What makes a good website design? If you ask this question you may get hundreds of conflicting responses. Check out website awards — who is winning and why? It seems to me that it is usually some cool flash site that wins the awards, not craigslist. I would argue that craigslist is one of the best sites around. Why? It is highly effective in doing what it was designed to do and it is highly utilized. It is also pretty ugly from the viewpoint of aesthetics and certainly it is not “cool” and trendy from a technology perspective. It looks much the same today as when it launched.

Different Designs for different purposes

So what is my point? In order to design a great website, it needs to fit its purpose and accomplish it. What that looks like could be a cool flash site or it could just as easily be a plain jane html site. From my perspective, I prefer to use sites that look appealing and are easy to read. But I use craig’s list plenty when I want to find a new home for my used stuff or I have an apartment to rent.

What is your objective in having a website? Are you looking for repeat traffic; to sell something; to create an impression about your business; to publish lots of articles? The reason for the site dictates the design. The awards should go to the sites that most effectively meet their objectives.

If you are getting ready to build a new website here are some things to consider before you start and before you choose a web firm.

1) Clear goals: Do you know exactly what you are trying to achieve with your project? You want to start with a clear definition. Good web development firms are willing to help with this part of the project — at a cost. The more your goals are clearly defined, the less time the web team will spend defining scope, the lower the cost to you. There may be situations in which you would like some help with the definition and strategy. Be sure that you choose a team that has the strong experience in this area. There are many talented folks building sites, but do they see the big picture? Can they suggest better directions and outcomes for you?

2) Scope: You want to be sure to define what will be included in the new site. How large is your project? How much content will you be presenting? What types of transactions need to be available? Are you interested in extras like flash? The web firm will ask you these questions. Again, if you are clear about what you want, the definition phase of the project will be greatly simplified. If you want more guidance about the scope, be sure that your vendor is capable of working with you on a strategy.

3) Assets: These are the things that make up the look and content of the site - copy and images. How will the copy be written? Will you provide all of the content or do you need someone to help with copywriting? At a minimum you will want an editor to review everything before you go live. What about photos? Do you have high-quality photos of your subject, will you be using stock photos or will you need custom shots for your site? If you are not sure, be sure to talk this over with your web firm before you get started.

4) Audience: Who will be using your site? How will they find you? This seems pretty straightforward, but often there are unrealistic expectations about how much traffic your site will get. If you need people to find you through search engines, a lot of attention must be paid to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This starts before the first design is drawn or line of code is written. You may love flash designs, but they do not work well for SEO purposes. On the other hand, maybe you have a built in audience and you do not want to register high on search engines — then a flash site may be perfect for you.

5) Maintenance: It seems silly to be thinking about maintenance of a site before you even get started, but this is the key to success. We assume that you want people to use your site for whatever purpose it was designed. Usually this means that it needs to be current. Even the simplest brochure-ware site must keep all of the information current. Who is going to do this and how? Are you contemplating a site with a content management system to make updates easy for anyone to do? If you want people to return to your site frequently you will need content that is fresh, valuable and enticing. How are you going to accomplish this?

There are many ways that we can help you to create a beautiful website that meets your goals. We are especially good at bringing ideas forward during the strategy phase. If you would just like to talk to someone experienced about your project, we offer a one-hour FREE strategy session. Sign up for yours; we look forward to hearing from you!

The internet highway and the interstate highway have something in common, they are littered with advertising. Interstate billboard ads are large and stand out, appearing one after the other giving you about 5 seconds before you pass it by and the next billboard appears. On the internet you don’t have that luxury. For example, with Google’s Adwords program, your ad will be three lines of text and appear with other three line text ads. Your challenge is to differentiate yourself and do it fast because research shows that you only have about 3 seconds to get someone’s attention.

To create an effective online ad for Google Adwords, your ad should be structured so that line one is the Headline, line two will be the benefits statement and line three will focus on features. Take a look at these 3 ads:

Headline

The first line is the Headline, the offer. Do not be generic in your message! Be direct and specific and get to the point because you have less than one second to connect with a reader. Take a look ad the ads above. The first ad’s message is innovation, the second ad is specific to type of bicyclist and the third and is brand specific. Each of these ads are about bicycles but are targeted to a specific audience. The reader can tell right away if your store will meet their needs. This saves the reader time and will save you money by avoiding click-throughs by consumers who do not match your target market.

Benefits

The second line is your benefits statement, how the customer will benefit from your product. If your prices are lower than others, then say so. If the main benefit is quality then say so. Again you have less than a second to show the benefit. Make it clear and concise. In each of these ads the benefit is clear. The first ad focus’ on no hassle fun, the second ad focus’ on price and the third ad focus’ on innovation and price.

Feature

The last line should emphasize the primary feature of your product. The feature line should state why the benefit line is important. Take a look at the ads above. The first ad appeals to what a rider of the chainless bicycle will experience. The second ad focus’ on inventory (one stop shopping) and the third ad instills confidence and a call to action. What they all have in common is that each appeals to an emotion. The headline and benefits line appeal to the intellectual side, the feature line, the experiential line is what will lead the reader to take action.

Ad Testing

With Google Adwords, you can create ad variations to test which is most successful. Use this feature! It will allow you to test different ad variations to find the one that works best for you. In many cases, one word may be the difference between a successful ad campaign. For example, a campaign for exercise equipment may read “enhance stamina” and another ad may read “enhances stamina”. You’d think that there is not much difference but in fact, the ad reading “enhances stamina” did much better. Why? Because “enhance stamina” says that if you do something, there is a possibility of better stamina. “Enhances stamina” says that the exercise equipment will enhance you stamina for you.

Creating an successful ad is only one step in converting a sale. You can convince a customer to click on your ad but if your landing page is not designed to convert a sale, you’ll have wasted your money. More on this in an upcoming article, Creating a Landing Page.