What is the biggest problem that Web sites have these days?

In the early days, the biggest problems sites had was with value. They just weren’t delivering value. Now that’s improved, but over the last few years, the bigger problem has become navigation. As sites get bigger and more complex, they have much more value, but it’s harder to have people get to what they want.

Say you are an insurance company that wants to provide information to users looking for coverage. In the same place where users are asked what kind of coverage they want, there should be information about what the right coverage ought to be. But often, you’ll find the information isn’t available on that page. You might be able to find it somewhere else, if you look through several layers, but it’s not available where it’s most appropriate.

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How do well-designed sites happen?

The really good sites are designed by groups that ask and answer three questions: Who are your target users? What are their goals? And how are you going to help them achieve those goals?

How about bad sites?

Some companies have a very internal or self-centered view of design. Lacking a focus on customers, they’ll be trying to make design decisions in a committee, and a VP of marketing will come into the room and say, ‘I like that one,’ or ‘That one works for me.’ When I am sitting in on these meetings, I always say, ‘I don’t care what any of you like. This isn’t about satisfying your needs. It’s about satisfying your customers’ needs.’

Quoted from The Wall Street Journal, “Good Site, Bad Site: Evolving Web Design”, 06/12/2007

Some business owners tend to think that what they like is exactly what their customers or potential customers like. So, they decide what to put on to the web site solely based on their personal preferences. The purpose of a web site is to provide valuable information to its visitors and give them what they are looking for. Here are a few things that a business owner could do to facilitate the design of a visitor-friendly website:

• Study competing websites and list what you like and what you don’t like about these sites.
• Having a brainstorm session with the web design team often yields good results.
• Survey your customers about what they want to see on your website.
• Monitor visitors’ behavior at the site, such as how long they stay, how many pages they view, which pages are viewed more often, etc.
• Collect feedback from customers about how to make improvement. Sometimes it helps by providing some incentives, like a discount or prize drawing, to encourage customers to give honest feedback.

It is very important to keep in mind that your website ISN’T about what you like. It is about what your customers like!

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