More companies tailor website designs to meet customer demands

Improved Web-development tools and the ubiquity of high-speed Internet have given companies new options for enhancing their sites. The real opportunity, however, lies in leveraging the interactive nature of the Web.

By Jacob Stoller

Many company websites have passed or are approaching their 10th anniversary. This means they were conceived at a time when Internet access was slow and cumbersome, development tools were limited by today’s standards, and the Web was, relatively speaking, a static medium. Much has changed, but many companies are still thinking about their sites the way they did a decade ago. 

“I think companies are slow to adopt their Web strategies,” Michael Marks, project manager, Navantis, explains. “For a lot of companies, this is second priority — not normally their first area where they’re looking in terms of how they’re engaging with their customers.”

Engagement is what the Web today is all about. As Kevin Hoch, a partner at Toronto-based Pylon Design explains, users no longer want to be passive participants ... they want more control over their Web experience. “A website can’t just be a simple brochure anymore,” he says. “You want people to discover.” 

Some of the most dramatic and technically innovative methods for engaging customers can be found in sites that are directed towards younger users. “They are very tech savvy,” Hoch adds. “So, how do you keep their interest? We’ve seen some sites turn completely to video, where the website visitor has to click on something in order to make something else happen. This allows the user to become involved with what he/she sees on the screen ... and it becomes an experience.”

Rules of engagement

The use of technology can also backfire. For example, background rock and roll music might be appropriate for a musician’s website, but very distracting to an office supplier’s customer who is in a rush to locate a printer cartridge. Consequently, experts recommend that companies use these tools to enhance, but not overwhelm their message — a good example would be the use of a few seconds of video to draw attention to a headline on the site landing page. 

Technology, however, is by no means the only way to make sites engaging. “There are two things over the last few years that I’ve found to be really important,” Nathaniel Richman, owner, Nrichmedia — a Web-design firm in Courtenay, B.C. “One is the whole Web 2.0 concept where things do need to be more interactive. With so much going on, companies really need to get people’s attention to get them really immersed in the website,” he says. “But the other thing, sort of the opposite extreme, is that it’s the content itself that’s so important — not necessarily having the bells and whistles, but having really strong copy. The copy itself is engaging people to read and take action, which might lead to them signing up for a newsletter, or calling for an appointment, or just emailing for more information.”

The power of strong copy can go far beyond getting a positive response from an individual. With the help of online media, high-quality content gets shared through links, postings, and recommendations, allowing companies to significantly enhance their exposure. “Things such as the social bookmarking, social networking, blogs, and rich online media really change how people interact with websites,” Marks explains. “The key is that that companies need to have high-value content on their website.” 

Another aspect of the interactive Web is that visitors have become more demanding, and are approaching sites with definite agendas. “If people aren’t finding what they need they’ll move on and avoid the website in the future,” Marks adds.

The need to understand what visitors want provides one of the strongest arguments for working with blogs, social-networking sites and other online media — these tools are bi-directional, and allow companies to gather feedback from customers, prospects, and other site visitors. Companies can learn not only how people are using their sites, but how people feel about their products and services. This allows companies to optimize their site for their most desired audience.

The interactive Web also makes significant demands on a company’s marketing resources. “Five to ten years ago a company could build a website, leave it alone, and expect people to see what is on there,” Colin Payson, a designer at Pylon, explains.” Now, it’s quick — you’ve got to move with it, and you’ve got to add more to it constantly. You can’t just leave it. I don’t think there’s such thing as a static website anymore.”

The need to update sites daily has spurred the proliferation of a variety of content management system (CMS) programs. These tools, ranging from inexpensive shareware packages to more sophisticated custom-developed programs, provide a framework that allows non-technical users to update the content in websites without disrupting the existing format. While these programs are continually being improved, a significant drawback is their tendency to rearrange code in a manner that makes the content hard for search engines to find.

The biggest danger, however, is that the ease of posting information, whether through a CMS, a blog, or a social-media site, provides the temptation to post indiscriminately, or to simply say too much. “It seems like there’s really a huge explosion of information,” explains Richman, “that felt like information overload five years ago, but now feels like it’s getting in the ridiculous realm where everybody’s posting every bit of information about stuff you couldn’t care less about.”  

Maintaining a presence on the interactive Web is a balancing act. While it’s easier than ever to post large amounts of information and dazzle people with multimedia enhancements, today’s visitors are most likely to latch onto the first site that gives them what they are looking for. The Web today, therefore, is as much about simplification and careful selection as it is about embellishment.

Jacob Stoller (jacob@stollerstrategies.com) is a Toronto-based independent writer and researcher.

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