User-Friendly Web Site Design Tips

Web sites are the sales engines for most internet-based businesses. If you are going to be serious about generating business through the internet, you will need an effective web site. Business opportunities will be greatly limited if your web site is not user friendly, and if it does not cater to the habits of the online shoppers and businesses that may visit.

Most internet businesses and their corresponding web site designs focus either on (1) Retail Sales, or (2) Providing a Service. Your web site design will differ depending on which method you focus on to generate web business.

Web Site Business Generation Methods:
Sales Lead Generation: Your web site design features a service that your business can provide, or a product that is involved in a complicated sales process. A sales person will receive this lead, contact the person and try to close the deal. Some examples include financial services, network marketing, consulting, or real estate. Interaction between the potential customer and your sales team is necessary and trigger by web site design and marketing.

Retail Sales: With regard to web site design, incorporating retail sales is a much more complicated process than offering services. Service related web site designs tend to be more informational, and lead to a “contact us” web form where you collect information about the person and their needs. Retail sales are altogether different. Retail sales web site designs require a shopping cart, security certificate, product photos, increased web hosting functionality, and a payment processing method. A good custom service-oriented web site design can often be commissioned for a grand or two, whereas a good custom retail web site design may cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. There are some shortcuts however…

Many large networks such as Yahoo!, eBay, and Google offer web store resources, shopping carts and other business solutions in a cookie-cutter environment that are easy to implement and cheap to maintain. Similar resources are offered by large web hosting firms. You can have a web site designed to show your company image and information, and let these cookie-cutter shopping carts handle the back-end sales processing. As things go well for you, you may wish to eventually build your own custom super-site, but these less expensive alternatives may provide the low-cost web site design solution you need. There are other advertising advantages in using these cookie-cutter sites as well, which will be illustrated later.

Beauty is only skin deep…
Yes, you need an attractive web site design, but how your web site look is only a small part of a good web site design. Carefully planned web site design can make or break a company, and will contribute significantly more income than a skin-deep web site. Your web site is a sales engine, and must be designed accordingly. Two important considerations are (1) data collection and (2) SEO [search engine optimization].

Enhanced Web Site Design Functionality:

• Data Collection - It is nice when someone ventures to your web site and makes a purchase. However an intelligent web site design can help generate multiple sales or ongoing sales. If you keep your customers happy and informed, the second sale will be much easier than the first. Each time you gain a new customer, you should collect contact information about them. You can then periodically inform your customers when new items are for sale, on discount, or complement the first purchase. Keep lines of communication open, and turn one sale into a lifetime of sales.
• Search Engine Optimization - The search engines are a fantastic source for free, high-quality web traffic. Search engine traffic is so valuable that consideration for search engine ranking must be made. Your web site should be designed to accommodate the search engines, making it easy for them to understand what your web site is all about. Many high-tech design advances, such as Flash animation (a web-centric programming language) and intense graphics may look cool, but will leave the search engines clueless. The trade-off of looking great versus being seen by the search engines is not worth it. What good is a glitzy web site if no one knows it exists? Do not allow your designer to have a splash page, purely graphical or Flash web site. This will cost you dearly. A good web site design, with marketing in mind, will be rich with textual content and sport a clean and professional look. Nice graphics are fine, just as long as the bulk of the content is not embedded within the graphical images. If you must have a cool Flash animation, keep it small with plenty of text content around it. Never have an all-Flash home page.

Another factor to consider, which will help both with web content organization and search engine ranking, is to have specific web pages dedicated to a single service or product. In other words, don’t try to do too much with one web page. If you sell several products or services, then have one web page focused on one particular product or service. The consumer can find exactly what they are looking for and the search engines will have no doubt about what you are trying to sell. If you have thousands of products, it is okay to have more than one thing on one page, just keep your products organized. Let your web site flow in an organized and intuitive fashion.

As your company grows, your web site design must keep up. Have your web site built with a modular approach. When you have a new product line or service, you should be able to add the new information to your web site easily without having to redesign the entire site. Keep the navigation simple and intuitive, so people can find what they are looking for, fast.

People display two different types of web based purchasing habits:
(1) Information based purchases. (2) Impulse based purchases.

Consumer Purchasing Habits:

• Information Based Consumers - The Information based consumer will compare your products and prices to those on many other web sites. They will research your business, your competitors and take all things into consideration before making the decision to buy. Several days or even weeks may pass before the decision to purchase is made. The web site with the best price is not always the winner, as other aspects are taken into consideration (product return policy, delivery time, company reputation, and so on.) Usually the web site design that can provide the most information and support wins the day.
• Impulse Based Consumers - For an Impulse based consumer, the shopping experience is all about finding the best price, or at least a good price, very fast. The Impulse based consumer wants a web site design that is easy and fast to navigate, providing a simple interface where products can be purchased with as few clicks as possible. Reflex and impulse rule.

If your web site design accommodates one type of consumer, it is often at odds with the other. Fortunately, a clever web site design can accommodate everyone.

Your basic web site design should be arranged to accommodate the Impulse based consumer. Then incorporate links wherever possible where more information can be obtained to appeal to the Informational based shopper. The Impulse consumer finds what they want, clicks and goes. The Informational based consumer will find links for additional information, and be satisfied. Be sure to include informational pages about your company, such as office hours, how to contact you, where you are located, product return policy, and other descriptive business operation information.

For Example:
Wacky Widgets, only $9.95 -- CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW -- Learn More

In the example above, the “Learn More” link can provide the additional information needed to satisfy the Informational based buyer, while not distracting the Impulse based buyer. Everyone is happy.

Other factors that must be considered with web site design are more subtle than a “buy now” link or a well design layout. Nonetheless, they are just as important. A web site is much more than a sales engine, it is also an information engine; information that can be used to maximize revenue.

Every web site should contain a database, storing vital contact information about your customers. Over time, your database will grow and will become a significant part of generating business. As customers visit your web site to make a purchase or a service request, they will provide basic contact information such as their Email address or phone number. In the future you can use this data to maintain customer communications, inform customers of new products or promotions, send seasonal greetings, distribute coupons, newsletters or other correspondence. The more elaborate your database, the more power it will have. It is okay if you cannot build or afford to have a database built within your web site when your business is new. However, as your business takes off, add a database when you can afford it.

Equally important to incorporate within your web site design is a web site hit tracker. A hit tracker is a piece of web code implemented within your web site that can tell you who has visited and where they came from. Sounds simple enough, but the information it can tell you is powerful. To elaborate, imagine a web site that is running 3 paid advertisements to draw in web traffic and potential customers. A hit tracker can tell you how much traffic is coming from each campaign and which is responsible for the most sales. You may learn that one of your advertisements is performing very well and is generating a profit, while another is a money pit. Cancel the bad ad, and focus on what is working. You can determine which search engines have your web site ranked well and which search phrases are working for you. You can also learn if your traffic is domestic or international and know which of your web pages are the most popular. Hit tracking can be used as a diagnostic tool to optimize functionality, performance and revenue.

Cost reduction opportunities are around every corner during the web site design process. A common design mistake made by new businesses is to over estimate the resources necessary to build and maintain a web site. For more information about cost-reduction opportunities when hiring a web designer, please reference the SharpNET article: Web Site Design on a Budget.

By understanding how people use web sites, and addressing the various needs and expectations of your web visitors, you will benefit from and efficient sales machine that works 24/7. Get involved with your web designer, think through your online shopping process, and have your web site built accordingly. Also consider your competitor's web sites, and understand that you must provide a reason for people to visit, and use, your web site over their.