Hostway Newsletter


ISSUE 59		SEPTEMBER 2006

Dear Valued Customer,

Now that summer is over, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get back to business. Use this month’s newsletter to learn how you can wow your customers with a redesigned site, or improve your current site by following our easy-to-use design tips.

Web Sites That Suck. Flanders Skewers Bad Fortune 500 Design
By Michael Snyder

INDIANAPOLIS – Need a Web reality check or an online smack down? Vincent Flanders, author of the book and Web site “Web Pages That Suck" will cheerfully accommodate you just as he has for the likes of Microsoft, the Harvard Business Review, Tom Peters, Intel and even the pope.

While Web designers and corporate marketers really don’t know whether to fear or embrace Flanders, to ignore the principles of good Web design is to risk being featured prominently either on his Web site as a good example of “mystery meat navigation” or in one of his books (particularly if your site is really bad).

The one place your corporate site doesn’t ever want to be is on his “The Worst Web Page in the World” page where Flanders happily slices up bad Web design regardless of its corporate status. Flanders enthusiastically works over what he calls “car wrecks on the information superhighway.” He opens his current piece on a martial arts school with this ominous phrase: “I have no words to describe this catastrophe, but I will do my best.”

So what’s the key mistake Web designers make over and over and over again? They design sites that they—not their customers—like and satisfy internal concerns and preferences while ignoring the needs and wants of people who actually pay their bills.

“Management always says ‘we need to sell more stuff,’ when the truth is they need to solve the problems of their customers,” said Flanders. “Before the first line of code is written, you have to figure out: Who is the target audience? What are their goals when they come to the site? How do we solve their problems (not our problems)?”

Religiously addressing these concerns will not only keep your Web site off his online dissection table, but it may actually contribute to your bottom line.

According to Flanders, here are the critical warning signs of bad Web design:

The needs of your visitors are confused with your company’s preference
Visitors can’t figure out the site in less than four seconds
Visitors can’t find what they’re looking for
The site contains unnecessary design items

Conversely, Flanders touts these as elements of good Web design:

Your site has a consistent look, feel and navigation aids
Your site provides real and compelling content that is actually relevant to your visitors and target audience
Your site is clear and understandable
Your site loads quickly (on any browser) and is easy to navigate
You analyze log files regularly to see where visitors are going and what they’re interested in (and maximize those pages)

What’s the bottom line for readers? “You want to have a Web site that makes you look professional and be someone who can be trusted,” he said.

Feature story provided by MidwestBusiness.com.

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