A Few Thoughts From The Past And Present On Web Site Development

This article is part of the Joy Gems series which originally appeared in The Joy Gems Newsletter and/or The Home Page Helper Network on ryze.com, a business networking community.

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I was recently going through some old files and ran into a beauty I wrote about 8 years ago. I started reading it wondering if what I said then still makes sense.

And what do you know. Most of if was still pretty good. I was shocked!!

So with a little brushing up I present. Web Tips. There were ten of them but I've cut it down to make my points.

Think First - Plan Ahead

Why have a website? "Everyone's got one" is not a very compelling answer. Are you thinking of ways to reach new markets, remake your image or reduce expenses? A lot of strategic thinking has to take place before the production and launch of a good site.

Sounds rather obvious but I'm always amazed at how little time people spend in development. I don't have a time ratio for development, design and production but I know this. The more time spent in development the less time and money spent in design and production.

Voice

How are you going to speak to your audience? First person, third person? We're here, you're there attitude? Clever conversation or corporate jargon? (Please -- no jargon. I beg you!!).

Whatever your tone there are different styles of writing for the web. It will make all the difference whether you speak in bursty (short and fragmented) or prefer a more prosaic approach.

My suggestion is that you talk in a friendly conversational manner like you would if someone were right in front of you. Keep it short. People don't read pages. They scan them.

And take a few chances. How about a little humor or something unexpected to hold your audience?

Cliches

All good websites are Under Construction and are eager to Welcome you. Fortunately most developers and people online know this.

Don't have a link that takes a web visitor to a UC page. Enough said.

Words like "Click Here" are just lazy ways of getting your audience to go somewhere. It's almost always an insult to anyone's intelligence. Why not use Select, Choose or Enter (borderline cliche) as alternatives? Hyperlink your important text and you won't have to say "click here."

But New is good because how is anyone supposed to know otherwise? Even better is a little Javascript such as Last Updated - where it's important for your users to know how current the information is.

Style

Get your structure right first using XHTML/HTML.

What's important here? How beautiful your pages are or the content and navigation at your site?

I'm not going to make an absolute statement that graphics, sounds or multimedia are not important. They are, but only if they serve a purpose.

Keep this in mind: web browsers let you turn off the graphics. You can't turn off the text.

Need I say more?

2 Way Street

The continuing success of commerce online, raising funds via electronic donations, quizzing your visitors or asking them to complete surveys suggests one thing: this is an interactive medium and people like to send information back to you. Before you launch a site that is filled with brochureware do a little intuitive thinking about making your site really useful by making yours a two way street.

The collection of user data is one of the most useful things you can do. It's a way to get to know everything about your customer, their wants and needs.

Launch

When is a website ready for liftoff? If you won't launch until your site is perfect you may never launch.

If you're building a new home will you delay moving in until the last electrical face plate or molding in the upstairs bathroom is done? If you answered "yes" the rollout of your site may be delayed for no good reason.

If you can move into a home that is 98% completed you can launch a site that is more than presentable and make minor or cosmetic adjustments right after launch. Tweaking, improving and expansion are all part of the evolution process that is the organic evolution of your site.

Feedback

Site users leave trails of very interesting and useful data known as mouse droppings. Make sure you can have access to your valuable web tracking statistics. The date collected must be useful and usefully presented.

There are many packages web hosting companies use for the collection and presentation of traffic. If your host doesn't provide this service consider getting a new host.

Collectively, the data will help you understand your audience and how to improve your site and/or services and products offered.