Flashy Web Site Designs are Bad for Business

** B2B Marketing News ** The Newsletter & Resource Site for Marketing http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com IN TODAY'S ISSUE: 1.)... Flashy Web Site Designs are Bad for Business... 2.)... Recommended Reading 3.)... Does Your Web Site Work? FLASHY WEB SITE DESIGNS ARE BAD FOR BUSINESS Have you heard yourself saying, "I don't understand? I have a gorgeous site, a really cutting-edge splash page with a flash introduction, up-to-date technology, I paid a small fortune for this site, and I'm getting plenty of hits but no one is buying or staying in the site." Well, you may be one of a growing number of businesses, both large and small, who believed all the hype about the latest in new technology. Many business owners want their website to have that cutting-edge look, and so will ask for things such as animation, music, flash, and other "bells and whistles" that would be detrimental to their site. These extras are probably driving potential customers away because they increase download time and are not search engine optimized. In the rush to join everyone else on the Internet, businesses have ignored vital steps in the process of getting their business on-line. They assumed that because everyone else had gimmicks such as a splash/intro page, this was the right way to go. The result: businesses chose design companies who readily took their money and who designed exactly what the client wanted without clearly focusing on marketing goals. To be fair, oftentimes the graphic design company has no idea that a site designed with all the latest technology doesn't necessary translate into a site that has the functionality that an on-line business needs. This is because the graphic design firms specialize in graphic design, not in marketing. Many graphic design sites are full of splash pages, scrolling text, animation, etc. They use these tools because it allows the graphic designers to display their creativity and their knowledge of these "bells and whistle." Creativity is good but all the latest cutting-edge technology translates into a lack of functionality to effectively market any on-line business including their on-line presence. When having your site designed, remember that first and foremost, you are building your site to increase prospects and sales. Don't look for a graphic design firm that believes all you need to do is get in the search engines and place banners to be successful. Don't hire a designer that is new to the Internet--meaning they have years of print design experience but have just decided to expand their horizons to the Internet. Don't hire a graphic designer that doesn't have a professional copywriter or marketing person on staff and don't hire a graphic designer just because they are the cheapest. Remember, cheap can cost you money--you get what you pay for. Hire a marketing/design firm that understands the difference between form and function and can apply it in a marketing perspective. Remember, many of these latest bells and whistles are very expensive and your site may not need them to be effective. There are several elements, that when pieced together give your on-line business proper form and function and provide you with a fighting chance of succeeding. Hand this to your designer before you begin: INDIVIDUAL PAGE SIZE: While every day more Internet users are signing on with DSL, satellite, or cable modems, the majority is still using dial-up access. Dial-up is the number one way people access the Internet because of one of two reasons: DSL, satellite, and cable is not available in rural areas or they cannot afford the extra costs associated with these cutting-edge technologies. What this means is that the majority of your potential customers will download pages at 3-4 KB per second versus the 0-1 KB per second with DSL, satellite, or cable modems. What does this mean? Studies have shown that if a web page doesn't load in 8-10 seconds, you will lose 1/3 or more of your potential customers. The total size of a page should not exceed 30 KB including text, graphics, JavaScript, animations, HTML, etc. The absolute maximum recommended download time is 30 sec over a 28.8 modem, which is 15 sec over a 56k modem. Anything longer and you've lost your potential customer. Even though your logo, fonts, colors, images, etc. are necessary for your brand, it is important to use them in such a way as to not cause your pages to load too slowly. If the page does load too slowly, then your brand is in jeopardy because customers remember the bad far longer than they remember the good. To keep top-of-mind awareness, it is necessary to pay attention to these details as they, too, are part of your brand. Another aspect of pages loading too slowly is loss of revenue. Customers come to your site to see what you offer and they need an overall experience that will stay with them and make them want to recommend your site to others. SPLASH PAGES/FLASH INTRODUCTIONS Research is necessary to any business as this allows a business to track what is happening. Therefore, research has generated reports about splash pages and flash introductions. These reports have indicated that these particular pages are not popular with the buying public. They are, however, extremely popular with designers and people who want to keep up with the latest technologies. This raises the questions, "Who is buying and who will give a return on investment?" Is it the buying public or the designers and the people who want to keep up? Obviously, the answer is the buying public. Therefore, it is a no brainer that a web site needs functionality for the buying public's needs and not for a business owner's or designer's ego. Unfortunately, many business owners are talked into a splash page by the designer simply because it allows the designer to be creative and, of course, the extra revenue for the design company. If you have or are thinking about having a splash page for your on-line presence--DON'T. They take too long to download, they don't provide your potential customer with enough information, and there's nothing there for the search engines to spider. Remember, potential customers are in your site for one reason only and that is to see what you have to offer them, get the information they're looking for, and to potentially buy. A flash introduction is just as bad for an on-line business. Although I love flash personally, I do find times when it's a pain and often leave the site before seeing anything else. The rule of thumb to remember is to keep the number of clicks a potential customer must make to get to the information they are seeking is three or less. For every added click with a splash page/flash introduction, you are running the risk of losing that potential sale which decreases your return on investment. In conclusion, it is in your best interest to avoid the use of splash pages/flash introductions. Have actual text that your customer can read and the search engines can index. If you really want to have innovative technology on your site and are willing to pay the added costs, offer it as an option. Have a hyperlink to a flash introduction on your home page that people can choose if they have the time or like flash. Another option is to create a parallel site that potential customers who covet the latest technology can access. By doing this you will see an increase in your sales and search engine traffic. HYPERLINKS Hyperlinks are extremely important for search engines to index your site. These are what the search engines follow to find all the pages in your site and index them. However, if it isn't a true hyperlink then some of your site may become invisible to the search engine. Remember use a true hyperlink. While 90% of most browsers will recognize JavaScript hyperlinks, they don't give search engines anything to follow. A true hyperlink is: BODY TEXT Search engines can only index text. Therefore, graphic representations of text or large graphics are useless unless you have alt tags attached to them. Even then, search engines don't like long descriptions in every alt tag. Thus, to get the full potential of a page, it is necessary to have content that search engines can index. Content is also your calling card to your potential customer. A recent study/survey (according to MarketFacts) has shown that one of the major reasons people go on-line is to gather news and/or information (87.8%). Another study by Forrester Research, Inc. showed that the highest-ranking reason people go back to a web site is high-quality content (75%). Consequently, body text/content is necessary on every web site over lots of eye appealing graphics. When laying out the content, it is important to keep in mind continuity. When a designer uses complex tables (multiple nested tables), frames, and other design elements, it breaks the flow of the text on a page. Although we see the page as flowing nicely, search engines do not. They see the code as unrelated fragments instead of part of a continuous sentence or paragraph. Thus, every table or frame breaks the flow of text. Consequently, the simpler the page design, the better for your search engine ranking. Keep in mind the following research when designing your web site and how it will function (according to Forrester Research, Inc. as posted on http://www.quickinfo247.com/304895/FREE). High-quality content: 75% Ease of Use: 66% Quick to download: 58% Updated frequently: 54% Coupons and incentives: 14% Favorite brands: 13% Cutting-edge technology: 12% Games: 12% Purchasing capabilities: 11% Customizable content: 10% Chat & BBS: 10% Other: 6% This tells me that when building a web site, potential customers and repeat customers are looking for three basic elements on a site: 1. Good content. 2. Good navigation/site design. 3. Fast download time SUMMARY Every single design element affects your web sites functionality and marketability--from the decision about how the navigation will work to choosing the right colors, fonts, graphics, content, HTML code, and more. These will not only influence potential customers but search engine indexing as well. Therefore, a business plan and marketing strategy that includes the above elements for your site will increase your chances of succeeding on-line. Are you ready to be successful? ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Cheryl Carnright and Joann Marsili have years of graphic design and marketing experience. They are the authors of a free monthly newsletter: "B2B Marketing News." Visit their site http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com. RECOMMENDED READING "Ice to the Eskimos. How to Market a Product Nobody Wants" by Jon Spoelstra http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887308511/b2bstrategicm-2 0 If you need to jump-start your marketing effort, this is a great book to read and apply. Everyone will get at least one very useful idea from this book. DOES YOUR WEBSITE WORK? Is your website doing what you want it to do? B2B Strategic Marketing http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com/ will give you a 5 - point free analysis of your website. We will look at: - design - navigation - copy - coding - marketing focus We will give you some ideas on how we would do things Differently and also give you some free advice on what you need to do to make your site more successful.