What makes a good website?

What makes a good website?

by Hendrik-Jan Francke of Bright Orange Thread

About the Presenter
Hendrik-Jan Francke

‣ Man of many hats
‣ Physicist “wannabe” turned designer
‣ Former professor
‣ Small business owner
‣ Micro and macro thinker
‣ Husband and father
‣ Not a musician
‣ (but we really like the drawing)

Hendrik-Jan Francke hfrancke@brightorangethread.com 302.250.2339

About Bright Orange Thread
Bright Orange Thread is a full-service design
studio that specializes in improving the
marketing effectiveness of websites.

Services
‣ Search Engine Optimization
‣ Search Engine Marketing
‣ Internet Marketing
‣ Email Marketing
‣ Content Management Systems
‣ Social Media Marketing
‣ Design
‣ Copy

Hendrik-Jan Francke hfrancke@brightorangethread.com 302.250.2339

3 Things

Hendrik-Jan Francke hjf@brightorangethread.com 302.250.2339

3 Things

In the simplest terms:
‣ Attracts visitors
‣ Converts clicks into customers
‣ Leverages design to stand out


Steps to Developing a Website
Do as many as your budget can afford.


Steps to Developing a Website
Do as many as your budget can afford.

‣ Deﬁne goals for the web site

‣ Search Engine Optimization
• keyword research, keyword mapping

‣ Information Architecture
• site structure and navigation

‣ Copywriting
• create scannable pages
• position keywords appropriately for SEO

‣ Design

‣ Production
• HTML/CSS
• browser compatibility testing


Search-Engine-Friendly Websites
The Basics of Attracting Visitors


Search-Engine-Friendly Websites
The Basics of Attracting Visitors

‣ Users search on certain keywords or phrases

‣ Result rankings are determined by algorithms designed to return the
most relevant results
• if your site has the right content (wrapped in Semantic HTML) and plenty of
inbound links, search engines will reward you with a high search engine ranking

How to get there? Follow SEO best practices

‣ Research the most powerful keywords

‣ Integrate keywords into prominent site pages

‣ Build semantically valid pages


Semantically Valid Pages
Metadata for your Content



‣ Web pages are written in HTML
• HyperText Markup Language




‣ Browsers read the HTML so their
rendering engine can display the page

‣ Search engines read the HTML to
understand the content of the page
• the HTML is metadata for the content of
your web page




‣ Browsers read the HTML so their
rendering engine can display the page

‣ Search engines read the HTML to
understand the content of the page
• the HTML is metadata for the content of
your web page

‣ Use CSS for presentation
• Cascading Style Sheets
• Using CSS, designers and programmers
can override the default design styles of
the browsers without ruining the
metadata


Ease of Use
Convert Clicks into Customers


Ease of Use
Convert Clicks into Customers

Helping visitors find what they want
quickly and easily will translate into
more leads and increased sales.

‣ Use simple, clear navigation
• Not as easy as one would think

‣ Create a hierarchy of information so
key sales messages get noticed first

‣ Create a smooth task flow

Your goal is to improve your
conversion rate.


A Good Homepage
Homepage Best Practices


A Good Homepage
Homepage Best Practices

A good homepage helps visitors
understand your business and pulls
them deeper into your site.

A homepage should:

‣ Be simple - the homepage can't be
everything to everyone

‣ Clearly and succinctly deﬁne the
purpose of your organization

‣ Emphasize the site’s top
high-priority tasks

‣ Show examples of real site content


Easy to Use
How to Build an Easy-to-Use Website


Easy to Use
How to Build an Easy-to-Use Website

Web pages should employ scannable
text, using:
‣ Highlighted keywords
• hypertext links serve as one form of
highlighting; typeface variations and
color are others

‣ Meaningful sub-headings
• not clever ones

‣ Bulleted lists
‣ One idea per paragraph
• users will skip over any additional ideas
if they are not caught by the first few
words in the paragraph

‣ The inverted pyramid style, starting
with the conclusion
‣ Half the word count (or less) than
conventional writing


Timely Content
Your site should be easy to update.


Timely Content
Your site should be easy to update.

‣ Oﬀer timely content to encourage
repeat visits
• which builds customer relationships

‣ Remove and archive out-of-date
information and events

‣ Let interested users know your
website had been updated
• consider sending an infrequent email
with the new content posted to the site


The First Impression
Design Matters


The First Impression
Design Matters

Visitors to your website will form
judgments about your business in
mere seconds.

Good design helps users:

‣ Decide if your site aligns with their
interests and expectations
• imagery, graphics and layout are create a
connection with the your target audience.
Are you Kia (affordable, reliable, better-
than-before) or the Cadillac (upscale,
statement-making and expensive)

‣ Feel welcomed into your site
• and thereby are more likely to
trust your company

Make sure your site design gives them
the right impression.


Good Design is Good Business
And it feels good


Good Design is Good Business
And it feels good

Good design can increase the
business value of your website.

Good design will:

‣ Enhance the user experience to
support better conversion rates

‣ Distinguish you from the
competition

‣ Focus attention where it belongs
• Design defines the coordinated hierarchy
that allows all components to perform

‣ Will support the absorption
of your message
• It should never get in the way of desired
performance


A few things to keep in mind…


A few things to keep in mind…

‣ Flash is great when used
appropriately

‣ Drop down menus are great for
power users, but make navigation
diﬃcult for ﬁrst time visitors

‣ Develop a website for 80% of your
audience, the last 20% is really
expensive

‣ Be realistic about your internal
resource for updating your website


What to Watch Out For
Credibility Indicators


What to Watch Out For
Credibility Indicators

‣ Design centric
• do they use Flash for everything
• are they into novel navigation systems

‣ Technology driven
• do they want to use GoogleMaps
• drop down menus

‣ Information driven
• do they want to get the information
to visitors


Small Business Website Development Guide
7 Essential Things to Know

‣ Visit our website to download a copy.


Thank you!
Contact Us Our Services
Hendrik-Jan Francke ‣ Search Engine Optimization
hfrancke@brightorangethread.com ‣ Search Engine Marketing
(302) 250-2339
‣ Marketing Consultations
‣ Email Marketing
Blog:
brightorangethread.com/blog ‣ Social Media Marketing
‣ Content Management Systems
‣ Design
‣ Copy
Follow Us
facebook.com/
@hfrancke
brightorangethread


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