Web Strategies

In my last two posts, I’ve covered the importance of quality and consistent site navigation as well as color.  Today, I’d like to spend a little time on the single most important part of any organization’s website - your user.  Ultimately, you’re putting together a website hiring a web design companyfor a reason.  There’s someone you’re trying to reach out to.  Whether it’s to share information within your organization, to reach out to current customers or find new ones, your site will have a user base.

One of the biggest mistakes many organizations make is designing a website with their organization in mind and not with their customer or user in mind.  Like any good in-person sales call, your site shouldn’t focus on what it is that you do or can do, but rather on what kinds of problems your user might be looking to solve and then how you can help solve those problems.

I, as a user of your company’s website, should be able to have a general idea of what it is that you do within about 10 seconds of landing on your site.  Within about 30 seconds, I should be able to figure out what exactly you’re offering and how it can solve my problems.  If you can’t deliver on that, I’ve already hit the back button and your competition is vying for my business.

In everything your site offers, think about who your user is and what it is that they anticipate to get out of a visit to your website.  Do you want a website for college aged kids to buy a retail product, a site for business owners to explore long term relationships with your firm, or perhaps you making a website to deliver information to people already in your organization’s fold just to deliver information?  In all that you do, make sure that you’re projecting the right image and the right information with that user in mind.

I’ll close by saying that I frequently meet with small business owners that are in wholesale trades, manufacturing or other business-to-business work.  More times than not, these business owners express that they don’t really need a site that looks as “good” or “flashy” as people in retail because their customers are all just business owners and their site probably won’t get very much traffic anyway.  To the contrary, all purchase decisions (whether business-to-business or retail) are rooted in the same, emotional context.  People buy on emotion, not logic.  People run businesses and make the buying decisions for those businesses.  Business owning buyers are often more discerning than retail customers can be.  While most Americans are willing to wait in 20 minute lines at a Wal*Mart, the guy that will be making the buying decision on the $20 million widget your firm manufactures, isn’t quite as patient.

Here are some examples of great business-to-business design our Indianapolis web design company, Intero Design Group, has had the privilege of being involved in:

• http://www.artecenvironmental.com/ - ARTEC Environmental (Indianapolis, Indiana)
• http://www.landmarkpropertiesinc.com/ - Landmark Properties, Inc. (Indianapolis, Indiana)
• http://www.boilers-online.com/ - MG Sales (Indianapolis, Indiana)

Thanks for reading!  We always appreciate your feedback, and let us know if you have any questions!

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