Web Design Information

Good Content Pays!


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!

Stephen Dill
SRD InterActive
srd@srdinteractive.com
www.srdinteractive.com

Stephen Dill is a seasoned marketer with expertise in the development and use of interactive channels and their integration with traditional marketing channels. Stephen has held leadership and/or consulting positions in small companies, Fortune 500 companies and the military. He has extensive experience in conceptualizing and articulating new concepts, organizing teams and managing projects through to completion.


MORE RESOURCES:

Beginner's look at Web design on tap Oct. 29
Norman Transcript, OK - 12 hours ago
The Computer Training Center at the Norman Public Library, 225 N. Webster Ave., will present a new class in the "Ask the Nerds" series from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. ...


I-COM Win Image Group Web Design and Online Marketing Account over ...
WebWire (press release), GA - Oct 14, 2008
Web design and online marketing experts’ I-COM will be working alongside large format digital printing specialists the Image Group to design, ...


Sales & Marketing Technologies Opens New Tampa Web Design and ...
Emediawire (press release), WA - Oct 10, 2008
Sales & Marketing Technologies, a full-service Web Design, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Website Hosting firm headquartered in Orlando, ...


Please Touch Museum of Philadelphia Launches New Web Site with ...
MarketWatch - Oct 14, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Oct 14, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Please Touch Museum, the newly expanded Children's Museum of Philadelphia, has launched a new colorful ...


WebAssist Debuts SuCasa, a Marketplace for Simplifying Web Design ...
PR Web (press release), WA - Oct 10, 2008
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) October 10, 2008 -- WebAssist today announced SuCasa, the fastest-growing online template marketplace and community. ...


Sessions Online SM Announces Fall Winners of $1 Million ...
MarketWatch - Oct 14, 2008
The scholarship covers full tuition for the renowned, award-winning Sessions Graphic Design or Web Design Foundation I programs and provides students with ...


Web Directions East in Tokyo Nov 2008
MarketWatch - 12 hours ago
Through the both conference and workshops, we will cover web design, CSS, javascript, UX, User Testing, Information Architecture and web marketing. ...


Killer Startups

ProtoShare.com - A New Approach To Web Design
Killer Startups, FL - Oct 8, 2008
Protoshare is a tool that makes it possible for a team to collaborate in real time during the different phases of a website’s development. ...


Web design & FOSS
ZDNet UK, UK - Sep 24, 2008
On my quest for ever smaller icons and ever smaller finger movements on my Acer Aspire One Natty Book, I have come across GNOME Do. ...


Web Design- Tips to Resist Financial Crisis
NewDesignWorld (press release), UK - Oct 7, 2008
... or don’t know a way to enter Chinese markets. Apart from doing web design, we also do content management and something you want to enter the Chinese market.

Web-Design - Google News

home | site map
© 2006