Technology Marketing by Tatum MarketingJust another WordPress weblog

If you’ve been following this series of articles on business website development you may have gotten the impression that I am anti-website design. That’s not true. I just think far too much emphasis is placed on visual design to the detriment of other equally important elements.

I also repeatedly see poor performance from sites where a graphic or visual designer is given control. By performance, I don’t mean the technical performance of a site, I mean how well the site delivers on your objectives – including how well it entices visitors to stay on the site and how many visitors are successfully converted to customers or sales-ready leads.

There is a reason for this. Most graphic designers (I said “most”) are not trained marketers and they tend to look at website design from a, well, visual design standpoint and not from a business buying process and persuasion standpoint. And, with the availability of low-cost template type websites, some “designers” aren’t even trained designers; but that’s a different post all together.

We all agree that visual design is a key part of the success of a website, so let’s take a look at how you can ensure your site is designed to attract, engage and even persuade your target audience.

Be prepared to guide your website designer

Presumably you’ve read and followed the advice given in Effective B2B Website Strategy – 25 Questions to Ask and Answer and Website Content – Why Your Visitors Visit (previous articles in this series); so now you’re properly prepared to bring in a graphic designer. If not, I strongly suggest that you stop now and go through those steps before you talk with a designer. It can save you a lot of money.

Alternatively, if you’ve hired a website development firm, they should have completed the steps presented in these two articles before beginning the visual design stage. If that hasn’t happened, halt the project now and get them on the right track. Otherwise you may very well be paying for a site that looks good but doesn’t deliver.

Guidance for your website designer

Visual design is very personal and, in many ways, there is no right or wrong. You’re going to be looking at your website for a few years, so you might as well like it. But keep in mind that your audience’s opinion is more important than your own. In other words, if you’re a mid-30s male entrepreneur selling software to primarily mid-40s female HR professionals, you may have to sacrifice your own personal style for the comfort of your audience.

Here are five critical “truths” that most visual designers are not aware of or choose to ignore. These can make a big difference in the success of your site. Share them with your designer and hold him/her to them.

1. There is no reason to grab your visitors’ attention. You already have it. That’s why they’re at your site. Many very good designers were trained in the offline world where constant competition for the prospect’s attention creates the need to do something bold. This is called interruption marketing. The design principles that exist in interruption marketing have carried over into web design even though they aren’t appropriate. Instead of wasting space trying to get something you already have (the prospect’s attention), use design to make it easy for them to figure out what to do next.
2. Simple is better. Your website visitors are busy people. They come to your site looking for information and they won’t spend much time trying to figure out how to find it. Independent studies show that business buyers prefer simple text pages, no more than three columns and next actions that are clearly indicated.
3. Graphics don’t count for much. Marketing research firm, MarketingSherpa, found that there are only two types of graphics that business website visitors consistently pay attention to:
   a.    Recognizable logos from companies other than your own.
   b.    Bullet points.
4. Marketing messages contained within an image will probably not get read. The most popular format for business-to-business websites features a large billboard image across the top of the page. More often than not, text is embedded in the image. Even when shown flash images that feature moving text, visitors tend to skip over the image and the message. Use them if you want, but be sure to repeat any important points in the text.
5. Design for readability. Black type on a white background is – by far – the most easily read text. Text on a color background – especially white text against a dark background – requires great determination on the part of your visitor to read it. Small text and tightly spaced text is also hard to read. If your audience is over 40, forget using anything smaller than 12 point type. Make it easy to read and more people will read it. Pretty simple, isn’t it?

Remember: the purpose of your site is to engage your visitors and communicate the information they are seeking. It’s far more important to convert visitors to prospects or customers than it is to have the coolest site in town. That may be obvious, but many business technology marketers seem to forget it.

Next up: Search Engine Optimization.

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