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Websites That Work - Our Recommendations

Peter Van Zelst

Imitation is the highest form of flattery
With so many web design experts out there, offering their own perspectives on how your site should be, it is important, if not vital, that you consider, before speaking to any designers, what YOU, personally, want your site to do and look like. In my opinion, the first step you should take is to look at other sites and decide what you do and don’t like.

Don’t reinvent the wheel
Web design is a highly subjective matter. Some people have particular favourites that others don’t like. After considering what appeals to you, write it all down and then forget about it. Now concentrate on what your most important visitor, your customer or potential customer, would like your website to look like, act like, feel like and do.

View the world through your customers eyes
Identify your target market and pinpoint your target customer. Then really try to get into their head. Consider everything about their demographics, age, sex, income, education, musical taste… everything! Create a mental picture of them and then think about what they like in a website, what appeals to them and what makes it easy for them to try or buy your products and services. Write that down and compare it with your own viewpoint.

Learn from others’ mistakes
Here are some examples that, I believe, you should consider as examples of leading customer focussed websites, which have considered their target market carefully.

As e-commerce sites go, you needn't look much further than the two front runners:
Amazon.co.uk , one of the first online retailers and arguably a prime mover. Consider its target marketing. Look at how it uses technology yet remains ostensibly simple. Consider the customer experience.

Then look at eBay.co.uk the biggest and most successful. It’s a huge site but look at the navigation. It’s certainly not chic or stylish, yet consider its market and what it is selling.

If you want chic and stylish go to Apple. Consider its own market, target customer profile and what they are looking for in a product, service and website. Consider the age and demographics of its market, then look at its i-Tunes site and think about the same question.

Whilst we’re on target marketing, consider The White Company, the whole site has been designed around that all important target customer.

Now look at Fasthosts Internet. Spot the difference? Very busy, but packed with information. Step back and consider the target market and the products it is selling. Even with all that stuff going on, see how good the navigation is.

Now consider two different sites. Visit Skype. Simple, easy and just look how many steps it takes to take the required action, i.e. download the software. From first clicking on the site, you can be making calls, literally, within a matter of seconds or minutes.... depending upon the speed of your hardware, connection and fingers! Amazing.

Very similar, though, perhaps, not quite just as brilliant, is Real Networks. The important thing is look how simple they make it. They are both huge sites with massive traffic but they focus on what is important.

Now Insurance, that’s complicated isn’t it? Lots of different products, form filling, confidential information, complexity and so on. Now consider how Zurich do it. Very simple. Very Easy. Very Direct. Now have a look at Prudential Car Insurance or Nationwide Home Insurance , simple, easy, direct and targeted. Why make things more complicated than they need to be?

Now, finally, consider two of, what I consider to be, the leading UK Based e-commerce retailers:-
Laithwaites, the leading online wine retailer and the company behind many of the other online wine clubs. It’s very different to the The White Company or Apple but, again, consider where they are trying to position themselves, what they are trying to say, what they are selling and who they are selling to. Very clever.

Last, but certainly not least, Boden. You need to touch and feel clothes, smell the quality, try them on, talk to the shop assistant, don’t you? Boden are considered one of the leading online clothes retailers, you can judge for yourself why.

Want to know more about how to make your website appeal to your customers and target customers? Contact us now for a free appraisal of your website and use our experience of business, strategy, marketing and e-commerce to help you achieve your online objectives.

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