Last week, I was asked to evaluate a web site (something I do for free and quite frequently). At first glance, they had a fairly nice site. Good graphics, all the links worked, etc. but then I started to see the problem.
The site was confusing because there was no focus. Were they trying to sell something (in this case t-shirts with logos) or were they trying to promote an ideology?
If they were trying to sell t-shirts, they needed to answer the consumer’s most important question – what’s in it for me?
If they were trying to promote an ideology, they needed CONTENT! They needed to describe, persuade and promote their ideology.
If they wanted to sell t-shirts with logos, they were failing because they had photos of old, fat guys wearing a t-shirt that anyone could buy at WalMart. You couldn’t see the logo! So actually, it looked like a scam – selling t-shirts for $25 that you could buy at WalMart for $5.
And if you could see the logo – why would anyone want to buy that logo unless it had an important message – but since the site had no CONTENT about their ideology or message, no one could be persuaded to buy their t-shirts and logos!
So the lesson here is – FOCUS! Find the focus of your web site. What do you want to accomplish? And for every design choice, ask yourself, “What am I trying to accomplish? And will it tighten the focus of my web site?”
