This blog identifies the nine fundamental reasons why most websites ‘don’t work’; this will help you to choose a web design company that will make your site a success.

1. Breaking convention

Some companies, particularly those in more creative industries, want their site to be original. Sometimes this comes at the cost of breaking convention, which will cause instant failure for your website. There are certain conventions that any good web designer should know about. For example, everyone knows that if they click on an Add To Basket button it will place an item in their shopping basket, which will appear in the top right of their screen. If you call your button Place Item in Retail Receptacle and place the shopping basket in the bottom left you’ll have usability problems. It may be original, but it won’t work.

2. Building the website you want, not what your customers want

A websites specification will no doubt start off with visions of grandeur. If these take control of the project your website will ultimately be built for you and not your customers. It will contain all the things you want to see; the core aim of the site – to get your more customers – will be lost. When specifying your website ask yourself: what will urge potential customers to take action?

3. Getting the foundations wrong

Some web companies don’t have the experience to build websites correctly. They may look okay but an incorrectly built website is like incorrectly laying the foundations to a building. Superficially it may look okay and even perform fine in the short term but a badly built website will take longer to load and more time to update. More importantly it will be harder for users with special requirements – such as dyslexics and the partially sighted – to access.

4. Believing the search engine rumours

There is so much hot air surrounding websites and Internet marketing. Everyone has their own opinion as to how you appear at the top of a search engine’s results. You need to exercise caution as believing rumours can result in website failure. If you are told a particular piece of information, have it verified. Seeing as search engines update their criteria regularly check that the ‘fact’ was stated recently. Despite what some people may think, Google and the other search engines are far from human. They’re just another computer program and that means that they follow – robotically and without emotion – a set of rules (an algorithm). Since these rules are not made available to the public, only listen to search engine marketeers that have tried and tested their claims. It’s the only way to separate the truth from the lies.

5. Making the website yourself

A lot of people make their own website. It’s certainly possible but it’s not a good idea. It takes years and years to know how to make a website work. If you give the site to someone inexperienced you risk seriously damaging your online credibility.

6. Working with a traditional print or graphic design agency

The web is a medium in itself. People using a website access the information very differently to if they are reading a magazine or newspaper. Website users are usually looking for something – a product or service – whereas magazine and newspaper readers are casually digesting information. The former scan the content looking to take action whereas the latter take in most of the information. Traditional agencies will directly port print literature and put it online; it simply doesn’t work.

7. Over specifying

Some developers add features to your website simply because they can, or because it’s a way of bloating the project – and their invoice. But over-specifying doesn’t just needlessly cost you more money, it delays the website completion date.

8. Paying for traffic

Unless you’re in a highly, highly competitive industry, a good web design company should be able to get you free search engine traffic by getting your website to appear in the major search engine results for given search terms. While it can take time to see these results they are relatively easy to attain and maintain. Inexperienced web companies will be unaware of how to do this and will get you to spend money on traditional marketing methods and paid web advertisements. Even in competative industries it’s possible to localise your search phrases to limit the competition.

9. No calls-to-action

Calls-to-action are links, buttons, et cetera that incite the user to take action, whether it is to fill out an enquiry form or buy a product. It’s amazing how many web designers forget this critical element. If you don’t ask them to take action on your site, how will it be a success?

Conclusion

Despite what most people think, getting a website to work properly is a huge balancing act of many different factors. The more people that get involved and the more angles people approach the project from – design, development, marketing and so on – the more difficult it can be to get the balance right. When considering which company to use for your web project be sure to use an experienced company/individual that have/has the balance right. Avoid companies that offer lots of other services alongside web design or that are historically known for their print and graphic design work. Ensure the customer-facing person assigned to you understands how websites work and isn’t part of a team so large that they can’t balance these factors correctly.

If you’re interested in getting a website that does work, get a free, no obligation quote now. I’m always happy to help.

So why pay a web developer if you or someone else can do it for free? Particularly in this economic climate many may see the importance of a website in a recession but still choose this cheaper option. Here we list a few reasons why you should always use a professional web designer.

The need to be search engine friendly

Have you stopped to think how people will find this new site of yours? Search engines use very complex criteria to determine where your site appears in its listings. Such knowledge does not come to you overnight. To achieve successful search engine results you need to predict the behaviour of your prospective customers and then build your website accordingly.

Usability

If and when visitors get to your site, what will they do when they get there? Usability is the fine art of getting people to take action on your site (e.g. fill out a form or buy a product). Web users have short attention spans and little patience; if they can’t find what they are looking for in a short amount of time they’ll leave. A good web designer knows how to make a site usable, that is, a site in which more visitors will take action.

Testing, testing and testing

If you do your own site it will likely be the first one you’ve done. Or at most, you may have done a few other. A good web designer will have been involved in many different sites for many different industries. All this experience goes towards knowing what does work online and what doesn’t. How can you know your site will work for you if you’ve never tested anything out before?

No website is better than a poor website

Even if it’s not a money-making machine, a website can at least help your business by offering you online credibility. Beware though, just as a good site can give you credibility, a poor one can give the impression you lack it. It’s better not to bother with a site that put together a third-rate one yourself.

Making a site yourself doesn’t save you money, it costs you more

I’ve done lots of site re-designs over the years; people soon learn they need to pay for a proper job eventually. So making a site yourself – to save money – ironically costs you more. Even if your first self-designed site was free, think of all those years it’s been damaging your business instead of helping it grow.

It takes years . . .

Most professional web designers and developers have many years of experience under their belts. A decade, for example, is a long time in terms of the age of the Internet. Even a web designer or developer with that much experience would admit they don’t know it all and are learning new things every day. So what chance does a newcomer have?

Conclusion

Are you still thinking about doing that website yourself? Think carefully. Very carefully. If you’re serious about having a website that makes your business money do yourself a favour and leave it to a professional.

1. More cost-effective than any other marketing

The knee-jerk reaction when funds are low is to reduce head count and cut spending. So it is natural that you want to get the most for your money. Websites are one of the most cost-effective (not to mention powerful) ways to market your business. When compared to more traditional advertising channels such as magazine advertising, Internet marketing is a bargain. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising programmes such as Google AdWords and Yahoo Overture can offer you measurable (see point 4) and instant results without forcing you to commit large chunks of cash at a time. In fact, it’s not uncommon to be able to fund a years worth of Internet marketing for the same price as a month of a costly advert or exhibition.

2. Search engine traffic is free

If you invest money in SEO (search engine optimisation) you can start appearing in the organic search engine listings – they’re the ones of the left hand side of the page. Unlike PPC-based Internet marketing this kind of search engine traffic is free. Yes, you have to pay a company in the first instance to get you to the top but once you’re there, there’s nothing else to pay. What could be better at this time than FREE traffic to your site?

3. Economy receding, Internet growing

Despite what the economy may be doing, the Internet is getting ever larger. There’s lots of talk of consumers spending less money yet sales through eCommerce continues to grow year-on-year. Even among the less computer-literate, the Internet has a reputation for offering better value for money so it’s the place your potential customers will turn to when they start feeling the pinch. Even if your business isn’t suited to having an online shop that doesn’t mean you can’t make money from your web site. Any website can serve as a cost-effective lead generation machine and advertisement of your services. In fact, if you aren’t making money from your site – directly or indirectly – then why have it at all? Fix it or ditch it!

4. Measurable results

Unlike advertising in magazines or sending out direct mail, a website lets you accurately measure your results. You can record all your online enquiries, install sophisticated website statistics software and track conversions. When every penny counts, it’s important to know what works and what doesn’t.

5. A website is your ideal employee

A properly built website works hard for you and your company. It functions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s never late for work, it will never call in sick and it will never take a day’s holiday. When budgets are cut and times are tough your website is arguably one of your most important assets. Neglect it at your cost!

So in this time of economic doom and gloom, if you want to make more of your marketing budget or you don’t yet have a site but want one that works, call me on 067 56670 or get a free quote.