The Route to Online Success is in Design

• Apr. 24, 2006

Unlike the Kevin Costner movie, there are no guarantees that just because you build a website, people will come (at least, not the Chicago Black Sox). In fact, getting the right visitor is the primary concern for almost every Webmaster, SEO Marketer, and online businessperson alike. There are many technical fixes that can be implemented on any given website to help increase the visibility, indexed pages, and backlinks - all essential tools to being found in the search engines. In fact, these tools, in combination with ensuring that the content on the site is powerful and relevant, are usually enough to make the engines take real notice of your website and help bring that qualified traffic to your "cornfield baseball diamond in Iowa" (otherwise known as your Website).

Technical, Design, or Both?

But let's say you found a link to a site where all the technical requirements had been implemented (a URL rewriter, externalized JavaScript, and so on). All the latest tools and offerings from Google had been incorporated, a Blog was set-up, and the site content was rewritten so that it was keyword rich and relevant to the industry. In fact, it was in the top organic position for a popular keyword. Let's say everything was perfect from a technical perspective, and when you clicked through to this site it looked like a brat kid's messy bedroom (colors everywhere, text here and there, no flow to the content, pictures scattered throughout...no order to the chaos).

Sound like any sites you've seen recently, maybe yours? Still think that your primary concern is based in technical fixes?

Because we have all been conditioned to use the back button without a second thought (it only takes one thought, about 50 milliseconds long, to recognize that something is not right with a site), it is very likely that when presented with a poorly designed but technically excellent website, the user would be back on the search results page before the Flash banners and music files had finished loading...Maybe the analogy isn't an "if you build it, they will come" but more like "if you don't build it right, they'll pull a u-turn in the driveway."

Now this is an extreme case; it's not likely that you will have t-shirts hanging off your website's door, but what this illustrates is that the user has the power, and will for the foreseeable future, when it comes to the Internet.

As much as you may have invested in developing that site content, if the basic elements of design are ignored, it is very likely that the user will look for something that will satisfy both the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and with the ever-expanding options available on the Internet, it is more than likely that they will find what they are looking for elsewhere - let's say, at your competitor's website.

Design for People Too

The basic elements and principles of design have been around for ages, and have been used to promote harmony with the viewer's eye and mind through many mediums, including print, sculpture, paint, and yes, even web design. Principles of emphasis, balance, and movement can and should always be used to enforce the rules for color, shape, form, and space. The more of these principles and elements that can be incorporated, the more pleasing to the eye your design will be, and you can let your content do the work from there!  (To learn more about the principles and elements of design, perform a search in Google, or visit this site by John Lovett for a simple explanation of them.)

In our follow-up to the Google Eye-Tracking study, we have seen evidence of the effect of some design elements, specifically white space and color, used to both the detriment and benefit of the search engines and sites reviewed.

White space can create a frame around a focal point of a site that may not be distinguishable otherwise, or the lack of white space can make all the other elements of a page bleed together into a misshapen kaleidoscope.

So basically, what I'm saying is that rankings and visibility are essential, and it does feel rewarding to see the steady incline of search referrals, but without a solid design to engage your visitors and make it easy for them to go where you want them to, you're fighting a losing battle that potentially millions of other sites are next in line to win.

Next: Site Design KPIs to Pay Attention To

Cory Bates
Search Marketing Strategist
Search Engine Positioning by Searchengineposition
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing