"Design It" Tips

Whether you’re redesigning your site internally or outsourcing - here are some top, Bastion-approved “Design It” tips:

1) You wouldn’t wear that website to a party
Style, fashion, and technology all drive website design.  Failure to keep your website’s look and feel up to date may mark your site (and your company) as outdated and inadequate. Get an honest evaluation (and heed Tip #2).

2) Only the people that like your site will tell you
Judge your site’s effectiveness on ALL visitors to it, not just the ones who convert. The users who convert undoubtedly thought your website was just fine – asking their opinion will give you false reassurance. Determining how many or why Users are leaving before converting is a far better measurement (is it your site or did the products and services just not match up to what they wanted).

3) Don’t design by committee
Everyone has surfed the Internet and likely has an opinion of what makes a good website. They are all undoubtedly right.  And, if you listen to them all your site will undoubtedly be bad. Keep design decision between 2 or 3 people at most.  If you need more buyoff than that, allow groups to choose between two separate but viable alternatives.

4) Google does NOT have a good website
Okay, okay, Google is very successful and their site does work for them.  But chances are you are not a search engine company so their site won’t work for you.  A big box in the middle of a page is not a winner for most companies no matter how easy someone finds it to use.

5) Hire your partner’s nephew as an intern, but don’t let him build your website
Your website is a powerful tool and strongly represents your company (good or bad).  Make sure that whomever is in charge of the design and build-out is qualified to do so.  The basic mechanics aren’t that difficult, so some companies make the mistake of letting someone who can build a website but shouldn’t build a website, do it (often a friend or relative).

6) Consistency is the key
Consistency trumps creativity.  Now there’s nothing wrong with a creative design, but the key to website usability (and success), is consistency.  Not all websites on the entire Internet work or are navigated the same way.  Users have become used to having to figure some things out.  But when they think they’ve got your site figured out and then get thrown a curve ball, they are likely to curve right off of your site and onto another.

7) Don’t be bullied
Your instincts will often be right and if you can translate what you know about business into input for your web design team – they should use that input.  Don’t be bullied into accepting something that feels wrong.

8) Be bullied
Just because you can surf the Internet doesn’t mean you know what will work best for your website. You need to choose a design team you respect and then take their advice very seriously.  If you continually override their recommendations, you’ll likely get exactly what you asked for – and you probably won’t like it.

9) It really is all about conversion
When all is said and done, it’s all about conversion.  Site design needs to be approached and evaluated with conversion in mind.  You may want a beautiful site, but if you’re in an industry where a beautiful site looks out of place, conversions will suffer. Conversely, if you’re in a very progressive industry, you’re site had better have an up to date look and feel.

10) Content kills
Writing content (let alone good content) is difficult.  It can severely tax whomever is placed in charge of it.  It’s the number one reason sites are late (or very late, or very, very late) to launch. Make sure you have lined up adequate resources to get this done.