Successful Web Sites Are No Mystery

By Jeanne Neath and Paula Mariedaughter

Rng. The phone rings. “Um, we have this web site. Well, uh, could you take a look at it? We’re not sure… We’ve had it for a while. We think… Well, maybe we need to do something with it. Could you just take a look and tell us what you think?”

We get many calls from quilt business owners that sound just like this. Many quilt-related businesses now have web sites, but their owners aren’t entirely happy with them. Often they can’t put their finger on the problem. It’s like having some sense that your car doesn’t sound quite right and doesn’t drive quite as well as it did six months ago. Something is off, but you don’t know what it is, what caused it, or what to do about it – or even how to describe the problem to your auto mechanic.

When we get a call from someone asking us to evaluate their web site, we take a look at the web site and do a quick evaluation. It doesn’t necessarily take an expert to evaluate a web site though. You can do a preliminary evaluation yourself, if you just know what to look for. If you are not perfectly happy with your current web site, here are some questions to ask yourself.

Web Site Appearance: Does the web site project an image of your business that you are happy with? Does the site look like it was put together by an amateur or does its appearance reflect your professionalism? Sure signs of an amateur site would be VERY LARGE TYPE FONTS, many different type font faces, blurry or uncropped photos, inconsistent alignment of elements on the page, clashing colors, or annoying special effects. Paula’s pet peeve is page backgrounds that obscure the text and overwhelm the content of the page. Jeanne’s is with web pages that suffer from web site sprawl, overly long pages that lack cohesiveness.

Another question to ask is whether the look and feel of the site is congruent with your primary business. For example, if your primary business is selling reproduction fabrics and kits, are there reproduction fabrics and quilts highly visible on your home page, perhaps even integrated into your logo? Are the type fonts in your logo and elsewhere on the page old-time serifs to go with the vintage fabrics, or are the type fonts sleek, ultra-modern sans serifs?

Web Site Functioning: Does the web site function correctly? ? Is the site navigation easy to find and use? Do the navigation buttons and other links all work? Can a new visitor easily determine what a link looks like? Do the web pages load quickly? Is the site too “flat”, completely lacking special effects (e.g. tasteful animations, rollovers)? Do the existing special effects work consistently or do they generate annoying error messages? Does the site look good on a variety of different browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape Navigator?

If there are products for sale, is it easy to locate specific products? Are the product photos large enough and clear enough to engage your visitors? Is there a way to make a quick online purchase or does the site have antiquated ordering methods, like a mail in order form? Is the online ordering fully secure and is that communicated to the customer? Is the checkout process streamlined or does it require the purchaser to fill out multiple forms with long processing times.

As web developers, we don’t know much about auto mechanics and turn to professionals when our vehicles are not working correctly. But, even so, we keep track of when it is time to change the oil. We are alert to strange sounds and smells. Sometimes we may change a flat tire. A web site owner can learn to evaluate their own and other’s web sites with just a little effort. Robin Williams’ The Non-Designer’s Web Book, 2nd Edition is an excellent resource, if you want to pursue your education. You may (or may not) discover that you want the help of a professional web designer to make your site look and work its best, but you’ll be a much more savvy web site creator or consumer if you spend a few hours learning some of the basics.