At some point, almost every small business will be faced with the task of hiring a web designer, either to get their business online, or to update their existing web site. But finding a good web designer isn’t easy. After all, anyone who knows how to get a basic web site up and running online can call themselves a web designer.
Obviously, web designers should have certain skills. And whether they are self-taught or the result of a college degree really isn’t an issue, in my opinion.
However, there is one very crucial skill that most designers don’t have that can make all the difference in whether your site brings in sales or not. Strangely enough, most small businesses don’t even think to ask about it when hiring a web designer.
That skill is knowledge of the customer – their online buying behavior, their various personalities, what triggers a buying response from them and how it all applies to web site design.
Web sites, after all, are a method of advertising and a point of sale for businesses. Yet most web designers fail to create web sites that are designed to convert visitors to customers, simply because they don’t know how. Their design skills and knowledge of technology might be top-notch, but too often their focus is on their creativity, not the customer.
The next time you are shopping for a web designer, take the time to ask them about their design philosophy. Do they design web sites based on the latest trends and technology? Or do they base their designs to focus on the web site’s target customers?
Remember – it’s always about the customer.
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As a web designer, I feel that it is my responsibility as well to make sure that I am giving my client the information that he/she needs to make informed choices. I have run into a lot of clients who want something pretty and shiny that is ill suited to actually getting business done. A lot of flash and images are meaningless if they hide the content from search engines to direct customers to the site to do business. Sometimes what a customer may go oooh and ahh over is NOT what enables them to complete a sale.
Bean,
You’ve made an excellent point, and it is something that I will address in a future post. There are times, as you’ve stated, the situation is reversed and the customer wants all the bells and whistles that simply don’t make a good business web site. There are some excellent web designers out there, but in my experience, they are rare and hard to come by. Sounds like you are one of the good ones and I applaud you for your common sense approach.
“Knowledge of the customer,” you wrote, is crucial to a site’s chances of bringing in sales.
Knowledge of the potential blog reader is also crucial, I’m learning. I have shared my blog address (keeping it very simple for them with just my name — a domain that simply points to the blog) with many family and friends and anyone I meet and talk with more than a few minutes who shows any interest. All without my anticipated response.
My lesson learned: Not everyone reads blogs (or even wants to) or spends time on the Internet. Even my artist group of friends have not commented. (One did.) I get nice compliments, and that’s that. I’d take it personally, except that when I also give them You-Tubes to watch (painters painting) and other artists’ sites and blogs, I get the same response.
My husband says, “Know your players.” (He was a coach.) You say “Know your customers.”
For bloggers, then, it’s “Know your readers.”
I truly enjoy reading your blog, Viki. Like Shoestring Branding, its discussion points are applicable to life in general.
Barb
Beautifully and thoughtfully written, Barb, as your comments always are. While reading your comments, two other phrases came to mind, “know your competition” and “knowledge is power.” So much of life seems to revolve around getting into the minds of others and figuring out what makes them tick.
You might find that your loyal blog readers will turn out to be complete strangers – people you’ve never had a prior acquaintance with – who are attracted to and inspired by your style of writing. My friends and family are pretty much oblivious to what I do or else are computer illiterate. Or both.
I’d like to make money designing websites but I know I don’t have enough knowledge to do that yet. I know my html and css. I know flash, and a bit of php and mysql but you are so right. I don’t believe I know enough about targeting a certain audience. Barb’s point is apt too, guess it applies to many things in our life. My family seems to have little interest in my art and even less in my writings
Anita
Sliloh, It sounds like you have built a great foundation for the technical and graphical part of web design. I would suggest taking some time to learn about advertising and copywriting. They will go a long ways in teaching you how to get into the mind of the customer. In the near future, I’ll be posting resources that will be helpful to you and other web designers.
I see I have a lot to learn about how to make websites more attractive to the customer. I was just stoping by today to get you blog address to add to my blog roll and I had to start reading. I got a lot of insight from what I have read so far. I need to spend much more time here though. One thing I am sure of is I need to brush up on my html and css. It has been about 4 years, since I have done any and I know things have changes some since then.