are the faster and easier it is for a user to navigate through the site and find the information they were browsing or looking for.

This type of navigation will also help the search engines as the layout is clear and the information is easy to find to the web crawler. The search engine optimization process will be much easier as well. With proper layout of a website, it will also ensure that the website can grow and not effect the structure.

Remember if your website does not grab the attention and help people within 8 seconds then it does not matter what content you have on your website or what products you offer if the visitor leaves.

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5 Questions of a Website

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:34:26 +0000

There are 5 questions that you need to ask yourself before building your website.

1) What is the objective of your website?

- Most companies have a website for the simple reason that everyone else has one including their competitors. The primary reasons companies need websites is because it makes them look bigger than they really are. The primary focus of your website should be to satisfy customer needs.

2) Who is your target audience?

- Identifying who and what kind of people will be visiting your site will play a big factor in the layout and words. For example if the site is geared toward a large demographic of engineers then it would be tailored completely opposite than if it was geared toward college students. However never create content that will be above the level of intelligence than your target demographic.

3) What does a visitor expect from your website?

- Depending on the target group of people there will be some differences, but primarily the user is looking for information, prices, ordering information, company information and more. If you have identified the niche group of individuals you are targeting then you will be able to meet your visitors expectations in content and design.

4) What do yo want the visitor to leave with?

- Once you have identified what your visitor expects from your site then it is important to determine what you want them to leave with. Are you looking to improve your brand image, improve the sales cycle system, or ensure you have answered all of their questions. Ask yourself what is it that you want your visitors to leave with and can you address those issues in your content and design.

5) Why should someone return to your website?

- Have you answered why a visitor should bookmark your site so they will come back. If you are not driving repeat customer traffic back to your site then all of your web efforts are in vain. You should ask yourself “Why should someone return to my site?. Are you providing relevant information, do you sell them on how your product makes their life easier. If you provide value they will return.

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Characteristics of a Structured Website

admin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:52:13 +0000

There are many different styles and looks of websites. There are however some characteristics that should always be kept in mind when designing and creating websites. Here are some characteristics:

1) Flexible - The site should provide alternative ways of gathering information.

2) Revealing - The site should reveal content so that users don’t have to exhort to much effort into gathering and figuring out where items of interest are located.

3) Manageable - It should be easy for the owners of the site to make changes and keep the structure.

4) Navigable - Users can move easily within the site.

5) Expandable - The site should allow for additions of content without compromising the structure and layout.

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