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Calgary Software Application and Web Development Articles |
Simple Sites Sell
What a wonderful world wide web! In recent years haven't we all seen an
explosion of spectacular websites with fantastic blockbuster quality
movie intros, highly detailed graphical content, or wonderful moving
images and banners. Needless to say the webdesigners now have a massive
arena in which to show off what they can do. What a wonderful way to
demonstrate how they can generate even more elaborate web windows to
the world. And of course this trend will probably continue as new
technologies become continually more compatible with the internet.
But herein lies a problem...
What is the point of a website? Is it there to show the imagination and
skills of the webdesigner? Is it to show the world what can be achieved
through the awesome power of this phenomenal medium called the
internet? Maybe it's to see how far the boundaries of this incredible
technology can be pushed!
Now of course the main purpose of any full on e-commerce website is to
sell, sell, sell, but many would argue that the main reason to have a
website is to simply provide information. Now, although many site
owners with good intentions will argue to the contrary, I believe that
the true purpose of...well let's just say the majority of
websites...really only exist to make money!
A controversial statement, but even those who claim otherwise, in the
majority of cases the bigger picture means a method to generate income.
And why not? Whether that be for charitable causes or free enterprise,
information sites serve the purpose of creating awareness of the
owner's product or service, which in turn will lead to the production
of revenue.
So why do so many websites not make this purpose clear?
The simple fact is, that no matter what you are selling, the more
easily your visitor can see what is going on, or find what they are
looking for, the more likely they will stick around, or at least come
back. This in turn will hopefully lead them to take the ultimate
action, to finally dip their hand in their pockets!
It should be obvious that if a site is clear, clean and easily
navigable then the more successful it is likely to be. The less your
visitor has to 'look' or 'search' for what he or she is trying to find,
the greater the chance of them taking the action that you ultimately
want...and that is to buy!
Now what do you think gets in the way of clear, clean and easy
navigation? The answer is simple. Many webdesigns are just too
complicated. They take too long to load or just bombard the visitor
with just too much information when they get there!
Now I'm not saying too much information is a bad thing but too much on
one page, or one area of the page, a never ending supply of links or
excessive use of images, just confuse the reader...and then what
happens? They go somewhere else, where it might be a little easier to
find what they are looking for.
No dear reader, the sooner your visitor finds what they came for, the
more profitable it will be for you. Crisp, clear navigation is the key.
Get them where they need to be within just a few clicks of the mouse.
Avoid coloured fonts, especially on anything other than a white
background and keep paragraphs relatively short. Of course make sure
the site looks professional as nothing looks worse than text that's all
over the show or images that spill into areas where they shouldn't be.
Give them some space and make it easy for them!
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