Ok, it appears that the Internet is here to stay and the browser and web format will be the way most companies present themselves moving forward. While this is not shocking to anyone, what may be shocking is the idea of pushing forward a standard (of sorts). This article attempts to give a framework for the general design and layout of your public Internet site.
Introduction
Over the past 10 years, we have been approached by many different companies to build a corporate presence for them on the Internet. Companies we have built sites for cover almost all major industries including government, construction, medical, finance, etc. We have built public sites for companies of one employee owner (in our early days) and public corporations with several thousand employees, a board of directors, and locations worldwide. In the course of this, it is no surprise that people differ greatly in what they expect their web site to look like. Many have their own opinion of what is cool and how a web site should look. This is not a problem and should be encouraged. What concerns me is the desire by some to make their site so unique that they lose site of the fact that this "thing" they are building must be usable and practical.
Too many cooks
In early 2001 (before the Internet bubble burst) we dealt with a company that felt they had to involve everyone on the "team" in the process of the web page design. So for a company of maybe 15 people, we met with (on 3 occasions) about 8 people (over 50% of the staff) going through several revisions before they decided that to finish the project they were going to use a company they were co-locating with for bartering services. They paid us in full for the design but did not even use the design that they all agreed upon. They are now out of business. I suspect this is because getting real work done does not mean have any more than the essential people in any meeting.
Keep it simple
What I am getting at is the notion that while the look-and-feel and first impression of your Internet site is important, being overly creative with the design and layout is not unless you are in the business of entertaining. It is my belief that when people are visiting your web site, they want to find out about your company, the products and/or services you offer and hopefully, how to contact you. THAT IS IT! Of course there are many qualifiers to that statement but for most of the traffic on most web sites, that is the primary focus of most users. I am not talking about any type of customer extranet which is a different topic unto itself.
(Back to web site design). At Adage, we have some simple rules we follow in building a public Internet site 1) we try as much as possible to match any corporate identity as possible 2) we do not aim to entertain, and 3) we try to use consistent naming conventions for our top level navigation.
Corporate Identity
We believe it is important for a web site to carry over the corporate identity that has probably existed for that company since early in its existence. This does not mean copying the current marketing brochures or anything else for that matter. But, we do work with our clients to carry over the elements that are important i.e. logos, company colors, current themes, etc. In doing so, the message that is perhaps the most important to our client's efforts at the time are promoted to the web site.
It is safe to say that deviating from the corporate identity just because the web is available as a medium is not recommended. Any marketing professional will tell you that changing your identity just because it is on the web will only serve to confuse current and potential customers.
Do not aim to entertain
What do I mean by this? Exactly what it sounds like. Just because the web can serve up Flash movies, sound, animated GIFs, and streaming video, it does not mean that you need to have all of those features on your web site. People are visiting your site to find out about your company and typically they have a very specific purpose in mind. I can bet it is not to watch a progress bar of a Flash movie download. Perhaps they are a potential customer and someone has recommended you. So, they decide they are going to visit your web site to read a little about your products and services before they are convinced you are the company for them. Let's say you have a long Flash intro playing your site and they are forced to wait 30 seconds for the site or animation to load. You may have LOST that prospect. Now if that same person came to your site and was immediately presented with a clean home page describing your services in a concise yet effective manner along with clear navigational items, they will perceive your company in the same light. Most of the time cool does not sell in business-to-business scenarios.
Many years ago (again in the early days), a former customer of ours had a biometric fingerprint authentication device that they sold with software. Basically, a worker could place their finger on the device and be logged as being at work versus the use of a timecard. Our customer insisted on having his wife's hand animated on the main page of the web site authenticated to one of their biometric devices. In addition, he wanted music to be played during the "Introduction". Luckily we talked him out of the music but he still we were forced to place an animated hand on the home page of the web site. Thankfully, that was our last project with them and on a recent visit to the site, the hand was removed. The point is that while he thought it was neat because he was on the web, placing animation and music only served to distract people from learning more about his product or actually making a purchase!
Common Navigation
Back in the late 80s, IBM published a specification called Common User Access (or CUA). This was essentially a guide for creating screen layouts in emerging applications and systems at the time. Ironically, just as our computing model is moving back to a more centralized approach (topic for another day), I think the concept of a Internet Common User Access needs to be employed for most Internet sites. I am not talking about major sites such as Amazon, eBay, or large corporations where they can get away with doing their own thing. I am talking about the millions of small businesses out there with a web site. My model suggests that these web sites all use similar navigation elements. Specifically, I mean the following (which the majority of small and medium sized businesses can probably work with):
- About Us - What makes your firm unique?
- Products - If you have products, what do you sell?
- Services - What services do you offer?
- Solutions/Industries - What specific solutions do you provide or what industries do you serve?
- Careers - Opportunities for employment (this depends on your line of business)
- Contact Us - How can a prospect contact you?
- Site Map - Links to all pages on the site.
- Privacy Policy - Let users know you will not share their information.
There are certainly more but you get the point. These "buckets" of information can contain everything else you need to tell a visitor about your company, product or service. When a visitor to your site sees these navigational items, they will immediately know what to expect under each section. Each section of the site should clearly list or somehow show the appropriate information. Products may contain all of your products that you sell, a search page for products, or the top level categories of your catalog.
Top, left?
Your navigation also should not change a lot from section to section. Try to keep it consistent from the home page to subsequent levels. This will only help your user throughout the site.
Where should the navigation go? I think it should be on the top or left of your site. I am mostly a proponent of the top for 1st level and the left side for 2nd level. People are comfortable with this format especially due to the fact that we read top -> bottom and left -> right. Navigation in other locations on the page only leads to guessing on the user's part ... not very desirable if you want them to become a customer however there are always exceptions.
I am also not suggesting you keep things from your home page that may be several levels deep on your site. I am suggesting that you use these guidelines for your major navigation and then decide which components you want to pull to the home page to call attention to them.
Conclusion
Having said all of this, if you look at work within our portfolio and find that we have not always adhered to these rules, remember that the while we do our best to advise our customers, they do not always listen to us. At Adage the customer has the final say!
Remember, most the primary purpose of most web site is to get the customer or potential customer the information they are seeking as easily and quickly as possible. This may be more information about your company, your contact information, etc. The design of your site needs to anticipate user actions and strive to meet their wishes.