Web Site Design

Before we talk about Web Site Design, ask yourself this question:

Why does my company need a web site?

A simple question you might think, but one that many companies seem to overlook, before asking us to design their web site for them.

What people care about is solving their problems.
Most people visit a web site to solve one or more of these three problems:

1. They want or need information
2. They want or need to make a purchase
3. They want or need to be entertained.

Too many companies believe that a web site is about opening a new marketing channel or promoting a brand or to increase company sales by 15%.

It's about solving your customers' problems

Keep in mind the following two statements:

1. The only reason my web site exists is to solve my customers' problems.
2. What problems does the page I'm looking at solve?

Web Standards

We promote good coding practice and compliance to the Web and Usability standards, but these standard are simply useful tools.

Remember, nobody gets excited about the tools used to build a car ("Please tell me what brand of spanners you used!"). People get excited about how the car looks and performs.

Your Company Homepage

You should be able to look at the home page of any site and figure out what the site is about within a few seconds. If you can't, your site has failed the first basic test.

Navigation

No matter where you are in a web site, a good navigational structure is extremely important. Your visitors should be able to know:

1. Where they are
2. Where they have been
3. Where they can go next
4. Where the Home Page is

Page Content

"What content do I have that would cause anybody in their right mind to visit my site a second, third, or fourth time?"

This is extremely important. You might get someone to visit your site once, but why would they want to come back a second, third, or fourth time? If you can't answer this question, you really shouldn't have a web site.

1. Is the content technically correct?
2. Does your customer need to know the content you're presenting?
3. Is the content current and updated frequently?
4. Can people find the content they're looking for?