Five Rules for Great Websites

In a world in which it's unusual for a business not to have a website, an ambitious business owner must expect to do more than just throwing something online. Following these simple rules will help your website stand out.

Written Jan 12, 2008, read 1469 times since then.

Rule #1: Challenge Assumptions

When planning for a new website, it's common for a business owner to browse the competition and think, "I guess that's what I need too."

A wiser reaction would be, "What can I do differently?" While there's certainly benefit to learning from what your competition is doing right, you should also keep in mind that you'll never outperform your competitors simply by imitating them. You've got to differentiate yourself in the market, and the best way to do that is by taking a different approach.

Here are some examples of fresh thinking:

What would happen if you put a contact form right on the home page?
Skip the obviously-posed business headshots and try some creative (and candid) portrait photography.
Fight your temptation to cram links and text on the home page. Go minimal instead -- and allow your potential customers to see what's really important to you.
Instead of having a "brochure" site that contains the usual 5-10 pages, consider a single-page site, or site with much more content.
Write down your initial preferences for color, layout, etc. -- and then throw them away. Be wary of ideas that seems obvious.
If your competitors are very sales-oriented, and don't give away much on the website, try the opposite approach. List your pricing, your competitors, and any other information that might be useful to the customer in making their own decision. They may go with you simply because you've established yourself as someone they can trust.

Rule #2: Provide Rich Content

Most business websites are full of filler text that looks good but says very little. When web users hit this kind of content, their eyes simply glaze over. They don't bother reading it. If you really want to engage your customers, it's important to provide genuinely useful content. Skip the corporate fluff and get right to your message.

In addition to making potential customers stop and read, it will have the additional benefit of providing some meat for the search engines. (People search for "plumbing in Toledo," not "quality, synergy, and service.")

Here are some tips to get you started with planning great content for your website:

You don't read corporate mumbo-jumbo, so don't expect your customers to do it either.
Write the way that you speak. Keep it friendly and conversational. (Make sure that it's free of grammar and spelling errors, though.)
Be brief! The shorter your text, the better.
Avoid the Five Forbidden Words of Advertising: Quality, Service, Value, Integrity, and Caring. These terms have been so abused in marketing and advertising in recent decades that they're essentially worthless.
Provide valuable content, rather than just a sales pitch. Help your customer through the process.

Rule #3: Make it "Sticky"

"Stickiness" is the degree to which a website encourages visitors to stick around (and come back again later).

Website owners often assume mistakenly that most users are actively clicking through their website and reading each page, when the unfortunate reality is that most visitors to your site will leave within 15 seconds if you don't grab their interest.

Here are a few tips on "getting sticky":

Provide useful, regularly updated content, articles, tips, how-tos, etc.
Know your audience.
Interact with your audience, rather than allowing the site to be a one-way form of communication.
Build a community.
Provide tools that your customers can use regularly, but that aren't readily available elsewhere on the web.
Cross-link your pages to encourage users to explore the site.
Allow users to sign up for an e-mail newsletter.

Rule #4: Bring in a Pro

Every industry has an ample body of knowledge that can only be gained through years of experience, study, and industry participation, and the web design and development industry is no different. A true web development professional can give you an essential perspective on what really works--and what can hurt your website in the long run.

At every stage of the process, your site can benefit greatly from the advice of a seasoned professional. As with doctors, lawyers, mechanics, or plumbers, you should always get the best you can afford.

Some tips for getting started:

Ensure that your "designer" is an actual designer, rather than just a technical person who picked up a few design skills out of necessity. A knowledge of color theory, layout, typography, design trends, etc., will allow the designer to create a genuinely powerful design for your site.
Make sure that the site is coded using industry standards and best-practices (including valid XHTML and CSS). Insist on high-quality code.
Avoid "discount" web hosting. It can save you a few dollars, but can be a nightmare when something goes wrong.
If you can't afford to hire a professional web design and development agency to build the entire site, you should at least consider hiring a professional in a consulting capacity, to help advise you and guide the project down the right path.

Rule #5: Love Your Website

If you don't love your own website, why should its visitors?

Build something that you can be proud of, that represents your business in the best way possible, and that helps you to stand out from the competition.

This approach will not only inspire your potential customers, but will also drive you to keep improving and refining the site, which is critically important as the Web becomes an increasingly fundamental part of the economy.

Some easy ways to get started:

Once a month, go through your website and tweak any content that has room for improvement. Don't ever assume that the text of the website is "done."
Include the URL in all of your client communications: e-mails, business cards, brochures, etc.
Regularly monitor your website's usage statistics to see what areas are popular, what areas are causing you to lose customers, etc.
Periodically modify the site to address any usability, navigation, or content issues that are brought to your attention. Don't let it languish.
As you add features, text, etc., to the site, be careful that it doesn't become cluttered and confusing. Don't let minor changes get out of control.

Learn more about the author, Aaron Post.

Comment on this article

Posted by Dan McComb, Seattle, Washington | Jan 15, 2008

Fantastic advice, Aaron. I actually picked up a few gems that we can use for building Biznik. In particular, the bit about cross-linking is something we should be doing more of. For example, we could be pulling links to articles like this one out elsewhere on the site, in order to expose more readers to awesome how-to advice like this.

One tip that I can add, as a followup to your advice on regularly monitoring your website's usage statistics, is to recommend Google Analytics to everyone. We use it to monitor traffic on Biznik, and it's absolutely outstanding, and best of all, it's free.

To use it, all you have to do is install a tiny bit of javascript in the footer of all your pages, and Google takes care of the rest. The reports that are generated are not only informative, but beautiful, and include maps that show where your traffic is coming from, how long they stay, what they are viewing, and much, much more.

Biznik Business Networking
Posted by Jasmine Holmes, Gilbert, Arizona | Jan 15, 2008

Thank you for rule #4 especially the first bullet point. As a graphic/web designer, I often find my competition does not have any actual design training and their work shows it. This is a subject that everyone needs to be better educated about because many people fall into the trap.

I also recommend Google Analytics. I have just started using it and have found it to be an excellent tool.
Posted by Betsy Talbot, Seattle, Washington | Jan 15, 2008

Great article, Aaron! I second Dan on the Google Analytics thing. I look at it every week for my websites and blogs.

One other point is that I found myself overwhelmed with my consulting website when it first went up, and it took me time to be able to step back and see it in a different light to make the necessary changes. That is the price you pay when you do not use a professional designer to guide you and do it by trial and error, in between your "regular work." If you can afford the time, great. I would not recommend waiting it out like I did, though.
Posted by Dan McComb, Seattle, Washington | Jan 15, 2008

I liked this article so much that I've submitted it to Digg. If you like it, vote for it here: http://digg.com/design/FiveRulesforGreatWebsites.

Biznik Business Networking
Posted by Jillian Garvin, Emeryville, California | Jan 16, 2008

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for posting your info on websites. I will be taking a close look at mine and will likely make some much needed changes.

thanks for all!

jillian
Posted by Glenn Mattsson, Santa Rosa, California | Jan 16, 2008

Thanks Aaron!

Wow. How timely is this? I've met with two developers in the past week and to be honest, they sucked, so #4 is where my focus is right now.

I'm rethinking my whole web development strategy and hopped on my computer to do some research when I saw this.

I think I've got a pretty good handle on where I want to go, but definitely picked up some good pointers too!

It's funny but I can especially relate to the 2nd bullet point of Rule #1. When I started looking for photos to use, they're all the high school yearbook kind or the mug shot variety (like this one). Just a few days back, I found out that a friend of mine is a commercial photographer and he's got a great portfolio, so that's a must for me also.

Thanks for the article.

Glenn
Posted by Shannon Evans, Bainbridge Island, Washington | Jan 18, 2008

This is a great article! Thanks for the insights it provides. I currently have a very static website and I have tried to discuss making it sticky with my webmaster. He sees things from a more graphic perspective and I see things from "what generates leads and clients" perspective. This article leads me to believe I am absolutely right in my quest to find more balance between graphics and stickiness.
I will add one more element of design that might add to the discussion: benefits driven content.

Benefits to the end user are what make people buy and return for more. The 3.2 gigawatts of power your widget delivers to their speakers is not what customers want to know. They want to know that 3.2 gigawatts makes your speaker BOOM so loud your neighbors have to get their hearing checked. I think in ratios...1 feature to several benefits.

Thanks again for the great article.

Shannon Evans - Editor, Author, Book Coach Helping Authors Accomplish Their Book Writing Dreams Author of: Sell Sheets and One Sheets, The Marketing Tool For Authors, Speakers, and Entrepreneurs.

www.mywritingmentor.com `~ www.authormarketingtools.com
Posted by Joshua Lind, Seattle, Washington | Jan 18, 2008

Your article reads like my client initial meetings. The most important task is drawing out what a company or individual actually needs for a successful online existence, as opposed to assumption. If you restrain the bloat you can refine and increase the effectiveness of your web presence.
Posted by carol ingaro, long branch, New Jersey | Jan 18, 2008

thank you aaron for the delicious words of wisdom that, when implemented, will be sure to fill my business coffers with oodles of customers.

now i just need to get a website up!

cheers!
Posted by Roberta Winter, Bremerton, Washington | Jan 19, 2008

Aaron, I really like your article and think it is very valid. I have had to fend off a lot of advice from people wanting me to make my site more traditional, including the "head shot". I went for the candid shot. Also, I am a content fan and really try to update my site monthly, with a link to my blog, which is updated weekly. I think a website is so much more than a brochure, it can be a valueable learning tool. I don't want to do it if I am not adding value. Roberta Winter, the healthpolicymaven
Posted by Bonnie Story, Quilcene, Washington | Feb 05, 2008

Aaron, Your article is the best and most succinct I have read in a long time about what really matters online.

I will share it with some folks who I see heading down a silly path with their online confections.

Well done - this is the kind of stuff that I joined Biznik for, and you delivered! ;~} Bonnie
Posted by Daniel Genser, Vashon, Washington | Feb 20, 2008

Great article, Aaron. Excellent nuggets of advice.

While I mostly agree with challenging assumptions, it has to be balanced with the knowledge that web users have many ingrained patterns that they've come to expect and that challenging too many of those patterns all at once can lead to a frustrating user interface that will ultimately drive people away from your site.

I think you allude to this, but it's worth re-stating that 'stickiness' isn't really something you can just toss in the website mix willy-nilly.

The client has to be fully committed to the forum, comments, or email newsletter for it to be a success. There's nothing quite so sad as an abandoned web forum. :-(

Thanks for the good reminders!
Posted by Cathy Goodwin, Seattle, Washington | Mar 17, 2008

I would definitely agree: it's no longer enough to have just website. Re challenging assumptions - yes - but I keep referring back to my favorite 4-letter word: Test!

And yes, by all means hire professionals - not just for design but also for copy! I do hire the pros for design (I can no longer keep up with the latest in CSS) and copy is harder than it looks. ;-)
Posted by Aaron Post, Phoenix, Arizona | Mar 19, 2008

I'd like to thank everyone for their feedback.

I posted this to test for numerous reasons, first I believe it to be true, second I wanted to get a feel for the audience on Biznik.

My impression to date, its one of the few places where the comments, feedback and conversation seem very real and honest. I look forward to posting more articles and getting more involved.

To your point about Analyics Dan, you are right. I let people know that when a site goes live no matter how much you love it or know the industry (audience), you will still at most be only 805 there. Getting to 100% at first is a impossible, but after time and understanding of what is taking place, the analytics, feedback and the market will help guide you to the other 20%.

Thanks again for the wonderful feedback,

Aaron.
Posted by Bryan Kress, Edwardsville | Apr 12, 2008

I like the idea of making it sticky. I am also working on changing some of my photos to more abstract shots. It really does grab the attention of the user.
Posted by Norbert Mayer-Wittmann, Old Greenwich, Connecticut | Apr 15, 2008

Good article.

One word of caution, though: Don't get too caught up on optimizing for Google ("search engine optimization" is actually a misnomer -- what people mean when they refer to SEO is "optimizing for Google"). Think outside of the Google search-box -- indeed, many people are actually already DOing this (e.g. digg.com is also a "search engine" -- but it isn't often seen as one [and it is also rather skewed towards tech news]).

Making the homepage "interactive" is definitely a good idea, but will also involve alot of engagement on part of the website owner.

Finally, creating a community can be a daunting task, requiring the community manager to think about all sorts of things far beyond the scope of running a traditional "nuts and bolts" type business. So perhaps it might be good to consider engaging in such forums related to your own business (like here at biznik ;) ).