Want an Effective Website? Fix These Three Web Design Problems

May 7, 2010 by Jeune Ortiz

There are a lot of details that need to be considered when designing a website. But in this post we’ll tell you about three critical items that most designers don’t even consider.  If you have a site, use these three items to make it better. If you don’t have a site, these items will serve as a guide to help you get a website that actually pulls in customers for you.

1. The 3 Second Rule

You’ve been to your website hundreds or thousands of times, but you’re probably missing the point – as are your visitors. You have less than 1 second to make an impression on your visitor, and you need to know what your website is telling them.

I’m going to be generous and give you 3 seconds for this exercise:

Get someone who has never seen your site before.  Ask them to look at your homepage or another landing page on your site. Give them three seconds and close the window. Ask them, “What do we want you to do on that page?” If they can answer, then your site is better than most.

2. Squint & Find Navigation

Navigation is arguably one of the most important pieces of your website. You want your visitors to explore your website and find out all about you. But many people might not even see your navigation right away.

Here’s Your Exercise:

Squint your eyes and look at your website. This is a graphic design trick that will let you see contrast between colors and elements on your page. If your navigation, buttons, or important labels disappear you’ve got a major design flaw. Keep in mind that every single monitor displays differently, so you could be causing more frustration than you realize with “hidden” navigation elements.

3. Size Matters

It used to be that 15″ monitors were a sign of antiquity, and web designers sighed with relief as the monitor sizes began climbing steadily each year. It meant we could put more information on the page, or space elements out so there was more white space (designers love white space).  Well, guess what? Small is back in, and big is going out of fashion. Have you looked at your website on a cell phone, Kindle/Nook, or iPad? You’d better do it at your first opportunity.

Your mission:

Go to the Mac Store, or Barnes and Noble, and check out your website. I suggest doing both because the iPad is in brilliant high resolution color, but the eReaders are simply shades of gray. Squint and Find navigation will be apparent on these devices. Once you have your website up, look for these items (without scrolling!):

1. Most important call to action
2. Contact information
3. Description of your service or business

Scrolling is cheating because in the less than one second your visitor has to sum up your business, they won’t even be able to find the scrollbar. Is it obvious what your company does? If you think it is, double check with the Barnes and Noble guy to see if he can tell you what you’re company is about.  Give him a generous three seconds.

More Stuff to Look for

The three exercises listed above will uncover about 60% of your website’s shortcomings. Other things to look for include, persuasive headlines and copy, calls to action, form optimization, trust, and social proof.

Want a Professional Opinion?

If you’re ready to get a professional opinion drop us a line. We’ve made hundreds of effective websites we can make your effective too.

Category: Web Design | 3 Comments

About the author: Jeune Ortiz is VP of Marketing and Creative Director at future-ink. With more than 20 years of experience in graphic design and marketing, Jeune brings extensive knowledge and creativity to each website and internet marketing solution to grow your business.

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