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Brick No9: The problem with web developers
By Matt Weston, Friday 17 October 2003 The problem with web designers and developers (and I've dealt with the good, the bad and the ugly) is that they generally know more about making sites look state-of-the-art, than making you money. I believe that when it comes to making money out of a website, you know best. After all, it's your product or service, and your customers. Ok, let the web guy look after the design, development and coding, but it's your job, as an entrepreneur to sit in the driver's seat to define the site's prime objective and make sure that the site is developed to achieve this. I strongly advise that, before you even get quotes from web developers, you do these two things - (1) Work out your prime objective (2) Mock up a website, just on paper, that you think will deliver those objectives. Only then are you ready to get input and ideas from web developers. You are the only person who can do these two things, even if your only experience online has been as an occasional web user. Of the numerous websites I've launched, the most successful was the simplest, cheapest and probably least attractive to the discerning designer's eye. I knew no HTML, but I did know what I wanted the site to do. The live site came very close to my initial vision - the web developers appreciated the tight spec I gave them. And it delivered great results. Work out your prime objective, and obsessively focus on it The first step is to work out what you really want the site to do. What is your single most important objective? Do you want to sell your product direct 'off the page'? Or would it be more realistic to use the site as a means of establishing dialogue, perhaps through email signup? Perhaps you want your site to add value to the service you provide existing customers - to help you upsell customers to new products or services. Set targets. What return on investment do you need or want to achieve? How will your website deliver that? Most small businesses spend too much money on a website that's muddled and delivers nothing. It's estimated that there's only about 25 people online for every site on the internet. So people's attention is spread pretty thinly - why should your site be one that makes money? You need a clear answer. Don't try to have too many objectives. One is plenty. Too many sites try to offer a one-stop-shop. Yahoo! and AOL are amongst the handful who've had sustained popularity (if not profits). Stick to one key objective, otherwise you'll probably fail to achieve anything at all. I'm looking to launch a site for business bricks by the end of next week. But it won't be of much interest to you, because it's a sign up site for the newsletter you're already reading. businessbricks.co.uk will have one overriding objective - to maximise the percentage of people visiting who sign up. And the whole site will focus wholly on that - there will be no external links, banners or distractions - only blurb extolling the benefits of this newsletter and why you should sign up. I'm confident it will work - and it's so simple it will cost next to nothing. #2 and #3 are the ways to win I like what Seth Godin (Author of Permission Marketing, amongst others) says about web pages: 'You only have four paths: 1. Get someone to buy something right now 2. Get someone to give you their email address so you can build a relationship 3. Get someone to tell a friend 4. Get someone to go to another page on your site. That's it. Only four things worth doing. So, what are you trying to accomplish? (Hint: picking one works better than picking two, and picking more than two is silly.) I think we've learned that for most ecommerce sites, #2 and #3 are the ways to win. So, my advice to you is to figure out what you want, then figure out what you can get, and obsessively focus on doing just that.' You must remember KISS Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) is a rule of thumb that you can apply to almost every business message you put out to customers: phone calls, sales pitches, product launches and yes, new websites. The simpler the site, the easier it is to make the visitor do what you want, the better the results (and the lower your web development bill!). I've made a list of 7 KISS basics to get you started - 1. Make sure your first page loads quickly - 10 seconds at the very most. You have a total of 30 seconds to impress, so loading time is wasted time. Jettison unnecessary images, especially moving ones - they slow everything down. The simpler the site the quicker it will load 2. Make sure the font is easy to read - you can't go far wrong with Verdana or Arial 3. Look at sites that work for you, sites you find really user friendly - most of my favourites stick to simple backgrounds, usually white. It's easier to read text on a white background 4. Lift design ideas from big sites, like Yahoo!, BBC, ebay and Amazon. They've spent millions between them on building and testing effective websites - learn the lessons they've learnt 5. Keep to web protocols. Effective websites seem to be getting closer and closer to a norm. We're familiar with links being underlined and listed down the left hand side of the screen (or on a toolbar at the top). We expect a logo in the top left corner that clicks back to the homepage. If your website is familiar, it is more likely to be intuitive to use 6. The two click rule - your visitors should be able to do what they want to within a maximum of TWO clicks, eg find information, buy your product, find your phone number. If you're selling, focus on the sale. Make it easy to buy 7. Keep your site navigation consistent on every page, and easy to follow Do an A3 Mock Up Before you go out to get quotes, do an A3 mock up of your homepage, and then the rest of your website. Don't worry about it looking great, just sketch it out in felt tip. Try to imagine yourself as a user. Prioritise what is important against what isn't. Test your mock up by highlighting those areas of the site that help you achieve your prime objective. Navigation and relevant content are good, filler, graphics and banners not good. Can you improve it? Aim for at least 70% of the active space to be working towards achieving your prime objective. Remember to sign up: back to top |
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