I was meeting with a client about a series of postcards we're working on when he enthusiastically spun his laptop around to show me an image from his website. I couldn't help myself any longer. It's been a long time coming and his love for his website is clearly clouding his judgement.
It's ugly and outdated...nothing to rave about.
This is not a new subject between him and I, but one I've previously and ever so gingerly touched on. I know how much he loves this site and I didn't want to burst his bauble.
So I asked him why he's resisting the tack of redesigning his website. I told him it's old, dated, and not an image that effectively communicates the image or brand he's working so hard to convey.
He was crushed. I felt like I had just bullied him in the playground or something.
Then he went on to explain why he has the love affair. He said, "I get a good number of hits, it's working. Why change something that works?! Plus, I like it."
I understand. Believe me. My own website has been under construction for what feels like a decade. But when you've worked so hard to establish a visual relationship with your existing and potential clients, you want everything to coordinate. Today, people "check up" on the businesses they are considering doing business with by visiting them online. Sure, referrals are important but even they will visit your site and what they see will leave a first impression of your business before they ever walk through your door. In fact, if in the process of searching you out online, they either 1. had trouble finding you or 2. found a store with an easier to navigate and read website, they might skip visiting you altogether.
Here are a few facts:
- According to a 2008 study, 75.9% US residents have internet access. about 90% of all internet users send or receive email. Given the many other variations in internet use among different age groups, it is notable that this basic communications tool is almost universally used. People age 70 and older are still offline with only 26% of Americans age 70-75 and 17% of Americans age 76 or older going online, Pew Internet & American Life Project says.
- According to the 2009 Digital Future Report on internet usage (US), 40 percent of those age 66 and older go online — a level that has increased from 29 percent in 2000. The percentage of homes with three or more continues to increase. Now, 24 percent of American households have at least three computers. Not surprisingly, the percentage of households with no computers continues to decline; in the current study only 15 percent of homes in America do not have a computer
written by R Martinez, July 22, 2010
- Moving little animated images
- Tiny little poorly photographed images. Ugh. They are cheesy. For goodness sake, please make sure your images are clear! Several
- Several different font styles on one site
- Too much copy - keep it simple and to the point
-
- +0
-
-
written by Matthew A Perosi, July 26, 2010
Here's a funny statistic: Apple has sold more than 20 Million iPhones. A huge percentage of my own jeweler store customers use iPhones, yet many of those same people want to have Flash on their website. I was hoping the recent announcement by Apple that they will never support Flash would help to influence people away from splash pages or Flash navigations since they simply don't work in the mobile website world. But no change on the front lines yet.
One of my co-workers just had a heated argument with a customer demanding to put music on their website. We gave her a mountain of statics explaining why it was bad. But she still insisted.
Oh, and I agree with the way some jewelers will be in love with their 2004 time frame website. Yes they get hits and make money, but imagine if they were refreshed to even use HTML version 4!
-
- +0
-
-
The fact is, websites take constant updating, tweaking and redesigning — it's a matter of keeping up with software and the increasingly fickle online browser. Basically, they should always be under construction.
Here's the thing I think most people don't get, though: If you're not an expert or don't have one on staff, it doesn't have to be a complicated, big site. It has to look good, and users should be able to easily find such basic information as physical location, a picture of the store, contact information and hours. It's amazing how many sites bury these things! Start with that, make it look good, update the look of it often, maintain your overall brand image, and THEN add the bells and whistles.
One more thing — while I'm on my high horse — that's a particular pet peeve of mine: Don't let anyone talk you into a Flash intro to your site. Others may (well, they obviously do) disagree, but to me there's nothing worse than getting to the site I've navigated to and having to wait for some intro to finish so I can get the information I came there to get. OK, in my mind, there's one worse thing: a site that plays background music, (think of the poor guy stuck at the office, trying to do some surreptitious online research so he can buy a present for his wife, and then all his coworkers' heads pop up from their cubicles when they hear that music!) But that's a different pet peeve entirely, and I won't even mention it here.
Oops.