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"The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow."
Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation
1. Fancy features don't always impress your visitors - flash intros and fancy effects can be more distracting than they are worth. Even if they are well designed, beautiful and creative, visitors to your site do not want to have to wade through gimmicks or have to install new software before they find the information they want. Generally speaking, keep it simple.
"It behooves the company to make their websites easier to use. You immediately begin to hate the company when it's not."
"My momentary frustration, I like to think it will not spill over.... But it makes me wonder about the competence of the people in the company.... Makes me think someone is being evasive, or that they are incompetent."
Quotes from participants in usability studies conducted
by the Norman Nielsen Group.
2. A poorly designed website is worse than no website at all - whether they are looking for information or hoping to make a purchase, your visitors are on your site for a reason. Studies have shown that people will not stay long on a site that is not properly laid out or difficult to navigate. A good web designer or web building tool can help you avoid navigation problems.
Poorly designed websites drive loyal customers away - 65% of consumers will not shop on a poorly designed website - even that of a favorite brand. Nearly 30% even cease offline purchases from a favorite brand if their online experience is poor. Only 4% will shop on a poorly designed website - and that's when the price is rock bottom. (Synovate eNation, 08/07/2003)
3. The secret costs of owning a website - the costs of web hosting and updating your site can add up. Many companies have avoided getting websites because of the upfront costs of web design and launching, but after you get your site, the costs continue.
Web hosts - the companies who load your website onto a computer (called a server) from where it can be viewed on the Internet are called web hosts. Some companies will host your site for free, and some companies will charge $100s each month. Before you jump at the prospect of having your website hosted for free, realize that when it comes to web hosting, you get what you pay for. A "free" site can have hidden strings such as:
- An advertising bar (unprofessional looking) running across the top of the screen;
- Annoying pop-up ads over which you have control;
- Slow loading pages;
- Unreliable service -- your site might spend more time down than up;
- Traffic limits -- your site will be shut down by some servers if it gets too many visitors (not good for your business).
However, you don't want to spend too much on web hosting either. You should be able to find reliable, advertising-free web hosting for about $25 per month.
Updates - if you hire a web designer to build your site, you are looking at spending hundreds of dollars and hours of delays each month to have her design and program updates, submit them to you for approval, and then upload the final changes to your site. The Internet is still a growing industry, and until demand subsides, web designer rates will not be coming down. An alternative is to use one of the available web building tools that will enable you to make updates to your site yourself, as easily as using MS Word. A great example would be www.citymax.com. The advantage is that YOU decide exactly what to change and when to change it without expensive bills or delays from your web designer.
4. Customers will not wait for a slow-loading website - web pages with large pictures, graphics, or fancy features take a long time to load, longer if your customers tend to be on dial-up as opposed to broadband connections. Do some test runs.
* If a page takes longer than 10 seconds to load, change it, or expect to lose your visitors. Your goal should be a maximum of 2 or 3 seconds. If you have slow-loading features that you really want to offer on your website, tell visitors where they are located and warn them approximately how long they will take to load, both for broadband and dial-up.
* If you try to save money with cheap (or free) web page hosting, you risk slow-loading pages, especially if your site gets a lot of visitors. You should be able to avoid the problem on good hosting for about $25 per month.
5. Own your own domain name - If your web designer registers your domain name for you, make sure that she lists you as the administrative contact. Otherwise your web designer will own your domain name and -- unless you can buy it back from her -- you will have no control over it when you and your web designer part ways. That means that someone else could buy your domain name and post a website at the URL printed on all your business materials!
6. Old content is worse than no content - Don't assume that you can launch a website once, and then forget about it. You have to keep it fresh, even if you are only posting contact information. Customers are frustrated by old information, or by information that has no date. Without a recent date visible, they won't know if you're still in business. If you want visitors to return to your site, be prepared to update regularly (at the very least four times a year), and to clearly post the date your site was last updated.
7. Great support documents - Great software and web hosts should provide all the help you will ever need in their support documents and FAQs (frequently asked questions section). Although there should be an email address and/or 1-800 number for personal, one-on-one assistance, you should be able to answer any questions you ever have easily with the information they provide. They should also provide detailed advice, how-to guides, and links teaching you how to draw traffic to you site, and how to use it to make money.
8. Selling tools - Make sure that your business website can make money. However you launch your site, whether you hire a web designer or use an online website builder, make sure that you have access to all the key features necessary to make money such as:
- Catalogs
- Shopping carts
- Photo albums
- FedEx delivery
- Payment options
- Autoresponder
9. Get leads - even if you aren't selling directly online, your site needs to pull in leads and inquiries about your business. An email address is important, but a customizable feedback form looks more professional and gives your customers greater confidence in your enterprise.
10. Security certificates - two-thirds of Americans with Internet access already shop online, but they are very careful to ensure the security of their transactions. Be sure to include security certificates on any website you launch. Web designers will know how to incorporate them into your site, and some new online website builders include them as standard features with any website they support.
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