Once users find a site - through a search engine, by reading a URL in a magazine ad, or by being sent to the site from a link on another site - there are certain things they ll expect to see no matter what. Ignoring these important elements will mark any site as amateurish and not worth visiting again:
1> It delivers what it promises.
Say a Web user types "car repair" into a search engine, and Auto Mile Car Dealership turns up among the sites that list "car repair" in their keyword sections. That site had better have more than just a line reading, "Our repair shop is open 12 hours a day" to justify listing "repair" in the keyword section. Otherwise, that user will be angry to have wasted the time visiting the site, only to learn there s no information on car repair there. Make sure that a keyword leads a user to a sizable amount of information at your site about that topic.
2> It doesn t take long to download.
The classic mistake that many companies make is to include a large photo or sound or video clip on the web site. Often, it is the CEO, who is saying something useless like, "Welcome to our web site; we hope you like it." The problem is, graphics and sound take a long time to download compared to text. For a Web user with a 56k modem, waiting four minutes for something that is boring is bound to make the user run away from the site. Many interesting visual effects can be created on Web sites that don t take long to download. For example, skinny horizontal graphics that stretch across the screen take shorter time to download than large ones that use a lot of vertical space. Black-and-white graphics load faster than color ones.
3> Company information is easy to find.
On the Web it doesn t matter if a company is in Maine or Maryland. With the click of a mouse, it s just as easy for Web users to reach one as it is the other. But nobody is living completely in Cyberspace yet. Users want to know where the companies are in the real world. Perhaps the customer lives near the company and would like to visit or maybe they d just find it interesting to know that a cactus greenhouse is located in Vermont. It s essential to place the web site somewhere in traditional real-world space, so always list a physical company location. Even more essential is to include an address, as well as phone and fax numbers. Some Web users want to call a company or mail in a order rather than email it. Usually, this information provides reassurance that the site belongs to a real company and not a con artist. Sometimes the Web user just wants the information because he or she is more comfortable with traditional contact methods.
4> It s updated frequently.
Most web site administrators update their sites at least once a week. This time-intensive task consumes a lot of labor. Keeping the site updated and refreshed is key for companies that expect visitors to return. There is so much action on the Web that it s tempting for visitors to jump somewhere more exciting if your company s site bores them.
5> There s user interaction.
One of the big advantages of this medium is that it allows users to interact immediately. They can send e-mail, fill out a form, enter a contest, or request information the instant they have the urge. And they expect to be asked - it s part of the fun and entertainment of browsing the Web. A site with no "user feedback," e-mail forms, games to play, or forms to fill out is a site that will sit untapped.
One kind of interactive element some sites can include is a piece of software that will search a product database by keyword. For example, customers at a bicycle retailer Web site can type in "mountain bike locks" to get a list of the desired products. This internal search engine saves time compared to browsing an entire list of products or even the list of all bicycle locks. Customers appreciate that and are more likely to revisit that site rather than other bicycle retailer sites.
Another interactive and time-saving piece of software is an online form. These can be used by visitors requesting company or product information, registering to visit the site, asking for specific customer service, or signing up for a customized email newsletter. They can even be structured so that the Web user can customize the page themselves. By expressing preferences in an online form, the user can specify which parts of the web site will show and which will be hidden on the next visit.
Chat Rooms
Web sites have copied another part of the Internet, the live chat. On some sites, visitors can click on a button to go to a screen, or "room", where there is a list of the other visitors who are present at the same time. Anytime someone types a sentence and hits the "enter" key on the keyboard, everyone in the "chat room" instantly sees that person s name and the message and can respond. However, it can be difficult to draw visitors regularly to these chat areas. What frequently happens is someone will go to visit one, but because nobody else is there, the visitor quickly leaves. The smart approach is to schedule discussions on specific topics and then publicize them, so that enough people attend at the same time to be able to carry on a conversation.
"Under Construction"
Whether to include certain elements in a web site is still being debated. For example, should a web site be debuted before it is really finished? At an unfinished site, users who click on the unfinished section see a small "under construction" sign. Some web users hate it and won t return to a site that s under construction, especially if they do revisit once and it is still under construction. But other users don t seem to mind. "Under construction" sites still receive visitors. Some Web developers claim it can be a smart marketing move, because it piques the interest of visitors who figure that an unfinished site is worth revisiting to see how it turns out.
For companies that decide to gamble on rolling out an unfinished site, there are two rules to follow: First, most of the site must be finished. Second, put a date on the unfinished section so visitors know when to expect completion. Otherwise, after returning several times to an "under construction" site that shows no signs of ever being finished, they ll give up.
Return
A clever site will attract visitors who will return regularly to see what s new. One trick that you can use to encourage revisiting is to program a short warning message to flash on the computer screen when users click on an external link. That message might say something like "You re leaving our site now. Save the url so you can return easily." Users can then choose to save the web site address in their browser software s memory or bookmark" section.
While they are browsing the site users may buy something. But if there is no sale, how does your company know that someone has stopped by? It s not as if it were a real store, where the proprietor can see at any given moment how many customers have come in. No, it s better than that - web site operators can collect more information than store owners can. How many people stop in during any given time period? Where do they come from, how long do they stay, and what do they look at? All of this information is available to the web site owner using simple tracking tools.
From "Tips & Tactics for Marketing on the Internet," edited by Bradford W. Ketchum, Jr., published by Inc. Copyright@1997 by Goldhirsh Group, Inc. Boston, Mass. All rights reserved.
