Don’t develop a Website for your needs, develop it for their needs.

Follow these two rules:

The only reason a web site exists is to solve customers’ problems.

Be confident that each page in your website solves a problem or answers specific questions thoroughly.

Always assume nobody cares about you or your site. What Website visitors care about is solving their problems. Most visit a web site to solve one or more of these four problems:

They want/need information.

They want/need to make a purchase / donation.

They want/need to be part of a community.

They want/need to be entertained

Too many organizations believe that a Website is about opening a new marketing channel or getting donations or to promote a brand or to increase company sales by 15%.

Always remember that a Website’s function is to address the needs of the visitor. When this rule is followed, the Website will open a new marketing channel, get donations, promote a brand or increase company sales.

A Website visitor should be able to look at the home page and determine what the site is about within seven seconds. If they can’t, the site is a failure.

Websites that make Mistake #1 often end up making Mistake #2.

A final feature of Websites that make Mistake #2 is that a visitor can’t really figure out what the site is about from their company name and their tagline.

Here’s an over-the-top example of a name and tagline. However, it makes the point:

Vitamins For Your Pet – We keep them from dying a horrible death!

Don’t use design techniques that keep the visitor from getting to “the sale” or “the mission”.  Be clear on instructions of how to navigate or interact with all pages.

Avoid splash pages, FlashSplash pages, animations, lack of focal point on the page, too much text, too little text, too many pictures, etc.

Visitors arrive at a Website because they’ve made a commitment. They’ve already selected a link or an ad. There is no need for further seduction or enticement, once they are on the site. Stick to fixing Mistake #1.

“Seduction” or various types of enticement is necessary when a website is advertised on another site or search engine. This is when to seduce or entice visitors to a Website, NOT on the Website itself.

A Website is not a marketing strategy. A Website is a part of a marketing strategy.

Develop a solid marketing and public relations strategy first. Integrate the Website into these strategies, using the Website as a tool to collect and disseminate information and data.

Remember the Webcentric Approach uses a website to execute a PR or marketing plan.

Be certain that the site design is consistent with Websites of like kinds and industries.

Visitors are more apt to respond to an environment they are familiar with.  If you business is manufacturing widgets for the motorcycle inductry, don't let your website have pictures of kittens picking daisies.

“High Art” sites are the exceptions. These sites focus primarily on artistry and don't necessarily function as lead gathering or data collection.

All web navigation must answer these questions for the visitor:

Where am I?

Where have I been?

Where can I go next?

Where’s the Home Page?

Navigation must be simple and consistent. Common mistakes include:

Different types of navigation on the same site.

Poorly worded links; the visitor doesn’t know where they’ll go when they click on the poorly worded link.

Many sites set their link order based on their needs. I.e. The links make sense to the organization, not the visitor. Referenced in mistake #1.

To find specific pages in a site, the user should not need mouse over unmarked navigational "buttons" (pull down menus), or click on other navigation buttons to search for the page they are looking for.

Be certain that pull down menus are categorized appropriately and sub-navigation links
are in their correct category.

The best way to get visitors back to a Website often is to have content they need, and continually updating this content on a regular basis.

Referring to Mistake #1, it’s what your audience wants that counts.

Use these rules to ensure “Addictive” content:

Be sure that the target audience is recognized.

Ensure your content solves the customers’ needs and the audience’s expectations.

Be confident in determining the purpose of the Website.

Be certain that the Website is worth visiting a second, third, or fourth time by ensuring the content is technically correct and updated often.

Be confident the visitor needs to know the content presented.

Make sure that visitors find the content they’re looking for.

Always remember that “Content Trumps Design”.

Content gets your website ranked highly and gets you to the top of the search engines (other factors are important too).

Text is text. Don’t use graphics or Flash for text. It isn’t search engine friendly and graphics are often of poor quality.

This mistake is often made, and it stems from "designers" that are trying to win awards for their "artwork", rather than getting the website recognized in the searcg engines and the site actually "performing".

If a large amount of content is deemed necessary for a Webpage, use an ample amount of “Anchors” and “Tables of Contents” for the page.

Another way to display large amounts of content is to use pull downs, like you see on this page.

Remember, your visitors are skim readers!  They will get lost in a lot of text they have to read, just to find what they are looking for.

Aesthetic appeal in a Website is necessary. Your website should be pleasing to the eye.  However, visitors go to a Website for their reasons, not to be entertained by graphics. Refer to Mistake #1.

Be certain that Website design is appealing, but most importantly, be certain that the design fits with the industry or audience it is intended. Refer to Mistake #5.

Avoid use of Flash intros and sound, unless it is of great value to the message of the Website.

Be certain not to create a full Flash site, unless you know how to code it for Search Engine Optimization.  Search Engines don't read Falsh sites well.

If Flash intros or sound must be used, be certain there is an option to skip them or turn them off.

Refer to Mistake #1 and #3.

Website graphics should load quickly and be clear.  Nothing is more frustrating than waiting for a website to load.  Your visitors will simply hit the back button.

Background graphics should be relevant to the Website, if they are being used.

Animated graphics are a distraction, unless they are relevant to the overall Website or message.