oryanstudios.com

What makes the perfect web site?

Well here’s my thoughts.. The perfect web site consists of ‘perfect’ web pages that are easy to find, easy to navigate between, and provide content that I want to read, in a visually appealing layout.

What makes the perfect web page then?

For a search engine it is simple.. text! They can’t see pictures and are not interested in your page layout. They simply ‘read’ text and store it. The important part is the relevance of search queries to the content of the stored text. The more often the query keywords appear in the stored page when compared to the overall amount of page text, the higher up a listing it is pushed (There’s much more to it than that, but it’s a reasonable generalization for now).

Humans & the perfect pages!

Unless the content of the text is utterly fascinating, then humans will be bored with a pure text page straight away. That’s because reading from a screen is much more demanding than reading a book. To combat this, we use colour, layout and images to visually enhance the pages and make them more appealing.

Unfortunately, the more images and the less text you use, the worse the search result listings will be. That’s why sites with introductory ’splash’ screens have to to use other methods of promotion. There’s only so much you can do behind an image to get a search engines attention.

Getting the balance right!

The perfect web page fulfills the human visual and information needs AND the search engines text requirements. Get it right and you’ll have plenty of happy visitors, and, they’ll all arrive straight from the search engines listings.

Getting it right of course.. well that’s a job for us! Why not contact us to see how we can get the balance right for you.

Here are a few things to think about before diving into a new web site venture.
Ask and ask again
A web site can be an important and very effective means of advertising your business. If a designer is vague with their answers, push for clarification. If you don’t get a clear explanation, look elsewhere for a designer. Lack of detail in the early stages could be costly later.

Be realistic!
No one designer is a whizz at everything, therefore, if they can do the things YOUR site specifically needs, and the price is right, give them the job. Likewise, if your site doesn’t need Flash animations, why pay for a designer who specializes in this? The costs will probably be higher.

Value for money.
Be realistic in your budgets. The tighter the quote, the less flexible to change the designer will be. Pay a realistic rate for the job, and if you can, hold a small amount in reserve for contingencies.

Who’s designing this?
Let the designers do their jobs. If they’ve spent years learning the required skills, why do you think you can do better? If the first paragraph, on a page you supplied, has been re-written by the designer, there’s a very good reason why.. (It will be to get visitors to your site via better search engine rankings).
Let the designers design, then sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labour..

Be confident
This new knowledge will do wonders for your negotiating skills, and allow you to lead discussions rather than follow them.

D.I.Y
There are some things you can do for yourself, so don’t feel obliged to accept everything that you’re told ‘you need’. For sites on a low budget, basic online promotion of a well constructed, engine friendly site, can easily be done by the client. It’s just time consuming, so would you want to do it, or would you prefer to farm it out?

Transparency
We try to be transparent in our dealings with clients, and have excellent relationships with the companies we work for. With any designer, you should know exactly what’s happening and what’s expected of you. If this isn’t the case with your designer, you can take your business to someone else.

Don’t forget the obvious..
We could design the best looking, fastest loading, easiest to use e-commerce site on the internet, but without ALL of the following in place, your e-commerce venture will probably struggle!

Stock!
It’s so obvious, I almost forgot it! If you don’t hold stock, make sure your supplier does, and can cope with your delivery promises.

Finance!
What would happen if you were inundated with orders? Can your cashflow cope with additional, stock, staff, warehousing and distribution costs?

Customer support!
It’s obvious, but your online reputation is extremely fragile, and can be trashed in numerous places by the disgruntled. If you ‘go e-commerce’, look after your customers. They will look after you.

Every now and again i find myself trying to explain to people what a good site is, and how they can get one. So here are my top ten for getting the web site that you really want.

1. Decide on your Web site’s goals before setting it up. Do you want to just get clients to call you, or do you want clients to be able to shop and order on-line?

2. Hire an affordable Webmaster if you don’t have the expertise or time to set up and maintain a quality site. But remember that you, not the Webmaster, are responsible for deciding the content and style of your website. You must stay in frequent contact with your webmaster to make changes, corrections, and additions. (unless you use the ORYANSTUDIOS content management system of course!!!)

3. Make your site colorful, but not too busy; avoid more than two font styles per page.

4. Provide large, sharp photos of your products, with descriptions and prices of each design.

5. Use flashing and movement very sparingly–it takes away from professional atmosphere you want to create.

6. Inspire confidence on your site by posting your background, training, and experience in the specific industry. You want to be seen as an expert.

7. Make it easy for clients to navigate your site.

8. Make your ordering process as simple as possible. If your site does not have a secure order page, clients should still be able to call to place the order.

9. Give your clients a reason to return to your site other than just to buy. For example, offer a monthly contest or provide gift tips.

10. Visit your competitor’s sites and sites in noncompeting industries to see what additional ideas you should consider implementing without blatant copying.

11. DON’T SETTLE! It’s your site and your paying good money for a “professional” to do it for you. Your site is a virtual representation of who you are, so make sure its good. Don’t be afraid to tell who ever you hired that you dont like it and want something else. (yes i know i said “top ten” but i felt this was the most important.)