Hi Jvic -
Successful Websites combine design and content to achieve their
purpose and turn visitors into customers. Including specific
information on a site, using a certain combination of colors and
making it easy for your visitors to navigate a site, get the
information he wants and needs and then do business increases the
chances for your site's success.
Here is some information which should help you achieve your goals.
1. Overall Impression ~
Remember, this Website is your storefront - the first chance you have
to present yourself to your prospective customers.
a.) Load time -
The page loads fast on both a cable connection and a 56 K dialup
modem, which is to your advantage.
b.) Colors -
The colors are bright and cheerful and certainly attract attention,
but when takingi a closer look at what this site is about, the color
choice is not necessarily one which would instill a feeling of
confidence in your visitors (color will be discussed below).
c.) Purpose of this site -
It is very difficult to determine exactly what the site is about ...
or even what the name of the business name is. Your title says "The
Small Business Consumer Centre", but the URL in the locator bar says
"http://www.grants-loans.com/", and there is a bit of confusion what
the two have to do with each other.
All of the above should be obvious "above the fold", that is that
first screenful of information should:
- Load fast
- Be attention getting
- Be obvious what this site is about
and lastly, there should be something there to pull your visitor in to
find out what this is and how you are the answer to their problems.
Remember, they didn't land there by accident. They followed some link
or lead to get there. It is your responsibility to give them what they
want.
d.) Links On Usability
"Usability Rules For Good Websites "
- http://www.waller.co.uk/usability.htm
"Websites That Work - Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing"
- http://www.khgraphics.com/articles/
2. Layout - Browsers - Coding ~
It may be a surprise to you, but your Web page does not look the same
in all browsers. In fact, using Netscape 4.7x, the only two pages that
show on your site are the "home" page and the "contact us" page. The
rest of the pages do not come up at all and return a 404 error. This
is due to the CSS coding used.
It may be true that Netscape 4.7x is not in use that much; but Web
stats show anywhere from 5% to as high as a quarter of some site's
visitors are still using that browser. Your mileage may vary, but can
you afford to turn visitors away because they can't see what you're
offering?
a.) Coding -
There are errors in your coding (for instance, two sets of body tags,
other coding which should be within the header tags) that cause
display problems in certain browsers (Opera 6 and 7).
b.) Doctype -
There is no document type declaration (ie., <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC
"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
), which in some instances leaves how you look at the mercy of
whatever the last Website your visitor was at. If the last Website had
a document type declaration, the browser is set there and will attempt
to view your site using those standards. The results can be
disastrous.
Information on document type declarations can be found here:
- http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html
c.) Validation -
Because of errors in the coding (including the CSS coding), the page
doesn't validate to any type of error free coding. This leaves you at
the mercy of whatever your visitor is using.
Information on W3C markup validation for html and css can be found
here:
- http://validator.w3.org/
3. Website/Business Credibility ~
Consumer Web Watch published a research report on credibility on the
Web dated October 29, 2002, with a follow-up dated November 11, 2002.
The consumer-driven study, entitled " How Do People Evaluate a Web
Site's Credibility? Results from a Large Study" was part of Stanford
University Persuasive Technology Lab's investigation on what causes
people to believe — or not believe — what they find online.
The Stanford University-Consumer Web Watch study can be found here:
- http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/news/report3_credibilityresearch/stanfordPTL_abstract.htm
In its abstract and discussion, they stated, "As the Web becomes a
part of people's everyday lives ... there is a growing need to help
people figure out whether a Web site is credible or not: Can I trust
the information on this site? Can I trust in the services this site
describes?"
In the study's findings, "... data showed that the average consumer
paid far more attention to the superficial aspects of a site, such as
visual cues, than to its content ... nearly half of all consumers (or
46.1%) in the study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on
the appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout,
typography, font size and color schemes."
In summary, it was evident one needed to fully understand what your
particular market is looking for in order to gain credibility and
effectuate sales.
The Stanford study revealed that the five most important credibility
assessments were:
- Identity,
- Advertising and Sponsorships,
- Customer Service,
- Corrections, and
- Privacy.
Even though they may not pay specific attention to those items and the
awareness was only vague - without them there was a lack of
credibility and a reluctance to purchase from those sites without it.
4.) Know Your Market ~
Understanding your market and what they expect is an excellent way to
lend credibility to your site and increase sales.
All Business, ("The Champions of Small Business") offers many
suggestions for identifying the needs and wants of your primary and
second markets in order to understand what will turn visitors into
customers.
a.) Secondary markets -
Sources for demographics and secondary markets are information gleaned
from studies previously performed by government agencies, chambers of
commerce, trade associations and other organizations. This includes
census information and Nielsen ratings.
The Nielsen net ratings statistics for Canada can be found here:
- Home page
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/
- Top 25 Canadian Properties for w/e February 2nd
http://reports.netratings.com/ca/web/NRpublicreports.toppropertiesweekly
b.) Primary Markets -
According to All Business, "[You] can identify the expections of your
primary market by customizing tried-and-true approaches -- focus
groups, surveys, field tests, interviews or observation -- and gain
information about your target market.
For example, you can investigate an issue specific to your business,
get feedback about your Web site, assess demand for a proposed
service, gauge response to
various packaging options, and find out how much consumers will shell
out for a ... product."
Secondary research lays the groundwork and primary research helps fill
in the gaps. Combining the two helps you deliver a Website that will
accomplish its goals.
The All Business site's marketing information is located here:
- http://www.allbusiness.com/articles/content/19671.asp
5.) Additional Marketing Boosters -
In addition to the above, the Home Business Center offers an 8 step
plan on how to increase your business. Their Marketing tips are
located here:
- http://www.homebusinesscenter.com/marketing.html
Notice that Step 5 addresses driving traffic to your website
- http://www.homebusinesscenter.com/step5.html
and Step 7 offers Hot, Low-Cost Advertising tips
- http://www.homebusinesscenter.com/step7.html
Please remember if you utilize the opt-in mail leads to ascertain
they're legitimate lists. Spamming is liable to get you blacklisted
across the Internet and even get your site closed down by your ISP.
6.) Web Design -
a.) Jakob Nielsen -
Credibility and achieving your site's goals start with smart Web
Design. Obviously, a Website for a nonprofit organization would be
designed differently, say, than a pornographic site. However, there
are basics that, if missing, will cost you customers.
There is a plethora of self-proclaimed gurus on Website design, but
among the most well-known and credited is Jakob Nielsen, who has been
writing on usability and design for many years. Nielsen's Alertbox
columns are available online at his site:
- http://www.useit.com/
And his recent "Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002" will help you
eliminate any critical design flaws in your site. This column can be
found here:
- http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021223.html
b.) Robin Williams -
Notice his references to such things as pricing (or lack of prices),
FAQs, privacy policies, and usability.
In addition, Robin Williams has an excellent article on good Web
design with references to text and background color, navigation,
links, graphics and general design. Her information is here:
- http://www.ratz.com/featuresgood.html
c.) HTML Writers' Guild -
The HTML Writers Guild offers its long-standing article on
accessibility issues, "Six Principles of Accessible Web Design: An
Introduction to the WAI Page Author Guidelines" against which you can
measure your own site's design. This is located at:
- http://www.hwg.org/resources/accessibility/sixprinciples.html
d.) Matt Brown -
Lastly, Matt Brown offers a very comprehensive article on what
constitutes good web design, which will instill a sense of credibility
and achieve your goals in his article, "Usability: The Key to Good Web
Design", which is located here:
-
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/dreamweaver/articles/dwmx_design_tips.html
Among his recommendations are:
- design for your audience
- rich and explanatory content
- useful search terms
- contact and copyright information on every page
- good navigation
- noise, movement and anything that spins
7. The Use of Color ~
Color is the first thing we notice and the last thing we forget. If
used properly it can be a powerful tool. Once a color is owned, it is
associated with you and your company - think: Coca Cola red, Tide
orange, and John Deer Green. Choosing colors is just as important to
your identity as your logo.
Some good articles on the choice of colors are:
a.) Pantone's "Communicating With Color"
- http://www.pantone.com/products/products.asp?idArea=16
b.) J. L. Morton's "Color Matters"
- http://www.colormatters.com/
c.) Suza Scalora's "Color Therapy"
- http://www.myth.com/color/opening.html
8. Recommendations for site improvement -
a.) Who are you?
Why isn't there information or an "About Us" page? You want a lot of
information about your visitor, but there is NO information about you
or what you do.
b.) What connection do you have to the Canadian government?
Why isn't that information out there so I can find it?
c.) What does grants-loans have to do with who you are?
d.) Where are you located?
e.) Why do you want me to talk with one of your sales people?
Who are these people?
f.) Colors
You are talking about loans, you are talking about money, possibly
your visitor's money ... pull a good shade of blue in there to lend
credibility and build a feeling of comfort.
g.) Prices?
What do your services cost? If nothing, why are you doing this?
9. Conclusion ~
Combining an understanding of your market and designing the site for
them by including those items which establish credibility will help
you achieve your site's goals.
Search terms used ~
(a combination of the following words)
- website colors
- website success
- credibility
- marketing tips
- marketing secrets
- identifying your market
- understanding web design
- good web design
- websites that work
Serenata |
Request for Answer Clarification by
jvic-ga
on
18 Mar 2003 10:19 PST
Hi Serenata:
Thanks for taking the time to answer.
While you've provided a lot of information here, and some of it is
specific to our site, most of it is directing me to generic
information on various site-design topics. I was looking for more
specific suggestions on how to:
- "encourage small business owners to take the step of calling our
reps or filling out the contact form"
- enhance the site "to attract and interest potential customers"
- "improve the path a prospective customer takes through the site, in
order to make the initial contact easier."
Beyond coding issues (and thank you for the heads-up on netscape),
your valuable suggestions on those points were:
a) putting the key info above the fold
b) blue for credibility.
While I can extrapolate from the fact that you didn't see the "about
us" information that it's hard to find (it's there, under FAQs) and
the site may be labyrinthine, it suggests you didn't thoroughly
explore the site. Ditto on "Where are you located?" This appears on
the bottom of every page.
Most of the rest of your answer consists of generic how-to links, and
unfortunately, you lost credibility with me when you summarized the
Stanford study. You said:
"The Stanford study revealed that the five most important credibility
assessments were:
- Identity,
- Advertising and Sponsorships,
- Customer Service,
- Corrections, and
- Privacy.
I was intrigued enough to visit the link you gave, and found the
following (* for emphasis -- mine):
Topics Our Analysts Did Not Find
Although our analysis probably did not reveal all issues related to
the credibility of the sites in this study, there were topics we
looked for in our analysis but did not find. *Smaller numbers of
consumers registered credibility assessment comments that related to
Consumer WebWatch's five general guidelines for improving credibility
on the Web: Identity, Advertising and Sponsorships, Customer Service,
Corrections, and Privacy.*
As we examined the 2,440 comments about credibility, we found that
less than 10 percent of the participants' comments (or 8.8%) referred
to the identity of the site or its operator. Nearly 7 percent (or
6.4%) of consumers in our study made comments about a site's customer
service or related policies when assessing credibility. Nearly 3
percent (or 2.3%) of consumer comments referred to a site's
sponsorships when assessing credibility — whether perceived as
positive or negative in nature. *We found that people mentioned
privacy policies in less than 1% of their comments. We also looked for
comments about correcting false or misleading information and found no
comments along these lines. These last two issues apparently did not
affect how our participants evaluated the credibility of Web sites in
this study.*
Our result among consumers about the prominence of site design and
overall look was not what we had hoped to find. *Participants seemed
to make their credibility-based decisions about the people or
organization behind the site based upon the site's overall visual
appeal. We had hoped to see people use more rigorous evaluation
strategies while assessing sites.* This result indicates that
Consumer WebWatch, along with librarians and information
professionals, must increase efforts to educate online consumers so
they evaluate the Web sites they visit more carefully and make better
educated decisions, particularly when that it could adversely affect
their pocketbooks or health situations."
The above is from the overview. In the actual report:
Although our analysis probably did not reveal all issues related to
the credibility of the sites in this study, there were topics we
looked for in our analysis but did not find. For example, we coded the
data for comments about privacy policy, and we found that people
mentioned privacy policy in less than 1 percent of the comments. We
also looked for comments about correcting false or misleading
information and found no comments along these lines. These two issues
apparently did not affect how our participants evaluated the
credibility of Web sites in this study.
You suggest that, "Even though they may not pay specific attention to
those items and the awareness was only vague - without them there was
a lack of credibility and a reluctance to purchase from those sites
without it." I couldn't find this conclusion in the study, and in
fact, it suggests the opposite.
So I guess I feel that this answer was less than thorough and helpful.
We were looking for *specifics* on generating more leads through our
site, and a critique of the site from a marketing standpoint (the
category I entered the question in) would be much more valuable to us.
Thanks
Vic
|
Clarification of Answer by
serenata-ga
on
18 Mar 2003 12:46 PST
Hello again Jvic -
I'm sorry that you feel the information is inadequate ... I did take
a long stroll through your site and you indeed do have the information
on your location at the bottom of every page. The problem is precisely
that your visitors have to wade through a considerable amount of
content to even see the information. A link from every page to an
'about us', however, is what your visitors are used to seeing.
I could tell you to change your site colors to purple and yellow to
help build the trust and credibility, but there is no factual
information to back that statement up. In the "real world", I am a
marketing consultant and lecture at marketing seminars on such topics
as 'design for success' and 'websites that work', it is unethical for
us to use Google Answers for our own gain, and therefore cannot direct
to you my own books and information on this subject. I did, however,
quote from and direct you to acknowledged industry experts with
information on what works for successful businesses. This would seem
the proper thing to do.
As for the Stanford tests, the first published results in October,
2002, gave credence to the gurus who have been expounding on the
relationship of good design, credibility and positive results (that
is, achieving the website's purpose).
The follow up and analysis of the same results on November 11, 2002,
had some findings different than those published in October.
This differing information is published on the Web Watch information
under "Key Findings", and stated.
"We found that when people assessed a real Web site's credibility they
did not use rigorous criteria, a contrast to the findings of Consumer
WebWatch's earlier national survey, A Matter of Trust: What Users
Want From Web Sites, released April 16, 2002. In this poll of 1,500
U.S. adult Internet users, people claimed that certain elements were
vital to a Web site's credibility (e.g., having a privacy policy). But
this most recent Web-based credibility study showed that people rarely
used these rigorous criteria when evaluating credibility (e.g., they
almost never referred to a site's privacy policy.) We found a
mismatch, as in other areas of life, between what people say is
important and what they actually do."
The data showed that the average consumer paid far more attention to
the superficial aspects of a site, such as visual cues, than to its
content. For example, nearly half of all consumers (or 46.1%) in the
study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on the appeal of
the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography,
font size and color schemes."
This is what led to and why I made the statement, "Even though they
may not pay specific attention to those items and the awareness was
only vague - without them there was a lack of credibility and a
reluctance to purchase from those sites without it."
To clarify my own statement ...
If there isn't access , preferably as part of the site's navigation
structure, *from every page* to such items as your privacy statement,
an "about us" page and the other items mentioned for credibility,
whether or not your visitor actually wades through and comprehends the
content, you lose credibility." They may not pay attention, but
cognizance of its existance or lack of existance is there.
Therefore, a link to the "about us" page should be part of your
navigation from every page.
While they can get there through the FAQ, you are making your visitor
dig for information he expects to see on every page. This is not
making it easy for your visitor to get information they expect to see
on legitimate sites. To not have it invites suspicion and decreases
credibility.
I gave you direct access to information from noted experts on web
design and web commerce who give you the same information , since
there is no other way to establish my own credibility as an expert in
marketing.
You said you wish to "- "encourage small business owners to take the
step of calling our reps or filling out the contact form" -
The fact you want them to call raises a warning flag ... tell them why
it is necessary to speak to a representative.
You want them to fill out the contact form, in light of current events
and constant warnings on scams, privacy, security ... make it easy to
do so by explaining the necessity of doing so. Give your site enough
credibility through the use of colors which suggest stability, and
information to make them feel at ease and they would be more willing
to call or fill out the form.
You cannot 'lead' him through the site, he wants to feel he has the
choice and can find the information he needs ... make it easy for him
to do it, not mandatory, and he will be more inclined to see the very
information you want to lead him to, without the feeling he is being
manipulated.
My recommendations on site improvement still stand ...
Answer the questions that come to your visitor's mind (listed in my
recommendations) and answer them quickly. Obviously you can't cram all
that information into your first screenful of information, but do make
it abundantly clear where that information IS available on your site,
and they are more likely to do what you want them to do.
Remove the unease by using the tried and true advice from the experts
whose information I gave you links to. Some may argue their
suggestions are outdated, but the fact remains if you apply those
features, your success rate goes up, and you cannot argue with
statistics.
I cannot stress enough that you need to overcome a natural reluctance
to give you information when information your visitor wants is not
easily available to them. You mention the government, then make it
very difficult to find out what the government has to do with your
organization.
There is no discussion of prices. It's generally accepted there is no
free lunch, so what's in it for you?
I hope this helps clarify the answer. And I am sorry I didn't make it
clear why I referred you to experts in design and content to help you
achieve your goals.
Yours ever so,
Serenata
|
