Motive Media LLC

5 Keys to a successful website

Design and Aesthetics

All too often people are so focused on getting the job done for a good price that they completely disregard the need for high quality Design and Aesthetics. Its true! Many companies will sacrifice so much to save a few bucks, when they don't know who they are really hurting in the end. Themselves! If you think about it for a second and really ask yourself "What are my customers or users going to be looking at while browsing my site?" THE GRAPHICAL LAYOUT! Don't get me wrong – content is King, However you need to note that high quality design helps to instantly gain credibility and to create a positive user experience. (I'll get into that later). You want users to come back right? Well if you have a beautiful site you have a much better chance of that. We have seen so many times that our customers will be doing a good amount of sales through their outdated website, and all they need is a face lift to really open the gate to make some major improvements to their bottom line. For example: We just finished working with a client out of AZ, (due to NDA we can not disclose the name) who had a very outdated website. They we're pushing around $50,000 of online revenue with this older site. They came to us in need of a face lift (among other things) to really help them capture a larger amount of the revenue to be made. We got them going with a brand new site, and to both of our amazement they did just under $50,000 in the first two weeks of launching the new site! Now that speaks for itself. Design and Aesthetics are so key and we see it time and time again! With that being said I hope that you agree that the graphical representation of your company's image is so very important.

Good Quality Content

Content is King! In the information NOW world we have come accustomed to, it is so important to have relevant content that really communicates your message clearly. (Not to mention it needs to be posted in a timely manor) The whole point of the web is information. Whether that be information on a product or service, or about the most recent developments in the election, it is so very important to have a message that is relevant to the purpose of the site. We recommend Content Management Systems (CMS) for most of our clients. What this does is creates a system for the site owner to update and edit content "on the fly" from any internet connection. It can even be done on your PDA device! This gives the ability to give your audience what they need NOW! The CMS is a great tool and its very powerful, but its just a tool to help you publish great content. If your site doesn't have great information then users are going to be quickly discouraged and will hit the back button. Thats why Content Is King! You can make a site look great and have all kinds of amazing features and message boards, but if there is nothing attracting a user there besides eye candy they wont stick around. We usually suggest hiring a copywriter to write all the content for the "Static" or Mostly Static pages on the site (ex. Home page, About Us, History, etc…). Just as you'd hire an electrician to do your new lighting system you should hire a copywriter to take the message you want to communicate and effectively structure it to captivate your audience.

Clear Calls to Action

Calls to action or CTA, is something like a "Buy Now" button, or a "Contact Us Now" link. Its something that Calls the user to do something. If your user has to dig through a plethora of graphics, pages, and text to find a way to buy your product or service you need to re-evaluate your Call to Action placement. This is same concept can be applied to the navigation of your site. If a user has to "find" the navigation, or rollover it to see that it is in fact how to get from page to page then your designer was probably just thinking "oh this is neat" rather than thinking about the actual user and how it may be difficult for them to navigate from page to page. A lot of times developers and clients alike will loose sight of the fact that they are creating a gateway for the customer or "End User" to access vital information and they need a way to ask questions, get more information or even set up a face to face meeting. Without clear calls to action the user has to "dig" to find them. Vital calls to action should be on every page in the same location throughout the site, just like the navigation.

Information Gathering

Let me start out by saying that Data Mining is a multi million dollar industry. With that being said don't you think it'd be a good idea to collect some data for yourself? I'm not suggesting that you sell the data or even distribute it. (we do no such thing) What I am saying is that if you persuade a user to submit their information by holding drawings or giveaways, this gives you an avenue of blasting specials, and updates to people who have visited your site in the past. Even if two or three people choose to take you up on the offer thats extra money in your pocket as well as giving all of your customers a reminder that you're still here.

Great User Experience

The user experience is what is created when a user is on your site. Its the experience the user is having. They can be negative and positive. We want all user experiences to be positive. Thats why we think this is an important key to a successful website. Think of your website as an information theme park. You want people to tell other people to go to your site. Wouldn't it be great to hear adjectives like "Great, Nice, and Sexy" when they talked about your website!? Now if someone was saying things like "Frustrating, Confusing, and Cluttered" you'd be a bit concerned in how your "theme park" was operating. If that is the case it might be a good time to kick around the idea of an overhaul.

I hope these five keys will help you in developing your site. The web is an ever evolving beast and as time goes on I'm sure we'll add to this list, and I'm sure there are many more that people could add to it to make it better. Thanks for reading!

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