Layout, Design, and Copywriting
Too often these three fundamentals are overlooked by the "ones in charge" of a Website redesign or the ones responsible for the bottom line. But without careful attention to the fundamentals, managers will lose their customers, stagnate their site, and never realize the Website's full potential.
First things first: hire experts. And an expert is not a developer/writer/proofer/designer/production manager who will work for $10 an hour. Take your Website seriously: It is your vehicle for merchandising, the reflection of your brand, and the place your customers interact. Think about your brand and your customer. Ask yourself:
- Who is my customer?
- Why is the customer on my site?
- What do I need to communicate to them? (or What do I want them to do on my site?)
Identify these core questions first before you even begin merchandising online. Once you've determined your audience (through focus groups, polls, or past metrics), and why your audience is interested in your site or company, you simply need to prioritize the types of information you want to share with your audience, and the key messages you want to get across.
Layout
Information Architecture, or the act of organizing online content and information, is primarily about driving the user to where they want to go. Information Architecture is the process of figuring out:
- The types of content you want to include on your Website
- The importance (hierarchy) of each type of content
- The main Website drivers (What you want to achieve through your content)
Schematics, or wire frames, will help you determine the overall structure of your Website. Think of these as blueprints for a house. The type of bathtub really isn't as important (at first) as how many bathrooms you want, and whether they all contain tubs. After you've figured out the main "rooms" of your Website, start thinking about how the rooms will be accessed.
Remember that question: "Why is the customer on your site?"
This will determine the names of your section headers and categories, their hierarchy (order of display--with your most important categories in the more prominent spots), and how your valuable real estate is used. It will determine your features (primary home page spots or key merchandising areas). It will determine how many images you choose to use as opposed to how much text. Knowing your customer and exactly what they what from your site will make these decisions easier.
Keep it Simple
Just remember not to overwhelm your customer. The tactic of displaying everything up front might work in a discount warehouse, but it won't work online. Jakob Nielsen (www.useit.com) has guidelines for the amount of information displayed on your site, including how many links you offer your user, the number of section headers (anything more than 8 choices can be confusing), and so forth. His books have been valuable resources to me as a Web professional.
Design
Looks matter. Keep in mind that the "pretty colors" are the visitor's first impression of your company. Think they're just superficial items that don't *really* matter? Think again. People notice if your Website is poorly designed (or not designed at all).
Hire a professional who understands your target audience and can communicate effectively to that audience through color selections, imagery, and additional layout suggestions. Often your schematics may be designed by an Information Architect, Product Manager, or Editor (or all three, depending on the company focus and the roles each person plays), but a visually-oriented designer can play with these schematics and often come up with better and more intuitive ways of displaying the information--while keeping the prioritization of content.
A designer will establish a visual look and feel and a consistency throughout your site and other marketing materials such as emails, Web banners, direct main pieces, and billboards. This individual is an important asset to all New Media and online companies. Hire a professional.
Copywriting
Online copywriters need to understand:
- Website flow and architecture
- Usability
- Web writing
Website writers wear many hats, and often, writers work closely with designers to select appropriate imagery for an article or product description. Online writers need to understand more than Microsoft Word. They are your main merchandisers--determining how to move a user from one area of your site to another though clear, concise, and active copywriting.
Short & Sweet
Website copy needs to be short and sweet. If you are writing an article (like this one), it helps to visually break up the content with bullet points and subheads. If you are selling a product or want to promote multiple items, a writer should write a brief "teaser" and link to longer descriptions...or the product itself.
Active Tense
DRIVE the customer where you want them to go. Tell them where they're going and why it's important. Write "Find best selling books now," instead of "Today we have a list of best-selling books. If you want to look at the books, click here." Boring copy is prevalent all over the Web. Exciting copy excites your customers.
Write for your Customer
Because of my journalism background, I do not believe that a writer has to be a subject matter expert in the topic they write about. Particularly with ecommerce sites, if the job of the writer is to promote products or events, they need to be an expert in *promoting,* as opposed to knowing. Furthermore, a good writer knows how to research and interview the correct people in order to deliver an article or information about any subject.
However, there are exceptions:
- SEO
- Magazine-type articles
- Content-rich sites (not necessarily optimized for search)
Especially with content-rich Websites, or any site that wants to rank high on natural search through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the copywriting involves such detail, such intense amounts of research, and such subject matter knowledge, that it would be more efficient and ultimately more beneficial to your bottom line to hire experts.
And by experts I mean copywriters with subject matter expertise--not SMEs who say they can write.
At www.StubHub.com, for example, I hired sports writers to write about teams; I hired writers with bands on the side to write about concerts or artists; I hired copywriters who attended theater once a week to write about theater. I love journalists and journalism majors because they are taught to write quickly and accurately--and they know how to conduct research and interview the right people for in-depth knowledge.
Be smart about your writers. They are a reflection of your company.
The Bottom Line
As parting words, just remember that online merchandising is a team effort. No single contributor in a company can handle the creation of content, the design, the overall strategy & layout--or the analyzing and modification of all of the above. Websites will stagnate if the questions Who, Why, and What are not constantly asked and challenged. Update your site based on customer needs and fluctuations, and hire professionals who understand how to promote online.
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