Because a website is a visual product, the first thing our clients usually are thinking about is what the site will look like. They are often concerned with colors, where the menus will be located, what fonts will be used, what will the graphics look like, etc. Of course branding is important; you want your website to look like your company. But the most important element of website design is often the element that keeps business owners skeptical about having a website or especially skeptical about having their current website redesigned. The most important element of a website is its ability to generate results. That is the true art of website design.
The first thing we try to tell our clients is that your business website is not a piece of art to be looked at and admired for its use of color, line, texture, etc. A business website is first and foremost a tool to generate business! The visual elements, though extremely important, need to be secondary to the website’s function.
The coding language a website is built from can make or break search engine results. When the visual art of the website is the first concern, Flash is usually the language chosen. Flash allows a website to have fluid movement and very dynamic transitions from one visual element to the next. Flash can be beautifully done visually, but it leaves your content invisible to search engines. You would then have to market your website just as vigorously, if not more, as your brick and mortar business. This can add big dollars to your marketing budget for very little end results.
A search engine friendly site has html elements or is built entirely in html. Html allows search engines to read the content of a website which helps to push the website up higher on search results. But beware of elements in common html designs that work against search engines. Many graphic designers will create websites in html that look beautiful and are graphically rich, yet the search engine results for the site are minimal at best. A very common mistake graphic designers make is to embed critical text in the graphics. If a beautifully designed text box that includes your biggest sale of the year is a graphic image, there is no way a search engine will read that text and place the website accordingly. The site would miss out on critical searches by people who are looking for sales on your product.
The real option for business owners is a website that is designed to squeeze every last drop of search engine placement results in its form and function. As technology changes and search engine focuses change, business websites need to stay on top of what works. The html websites that had great results 3 or 4 years ago are now drowning in the technology of today and are being driven farther and farther down in their search results. Businesses are getting trapped into thinking that their website is an item for show and not for real lead generation, which is completely due to their current and past experience.
What a website needs to do is generate qualified leads for your business. A majority of consumers today use the internet as a tool for pre-shopping, shopping, education, entertainment, and communication. Now, more than ever, people are willing to contact businesses through the internet to purchase or ask questions. If your website is not actively seeking out those internet users, it is not designed right. Forget about how it “looks” and think of how it generates business.
If you think that your business couldn’t possible generate clients or customers online, you need to call us. The world is changing; let us bring you along instead of leaving you behind.
Have you ever found yourself walking by a store, been intrigued by the display window, and then realized that it’s after hours? Now what? How do you find out more about this store or business? If you happen to see a small black-and-white bar code in the front window, you’re in luck!
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Search Engine Usage Information: Nielson/Net Ratings of May 2008: