B2B Marketing News
The Newsletter & Resource Site for Marketing
http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com
IN TODAY'S ISSUE:
1.)... Flashy Web Site Designs are Bad for Business...
2.)... Recommended Reading
3.)... Does Your Web Site Work?
FLASHY WEB SITE DESIGNS ARE BAD FOR BUSINESS
Have you heard yourself saying, "I don't understand? I have
a gorgeous site, a really cutting-edge splash page with a
flash introduction, up-to-date technology, I paid a small
fortune for this site, and I'm getting plenty of hits but
no one is buying or staying in the site."
Well, you may be one of a growing number of businesses,
both large and small, who believed all the hype about the
latest in new technology. Many business owners want their
website to have that cutting-edge look, and so will ask for
things such as animation, music, flash, and other "bells
and whistles" that would be detrimental to their site.
These extras are probably driving potential customers away
because they increase download time and are not search
engine optimized.
In the rush to join everyone else on the Internet,
businesses have ignored vital steps in the process of
getting their business on-line. They assumed that because
everyone else had gimmicks such as a splash/intro page,
this was the right way to go. The result: businesses chose
design companies who readily took their money and who
designed exactly what the client wanted without clearly
focusing on marketing goals. To be fair, oftentimes the
graphic design company has no idea that a site designed
with all the latest technology doesn't necessary translate
into a site that has the functionality that an on-line
business needs. This is because the graphic design firms
specialize in graphic design, not in marketing. Many
graphic design sites are full of splash pages, scrolling
text, animation, etc. They use these tools because it
allows the graphic designers to display their creativity
and their knowledge of these "bells and whistle."
Creativity is good but all the latest cutting-edge
technology translates into a lack of functionality to
effectively market any on-line business including their
on-line presence.
When having your site designed, remember that first and
foremost, you are building your site to increase prospects
and sales. Don't look for a graphic design firm that
believes all you need to do is get in the search engines
and place banners to be successful. Don't hire a designer
that is new to the Internetmeaning they have years of
print design experience but have just decided to expand
their horizons to the Internet. Don't hire a graphic
designer that doesn't have a professional copywriter or
marketing person on staff and don't hire a graphic designer
just because they are the cheapest. Remember, cheap can
cost you moneyyou get what you pay for. Hire a
marketing/design firm that understands the difference
between form and function and can apply it in a marketing
perspective. Remember, many of these latest bells and
whistles are very expensive and your site may not need them
to be effective.
There are several elements, that when pieced together give
your on-line business proper form and function and provide
you with a fighting chance of succeeding. Hand this to your
designer before you begin:
INDIVIDUAL PAGE SIZE:
While every day more Internet users
are signing on with DSL, satellite, or cable modems, the
majority is still using dial-up access. Dial-up is the
number one way people access the Internet because of one of
two reasons: DSL, satellite, and cable is not available in
rural areas or they cannot afford the extra costs
associated with these cutting-edge technologies. What this
means is that the majority of your potential customers will
download pages at 3-4 KB per second versus the 0-1 KB per
second with DSL, satellite, or cable modems.
What does this mean? Studies have shown that if a web page
doesn't load in 8-10 seconds, you will lose 1/3 or more of
your potential customers. The total size of a page should
not exceed 30 KB including text, graphics, JavaScript,
animations, HTML, etc. The absolute maximum recommended
download time is 30 sec over a 28.8 modem, which is 15 sec
over a 56k modem. Anything longer and you've lost your
potential customer.
Even though your logo, fonts, colors, images, etc. are
necessary for your brand, it is important to use them in
such a way as to not cause your pages to load too slowly.
If the page does load too slowly, then your brand is in
jeopardy because customers remember the bad far longer than
they remember the good. To keep top-of-mind awareness, it
is necessary to pay attention to these details as they,
too, are part of your brand. Another aspect of pages
loading too slowly is loss of revenue. Customers come to
your site to see what you offer and they need an overall
experience that will stay with them and make them want to
recommend your site to others.
SPLASH PAGES/FLASH INTRODUCTIONS
Research is necessary to any business as this allows a business
to track what is happening. Therefore, research has
generated reports about splash pages and flash
introductions. These reports have indicated that these
particular pages are not popular with the buying public.
They are, however, extremely popular with designers
and people who want to keep up with the
latest technologies. This raises the questions, "Who is
buying and who will give a return on investment?" Is it the
buying public or the designers and the people who want to
keep up? Obviously, the answer is the buying public.
Therefore, it is a no brainer that a web site needs
functionality for the buying public's needs and not for a
business owner's or designer's ego. Unfortunately, many
business owners are talked into a splash page by the
designer simply because it allows the designer to be
creative and, of course, the extra revenue for the design
company. If you have or are thinking about having a splash
page for your on-line presenceDON'T. They take too long to
download, they don't provide your potential customer with
enough information, and there's nothing there for the
search engines to spider. Remember, potential customers are
in your site for one reason only and that is to see what
you have to offer them, get the information they're looking
for, and to potentially buy.
A flash introduction is just as bad for an on-line
business. Although I love flash personally, I do find times
when it's a pain and often leave the site before seeing
anything else. The rule of thumb to remember is to keep the
number of clicks a potential customer must make to get to
the information they are seeking is three or less. For
every added click with a splash page/flash introduction,
you are running the risk of losing that potential sale
which decreases your return on investment.
In conclusion, it is in your best interest to avoid the use
of splash pages/flash introductions. Have actual text that
your customer can read and the search engines can index. If
you really want to have innovative technology on your site
and are willing to pay the added costs, offer it as an
option. Have a hyperlink to a flash introduction on your
home page that people can choose if they have the time or
like flash. Another option is to create a parallel site
that potential customers who covet the latest technology
can access. By doing this you will see an increase in your
sales and search engine traffic.
HYPERLINKS
Hyperlinks are extremely important for search
engines to index your site. These are what the search
engines follow to find all the pages in your site and index
them. However, if it isn't a true hyperlink then some of
your site may become invisible to the search engine.
Remember use a true hyperlink. While 90% of most browsers
will recognize JavaScript hyperlinks, they don't give
search engines anything to follow.
A true hyperlink is:
BODY TEXT
Search engines can only index text. Therefore,
graphic representations of text or large graphics are
useless unless you have alt tags attached to them. Even
then, search engines don't like long descriptions in every
alt tag. Thus, to get the full potential of a page, it is
necessary to have content that search engines can index.
Content is also your calling card to your potential
customer. A recent study/survey (according to MarketFacts)
has shown that one of the major reasons people go on-line
is to gather news and/or information (87.8%). Another study
by Forrester Research, Inc. showed that the highest-ranking
reason people go back to a web site is high-quality content
(75%). Consequently, body text/content is necessary on
every web site over lots of eye appealing graphics.
When laying out the content, it is important to keep in
mind continuity. When a designer uses complex tables
(multiple nested tables), frames, and other design
elements, it breaks the flow of the text on a page.
Although we see the page as flowing nicely, search engines
do not. They see the code as unrelated fragments instead of
part of a continuous sentence or paragraph. Thus, every
table or frame breaks the flow of text.
Consequently, the simpler the page design, the better for
your search engine ranking.
Keep in mind the following research when designing your web
site and how it will function (according to Forrester
Research, Inc. as posted on
http://www.quickinfo247.com/304895/FREE).
High-quality content: 75%
Ease of Use: 66%
Quick to download: 58%
Updated frequently: 54%
Coupons and incentives: 14%
Favorite brands: 13%
Cutting-edge technology: 12%
Games: 12%
Purchasing capabilities: 11%
Customizable content: 10%
Chat & BBS: 10%
Other: 6%
This tells me that when building a web site, potential
customers and repeat customers are looking for three basic
elements on a site:
1. Good content.
2. Good navigation/site design.
3. Fast download time
SUMMARY
Every single design element affects your web sites
functionality and marketabilityfrom the decision about how
the navigation will work to choosing the right colors,
fonts, graphics, content, HTML code, and more. These will
not only influence potential customers but search engine
indexing as well.
Therefore, a business plan and marketing strategy that
includes the above elements for your site will increase
your chances of succeeding on-line.
Are you ready to be successful?
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Cheryl Carnright and Joann Marsili have years of graphic
design and marketing experience. They are the authors of
a free monthly newsletter: "B2B Marketing News."
Visit their site http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com.
RECOMMENDED READING
"Ice to the Eskimos. How to Market a Product Nobody Wants"
by Jon Spoelstra
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887308511/b2bstrategicm-20
If you need to jump-start your marketing effort, this is a
great book to read and apply. Everyone will get at least
one very useful idea from this book.
DOES YOUR WEBSITE WORK?
Is your website doing what you want it to do? B2B Strategic
Marketing
http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com/
will give you a 5 - point free analysis of your website.
We will look at:
- design
- navigation
- copy
- coding
- marketing focus
We will give you some ideas on how we would do things
Differently and also give you some free advice on what
you need to do to make your site more successful.
About the Author
Cheryl Carnright and Joann Marsili have years of graphic
design and marketing experience. They are the authors of
a free monthly newsletter: "B2B Marketing News."