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How Valuable is Design on the Web?

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

The answer to that question is, “Just as important as it is for toasters and MP3 players.” Design is the unspoken language of art. Without a sound it can attract or repel. And while most see it as highly subjective—and in fine art it most assuredly is—in “logic products” (hardware, tools, even software interfaces) successful design can approach universal appreciation. Think iPod. The first MP3 player I had was the most amazing bundle of frustrating confusion I have ever seen. I was only continuing to subject myself to the torture of remembering how to get the desired result because it was given to me by my kids. They were watching to see how much I was enjoying it. When it became obvious ‘enjoyment’ was not a word I could use to describe my daily interaction with this device they bought me an iPod. Within seconds I felt empowered. Instantly I was able to explore its capabilities and go back to them easily. The interface of the click wheel and simple menus gave me great joy. I never touched the other MP3 player again. Such is the power of great design.

I dug up an article I wrote in 2004 that I still find valid and I share it with you now:

Let’s examine how important Web Design is to the success of any Web-based marketing campaign. In a September 2003 report from Forrester Research titled  “The Best and Worst of Site Design, 2003″ the authors stated, “Most of the problems we found were self-inflicted wounds resulting from site managers who naively allow designers to: hide value, turn interfaces into dexterity tests, favor “white space” over information, and leave users hanging.” The traps are subtle, but good design is a triumph over more than the pitfalls. Good design is the result of a process of deep thought. And therein lies the biggest benefit of good design: visitors to the site who are thinkers know that the designer is a thinker. They know that the designer was not acting out of ego, but of thinking of the needs of others.

Sites that exhibit good design—those that anticipate the needs of their visitors, prospects and patrons—are directly rewarded with ROI: return on investment. Using scenarios and personas to truly step inside the visitor’s likely situation(s) give designers clear priorities in the numerous decisions around navigation, use of imagery, arrangement of content, linkages within the site, and required functionality. Without clear objectives and a firm grasp of the audience, misuse of the opportunity to communicate value to each and every visitor is the likely outcome. Using technology to dazzle does little to convey meaning, much less compel thinking customers to stay. For those who use the Web as art, technology prowess is fine. For those who are intent on conducting commerce and generating qualified leads, the name of the game is conscientious, concise, controlled experience of the features and benefits of the products or services the site owner offers.

There is more to achieving a site’s objectives than good design, but at the first view of a Web site is the visitor’s impression of the whole site formed. If it’s not positive, the rest of the site and its intent is fighting an uphill battle. Thinking becomes the most important step in any site design. Who are the visitors? What are they looking for? What is their situation, are they rushed? Are they knowledgeable? Are they looking for opinions or facts? Are they the kind of prospect the site owner is looking for? Knowing the answers to those and more questions will better inform a designer than any images, cool Flash techniques, or PHP application.

Let’s talk design success. What are your experiences in creating good design? How do you identify bad design?

20.07.2010 Industry, Marketing 1 Comment

Twitter Traffic for the week of: 2010-08-17

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

20.06.2010 Marketing No Comments

What is “The Siteless Web” and how do you use it?

Thursday, February 25th, 2010
The exploding demand to monitor your presence on the Web

The exploding demand to monitor your presence on the Web

Steve Rubel writes in this post that the AP and other news (and other content) syndicators have found in Facebook a way to build identity for a service that has always been secondary to the publisher. I see a slightly different twist on AP’s investment in Facebook. For many the light is dawning: there is a gradual movement toward a Web presence that is not based on “one site,” but rather distributed content across many aggregators – sites that cater to specific audiences. Let the other sites do what it takes to create communities, then offer your goods and services there. As long as the platform supports all a customer needs to know or do, why do you need a site of your own? Search will instead direct prospects to your content, even to the perfect community to access that product or service if their search string is very specific. In a post on this topic by Paul Gillen, @pgillen, he says as much. “A person’s or brand’s online presence will increasingly be syndicated through a network of feeds that may find their home almost anywhere.” I commented that:

I am absolutely seeing the lack of importance in any one site if it’s pure “thought content” we are talking about. Seems obvious that The Siteless Web would not apply when it’s commerce or private/secure interaction (such as managing client account data) we are talking about, right? Small quantities of any product could be sold in a variety of sites, I suppose, but for any catalog of product, or an array of services for that matter, the “company site” will still be necessary, will it not? And will it not be search still that leads us to the hooks people and brands place in the many pools when we don’t know who to ask for a referral, or we want to compare options or offerings? On the one hand, this supports the rampant, even indiscriminate, distribution of “thought leadership” content across the Web. (Investment tip: server and storage companies will never see a declining market demand. Ever.) On the other, it raises the staffing demand in order to:

  • Keep ahead of the list of new sites that attract appropriate audiences, and
  • Tailor the content to each community so as to be perceived as sensitive to the interests and needs of each audience, and
  • Monitor comments and feedback through each placement in all sites.

And what of metrics and measurement? Is it overly simplistic to see the industry reverting to the classic, monotheistic measurement of success: sales? Why would you rely on traffic tracking to continue publishing to a site if it only takes one reader to call and order to justify the time and talent invested in the posting to the site where they saw your post? The folks at Gomez and Hubspot aren’t going to like hearing that, but I wonder if the siteless Web frees marketers from having to be left-brained technologists and returns them to the creative side? Not that such a scenario is all roses for the aforementioned never-ending list of new social networks, bookmarking, photo, video, opinion sites and blogs. That volume is actually terrifying to visualize.

What this means to companies is a choice—should they staff this need themselves or turn to outside resources to create, monitor, even to engage in dialog with their audiences on the many platforms and in the many threads of conversation where they add relevance and have an opportunity to build trust?

SRD InterActive stands ready to assist no matter how that issue is decided. From the strategy development, to the resource identification, to the full production and ongoing support. Call or email to start that discussion.

25.02.2010 Industry, Marketing 2 Comments

Twitter: Blinded by the Obvious

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

The Internet itself had the same reaction: “this too shall pass” everyone said. But the Internet remains, and continues to grow in importance, as strange as that seems, every single day. Now Twitter is getting ‘the treatment’, people in marketing, sales and virtually every walk of life are telling anyone who will listen that Twitter is a waste of time. They know this to be true.

I commented on a MediaPost research report on the demographic survey that the Pew Internet & American Life Project recently released, largely because people who should have known better took the opportunity to discount any value in Twitter. Their use of words such as “hype,” “worthless” and “bias” called me into action. Here is my take on Twitter, or at least the slice of it that I posted as a comment:

I find that comments about how Twitter is used by the masses ignores how Twitter is used by the professionals. Social Media is a faster, and some might argue more powerful, SEO tool than traditional SEO. The technology of Twitter is what is important, not the content found in any random sampling of the Twitter stream. Links are indexed by search engines almost immediately and they last forever and they get very fast response. Good content attracts large traffic numbers if posted to Twitter by a dependable source who has built a significant following.

Don’t be fooled by looking only at the surface. Twitter search, now lists, and some of the associated tools such as foursquare are changing the way money is made on the Web, customers are served, dialogs with prospects are initiated, and audiences are assembled. Twitter has powerful Google juice and it is up to the wise to tap into it.

I had a similar response to a friend, Mike Schneider, when he was curious about how few college juniors were using Twitter:

I just taught a similar class last week at the NE School of Photography. Similar results of the poll. Different reason why, though. These are photographers trying to get work in a world where there are more cameras than there are people. I tell people Twitter is pure Google Juice. Say it on Twitter with a good number of followers and read about it on Google within hours. Talk about your blog post or someone else’s on Twitter and watch the visitor stats go through the roof. I tell them that it is one of the few nets that will be tossed into more pools than they can find on their own, meaning that what they say can, and most likely will be if it’s crafted correctly, spread out to others’ lists of followers without any effort on their part. Some day the shelf life of Twitter content will probably be measured in centuries.

Social media is about leveraging technology to get found. I’ve taught that class to groups of older sole practitioners, college students, ad agencies, and professionals sharpening their self-promotion skills and darn close to 100% of them do not see it for that.

Twitter is SEO for everyman. As with all change, you have a choice as to how long you want to stay where you are and deny yourself the advantage of that change. I put it off for a while, but I am grateful to Aaron Strout for waking me up to the power of social media in general, and Twitter in specific .

If you want to start driving traffic to your efforts, get into Twitter and start reading the many tutorials on how to leverage it. If you need help, contact me.

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08.11.2009 Industry, Marketing 2 Comments

Content As Conversation Is Valuable

Monday, June 29th, 2009

While checking the Twitter stream of a friend, Robert Collins, I was directed to a post by Matthew T. Grant titled “Content Is Still King (It’s Just Not What You Think It Is)” and found it an interesting contrast to my posting below, “Good Content Pays.” Where I saw my view as targeting somewhat “static” marketing websites and Matthew’s as looking at blogs and measuring success in the content’s ability to attract comments and instigate conversations, as I read more I realized the value of any content being able to inspire dialog. That got me thinking, why shouldn’t product descriptions accept the comments of the audience of prospects, clients and analysts who may be evaluating the information being offered? Who couldn’t see the value of suggestions and questions around the description of a service offering?

Recognizing that we are in an inbound world, are website owners building in a way to promote and then capture the results of this crowdsourcing opportunity? (Take 3:20 to watch this nice explanation by Jeff Howe on Crowdsourcing.) Judging by the vast majority of the company websites I have seen, I feel confident in saying no. The exception to that rule are those now being built on a blog platform and taking advantage of the conversation tools, widgets and plugins available. This is the environment where Matthew’s comment, ”content is not a product, it’s a process” hits home. In the world of content as process, where “…marketing content is less about what your organization says and more about what your people do,” any of the following could become viable—and valuable—content:

  • Meeting minutes
  • Product testing memos
  • Staffing assignment announcements
  • Phone calls
  • Reaction to analyst commentary
  • Bug reports
  • Feature wish lists
  • Company retreat schedule

“Back in the day” senior executives I was consulting to reeled back when I tried to show them how to use a word processor. “Are you trying to make into a secretary?” they would shout. Those of my past clients still alive and at work probably haven’t had a secretary in the last 15 years. Technology has for the past 20 years been showing us how to do more with what we already do. Today, that technology allows companies to build trust on nothing more than transparency, sharing the thoughts and activities of the company through its staff.

I strongly suggest you read what Matthew has to say and evaluate who is a content developer in your firm, and what can be done with the valuable content they are producing every day.

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29.06.2009 Marketing No Comments

Good Content Pays!

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Traffic to a site can be a blessing or a curse. Visitors who find what they are looking for, are engaged in what the site offers, and/or come away with a positive impression become the site owner’s best allies and customers. But lead a visitor to believe that they will find what they are looking for and then not provide on your promise and you will find yourself being stabbed in the back repeatedly by people you will never know. As discussed in another article, “What Are the Benefits of Good Design on the Web?” the task of the site owner is not simply to ask all the right questions and make sure the designer interprets the answers correctly. Just as challenging is the need for the correct content—content that is largely dictated by the answers to the same questions so important to good design: Who are the visitors? What are they looking for? What is their situation, are they rushed? Are they knowledgeable? Are they looking for opinions or facts? Are they the kind of prospect the site owner is looking for?

Much is made of the importance of “fresh” content, but I posit that the right content is ageless if it’s still relevant to the audience it’s targeted toward and the business objectives continue to be met. A constant infusion of ill-aimed content on top of bad or incorrect content is no answer to the challenge of gaining and keeping customers. So the question is, “What’s the right content?” As Michael Gerber states in his must-read book, E-Myth Revisited, “It is in the understanding of value, as it impacts every person with whom your business comes into contact, that every extraordinary business lives.” Deep knowledge of your customers will define your entire business and make clear the boundaries of your content.

Content development is often a missed opportunity for creativity. Here a team can and should gather to read and digest what the psychographics profiles indicate the interests and motivators of the audiences are. As a hedge against myopia, your team should include one or more from outside your company or immediate colleagues. The same scenarios that influence the designers should be the frameworks for role-playing within the content team.

No matter the intent of the site – whether e-commerce, private intranet, public promotion, nonprofit research, or secure account management – the measurement of success, the determinant of how much the site is returning on the owner’s investment, is found in the server logs. They tell the story of the visitor’s travels through the site. If the content is good, visitors will linger when they find content that resonates with who they are and their situation. If they stay less than a minute, going to another site from the first page they land on, you are looking at either a visitor who realized they were not looking for what you were offering, or a visitor who was turned off by the content they perused in those first 30 seconds. Good content engages; good content pays!

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28.06.2009 Marketing No Comments

Marketing Is Interactive

Friday, April 24th, 2009

This may seem simple, but you need to give customers what they want, not what you think they want. And, if you do this, people will keep coming back.
John Ilhan

Why do you think you need Marketing? SRD InterActive is a firm built on the conviction that business needs proper marketing strategy and planning for assured success. That strategy starts with a clear picture of the customer and an equally clear picture of the customer’s needs that the business will meet. Only then can the business develop solutions to take to market.

Once the business knows the customers, their needs, and the solutions to offer, the next challenge is to determine how to offer them. Every delivery method is driven by the demand for the solutions (products or services). If you offer something everyone needs at least three times a week, you really just need some good real estate and a catchy sign to reach your initial revenue goals. But if only a few people in any given population uses what you offer, you must think through your marketing strategy, because there are many, many options.

Here is where SRD InterActive can help you and your business. Your marketing program can and should be your best employee; make it work for you around the clock and around the world! Businesses need to make a proportionately larger audience aware of their offerings if they don’t have big sales teams and marketing budgets. As you work with us to develop your Marketing Strategy, we will help you consider and evaluate your alternatives in traditional and online marketing channels. After we carry your marketing strategy to launch, we will measure its effectiveness and report the return on your investment.

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24.04.2009 Marketing, Services No Comments

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