“If you cannot visually distinguish your site from hundreds of other sites, it seriously cripples your business” Frantic Industries Web 2.0 blog
Most of us have walked down high streets in different towns and found it hard to distinguish one from the other. All the shops are the same ones you see everywhere. It's difficult to find anything that is worth a second look, particularly if you're looking for quality.
Your website is your store front on the net.
Just as you may avoid those stores with garish graphics blasting loud muzak onto the street, and barely notice chain stores and the dowdy older shops whose frontage looks as if it hasn't been painted for 20 years, so the design of your website affects whether or not your visitor will stay and take a look round - or just click on past.
Once your visitor has arrived (and getting them there is a whole other subject), you need to deal with the perennial question of all visitors: "What's in it for me?" It's very important that he or she can see what is on offer as quickly as possible. Flashy animated graphics and beautiful pictures are very nice - but not if they make your page load so slowly that your potential customer gets bored waiting and leaves. Research shows that you have about 8 seconds to make a good impression - better be sure your visitor can see what you've got to offer in that time!
Your site needs to be created with two things in mind: the product or service you are offering, and the target market. These two are intimately related, as your product or service should be designed to appeal to a particular segment of the market, or you will not be able to focus your marketing efforts properly.
Although many products and services can be sold to a number of different groups of people, it is always better to choose the type of people you want to market to and, if possible, modify the product or service so that it appeals to that group in particular.
For example, a book about general marketing is aiming at too wide an audience. With a little effort, it can be re-targetted at, say, estate agents, retitled "Marketing for Estate Agents" and with the addition of a few examples which relate to estate agents in particular, you have a well-targeted product. (This is not the best example, of course, since the US calls estate agents "realtors", so you would have to completely repackage to reach that market, but the principle remains clear.)
As Abraham Lincoln almost said "You can't please all of the people all of the time", and this is a truism in marketing. People have different tastes, but luckily, people in the same group do seem to have broadly similar tastes, which are distinct from those in other groups. So, for example, young people who are into the goth lifestyle generally like gothic art and architecture, heavy rock music and dark colours, whereas another sector of the youth market prefers light colours, rap music and more modern decor.
It's best to pick a group with a reasonable amount of disposable income, as this makes it more likely you will be able to sell them what you are offering. Although you may have an item which would be a real boon for a homeless person, since he probably doesn't have access to the internet to find you - and even if he did, may not be willing to pay for your product - you are not likely to make a lot of sales.
The best way to discover what your target audience likes is market research. Once you have completed your research, you will have a good idea of the colours, style and layout that will be most attractive to that audience. It's pretty unlikely that you will find an off-the-shelf template to fit this design, but even if you did, you need to ask yourself whether you want your site to look like a clone, or whether you would prefer to stand out from the crowd.
Next: What are you selling - a great website or a Great Product?
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