Gatekeepers Website Design

Buying a website is often a source of anxiety for many businesses and organizations because few buyers understand the technology enough to adequately compare pricing and features. Some of you already have a website. It is not meeting your expectations but changing it is too daunting a task. Large corporations can hire a team of people to avoid major mistakes while smaller organizations rely on their experience and discernment to ask the right questions. In this article I will reveal seven common mistakes small to mid-sized organizations can avoid before purchasing a website. Some of these you may have already learned the hard way. For those of you who haven’t, this is your chance to save you sanity and your bottom line.

Years ago it was easier to compare website vendors because the Internet was essentially considered nothing more than an advertising medium; an ‘online billboard’. The web has now matured and expectations from the online community you will be targeting are much higher. For a website to be successful today, it must be an integrated extension of your office. If not, this online asset will quickly turn into an expense and even worse; a liability. Avoiding the following mistakes when you purchase your next website will help ensure you have invested and not wasted your money.

1. Avoid Undefined Needs - Most businesses and organizations understand the need for a website but have trouble defining exactly what they need it for. Find a vendor who will take the time to complete an Internet Marketing Assessment with you to clarify your needs and ultimately determine the final design and function of your website. The final design should accurately define your target market, clearly demonstrate what you offer, and show how it is superior. This assessment will then guide the designer in fulfilling your expectations during the creation process.

2. Avoid Unprofessional Designs - The perceptions of today’s market regarding the quality of your product or service is often based on the professionalism of your website. You have to fulfill your audience’s expectations and impress them with persuasive graphics, relevant content, and easy navigation. If not, they will look elsewhere. I have seen people impressed with a salesperson’s presentation but decide against their product or service due to the poor quality of their website. A website design should help your organization look its best. If your graphics are not interesting, your content is irrelevant or out-of-date, and your navigation is disorganized, this will reflect badly on the message you are trying to convey.

3. Avoid Generic Templates - Pre-designed website templates have the advantage of costing substantially less but the disadvantage is impressing far fewer people since so many other websites are using them too. This means a school, retailer, contractor, church, auto shop, funeral home, and countless others could potentially use the same template with minor changes. To maximize the impact of your products or service’s distinctive message, your website should stand out as unique.

4. Avoid Stale Designs - Websites with very few pictures or graphics and one colour on a white background may appear ‘corporate’ but they can also look antiseptic and dull. Some website vendors and consultants claim these designs are best due to faster page loading speeds. However, most people today have Cable or DSL and speed is not the factor it once was. Besides, there are smart ways to include graphics to minimize download times. Take a look at McDonalds.ca and see how prominent the photos are in their design. Don’t trim the graphics or photos and minimize the creativity. Incorporate them instead and use them to your advantage for communicating your message more dynamically. After all, why are Ferraris admired and Sunfires forgotten?

5. Avoid ‘Me-Too’ Designs - The greatest advantage when creating a website is the opportunity to make it unique. You may admire a competitor’s website but copying their design is a mistake. If you do, you may lose the impact you need to hook your visitor’s attention. In a study at the Carleton University in Ottawa they discovered that you have less than one-twentieth of a second -- less than half the time it takes to blink -- to impress your online audience. Since this is less time than it takes to read just one word, it falls on the creative design to capture a visitor’s interest. Nike understands this well because more people recognize their swoosh logo than recognize their name. You can barely see their name on their website but you can’t miss their logo. Keep your design unique and your website will get noticed.

6. Avoid Weak Designs - Successful organizations take advantage of multiple Internet technology mediums unavailable in print media to support acquisition and retainment of clients. Don’t just take your best brochure and adapt it to the web. A successful website enhances your marketing efforts, sales, order fulfillment, support, training, and anything else you do for your customers. This can be accomplished by offering animation and multimedia, interactive forms and tools, exhaustive content and intuitive navigation. Combining these capabilities together can turn a website into an extension of your office saving you time and money.

7. Avoid Hidden Costs - When considering the cost of buying a website make sure you take into account all the costs. There are essentially five areas to consider; domain name, hosting, website design, content, and long term maintenance. Some of these areas incur extra fees depending on your needs which may change over time and give you a big surprise later. The most ignored expense is maintenance but is usually more costly than any of the others. Knowing who will update the website later and how difficult it will be for them to do is a very important consideration since different designs will increase or decrease the maintenance costs dramatically. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ignore your website after it is ‘completed’ because you will soon realize it needs to change and mature with your organization and be kept up to date.

Of course there are more mistakes to avoid but these are the most prevalent during the design and purchase process. If you are considering a new website or want to update an existing one, now is the time to avoid these mistakes and save your organization time and money. Avoiding them will mean a more effective website that becomes an extension of your organization and a valuable investment.

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7 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Buying Your Next Website