Thoughts and Considerations - Web Design

When looking at the performance of any website, there are a number of statistics worth considering - and although statistics may be misinterpreted or manipulated, the logic behind these particular statistics are (I believe) sound:

• People are intolerant of slow websites - 28% won't bother opening a website or waiting for it to open if it takes more than 12 seconds to do so.



• These same people will spend no more than 7 seconds determining whether or not a website (and therefore the company it represents) can fulfill their needs.



• Over 60% of the UK population now enjoys access to the Internet and over 90% of those use the major search engines to search for a product or service. If a site is not listed with the major search engines, or does not appear high enough on the listings, it will not receive a good number of quality enquiries.

The likelihood of a website becoming successful is far greater if the site is easily found, simple to navigate, and provides ample information in a clear, direct way whilst driving a potential customer to make contact or buy!

Any site developed to attract enquiries would need to take into consideration a number of key points in its design to maximize the potential for attracting and retaining a prospective client and encouraging them to make an enquiry:

Sales Message

Bearing in mind that the average potential customer will not visit the site as many times as you will, the placing of the words on the site is critical. Furthermore, with a well constructed site that is promoted on the major search engines a visitor can enter from any page which makes the placing of your sales message critical

Thus a company benefits from there being a very clear sales message on the home page as well as other pages and of equal benefit are (what we refer to as) "calls to action" such as "click here to speak to an advisor".

Site Structure

Tim Burners-Lees invented the World Wide Web with the development of a special programming language (Hypertext mark-up language), the first web page and browser in 1989/90. Now, with the whole Internet being structured around HTML there can be (in the author's view) no better choice for the development of sites for brochures or company promotion purposes than to develop them in HTML.

Even within "HTML" one can make big mistakes. Whilst becoming less common, development within what is called "frame sets" for example can speed development and can help with certain kinds of navigation, although websites that are "framed" are notoriously difficult to get listed on some search engines and may not be listed at all by the remaining others.

For these reasons (and more), the structure of the site is a critical factor. I would probably advise static pages of promotional information should be developed using HTML, and these pages can link through to other functionality, such as a shop, which would be developed using other technology.

Speed

Speed is absolutely critical, as the majority of users wait no longer than 12 seconds (or maybe less) for a page to load, and search engines will not favour a site that is too slow. Speed of access can be affected by both Internet connection and size of page (in terms of megabytes), which is, amongst other things, affected by pictures and graphics).

What this means in simple terms is that one must be fastidious in the way one "prepares" images and style adopted to design and develop the site.

Navigation

Simple and effective navigation of a website is equally critical - we must allow users to concentrate on the content of your site rather than on how it should be used. Let's face it, the English-speaking world read from left to right, thus navigation placed on the left of the site is (in the authors view) intuitive, whilst navigation across the top will effectively lower the text of the site and give less opportunity to your sales message.

Colours, Text, Font and Layout

Once opened, the average prospective client will spend no more than 7 seconds determining if they like your site (ergo, you!) and want to use your services. Clearly we have to make it very easy for them to decide.

I would strongly recommend using black text on a white background, which will give the greatest possible contrast, thus making reading your sales message easy. Using strong colours and branding for the borders of the site will lend itself to good aesthetic balance.

Equally the adoption of an "Arial" or "Verdana" typeface (which are optimised for viewing on the computer screen) of probably a 10pt size will, when coupled with these other pragmatic principles, set the foundations of success.

Overview

Given the background to these thoughts, one has to remember the whole aim of this project is perhaps to increase sales revenue - a simple desire, but a desire that needs careful planning to attain.

For the purpose of structuring thought, one could divide the project into 3 main elements; portraying the right image, attracting the right people (via search engine prominence) to the website, and encouraging those prospects to make a purchase.

Presenting the Right Image

The right image will be achieved through embracing the principles of design (as per the last paragraph) and creating a "look and feel" that does 3 things;

1. Presents and aesthetic image that gives the feeling of professionalism.
2. Gives a succinct sales message.
3. Encourages users to progress.