Tuesday 27 November 2007

3. Website Design

Hi friends, welcome back to an another session of E – Business review, as we have seen the different types of websites and its relation to E- Business in our earlier session, now I am going to deal with the importance of websites and website design.

In this new era more and more people are doing business online or looking for information on Internet. Due to this reason - the website, its content and its design acts as a PR (public relations) on behalf of the company to increase the sales and generate extra revenue because of these reasons websites are given more and more importance to communicate with its potential customers.

As we all know there are hundreds and thousands of websites available online for similar products, due to this reason the customers/buying power of customers is very high and the websites do not get second chance to convince its customers as its possible in direct selling/traditional selling practice. The website which is not fast, user friendly and effective in its performance will naturally lose its customers which emphasise the importance of website design.

Website design

Firstly, before an organisation starts it website it needs to consider what kind of customers will look in to its website. What kind of information does a company wants to convey to its customers (like Aston martin website convey its elegance and simplicity where as Lamborghini website conveys its show-off nature and something hi-fi). Is the website effectively conveys companies objectives and purpose into the business.

While implementing the website design companies need to consider the Accessibility of website, it means does the website cause any

Visual impairments – Display of colours in such a way that it creates low visibility.

Hearing impairments - A hearing impairment or hearing loss is a full or partial decrease in the ability to detect or understand sounds.

Mobility impairments – Using a very high technology that users cannot access the content effectively.

Seizure disorders - Seizure disorders involve periodic disturbances of the brain's electrical activity, resulting in some degree of temporary brain dysfunction (happens with too much light flashing websites).

The companies also need to understand the effectiveness of latest technology in website design like the speed of downloading website, the errors in links and use of key words (also called “tags”) for search engines to identify websites.

Solutions for website design

By implementing simple solutions to the website design companies can increase the effectiveness of its website and improve its sales.

  1. Using simple format for website design in other words user friendly.
  2. Having a search tool in website for ease of access.
  3. Building website in multi languages.
  4. When using graphics in website “text only” option improves the accessibility.
  5. Improving downloading speed (as most of customers hate to wait).Improving security system from hackers and spam (helps to gain trust and reliability).
  6. Effective use of key words in website (increases the possibility to be found by search engines).
  7. Last and most important making site available 24/7.

Reflective Report

Earlier I used to judge the websites by its graphics and colour, but now my way of looking at websites has changed totally with the knowledge and experience gained during my website analysis report. Now I look at websites more critically and tries to gather - what information does the firms websites is trying to convey. Apart from all these, I even appreciate the amount of expertise that goes into designing the website.

It is clear for me that when I go for introducing my own companies website I will look into all the aspects which makes a good and reliable website, but the most important aspect is looking at website from consumers point of view and minimizing the defects in website. In order to reduce defects in a website continuous testing plays an important role and often the success or failure depends on it.

Most of the companies use these tools, in order to achieve success but it failures to consider consumer needs or anticipation for its products or services. Thus in total, it can be said that a company will be most likely to be successful which considers all aspects of website design, evaluates its products and services from consumers prospective and implements good market segmentation strategies.

Thus designing the website for right products, right markets and for right consumers is not a joke.

No comments: