How's My Site?

Designing (or redesigning) your Web site can be fun. Of course you know your company’s products or capabilities well, so it’s easy for you to understand how the pieces come together. But when it comes to the bottom line, your appreciation of the site is not what really matters. The success of the site is dependent on how well it communicates to its visitors.

Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer. What if you were the customer, searching for a company who could make the parts your company makes now? If you came across your current site in that situation, would it communicate the message that the company can do the job effectively?

Your Web site not only needs to communicate this message, but it needs to shout it so it’s heard within seconds of arriving at the site. But how is this done? A carefully planned site tells visitors very quickly and clearly exactly what the company does and why it does it better than the competition. It makes people feel comfortable wanting to buy from this company without looking any further. In fact, once the person leaves the site to look elsewhere, there’s only a slim chance he or she will return.

Sometimes when determining the best way to do something, it helps to consider what not to do. At www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs you’ll find a humorous compilation of many common mistakes in Web design. While this site exaggerates these mistakes for effect, it serves as a reminder that in Web design, simpler is quite often better. If visitors to your site can actually find what they are looking for, they don’t have a reason to look
any further.