Good Web Design is Good Business

By Amy Zipkin
Published: February 13, 2008

The Web site for Sophia Brodsky's day spa in Philadelphia, the Body Klinic, was pretty rudimentary until a college student walked into the spa a little more than two years ago with an irresistible offer.

As she tells it, the student, Nathaniel Stevens, said that for $10 he would take her existing site and redesign it to drive traffic to her salon. If she got more business, they agreed, he would get additional money. Brodsky, a Russian immigrant, whose interests run more to cranberry facials than the Internet, thought why not.

Brodsky now maintains three Web sites and estimates that they have brought in thousands of dollars in business. "Now," she said, "people are coming to my Web site daily."

But small business owners like Brodsky who have a Web presence are still a minority. In its first survey of small business Web sites last April, Jupiter Research found that just 36 percent of all businesses with fewer than 100 employees had a Web presence.

Still, the Web as an alternative yellow pages is drawing increased attention. The Kelsey Group, a market research company in Princeton, New Jersey, estimates that sales revenue from Internet Yellow Pages and wireless and other searches will increase to $13 billion in 2010 from $3.4 billion in 2005.

Small business owners who venture online say the experience is generally worth it, though the learning curve may be steep.

Recognizing this, online advertising companies with names like Yodle, Weblistic, Webvisible and ReachLocal are springing up to help manage the sites.

The Web was not on Brodsky's mind when she put down $165,000 in 2004 for a spa that grossed about $6,000 a week. The spa was not even computerized at the time.

Experts generally advise small business owners not to establish a Web presence unless they have time to keep it updated. Jean Pratt, assistant professor of information systems at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Clair, said, "If someone doesn't maintain a Web site, it does become more of a detriment because competitors are keen on making theirs part of a marketing strategy."

A static site may damage the credibility of the business, she added.

Steve Krug, author of a Web usability guide, "Don't Make Me Think," says that what looks great to a business owner may be totally lost on a user unfamiliar with the site.
He suggests business owners watch their site being tested, devoting several hours a month to the effort.

That's a feeling K. Rudolph knows well. She runs Native Intelligence in Bethesda, Maryland, selling computer security and security awareness training courses. The company started a Web site about a decade ago but took a workshop based on Krug's book in 2003.

During his presentation, Krug singled out her site's graphics and asked participants if they knew what business Native Intelligence was in. The first person to answer thought bright colors and cartoons meant it was designed for children.

"Watching someone use your site for the first time can be a humbling and enlightening experience," she said.

Rudolph and her then business partner spent about three quarters of their time over the next two weeks revamping the site, trying to answer questions Krug posed like, "What can I do on this site?"

Now Rudolph sets aside several hours a month to watch as many as three users in succession navigate links on the site. She enlists friends and acquaintances to cast a critical eye.

Native Intelligence has prospered since the site's revamp in 2003. The company's gross income rose to $1,094,000 in 2006 from $483,000 in 2003, although Rudolph says that she does not know how much of the increase was due to the Web site improvements.

Brodsky said that she used to favor winning customer recognition by developing new product offerings. But Stevens, who was just starting an Internet company, showed her that a versatile Web presence was also crucial. Stevens created two Web sites that mirrored one another. One, www.thebodyklinic.com, features a local telephone number, with area code, that had a picture of a brownstone front and clickable foliage that leads to the spa's various services. The site has generated a 10 percent increase in sales since Brodsky - now a Web convert - redesigned it in October, she said.

Its not quite mirror double, www.thebodyklinic.net features a toll-free number and was intended to track calls. He and Brodsky agreed that she would pay him for each individual click. Her phone calls on that line are monitored so she can tell how much customer traffic the site is generating.

Her Web budget has grown to about $1,000 a month, Brodsky said, but her weekly gross is now $8,000 to $10,000 a week, up from $7,000 in the past two years.

Full Article.

Copywriting as a Part of Web Development

Because appealing to both readers and search engines is so important, you don't want to sacrifice one for the other. Adding a big block of copy to the middle of a page may not be the best answer, however, if a page needs content, adding a couple of sentences to the bottom of each section is a good option. Your copy will still be readable and the additional content will appeal to the search engines.

There are some things to remember when writing content for a website.

• Web users are active. One click and they have left your site. If they don't see a reason to stay, they won't. There is a 10 - 15 second window available to capture a visitor's attention.
• The longer the text is, the less likely they are to read it. With long text, they will skim it, if they bother to read it at all.
• Web users don't believe in hype. If you want a web user to believe you and to believe in you, you must back up your claims.
• Four questions must be answered on each page:

What am I doing here?

How do I do it?

What's in it for me?

Where can I go, next?

If your design and navigation isn't obvious, then you need to explain it in the copy. Most visitors will not take the time to figure this information out. If a first time visitor cannot find their way around your site, they will likely never come back.

Unless your visitors are expecting to read something on your page, don't expect that they will read more than one or two lines of copy.

Understanding your copy is as important as length. Don't make the copy so complicated that it is difficult to comprehend or make it so the customer will have to think about it because they won't.

What this means is you want to convey one key idea in just one or two lines. Don't try to add a third line because if you say too much, then even the first idea won't penetrate. If your site needs more content, break it down into sections that are one or two paragraphs each. Say what you want to say in the first sentence and then expand the thought into the paragraph. Use meaningful headers. Most people will only scan the headers to the paragraphs and not even bother with the copy on the page, unless it is something that appeal to them. It is better to write only one or two lines with links to another page with the longer copy.

Even when users are expecting to find text heavy content, don't expect they will take the time to read all of it. Longer copy doesn't have to be as abrupt as shorter text, but it needs to be as easy to read.

Make your copy clear, but not boring. Lively writing with an unassuming voice is best. Boring writing will turn your reader off and nothing you say at that point will make it through.