Hard driving
- Article 19 of 26
- M-iD, June 2005
It is easy to build a web site, yet difficult to attract and keep an audience for it. But there are strategies organisations can follow to overcome this challenge.
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Organisations have to be sure, however, that the kind of people who make these mistakes are the kind they actually want as customers.
Both Google and Overture, the advertising network that handles sponsored links for Yahoo, MSN and other common search sites, are worth considering, says Bluhalo's Gallagher. Although four-fifths of searches are done through Google, the traffic from Overture is often just as good as that from Google.
“Google is the one that people who are a bit savvy and price conscious use. They won't go to the first product that comes up, they'll go round in circles shaving pence off,” says Mohacek. “[Others] have a PC with MSN as the default home page and use the Internet search in the left pane, a lot of people use that.
”Then there are so-called silver surfers who got Freeserve [now owned by Wanadoo] as their ISP, got it as their home page, and have never once changed it. They do all their buying from Wanadoo as a result,“ he adds.
Generating all this traffic, however, is no use if the web site is no use to the customer and they leave as quickly as they came. The web site has to offer features that will attract and keep the customer returning. Typically, this will involve making it easy to use, good to look act and easy to understand. ”People steer away from sites that are confusing and difficult to use. They are also attracted to sites that appear to be trustworthy and look professional, with a reputable organisation behind the scenes,“ says John Knight, director of the User-Lab at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.
Knight points out that users like sites that reflect their personality and interests, so they must reflect what the audience likes rather than what the organisation wants to present.
”Tailoring your offering to its audience affects everything from text, images, animation and even the colours you use. For example, if you are selling to a younger audience, provide bright colours, which older users might dislike. Preferably sites should support different types of users through personalisation,“ he says.
The best time to ensure usability is before the design has even been approved, so organisations should take usability into account at the earliest stages possible - not test it out shortly before it is due to go live.
If a site is truly usable and appeals to the target audience, organisations can even consider taking the ultimate step possible to ensure their users stick with the web channel rather than offline channels: they can remove their phone number and other offline contact details.
It is a very risky strategy, since a frustrated user who cannot use the site will be tempted to go to a competitor.
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