Here at NMP Consulting, we’ve seen first hand the difference a good website can make. After we redesigned our own website’s look and structure, we saw a jump in the number of inquiries we received.
Here are a few of the principles I use when designing a site.
1. Contact Info – The number one thing people come to a website for is contact info, yet I’ve been to far too many sites –some for big companies –where you search fruitlessly through page after page for that all important info. I try to make sure the contact info is present on each page in a small, unobtrusive, but easily findable form.
2. Personality – A lot of sites are superficially impressive but generic, usually because they were “readymade” and bought off the shelf. There’s nothing wrong with building a site around a template, but it’s important to make it your own. Some professionally taken photos of your actual staff, building and products can go a long way towards making your site look personal. Or, even if you use stock photos, take some time to put some thought into them.
3. Personality Part 2 – Your site should be a reflection of what you do and how you do it. Are you high tech? Does your corporate culture have a sense of humor? Are you national or local? If you are a technology company you might want a glossy, cutting-edge site with some flashy technological tricks on display. On the other hand, a local arts-and-crafts store should probably go with a simpler interface with a folksy, retro feel. It’s not that one kind of site is better than the other, it’s that each business needs a site that reflects what their customers can expect. Too many businesses have website that reflect only the web designer, and not the business.
4. Watch Out For Info Overload.
Unfortunately, people on the internet have short attention spans. It can be a temptation to put every single fact about your company on the home page, but no one will read it. The most important thing you can do is structure your site well so that people can find what they need fast. In general, a limited selection of best pithy sound bites and big ideas should be on the front page. The detailed info can be a level or two down into the site structure, where it will be easily accessible to someone who wants it and invisible to everyone else.
There are other principles of course, but these few will go a long way to making your site more compelling and successful.