how valuable is good web design ...

[sensoryfx]

It seems that many domainers buy up sites and create mini sites to establish a presence and gain some search engine ranking. But how many domainers reach the full potential of their domain by developing an effective user experience for their prospective users ?

From a user experience standpoint, consider your web site’s home page as being your store front. According to Jakob Nielsen’s Power of 10 Time Scales article, at the most you have only a few seconds to influence your visitors that your web site is worthy of staying for a visit, it could be far less than that.

Whats the use of having a great domain name, great SEO, if the visitor is going to bounce almost immediately from your site ?

So much emphasis is put on traffic to a site, and how high it is in the google rankings, but the real proof of a site's value is how long visitors stay. A statistic rarely used to value a site.

So my point is ... how much do people value effective web development skills ...

 

[sensoryfx]

My frustration as a seasoned web developer is how many sites are outsourced overseas, or outsourced to fly by night, cheap ass web developers.

Ive been in the game for over 10 years, mainly in e-learning, and I understand the psychology behind developing an effective user experience, but it seems these days, this kind of experience is rarely valued.

 

[soj]

Theres no point in having a good design if your visitors aren't getting what they want. Good content is more important than web design. Though I do rate web design pretty highly, I am all about the user experience.

 

[sp@rky13]

This is something that I've been wondering about recently as it appears many domainers put content (for SEO benefit) at the highest priority with web design far lower down. I don't know how well this works or not. Personally I put website design on equal standings with content. Part of this is because I want practice designing websites but also because you may rank 1 in google but if your site is bright green with pink text *exaggeration* then people are going to immediately leave and there is no way they will click your ads

 

[sensoryfx]

Theres no point in having a good design if your visitors aren't getting what they want. Good content is more important than web design. Though I do rate web design pretty highly, I am all about the user experience.

Well, what I mean by 'web design' is the whole 'User Centered Design' process. The 'interface design' is only one aspect of this.
I did say in my post previously ( I understand the psychology behind developing an effective user experience ) So you might like to read things a little more carefully before commenting.

Its no good having good content if the whole user experience isnt considered.

But on the subject of the actual 'Interface Design' ... It is more important in most cases initially, as it instill's a level of confidence for the user. It often determines the credability level of the site.

 

[FirstPageResults]

Theres no point in having a good design if your visitors aren't getting what they want. Good content is more important than web design. Though I do rate web design pretty highly, I am all about the user experience.

+1

 

[ScottNugent]

Oh this is a big, long running, vicious battle you just opened up.

Some people go to university for 4 years to understand this simple question. I think it's all a balance.

 

[sensoryfx]

yes, your dead right there, it is a very delicate balancing act ...

You need quality design and great content, but not too much. And it needs to be written in such a way that interest is grabbed quickly, eg Front loading content ...

Content that is well written for SEO isnt necessarily well written for the end user.

You need good site architecture, usability etc ...

Theres some good info on my site in relation to a number of these issues.
http://ezyebusiness.com/

 

[Ash]

Look at craigslist... barely a whisker of 'design' in there but it has the content and ease of use to make it popular.

There is a difference in decorating a site and designing - and as you know, the idea is that the design does not interfere with the user experience but should simply enhance it.

Too many people treat design as decoration which is akin to putting lipstick on a pig.

I'm sure there's plenty of designers that would like to 'dress up' craigslist and others of that ilk but most would just make superficial changes.

 

[sensoryfx]

im not real sure on the history of 'craigslist' but I suspect it has been around for quite some time. And its design comes from a time when there were restrictions on bandwidth, and keeping it plain and simple was the norm.

If someone were to try and start 'craigslist' today with that interface, it would more than likely fail.

Statistics tell us that the largest demographic of users are below 35, and have an expectation when it comes to todays modernday internet. They expect some entertainment value in whatever they do on the internet.

 

[payattention]

Most designers I've spoken with don't understand SEO and feel it's not their responsibility to make a website that is SEO friendly. They want to get creative and make shit look pretty for the sake of looking pretty as if they were making an oil painting and as a result, SEO doesn't even come into consideration.

I know someone that paid 40k for a website design; it was a kick ass design with an awesome backend but it didn't take SEO into consideration at all and he's left bidding on Adwords for his traffic.

Personally I think that design comes last because with the right platform such as Wordpress using Thesis, you can always come back to it and tweak things.

Get some content up first, test the offer and see if it's what the searcher wants and if they are buying before putting down any serious $$$ on site development.

No offense but most web designers I've met want to design a pretty site where they can show off their creative skills and add a link back to their company website as if my site was nothing more than a way for them to generate business for them and not me.

I can completely understand why you're upset about jobs being offshored but we now live in a global economy and I don't need to pay exorbitant prices to have a web designer tell me that I'm boxing him in creatively when I can get someone on freelancer to do a simple job for me which is done perfectly provided I am very specific about what I need done.

Short version - I'm not a big fan of web designers

 

[payattention]

I just wanted to add something extra. If admin can copy this and post it into my original that would be good.

For too long web designers and design companies have held site owners to ransom. Many of them stipulate unfair conditions such as they retain rights to the code even though you've paid them for it, any changes must go through them, exorbitant monthly fees to host your website including contracts to lock you in so that you can't control it.

They did all that plus more because there was a time where design wasn't a cheap commodity. I can't think of another industry where things change so quick so I shed not a tear for the designers who now cry foul!

Having said all that, if you can find a web design company that takes seo into the design consideration and will work with you on a/b split testing and stuff like that, that's worth paying for but most don't offer those types of services.

 

[jam]

Having said all that, if you can find a web design company that takes seo into the design consideration and will work with you on a/b split testing and stuff like that, that's worth paying for but most don't offer those types of services.

+1 to that. If a design does not covert or doesn't increase conversions then there is no point in using it.

Statistics tell us that the largest demographic of users are below 35, and have an expectation when it comes to todays modernday internet. They expect some entertainment value in whatever they do on the internet.

When I'm looking for something to buy or a service I am not looking to be entertained. When my mother is looking for a recipe she is not looking to be entertained.

Well, what I mean by 'web design' is the whole 'User Centered Design' process. The 'interface design' is only one aspect of this.
I did say in my post previously ( I understand the psychology behind developing an effective user experience ) So you might like to read things a little more carefully before commenting.

Having studied "the psychology behind developing an effective user experience" I am yet to see this in any of the sites in your signature. Do you have any other examples?

 

[sensoryfx]

Short version - I'm not a big fan of web designers

To be honest, neither am I. Thats pretty much why im not a main stream web developer. I do the odd business website, usually on a budget, so they are not always my best examples.

Web developers that think they can do it all are kidding themselves. As you said SEO is often a secondary consideration, or not at all. Effective web design/development is a team effort that takes a number of experts to bring it all together.

 

[sensoryfx]

Having studied "the psychology behind developing an effective user experience" I am yet to see this in any of the sites in your signature. Do you have any other examples?

Yes, the sites in my sig probably are not the best examples of a effective user experience. Although not the worst either. Where do you see a problem ?

Aptitudemedia.com is my business site, but not really a site, more of a place holder. I don't need to advertise my services as all my work comes in via a network of e-learning professionals and RTO's.

The other sites are in varying degree's of completeness.

The work I have done in the area of 'effective user experience' is more related to my work in e-learning. Unfortunately, this work isnt public domain and i really dont have any examples I can show.

Nice work and site there Jam.

 

[sensoryfx]

Effective user centered design often takes quite a bit planning and research that is generally not feisable for your average small business website.

There are a number of pedagogical factors to consider when undertaking such work.
Main stream 'commercial web design' generally isnt that sophisticated.

 

[ScottNugent]

For too long web designers and design companies have held site owners to ransom. Many of them stipulate unfair conditions such as they retain rights to the code even though you've paid them for it, any changes must go through them, exorbitant monthly fees to host your website including contracts to lock you in so that you can't control it.

Ugh I am a designer, and I hate people who do this; you are being paid for the job, and is a regular company really going to use your code for profit (in all honesty, that coding has probably been used 1000 times before, just in a different scenario), so come on guys, lets be fair. I work on the basis of:

• Do the job
• Provide all information/work
• Keep the customer happy (within limits of course, ie. don't spend 10 hours working on something for free). If they want to control hosting, give them access, if they want the domain transfered, provide the password, etc.

Just my rant.

 

[whiterabit]

I'm neither a designer or SEO guru but I know enough to be dangerous if you know what I mean.

For me good web design comes down to one thing. Earnings Per Click.

In my consulting days, not enough consideration was given to the conversion event or what the desired outcome was from each visitor. It was all about winning awards and the EPC was secondary.

Yes optimize the bejeebers out of the site and get a million visitors but if they don't perform the desired action you want then you may as well get 0 visitors / $0 EPC. On the other hand if you don't pay any attention to the optimization aspect then you could have the sweetest call to action but no visitors OR you have to payout half your EPC to get visitors in.

I coded my first website http://replay.web.archive.org/20051014001044/http://www.winbig.com.au/ with content and conversion event in mind (and yes I will come out of retirement if the price is right ) and it had a pretty sweet EPC even though it looks like a dogs breakfast.

The EPC made me enough money to get it redesigned by a professional and now I now have a much better EPC and much more traffic because its optimized better.

I don't want to sit on the fence but I think you need both SEO and Design but ultimately without the EPC and conversion event then you may as well have neither.

 

[Shane]

Like a few others have said, it's really a balancing act, but I certainly put content ahead of design.

Most of my sites are far from polished, but they appear professional enough to look legit (unlike plenty of crap minisites out there) and they are easy to navigate with plenty of relevant content which is written with more bias towards readability and usefulness for the visitor rather than purely for SEO.

Most of these site don't attract huge traffic, but the CTR and CPC are generally pretty healthy and the traffic is sufficient to ensure all of the sites are profitable.

 

[snoopy]

A far as design itself goes I'd say for most business it is one of the least important elements to a site, take a look at sites like ebay or google they look pretty awful/basic but are highly effective due to ease of use, fast load time etc. With ebay I'd say it is designed deliberately to look cheap. Would spent money on a dozen other things before the look of a site. I'd say the time when it is important is for sites selling luxury goods/expensive brand etc but that is a a limited number of businesses.