How does "Web design" touch you?

Some people think that web design is something just as simple as buy a coke at a vending machine, insert coins, press bottom, and get the product that you choose. Web design is the skill of creating presentations of content, that is delivered a way to let user get focus on your website.

The website is the center of the online business. This is the virtual representation of the company whether it physically exists or not it. When a firm does online business, people cannot see salesmen physically like they would if they bought goods in a shop. Therefore the only way for future customers to evaluate the business and its value is through its website.
Let's compare the situation with businesses like shops and stores. It would probably not be relevant to let the sales representatives and salesmen dress in an unbecoming way or even in a casual way when they negotiate with clients.

Now, as regards e-marketing, if the website is poorly organized and have a bad design the potential customer may think that it was done in five minutes and that the company does not provide quality goods and services.
Instead, if the firm has a truly professional website that includes a good design then visitors may think the company is meticulous and gives attention to detail. By having a well done and relevant web design, the company shows its customer that quality really matters. This is considered as an aspect of e marketing that companies should put the emphasis on because the first impression often determines a strong opinion from people. (Kim and Fesenmaier, 2008)

A suggestion for the future could be to provide to the customers the ability to customise the design of the website. It could be done by giving the choice between different templates or by entirely customising the websites with tools supplied by the website or the browser. This could be the development of ideas like customisation of websites such as MySpace or browsers like Firefox which improves the commitment and the loyalty of the user



According to Melewar and Wooldridge (2006) ‘Organisations have realised that a strong identity can help them align with the marketplace, attract investment, motivate employees and serve as a means to differentiate their products and services’. The corporate identity is the important thing that the e-marketers should concern about because it not only implies to the organisation’s appearance but also could be interpreted as a strategic manifestation of corporate-level vision and mission.

First of all, the website content is a main factor. Company should add value, which motivates visitors to feel commited and increases the credibility. However, web design should update what’s new, add symbol to grab attention and also provide the latest addition information. Then the web designers have to show last modified date in trailer for the users to check for recent changes. As regards the page content, spelling mistakes should be checked and it should also use appropriate words to the visitors in order to make things easier to understand.

Secondly, as for many other products, design results should satisfy both usability and content requirements of target users. [Fucella et al (1998)] the website layout should reflect the aim of company and follow user expectations. The minimum number of clicks should be provided therefore the common items should be grouped together. In terms of page layout as a screen display, font is one of the identities, which express to the web surfers. For the good website, it should have same front on a whole page. Besides, the colour in the page and in the link should be the same as well. For example, Lloyd Bank website, it has the same font and consistence colour over the entire page; also they have the animation image which is different in activities in different links. This is because they want to create their unique identity image. As a result, when the customers visit the web again, they may recognise immediately.

Furthermore, as regards the use of the identity colour and font, the marketers does not only use it to send messages to customers but also to gain trust from customers. For example, is the windsurf website. They sell the variety of board and accessories but there are no images of any products. Therefore, when customers go to that web site they may be not be interested in the products and may fear that they might be deceived.


Moreover, download speed is another factor which should be consider because the users will browse other pages if it takes too much time to load. As a result, images are the main target to improve by reducing file size; remove unnecessary images and also specific IMG attributes.

Those companies, which want to obtain the full benefits of their Internet investment, must ensure that their Web sites are usable, easy to cruise, and meet the user’s expectations. To make users like the website is a great step to learn. The more they feel comfortable to visit the website, the more they will tend to come back.

This video presents some aspects of webdesign that business should take into account while studying e-marketing of the creation or development of their online shop. This video covers different subjects like the importance of word of mouth, the optimization of search engines and the use of advertising to generate income through pay per click adverts. The video also explains briefly why and how the e-marketing manager should be creative with the website as well as the purpose of maintaining the website. The general purpose of this video is to give quick advices on the general aspect of webdesign and not only on the visual attractiveness.

References

Melewar, T., C. and Karaosmanoglu, E. (2006) ‘Seven dimensions of corporate identity: A categorisation from the practitioners perspectives’ European journal of marketing[online] 40(7/8), 846-869. Available from[30 March 2010]


Fucella et al (1998). Fucella, J., Pizzolato, J., Franks, J., 1998. Web Site User Centered Design: Techniques for Gathering Requirements and Tasks. http://www.InternetTG.org/newsletter/june98/user_requirements.html


Kim, H. and Fesenmaier, D., R. (2008) 'Persuasive Design of Destination Web Sites : An Analysis of First Impression' Journal of Travel Research[online] 47, 3-13. Available from[5 April 2010]