KISS With Your Website

By Andrew Wetzler
President, MoreVisibility

Companies create websites for a variety of reasons. Some are designed to be an online brochure, many try to generate leads and others focus on e-commerce. Nearly all are intended to favorably showcase a business's credibility. Increasingly, companies are giving consideration to whether generating an organic presence within the search engines is a priority, i.e., incorporating search engine optimization (SEO) techniques into the design and structure.

If you haven't written down the most important objectives for the site, then you should. It will help you to impartially assess whether your site is communicating the most appropriate message. Sometimes the priorities aren't consistent with the realities of the site.

As I review websites, I am often struck by the degree to which they (those who are responsible for the site) create something that is considerably more difficult than they need to be or ignore the fundamentals of making a site appropriate for natural search.

One compelling reason to Keep It Simple is that Simple typically translates into Good from an SEO standpoint. Simple still allows for creativity and relevant content though.

From a user experience perspective, there are usually a number of sites that will show up in the search results or that people are aware of for any particular search, so there's no reason to assume that you will be able to retain their viewership if your site is not sufficiently intelligent and compelling.

On the most fundamental level, a site should be easy to navigate and zeroed in on the top objective. A primary call to action should be central to the page's design as should alternate contact methods. For example, if the goal is to complete a transaction, then the site should prominently display a telephone number that someone can call who doesn't want (or isn't ready) to fill out the form, but has a question.

When a site is being initially created or redesigned and an outside Web design firm is involved, there tends to be an emphasis on the sizzle instead of the substance. Web design firms, much like offline ad agencies, have a propensity to differentiate themselves by accentuating their artistic side. That is fine, until it gets in the way of an intelligently designed website. For instance, I reviewed a new real estate site recently that was very artsy, in the sense of beautiful pictures, which were intended to set an upscale impression of the property being developed. While it achieved that objective, I believe it was at the expense of other critical items; their Contact Us form was obscured behind a "menu" link. The initial results were modest. We have since created a landing page for their paid campaigns that is able to overcome many of the flaws of the site, and which is delivering a markedly higher conversion rate (into a lead).

Flash openings on home pages are probably the best example of a misguided technology today. Besides the fact that Flash is an impediment from a natural search perspective (impedes crawling by the engines), it delays and oftentimes confuses the site visitor's experience. It's fine to encourage a visitor to play a video on the site that accentuates the intended look and feel, but don't make it the first thing someone encounters when coming to the site. This is particularly incompatible with attracting repeat visitors.

Websites don't need to be fancy to be effective. Sites that are well-designed are straightforward and precise in their intentions. Everybody has looked at competitor sites to see what else is out there. Try looking at them as an objective critic. Ask a family member or someone whose Web acumen you admire for their opinion to rate your site versus theirs. Above all, commit to refining on a continual basis.

Keep it Simple and Smart and you will be a step ahead of many other businesses.