what makes a great site
Prioritize what is important
In a management workshop we facilitated, we asked attendees to write down their ten most cherished personal values — things like integrity, honesty, work ethic, and spirituality. Each person passionately shared the values they chose and why each was so important to them. Then, we asked each participant to throw one value away. As you would imagine, nobody wanted to give up any of their values. We then asked each participant to give up another value, and then another, until they were each left with just one single value. The process was difficult and painful, but each attendee finally ended up with their number one most important value.
You might be wondering what this story has to do with Web sites. Have you ever gone to the main page of a Web site and been so inundated with text and information that you just stared at it for a few minutes before leaving in frustration? The designers of those Web sites would not have fared well in our workshop.
While it is tempting to put absolutely everything on the main page of your site because it all seems important, resist that temptation at all costs. If you try to make everything a priority, everything will lose value instead. Limit your information to a few key points and validate those points by asking these three questions:
- Does this information support our Web site goals?
- Does it appeal to our target audience?
- Does it satisfy the target’s decision criteria?
Pause often to reflect
Keep your “goals,” "target customer" and "decision criteria" lists handy so you can refer to them often. When reviewing design concepts, writing content, or making any decisions about your Web site, ask yourself three questions:
- Does this enhance the likelihood of achieving our Web site goals?
- How will our target customers respond to this?
- Are we addressing their decision criteria (particularly the ones that have been highlighted)?