Great Example of Temporary Web Page

It is one of the worst marketing sins these days - to promote a new website and have a lazy 'under construction' message displayed. But I've just seen a great example of how to do it properly. Even if your complete website is not written, make sure you project a suitable image, and at least have basic contact details.

Kombi Love is a specialist car hire website that was mentioned in this article on Sydney Morning Herald website.

It looks good, includes the main details, a contact enquiry form and phone number all easily displayed. It aslo shows the future pages in the navigation bar - encouraging for people to know what else could be available from the business.

New Service Makes It Easy to Sell From Your Website

Over recent years I've been asked by many businesses "How can I add payments to my website?". They want to sell from their website, without having to learn all the confusing processes.

Now there is an easy solution to add PayPal buttons to your website. Add Website Payments is a new service I have developed that gives you the ability to start selling from your website or blog - without knowing anything about ecommerce or payment buttons.

All you need is the website and product details - we can handle the rest.

Check it out and let me know if you have any suggestions.

'Impatient' and 'Cheapness' are hallmarks of web users

A great post by Gerry McGovern on his blog cites feedback from hundreds of participants worldwide as describing the overriding characteristic of web users as - Impatient.

His message, don't waste your efforts on fancy self-serving website layout and graphics.

He also says Cheapness is the emotion that dominates the web. People want stuff for free.

Don't take this as negative comments about web users. Be realistic.

I am not saying that every visitor to your site will be a 'cheapskate', but they will all be impatient and be looking for something of value.

Is your website easy for users to understand? Can they quickly get to what they want?

Do you offer freebies (of a relevant nature)? These could be articles, tips, video, resources, white papers etc.

Websites must be designed to be self-service by the user.

If your website doesn't appeal to the impatient and cheap-minded web user, you will be missing out on business.

Martha Stewart website and the missing content

No need for me to repeat it... read it for yourself here. Even the people behind the Martha Stewart website admit that fancy design got in the way of usability for visitors to their site. The result was only 5 links appeared on the home page to useful content that visitors really wanted.

As David Armano (VP of Experience Design for Critical Mass) said in his post...

Folks, we really need to start understanding what really motivates users. There are literally millions of enthusiasts out there producing quality content in highly search engine friendly formats. Not only is much of their content easier to find on the Web—it's engaging, relevant, and the people who produce it actually talk back to us. It's time to wake up.

Understanding your clients... and what they want, is the second step to effective marketing. The first step is to clearly define who your audience is.

My guess is that if the gang at Martha Stewart followed this simple approach they would have found out what their customers/readers really wanted to see on the home page -- before it was designed.

Should web designers know about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

This is an issue that gets my frequent attention. And it has been discussed on a thread at Jill Whalen's SEO Forum. 89% of people in a poll at the forum said they expect web designers to at least have a basic understanding of SEO... as it is such an important part of web design these days.

My work through Solutions Found is aimed at educating business owners and marketers about how to manage these online elements of the marketing mix. For most businesses, the website should be generating leads. It's not just about looking pretty.

In my opinion I think web designers should know about SEO, as well as about blogging, forums, shopping carts, online payments systems and the like. Because the website does not exist in isolation. Web designers should be in a position to advise clients - even if they can't do all the technical work themselves.

It can be a lot to ask of a web designer to keep up to date with these areas. But that's the difference between being a professional in your field, and just doing enough to 'get by'. All leaders in their field go to great efforts to stay in tune with developments related to their industry.

If you'd like a bit more information, in a previous article titled Website Optimisation Tactics Explained I cover some of the SEO basics that are extremely important.