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Part 5, Why Bad Websites Happen to Good Companies: Having a “Splash” Page

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jan 12, 2009; Category: Accessibility, Bad Websites/Good Companies, Design/Development, Marketing; Tags: Information Architecture, Splash Page, Usability; 4 Comments

Splash pages represent a fundamental misunderstanding of the online medium. Often, they come from a print perspective ("books should have a cover"), or sometimes from a broadcast perspective ("a show should have an intro"). In user surveys, splash pages consistently rank as one of the most annoying things on the internet, but there are still splash pages out there, and most are attached to company websites (or print designer portfolio websites). A simple Google search reveals the many problems with splash pages, so we won’t address that here.

If the problems with splash pages are well known, why do they still exist, and in fact, continue to show up on new or redesigned sites?

• Ego, part one: the designer wants to show off his/her creativity or flash/illustration skills.
• Ego, part deux: the CEO or marketing exec is under the mistaken belief that a "cool" splash page is…um… "cool."
• Money: the designer can charge extra for the splash page flash or illustration, and maybe more for the "concept."

Websites with splash pages are inherently brochure sites (has anyone ever seen a splash page on a website that engages its audience?). The underlying assumption with splash pages is that "the market" wants/needs to see/hear the company’s "big message." That, my friends, is so "brochure."

Designers who push splash pages either misunderstand the web medium (perhaps they’re primarily print designers who only design an occasional website and don’t understand the differences?), or they’re making design decisions based on what’s best for them rather than what’s best for their clients.

Clients who insist on splash pages (I’ve had one of those in 9 years) are either uninformed, or they don’t care about their users ("it’s our website, not our customers’ website"). If they still insist on a splash page after you attempt to educate them, take their money if you need to, but realize that you are on the "brochure website" path on that website.

For more posts in this series, see the “Bad Websites/Good Companies” category at right.

Part 4, Why Bad Websites Happen to Good Companies: Leaving the Website to the Webmaster or Web Designer

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jan 8, 2009; Category: Bad Websites/Good Companies, Business, Design/Development, Marketing; Tags: Business, Design/Development, Marketing; No Comments

Don’t get me wrong: web designers and programmers are critical to the process of creating a website. But they cannot manufacture a viable web presence without the ongoing interest and participation of C-level (CEO, COO, etc.) managers in establishing, supporting, and adjusting a company’s web strategy. Companies that don’t understand the place their websites have in connecting and communicating with their customers will not give them the attention needed to be more than online brochures. In such a situation, the "web guy/gal" can do little more than make the website an attractive shell, devoid of any real "meat" that would engage a company’s customers.

If you’re a C-level manager, how can you be productively involved in your company’s web effort? In the words of the warden in Cool Hand Luke, first you have to "get your mind right." To accomplish that, commit to a minimum of 4 hours a week for 6 weeks to do the following:

1. Educate yourself about about how other companies are using the web to connect with their markets rather than talk at them. A good place to start is with David Meerman Scott’s book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR. The book contains some great information that will help you understand more about your website’s potential.
2. Use Google Blog Search to find blogs that relate to your industry. Get RSS feeds to 5-10 blogs (if you don’t have an RSS client, get one. Google has a free reader, and there are other free options.) Read the blog posts you find interesting and make comments when you feel you have something of value to add to a post.
3. Establish a LinkedIn account (or pay more attention, if you already have one). Make some connections, join some groups, participate in discussions, and answer some questions. Avoid blatant self- or company-promotion and focus on helping people with their problems.

After 6 weeks, a light bulb should go on (even if it’s flickering a bit) about how the web has become a place for connecting, rather than for broadcasting messages. If that light bulb is lit up for you, you’re ready to participate in your company’s web effort. You won’t be an expert, but you will have begun to realize your company website is not doing what it could to contribute to your company’s sales, marketing, and customer relationship goals. That realization will enable you to participate constructively in creating a web presence that engages people in your market.

For more posts in this series, see the “Bad Websites/Good Companies” category at right.

Part 3, Why Bad Websites Happen to Good Companies: Misunderstanding or Neglecting Information Architecture

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Dec 29, 2008; Category: Bad Websites/Good Companies, Design/Development, Marketing; Tags: Design/Development, Information Architecture, Usability; No Comments

Information Architecture (IA) refers to the organization and presentation of information on your website. Sounds simple enough, but many website owners and designers give it very little (if any) thought. Fundamental to the IA process is thinking through what information your visitors might come to your website to find, and providing obvious pathways designed to lead them to it.

The first part of the process is to identify your audiences. We’ve used the plural because most companies have more than one audience. Let’s say your company sells a technical widget to other companies (B2B). Your audiences might break down as follows in a particular company:

1. the technician who will use the widget, and needs details about how it works
2. the technician’s manager who authorizes the purchase and needs ROI information
3. the marketing manager who sells the company’s services and needs information about how the widget provides them with a competitive advantage.

Each needs different kinds of information to make a buying decision, or use your product, or to help them do their jobs. Rather than looking at your information from the perspective of "what-I-have-to-say," try looking at it from the perspective of your audience: "what-I-need-to-know." You might discover that some of the information your visitors need is not on your website, in which case, you need to create it. (Don’t settle for the lame excuse, "They’ll just have to call us for that information." Because they won’t.)

If you have clearly distinguishable audiences with different needs, you might consider addressing them separately on the homepage, with action messages/links directed at each audience, which allows visitors to self-select into one of the audience groups and go to a "start page" written to address them from their perspective. This requires brief, well-written, motivating action messages, but it can show your various audiences that you understand who they are and what their needs are.

Apart from creating special pathways for important audience segments, all websites need an easily understood, "intuitive" global navigation system. That means intuitive from your audience’s point of view, not necessarily yours. Intuitive navigation always rests on a well-thought-through information architecture.

If you want to see how NOT to create intuitive navigation, go to virtually any government website (though they’re getting better). It’s likely you will see information organized by government department, rather than by what visitors want to know. If you are looking for information about a particular service or program, you first must figure out which department is responsible for it. Then you may be able to navigate to the information, or maybe not. It works great for government employees who understand how the system is constructed; not so great for most constituents.

The basics that must appear on all website navigation (the labels can vary) is:

1. Home (no, making your logo a link to the home page is not obvious to everyone)
2. Products and/or Services
3. About Us
4. Contact Us

Those are the minimum global navigation items for a business website, but most sites contain more, depending on the kind of business and the ways it chooses to engage its audiences. Keep in mind that, if your customers can’t find the information they need on your website, they may buy an inferior product or service from a company that does a better job of providing information (ouch!).

Effective information architecture can only be developed by understanding and considering the needs of your visitors. It requires some thought and a real effort to look at your information from their perspective. Done well, it can result in more business. Done badly, it can turn business away.

For more posts in this series, see the “Bad Websites/Good Companies” category at right.

Part 2, Why Bad Websites Happen to Good Companies: Creating a Website that Doesn’t Accurately Represent Your Company

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Dec 28, 2008; Category: Bad Websites/Good Companies, Design/Development, Marketing; Tags: Design/Development, Marketing; No Comments

Maybe you saw another company’s website and decided you wanted one just like it. Same bells, same whistles, same cheesy photo of two disembodied hands sealing the deal on the homepage. So you reworked your content to fit into a container that was created for another company’s web presence.

Or maybe your company has only one employee (you), and you’ve decided that in order to compete, it has to appear bigger. So you carefully craft an online identity that gives visitors the idea that you have "people."

Maybe you’re an employee of a company whose business is harmful to the environment, and you think that if you initiate and publicize some kind of "green" program on your website, no one will notice the dead fish directly downstream from your manufacturing plants. Or that publishing a code of ethics on your website will innoculate you from criticism (Enron’s Code of Ethics booklet can be purchased on eBay, "never been used").

Whatever reason you might have for trying to appear as something you are not, please don’t do it. Sooner or later, you’ll be found out, and with social media’s ability to spread the word, your credibility will be difficult to rebuild. If your market doesn’t trust you, you’re done, particularly as a small service business, or any business for which alternatives exist. Effective online marketing begins with respect for your market, and attempting to fool them is not an indication of respect.

Instead of trying to pretend your company is something it’s not, embrace or deal with the issues that caused you to misrepresent your company in the first place. Instead of copying another website, try to analyze what you like about it and bring some of those approaches into your website, adapted to your own unique message or strategy. If you’re a one-person-shop, tout your agility and flexibility, or whatever other real strengths you possess. And if your company is dumping toxic chemicals into the local river, just stop it! But please, don’t pretend you’re green.

For more posts in this series, see the “Bad Websites/Good Companies” category at right.

Part 1, Why Bad Websites Happen to Good Companies: Thinking of the Company Website as an Online Brochure

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Dec 23, 2008; Category: Bad Websites/Good Companies, Design/Development, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Business, Design/Development; No Comments

Ah, the good old days, when the web was a simpler place: you could just take your company brochure and put it online. Often, the only interactive feature was an email link. It was all about companies putting their message out to their market, which was presumed to be unable to contain itself waiting to see the company website. The "online brochure" is a recent version of the "horseless carriage." We all had difficulty at first seeing beyond the print paradigm we were familiar with and understanding that we had our hands on an entirely new thing that required us to think differently in order to utilize its potential. Unfortunately, some of us still have that difficulty.

More and more, however, companies are beginning to understand that their website is not a broadcast station, from which the faceless corporation blasts out its message to a faceless market. People in companies are recognizing the need for their website to serve as a business platform; a tool for connecting with and interacting with people in their markets. The value of the online business platform is its ability to enable person-to-person communication, one-to-one, about various issues an individual customer faces. To customers, the web is a personal experience. They don’t find impersonal, puffed up company websites helpful. (Have I bold-italicized people/personal enough to make my point? Because I can do more…)

One of the primary reasons the shift from online brochure to one-to-one communication tool is not happening faster is that it’s threatening to traditional company roles and ideas about protecting the company brand. If one-to-one communication is enabled, the company facade will be breached, and its brand may be called into question. Traditional business people want to control the message and maintain the facade.

But brands are always being called into question; traditional managers and business owners, secure in their marketing communications cocoons, just don’t know it. Every time a customer has a difficult or frustrating experience with a company product or service (think "phone company"), believe me, they understand there’s a disconnect between their experience and the ads they see on TV or in magazines. And they don’t tend to think of their experience as an aberration. One-to-one interaction gives people at the company an opportunity to resolve the issue and solidify a customer relationship. The alternative is to lose a customer, or at best, create a disgruntled customer who tells friends about his bad experience.

Using the web as a one-to-one business platform means giving up the online brochure paradigm, not just creating a "customer service" tab on the online brochure. It means connecting customers with technical issues to technical people, and people with service issues to service people, who are themselves able to access useful information and authorize solutions. It means creating feedback loops that are not only usable, but compelling. The technology exists. The willingness to use it exists in some companies, but not in others. Yet.

For more posts in this series, see the “Bad Websites/Good Companies” category at right.