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When designing and architecting your site, do
you begin with your end user in mind?
There are key things to consider when designing
and developing your Web pages that will ensure your customers
have a positive experience when visiting your site. Each positive
experience can influence them to make return visits, recommend
your site to a friend and ultimately conduct business with
you on-line. All are major reasons for investing in an effectively
and efficiently designed Internet presence.
Consider the following guidelines as a means
to afford you the greatest return on your investment:
Have you designed and developed a 'speedy site'? Be sure that
you manage your download time. Some researchers indicate that
each page of your Web site should be no larger than 50K considering
that most users are still using relatively slow modems to
connect to the Internet. Studies indicate that users (patient
ones at least) will wait a maximum of 10 seconds for a page
to fully download before they lose interest and go elsewhere,
perhaps to a competitor. Use graphics in compressed formats
and only when they add to the
visitor's experience.
Even if there are only de facto standards regarding site design,
they are being recognized by increasing numbers of Web users.
For example, there are traditional colors to indicate that
a link has been seen by a visitor. Blue indicates that a link
has not yet been viewed, while red or purple indicates that
the visitor has already clicked there. In addition, be careful
with underlining when composing text. It traditionally indicates
that a link is present. The idea is to be aware of and appropriately
use the commonly accepted conventions for the user interface.
Outdated information or links that lead to error pages will
do nothing to attract or retain an audience. Don't fall into
the trap of creating your site and then saying it is complete.
Good Web management is just that. It includes a plan for maintenance,
refinement and growth...just like the rest of your business.
This is really tied to the question, who is your audience?
Ensure that your text and graphics appropriately complement
your message. Does your language, colors and organization
match your goals? Think about the significant differences
that would exist in site design if it were focused on effectively
appealing to teens vs. information technical professionals.
Ensure that the branding of your site is consistent. For example,
use the same help icons and put them in the same place on
each page of your site. Use the same term to mean the same
thing as clients navigate through different parts of your
site (i.e. don't label a link with the word 'help' in one
spot and 'support' or 'help desk' elsewhere). Consistent language
that is crisp yet informative is a major contributor to your
site being intuitive.
Try to limit use of scrolling text, animations, blinking objects
and the like. Studies have indicated that visitors' peripheral
vision is often overwhelmed by this attack on their visual
senses. Besides, they may equate the active presentations
with advertisements and may summarily dismiss your message.
The result is that they may never access important areas on
your site.
Be conscious of the fact that more and more later adopters
are using the Web. They often have less tolerance and patience
for the use of technology for technology's sake. Keeping the
site clean and simple to navigate goes a long way. In the
best case, fancy effects are often not worth taking up the
visitor's precious time. In the worse case, more damage could
be done by making the site unnecessarily complex along with
the possibility of causing errors in the user interface.
Be careful with long, scrolling text. Writing for the Web
supports the idea of beginning with the key point(s) you want
to make in simple condensed paragraph format, and then allowing
the visitor to 'click' for more details if they choose to
do so. Time is critical for most visitors and they are often
looking to scan for information rather than read full a document
on the screen.
Communicate with your visitors through e-mail. As was mentioned
in Jim Lenskold's earlier article, "10 Reasons to Start
e-mail Marketing Today", it's very powerful. Over 70%
of companies surveyed see the value of opt-in e-mail as being
very valuable. Getting clear permission from visitors to communicate
about topics that they view are important creates a robust
ongoing relationship and gives them a reason to come back
for further interactions with you through your site.
There are many economical ways to collect data regarding visitor
preferences and their navigation behaviors. Much of this can
be automatically done through the use of software and establishing
easy to read visitor files. By tracking visitor movements,
it is possible to determine what features they are using most
often and exactly how they are finding content. The harvesting
of this information can serve as means for continuous site
refinement and improvement. This in turn can be instrumental
in drawing repeat visitations to your site and thus generate
more business.
For more information regarding Web usability, see Designing
Web Usability by Jacob Nielsen, the Web usability czar. Additional
information can be found on Dr. Nielsen's site at www.useit.com
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About the Author - Linda Hetcher is Vice President of Professional
Services at Concurrent Technologies in Liberty Corner, NJ.
Concurrent Technologies designs and develops custom Web-based
interactive solutions. In the business for 15 years, the firm
is an Application Service Provider offering a range of services
from e-business strategy to complete technology outsourcing.
Contact: Marketing Dept. at 908.604.6100 or
email: Press@ConcurrentTechnologies.com.
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