WEB SITE REMODELING AND RENOVATION

If your business site isn't achieving results, assess your success -- repair, improve, and capitalize on your Internet presence efforts. Then target the features that will make the most cost-effective improvements to put your site to work.

THE WEB ISN’T JUST FOR FUN

The Web really started in 1994. The first few commercial Web sites were made by the company "techies" and network gurus, and they were mostly the regular company documents "poured" from print into HTML (hypertext markup language) code, with maybe a few graphics thrown in here and there. Today's Web users would find them pretty boring. Unfortunately, many businesses are still stuck with this kind of Web site.

In 1995 a few companies started to realize that consumers were actually going to use the Web. Hey, they said to themselves, let's make Web sites that promote our company!

They turned the company Web sites over to sales and marketing departments and let them loose to pitch products and services, mixing the technical stuff with some multimedia and more graphics. In many cases, too much multimedia and graphics.

Some of these sites looked awful.

Some looked GREAT, but they didn’t do anything. Either way, consumers came and went -- and didn’t bother going back. Most businesses are still at this point.

DOING BUSINESS ON THE WEB

The real potential of the Web began to develop in 1996. Companies began to develop the technology that allowed them to interact with their customers – to collect and exchange information, to build relationships, to sell actual products. What a concept.

It is now possible to have a site precisely tailored to the needs of your customers and your business. There are an infinite number of variations, but the following list comprises the most common types of sites.

1. Presence sites for public relations purposes
2. Support sites to help customers use their products and maintain customer loyalty
3. Incentive sites to attract and build relationships with new customers
4. E-commerce and e-business sites that actually sell goods and services online to consumers or other businesses 24 hours a day
5. Education or entertainment sites that begin building relationships with tomorrow’s customers
6. Virtual office sites that make it possible for businesses to collaborate and for remote employees to keep in touch

Not every business needs to use the full power of the Web. But consumers today do expect more than they did last year. Being on the Web isn't good enough. It’s what you can DO on the Web. That doesn’t mean spinning CDs; that doesn’t mean flashing "New" buttons. Yes, you can have those things. But make sure they aren’t the same ones that every one else already has.

If you want to have a Web site, you need to justify the expense. And a Web site that doesn’t help your business can actually HURT your business.

It’s easy to be proud of what you’ve accomplished if you don’t know what else is out there. And what is out there is what’s important. The Web isn’t your neighborhood. It’s not even your city. You’re not necessarily the big fish in the little pond, so you can’t sit on your laurels.

Your competition is global, whether you like it or not. No one can tell how big your company is. They can’t tell what you look like; they don’t care if your muscles have muscles, if your chins have chins, or what color skin you’re in.

All they care about is what they see, and what you say. What can you deliver?

EVALUATING YOUR SITE'S PERFORMANCE

Some mistakes are easy to see. Sites that are designed on big screens can force viewers to use the horizontal scrollbar as well as the vertical scrollbar, distracting attention and annoying potential customers. Pages that dead end or force users to scroll back up to the top quickly get just as old as sites that force customers to go through too many pages to get to the information that they need. All these sites have one basic thing in common – they tell the customer that you don’t care enough about their needs to take your time to get it right.

Other mistakes are harder to spot. Sometimes, it’s a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Too many graphics, too strong a background, too much glitz can make a page take too long to download. Or they can make it impossible to figure out what the page, or the company, is about.

Just because a graphic is cool – or free – doesn’t mean that it is appropriate to use. If it doesn’t deliver the right message, it is the wrong graphic. It’s that simple.

THE STEPS

Our twelve-step Web site evaluation gives you a comprehensive view of your site.

1. Who's your audience?
Who are you trying to reach? And what do they need to hear you say?

2. What’s your pitch?
What message do your visitors receive? What do they think that you want them to do with that message?

3. Where’s your competition?
Who in your community and your industry or profession is on the Web? What do their sites look like? To what standards are your customers going to be holding you?

4. How do you rank?
Is the Internet community able to find you in the directories and search engines under the keywords that your customers will be searching for?

5. What’s your Tech-Q?
Does your technology quotient match your customers’ capabilities? If your customers are using laptop computers, they won’t see what you see on your 20" monitor. If they are using Netscape on a 486 computer, showing them photographs is probably not a good idea. And if they are using slow modems, they won't hang around to see your Java applets.

6. Do you give them what they want?
Does everything on your site pertain to your business and to your customer’s interests? Is it something that customers actually want? Is the content complete? Useful? Interesting? Or does it just get in the way?

7. Do you make them dig for it?
How's your site organization? Does it follow a logical order? Does it lead to a conclusion that involves doing more business with you? If your site is extensive, do you provide a site search? Is there too much information clustered together on your home page? Can your customers get to the information they need within three clicks? (If not, they won’t!)

8. How's your credibility?
Is your presentation professional? Is it well written? Is it interesting? Is it full of errors and typos? Does it look slapped together or cheap?

9. Do you bring them back?
Do you provide something worth a second look? Is there enough opportunity for something new to be added so that you have the opportunity to build a relationship with your potential customers?

10. Are you accessible?
Do you provide a way to contact you on every page? Do you make your customers feel as though their comments and suggestions are welcome? Do you invite orders? Or do you fail to take advantage of the Internet user's need for immediate gratification?

11. What is working on your site?
Does anyone think highly enough of your site to suggest it to other people? Do any Internet links on other sites point back to pages on your site? You'll want to keep your targeted incentive material, graphics that convey your meaning and business image, and any text that people will want to read.

12. What kind of a site would best serve your needs and how can you most easily and affordably attain that site?
Based on the size and structure of your business, what should your Web site do for you? Is it really worth paying the money every month to maintain the size of site that you currently have? What sort of commitment will an effective site require from you or your employees? What alternatives and technologies are available to help you make a site more maintainable, cost-efficient, and productive?

AN EDGE ON WEB SITE
EVALUATION AND REMODELING

You won’t find a better value for your money, or a better start on getting a site that will accomplish your goals. And we work hard to make the process easy.

If you want to use our evaluation and ideas to redesign your site yourself, you are welcome to do so. But if you decide to use our services to remodel your site, we will credit you back the price of your Web site evaluation toward your new site design fee so that you can get a jump start on getting your Web site working.

That's an edge you can count on -- even if you know better than to use a "cool" traffic counter on your business site.

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  -- Revised 01/26/08