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For those of us who've spent any real time on the Internet, it's hard to imagine a business without an online presence. Almost everywhere we look, we find a business URL plastered somewhere on a coffee mug, novelty pen, or refrigerator magnet, and there are several good reasons why.
In a virtual place called "cyberspace," geographic restrictions are removed, while global access to billions of consumers literally changes the way and pace in which traditional business is performed. Sales opportunities increase while transaction costs decrease. And computer automation enables the selling processes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while products are delivered within minutes (and sometimes even instantaneously) at a fraction of conventional delivery expenses.
These are some pretty compelling reasons for any business to set up an online camp; however, the most compelling reason of all is that today's consumers demand it! Never before has there been a more information-hungry market than what we have in this generation of net-connected consumers, and never before has there been such a demand to satisfy consumer queries than now.
Failing to provide a 24-hour automated shopping and delivery service that accommodates the interests of a worldwide market contributes to the success of your competitor. But the benefits of owning a slice of cyberspace aren't exclusive to the consumer market. Owning and operating a website is beneficial to the businesses that run them as well.
Business websites also improve the internal processes of the companies that manage them. Customer-to-business communication improves, inventories update in an instant, and even advertisement ROI's manifest quicker -- in real time -- for meaningful results.
The explosion of the Internet has undoubtedly surpassed skeptics’ expectations and it has become a forceful component in the way we do business as both producer and consumer. The only next parameter to deal with is molding and shaping its economic potential into an experience that is profitable for the business owner because the potential is seemingly inexhaustible.
But we can not expect to succeed online by using yesteryear's methods. As a society, we must instead change our business into one that is flexible, and embraces non-traditional means. The most effective way to do that is with a website.
TIP: Can you name more than three well-known businesses that don't have a website? Consider this a challenge and try to name a few of the most popular companies without an Internet presence of some sort. Chances are, you won't be able to!
When we talk about websites, we're not talking about simple web pages that look like the efforts of the local nerd or enthusiastic script-kiddy. Nor are we talking about the retro websites of the early nineties either. Serious businesses require serious websites.
We've come a long way in technology but some habits are hard to break. One of those habits is judging a book by its cover. Time has proven over and over that online consumers are more apt to shop from a website that "looks" professional. But the problem with taking advantage of this inclination is that we can have a hard time defining what exactly "professional" is and what it "looks" like. For what's deemed professional in the eyes of some is labeled tacky or over-the-top by others and vice versa.
The graphics design industry has always struggled with defining the "professional look" because while its clients want to look professional, they also want to maintain individuality and creativity: two dynamics that contribute to the quandary at hand.
Is there a feasible way to incorporate individuality and creativity in an environment that depends on a professional atmosphere? If we asked this question thirty years ago or more, we would have been told, "no." However we are again, facing a new generation of consumer demands. Today's consumers demand fresh, innovative approaches, yet they will not accept anything that's less than professional. As online merchants who want to satisfy current consumer demand, we are left to define "professional" as whatever it means to the buying market.
Fortunately through extensive surveys, user feedback, and behavioral analysis, we've come to understand what consumers regard as "professional." Surprisingly, none of it sacrifices creativity or innovative solutions the way that it could have a couple of generations ago. This is because in the minds of billions of online shoppers, "professional websites" are built according to the most important principle of web design, and that principle is simplicity.
Over time, consumers have consistently demonstrated a strong propensity toward websites that are simple to read, to navigate, and of course, to use. And since the ultimate goal behind business websites is to process sales, the successful ones are crafted in such a way that they completely eliminate anything that could interfere with that goal.
Nothing on a simple website distracts visitors, while everything in its entire design leads visitors along the path of making a purchase. And whatever choices are made available, you can bet that each one of them enables visitors to accomplish some sort of sales-oriented task.
There are numerous reasons why complex websites don't contribute to the success of the online entrepreneur, but for the most part, it's because they overwhelm potential consumers and dissuade sales. In fact, the more complicated a website appears, the more likely it is that a visitor will leave it. Websites that deviate from simplicity slow down the impulsive nature of the online consumer, and, in the worst case scenario, could completely alienate themselves from the very markets that they're attempting to serve.
TIP: We've got another challenge for you! If you've already got a website up and running, take a look at it's homepage, and see if you find anything that could potentially distract a visitor from completing a sale. If you didn't build the website according to the K.I.S.S. principle, you just might find more than expected.
At the very least, history has determined that a professional website must strive to reach at least 5 specific goals:
Although these goals are rather broad in scope, their specifics are what give a website the complete focus and direction that it needs to be successful. Some of those specifics include setting up a secure ordering system, providing customer support, advertising, marketing, and hiring employees. However regardless of its level of detail, each goal of a business website must always address the needs of its target audience.
Many online business mistakenly address the needs of their operations instead of the needs of their visitors, and this is but one contributor of the complexity we all have come to experience on the Internet—and of course, one contributor to failure.
The key needs of a website's audience will set the course for further development because they address things like Internet experience, browser type, connection speeds, and screen resolution.
For example, a website that caters to visitors with little Internet experience should provide a very simple interface with small blurbs of explanatory text next to each button or link. One of the goals in this case would be to offer extensive help.
A website that serves mostly Internet Explorer users can take advantage of advanced Java or VB scripting, whereas a website that attracts mostly low-end browser users should avoid scripting altogether and concentrate on providing text-based content instead.
Another goal of a website that caters to visitors with slow Internet connections would be to display small, fast loading graphics rather than video-laden web pages that are riddled with 400K+ images.
These examples illustrate how a website's audience literally dictates what should and shouldn't be part of its design if it's going to meet its audience-oriented business goals.
At times, audience-oriented design goals may conflict with each other -- especially when they encounter visitors who have fast Internet connections but low screen resolutions. To accomplish design goals for such a widely varied audience, it's best to design a website that satisfies the most common needs.
TIP: To determine what your visitors needs are, check your server's visitor logs to find the most commonly used browser, connection speed, screen resolution and more. Without these logs, your guess will be as good as any stranger's.
TIP: Check out the Web Site Garage @ http://www.websitegarage.com. This service will analyze a website's load time at various connection speeds with various browsers. Use it to see if your website accommodates the needs of your visitor's Internet equipment.
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