Resource Centers:(News, information, and tools to support your practice)
September 2010
| Article Tools
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
7 deadly sins of website design
By William J. Lynott
Deciding your practice would benefit by having its own website is the easy part. The tough part is avoiding the nasty pitfalls that make many websites money losers, instead of money makers.
The first commercial websites were designed by early computer experts. These hardy pioneers were comfortable in the arcane world of computers, but woefully lacked in communication and marketing skills. The result was a flood of “clever” websites that accomplished little except making their sponsors look silly.
During the past few years, Web design has evolved into a sophisticated combination of art and science. Today’s best sites are powerful marketing and communications tools.
Unfortunately, plenty of the old clunkers are still around, and more are going up every day.
Damaging design
Here’s how you can make sure your site — whether it’s in the planning stage or already a reality — isn’t marred by one or more of the most damaging errors of website design:
1. Failing to formulate a clear purpose for your site. That may sound obvious for a chiropractic website, but failing to define and execute a clear purpose is one of the more common website design errors — and one of the most costly.
Do you want a website solely to establish an Internet presence, with a single page providing basic information, such as your address, phone number, and general description of your practice?
Or do you want a complete e-commerce site with multiple pages, photos of your office and staff, a description of your specialized expertise, hospital affiliation, board certification, and other data?
Why are you going to the trouble and expense of creating a website? What do you want it to accomplish? If you can’t state your purpose clearly in a sentence or two, you’re probably not ready to dip a toe in Internet waters.
2. Failing to communicate your purpose clearly to your site designer. If you hire a professional to create your site, you’ll pay additional charges if you keep exercising your right to change your mind. Changes in basic design after the project is underway can result in wasted creative hours. Unless your designer has agreed to a flat rate, you’ll be stuck with a larger bill than you expected.
You can avoid this common error by taking time to discuss your ideas with your designer. Sketching out layouts and text with paper and pencil can save hours of costly design time.
Don’t allow yourself to become an obstacle in the completion of the work by over-managing, and don’t sit back and assume you shouldn’t be involved at all in the creative process.
3. Failing to understand the most important element of any website is content. Web surfers are looking for information about your practice, the nature of your expertise or specialty, and credentials such as board certification and hospital affiliations.
Details, such as design elements and colors, should always be transparent to the viewer. Too much “design” in a website can be compared with too much makeup on a woman. If it calls attention to itself, it has defeated its purpose.
Perhaps you’ve seen sites alive with dancing bears, cartoons, pulsating banners, and other irrelevant devices. If you’re like most Web surfers, you have little patience with that sort of nonsense. Such schemes may have a proper place, but it is not on your business site. A
Make sure your designer understands how you feel about unnecessary distractions. Graphics primarily decorative in purpose should be kept to a minimum. In website design, less is more.
4. Failing to provide a simple navigation system. Web surfers are notoriously impatient. Viewers who log on to your site want to see at a glance the nature of your expertise, what services you offer, and what they must do to find other key information. If your home page and navigation system don’t provide quick answers, many viewers will move on.
Every page on your site must provide an easy and intuitive way to reach every page. Internet viewers simply will not invest the time and effort needed to plow their way through a confusing maze of menus.
The most popular navigation systems consist of bars laid out vertically on the left side or horizontally across the top of each page. Whatever system you choose, it must be consistent. Every page on your site should contain a “return to home page” link.
Remember, if you allow your viewer to get confused, you’ve probably lost a potential patient. Your navigation system must provide visitors with enough information to make easy and effective choices.
5. Failing to provide an easy way for interested viewers to contact you. Prospective patients may have questions you haven’t anticipated, or there may be problems with the site such as broken links. In either case, a quick and easy e-mail link will allow the viewer to reach you with the click of a mouse.
Once you set up a feedback link, especially if it allows for scheduling an appointment online, it is essential you have your e-mail checked several times a day, and that you respond promptly to every message.
Many people regard unanswered e-mail messages as a personal affront — that’s not a good way to build your professional image.
6. Failing to test loading time on an average computer. The short attention spans of most people today will cause them to move on if your site takes more than a few seconds to appear on their screens.
Excessive use of large graphics, animations, and other devices that increase the file size of the pages on your site will increase the time it takes for the page to appear.
If you own a high-powered computer with a lightning speed processor and a ton of memory or have high-speed Internet access, don’t use your own system to test your site’s loading time. Find a friend with an average setup.
Then, if your site takes more than eight seconds to load, you and your designer need to decide what needs to change.
7. Failing at search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines allow Web surfers to type in keywords such as “chiropractor,” “pain management,” a company name, etc., and then, in the blink of an eye, it scans millions of websites and lists those with meta-tags identical to the search term.
Meta-tags are words and phrases that describe the contents of your website and the nature of your practice, making it easier for everyone to find you.
Meta-tags aren’t a magic key to site effectiveness; however, they can increase the chances your site will be included in the list when a Web surfer types in one of those words or phrases.
The use of meta-tags is a technical subject and you should discuss the matter with your Web designer to make certain he or she includes a full measure of appropriate tags in your home page.
Steering clear of these seven deadly sins cannot guarantee a blue ribbon for design and effectiveness, but sticking with these guidelines will unleash the full power of your website, lifting it well above the majority of your competitors.
William J. Lynott is a freelance writer whose work appears regularly in leading trade publications and newspapers as well as consumer magazines including Reader’s Digest and Family Circle. He can be reached at lynott@verizon.net or through www.blynott.com.
Bookmark this page
Comments