Introduction
Globalization has enabled business activities to be carried out globally regardless of the geographical location of a business. The internet has revolutionized the way business is carried out making it possible for services and goods of a business organization to be literarily advertised all over the world. However, despite the internet providing such a platform for business organizations to expose themselves, it takes time and resources to develop a website through which customers and potential customers can reach and learn about a particular business organization. Development of an interactive organizational website is key to carrying out an effective advertising over the internet.
A good website should be attractive to the users and easily usable or rather interactive. The site should be designed with a potential to attract and retain users. It should neither be too simple nor too complex but rather of a good standard to enable its use appropriately without confusing the users. The site should be easily navigable and interactive to make it easy for users to access information they will be looking for.
Web designing is an art and as such no formulae can be developed on how to design an effective website. However, there are some clues which can act as guidelines for web designers. However, as noted above web designing is an art and therefore highly dependent on creativity.
Simplicity
Websites are meant for marketing purpose and marketing should be carried out as fast as possible before a user losses interest. Time is money and no user will waste money on a site which is difficult to use. A simple site should be welcoming, easy to understand and navigable. Web designers ought to understand that attracting and retaining the attention of the users is key to ensuring that marketing is accomplished. Simplicity entails the following characteristics:
Consistency
A website should display consistency in regard to the web pages. This will make it possible for the users to easily get used to it and get the information that they need easily. Consistency of web pages makes a web site predictable to the user and saves time as navigating through it becomes easy. Consistency, therefore, makes a web site usable. Unpredictability of a website will frustrate a user leading to a loss of interest in the website by the user consequently affecting the business’ marketing efforts.
Clear and appropriate titles
It is very important that the titles used in the site remain relevant, clear and simple. The titles and clues should be predictable. To save time on the side of the user, the site links should be predictable. Predictability of a site may be enhanced by the use of the liquid style principle. This can be accomplished by developing the site in such a way that the business requirements are harmonized well within the site; it is advisable that the site should have some layers which are well positioned with CSS rules. Inclusion of a header and a footer sections is considered as a basic requirement to enhance usability of a site.
Time Factor
It would be very unwelcoming for a user to spend a lot of time trying to find some information from the website. Web designers should always be aware of the fact that time is precious and therefore it should only take few clicks, say three to four, for a user to find some specific information that is required. Easy accessibility of information in a site calls for well positioning of the navigational menus. Rollover effects and implementation of CSS are just some of the ways through which a site can be developed to make it easily accessible and save time on the side of the user.
Make a site comprehensive
A site should include comprehensive features to make it inclusive to all users. For instance a site should not totally depend on dynamic menu system but should have some JavaScript menus. It should be possible for a user to navigate to the main sections of the site from any section. The navigation system should contain a linkage to the main home page. Most users will expect a business logo, wherever it is located – usually at the top left or right, to navigate them to the home page. A site is also expected to have a search box. The search box should be linked well with the site content to make it useful for the users.
The Contents Should be Clear and Simple
Another character worth taking care of when designing a website is the information contained in it. The information contained should be kept simple and easy to understand. The information should be well articulated using marketing skills. It is imperative that only relevant information is kept in a site; a business organization should use this information to show its competitive advantage over other business organizations.
It is wise that the information is kept as short as possible and should only capture the main points to make it possible for the user to easily capture the main points. It should be kept in mind that the user does not have all the time to spend on the site and therefore an attempt should be made to ensure that the user gets as much information as possible when going through the site. The background should be chosen well to make the text clear to the users.
Strong Brand Marketing
Organizational sites should be designed in a manner that will positively and strongly display the brand of the business. Strong branding will make it hard for the users to forget them and this will increase the chances of the customers going for the products of that organization once they come across them or whenever they are at the market place. Marketing strategies should be adopted in ensuring that the brand name in the site comes out strongly.
Feedback
It is very important that a site is tested by real users before the customer start accessing it. By default that web designer designs a site he/she is prone to like it and may miss out on noticing some aspects in the site which are missing and probably which are not properly placed.
It is also advisable that the site should have a system of communicating with the users which will help the customers to respond and give their feedback concerning the goods and/or services advertised in the system.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a web designer should acknowledge the fact that the site is being developed not for the interest of the designer but of the users. The designer should in all the efforts make the site convenient to the users and to not to him/her. It is also wise not to make some assumption about the users’ abilities as some of them may have limited computer skills thus the need to keep the site as simple as possible and as captivating as possible.