Web Design That Kills …….Profits

Ok, this will not seem new to many but the reality is there are few people listening to advice on effective web design.

First, let’s define effective for the sake of this post. When we talk to someone about effective design of their site we are certainly interested in the aesthetics of the site (look and feel). Just as important, however, is the structure of the site regarding the use of clean code, search engine friendliness and ease of use / navigation (usability).

What we encounter is that many businesses get sold a bill of goods by their internal or outsourced web design folks. Now at the risk of offending designers, I will say that the love affair with the use of flash, AJAX, Java script, excessive images or something else that virtually hides a site from the search engines is not in the best interest of the client. There is a time and a place for these but if the site owner is interested in using the search engines to drive traffic to their website it is not the way to go. Let’s face it; there are few if any sites out there that are not interested in search engine referral traffic. Does that mean you have to have a bland and boring site? Absolutely not. It does mean, however, that website owner and designer alike need to show restraint and good business judgment when making a new site or doing a redesign of an existing one.

Now I am not a designer or developer (I just play one on TV) but I am a business person. As someone who thinks that the idea of being in business is to make money and not just to have a cool website, I will tell prospects and clients alike to avoid this trap at all costs. The ones who listen are thankful and the ones who don’t, well…….. At the risk of sounding boring I will encourage web site owners and designers to concentrate on bold calls to action, content rich pages, as few impediments to success in the search engines as possible and a clean bill of health for usability. Not the sexy stuff but it’s the stuff that makes a site effective where it counts; on the bottom line.

Thanks and have a great day!