Things to Consider Before Beginning Your Web Design Project
Give Website Visitors Enough Information
Your website is not a billboard. You can make it as big as you want, and say all you want. Think about your own web surfing habits. Have you ever honestly been disappointed by a website providing too much information? As long as the presentation is logical and easy to navigate, visitors to your website will find what they are looking for and ignore what they don’t care about.
Now think about how often you click on a website, scan the first page, then bounce within seconds. Why did you leave? Was it because you had been put off by the volume of information? The answer for the vast majority of website visitors is probably not. More likely is that valuable information was lacking. In other words, the site just didn’t provide what you were looking for.
Surprisingly, one of the most common statements we hear during an initial consultation prior to beginning a web design project is, “I don’t want my site to be too wordy.” The web is unique to all other forms of promotion. Be wordy. Visitors to your site will scan your pages for the information they want. To help them, use logical headings and navigation aids that give a clear indication of what your site contains. But, by all means, give your potential customers every reason to stick around and learn about you.
Active vs. Passive Media
During the planning stages of developing your website, it is worth considering the different types of media and their relationship to the web. Basically, media fall into two categories, active and passive. Active media require the prospect to take action in order to receive the promotional message. An example of this is a catalog; the reader initiates the receipt of the message and controls its delivery. Brochures also fall into the category of active media.
Passive media simply exist somewhere in the path of the viewer or listener. Radio and TV commercials are good examples. So are billboards and posters on buses and cabs. Passive messages are everywhere, from bowling allies to park benches and can be quite effective if properly initiated.
The Web is Unique Among Media
A website is unique in that it can combine both active and passive elements when presenting an overall marketing message. By nature, the visitor to a website must engage to actively navigate through it, but along the way, banners, animations, video, sound and other passive media may be used to attract his or her attention. It is important to recognize this when developing your website, because these are all design elements that can be controlled and that will impact the likelihood of the visitor becoming a customer or client.
Frequent Web Design Mistakes
Failing to Put Search Engines First
It doesn’t matter how cool your web site looks if no one sees it. Yes, it should look good, but search engine visibility is key to your online success. To that end, whatever web designer you choose, insist that he or she has a deep understanding of the search engine optimization process.
Cumbersome or Confusing Website Navigation
Remember that search engines will send traffic all over your site. In fact, only a fraction of your website visitors will actually enter through the home-page. It is absolutely essential that visitors know what to do to find the information they want from any page on your website. Otherwise, they’ll leave, never realizing that what they were looking for was just a couple clicks away.
Few or No Website Updates
Keeping your website fresh is key to encouraging frequent visits. At the very least, change the copyright date to the current year! Your potential clients expect your site to up to date. Don’t make the mistake of expecting them to call. They probably won’t, because a competitor is always available to provide what they were looking for.
Call 775.324.1644 to find out how iPutty will increase your website visibility, enhance your business
and fatten your bottom line. Or
email us.
Web Design for Local Business
Whether your business or other organization is in Reno or elsewhere, web design for a specific locality is different than web design for the entire country or the world. Say you own a car dealership in Seattle. the likelihood of anyone venturing across the country to buy from you is remote to say the least. Focussing on optimizing for your specific region is not just frequently easier to achieve high search engine rankings quickly, but it is generally more effective in reaching your likely customers.
Naturally, being based in Reno, NV, we build a lot of websites for Reno businesses. As a rule we always optimize for the region when designing Reno business websites. The results are nearly always fantastic.
Reno Web Design
Reno, like many other cities, has more than its share of web designers. iPutty is different than other Reno Web Designers. Our focus is on your business’ bottom line. Since iPutty is a web design & SEO firm, search engine optimization is an integral part of the design process, not something to invest in once the design work is complete. What could be more cost-effective than that? Call today. (775) 324-1644