Web Design and Business

The Importance of Keeping an Updated

Website
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Table of Contents
Web Design and Business ......................................................................... 1
Executive Summary .................................................................................. 2
Why Websites Matter: An Introduction ................................................... 3
The Problem with Bad Websites............................................................... 3
How Websites Affect Business ............................................................. 3
Trust ...................................................................................................... 3
First Impressions ................................................................................... 4
Poor Web Design .................................................................................. 5
Appearance and Navigation.............................................................. 5
Effective Web Design and User Perception .............................................. 8
Formatting ........................................................................................ 8
Designing an Effective Website ............................................................ 8
Leave It To The Professionals: ................................................................ 10
Orbit Media Studios ............................................................................ 10
Usman Group ...................................................................................... 11
Don’t Get Left Behind ............................................................................. 11
Bibliography ............................................................................................ 12

Executive Summary
A business’ website should be able to easily provide important
information of a service or product in an efficient way. A prospective
customer should be able to enter the website and find what they were
looking for in minutes, if not less. This is usually done by careful
placement of links and information a site’s homepage and is supported
with attractive, yet relative, visuals. Using research on user interaction
with websites other professional websites for reference, researchers
have found that information should be provided in order of importance,
with the most important being front and center of the site. This paper
will use this information to provide a quick introduction into effective
website criteria.
If a business has an easy to follow and informative website, it is their
best friend. But if a website is clunky and uninformative, it could spell
death for a company.
Unfortunately, not every business and their website are on friendly
terms. Though some businesses choose to scrap up a bare-bones
website, it is usually better to hire professionals for designing your
website. By the end of this document, you will have enough knowledge
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

of the criteria for an effective website so as to be able to hire a website

design firm perfect for your business.

Why Websites Matter: An

Introduction
Like a building’s façade, a business’ website is often the first thing
customers see. When it comes to a website, just as graffiti, broken
windows, or liter would make a business building appear
unprofessional, so too would bland color schemes, out dated
formatting, or confusing menus. Should a business be unlucky enough
to have a website with any of these issues, they risk turning away
customers and suffer from a loss of business.
As a business owner, you may be asking yourself: just what makes a
website “good”? This white paper will provide you with some basic
guidelines for producing an effective website using research of user
psychology and common practices. Once you have a better
understanding of effective website design, we will offer the names of a
couple of a design firms that could help your business create a better
website.

The Problem with Bad

Websites
How Websites Affect Business

Trust
When a user visits your business’ website, they expect you be honest
with them. Whether you’re selling a product or offering a service, trust
between business and customer is of the outmost importance.

When it comes to a website, trust is built by providing users with an

easy to use site. What exactly that means will be discussed soon, but
here are just a couple of things that decrease trust between users and
businesses:
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Should a website hit any one of these issues, as seen in the graph
below, trust will decrease.

First Impressions

Whether you’re a small mom and pop business or a large, nationwide

corporation, first impressions matter. If a customer visits your website
and dislikes what they see, you could be losing a customer.

On the other hand, if the customer likes what they see, you could not
only gain one customer, but more through sharing your page on social
media. In a study by the Change Sciences Group, researchers found that
users are 18% more likely to share an easy to use website ().

The graphic below illustrates how usability increases conversion, which

is a term used to describe the act of customers signing up for a service
or buying a product following visiting the site.
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Clearly, having a strong website is a good way of ensuring a good flow of

new customers. This white paper will walk you through some of things
that make a website effective, but first, let’s take a look at what not to
do.

Poor Web Design

According to a study done by Carleton University in Ottawa, users

judge a website’s appearance in the first 50 milliseconds of
viewing. The study also found that things like too many graphics
and confusing formatting were some of the biggest factors in
turning away users. In another study by Google engineers,
researchers found that users are less likely to visit a website that
takes more than 400 milliseconds to load, literally the blink of an
eye.

So there are two things that users value the most when it comes
to websites: speed and appearance. Let’s take a look at
appearance first.

Appearance and Navigation

Often times, a “bad” website will also refer to an old website. Here
we have the current website for El Milagro:
In this case, the website has a separate welcome screen before
entering the actual site.
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Right of the bat, having to go through an extra page to get to your main
site is a bad idea, especially if it is visually unappealing and serves no
real purpose. Once you enter the actual site. You are greeted with a
website that is only about half the size of your screen. Though plenty of
whitepace is reccomended so as to let users “breathe”, this is a bit too
much. Whitespace should not look like the black bars on your television
screen that appear when the resolution is off. Now on to site navigation
and format.

As beautiful as your website may be, the goal should always be to have
users spend as little time on it as possible. They should be able to get in,
find the information they were looking for, and get out.

The biggest portion of this site consists of information that isn’t all that
relevant, the company mission statement. While it isn’t an entirely bad
idea to include, it shouldn’t be the first thing users read, nor should it be
the largest thing on your homepage. A better choice would be to create
a separate link to it, where a customer could read it should they choose
to.
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Off in the left hand corner of the already tiny page is the navigation bar.
This is the most important feature of a site, so it should be larger and
centered on the top center, where users would most likely look first.

Search bars have become expected from websites and they are missing
here. Your company, like many others, sells many products, giving the
user the ability to directly search those products instead of scouring
your site for it would improve site usability.

Though there is nothing partiularly wrong with the picture on the left
side, a slideshow consisting of your products or recent information
would be a better choice.
Finally, for businesses with several locations like restaurants or store
chains, having contact and location information readiliy available would
also improve usability.

A better choice would be something simple like this:

Logo and Page Banner

Navigation Bar Search

Locations

Pictures

What Not to Do
Large or distracting graphics
Large amounts of graphics
Music that plays automatically
Inconsisitent fonts and font colors
Clashing color combinations

Let’s take a look at attractive websites and what exactly it is that makes
them attractive.
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Effective Web Design and User Perception

Formatting

Using eye tracking technology, researchers at the Nielsen Norman

Group found that when users open a page, their eyes typically follow a
particular pattern. First, users typically read whatever information is
found on the first top horizontal row. As they finish with the first top
row, users will then tend to skip a couple of rows and skim whatever
information they find before doing one final vertical motion across the
left hand side of the page. Known as the “F-pattern” for its shape, it is a
perfect guide for a website’s format.

Aside from placement, which we will get into soon, this pattern tells us
three things:
1. Users probably won’t read everything on the page.
2. Because of this, make sure to put the most important
information at the beginning.
3. Make your headings and sub-headings informative, as they
will be seen as users skim the page vertically

Designing an Effective Website

Okay, now that we know what users will most likely look, we can now
effectively design a webpage.

Let’s take a look at the website for the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Now, at first glance, one probably wouldn’t think the site was
particularly special. In a way, that means the website is doing its job, as
it fails to throw any red flags to the user.
Much of what makes websites “good” are things we have come to
expect like:
• The Search bar located on the top center of the page
• The Navigation bar running horizontally across the page holds
some quick links users would likely look.
• Some kind of eye catching graphic in the middle

With the bulk of the page comprised of links to other parts of the site,
customers are able to quickly navigate the page with little confusion.
Also notice that it follows the F-Pattern, with the most useful links
found on the top and left side of the page. These are all examples of
effective design for usability.

There are a couple more “cosmetic” additions users have come to

expect from a website and it’s important not to forget them. Some of
them are:
• The company logo in the left hand corner
• Consistent color scheme (notice the greens and yellows)
• Plenty of whitespace so as to let the user “breathe”
• Correct page resolution (ie. The website isn’t small enough that
it only takes up half the screen or big enough that one has to
scroll horizontally to view everything)
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Leave It To The Professionals:

As confident as you may be in website design after reading this white

paper, it is often a better choice to leave it to professional web
designers and developers. In the Chicago Land area, there are, among
many others, two well known design companies: Orbit Media Studios,
and Usman Group. Let’s take a quick glance at each company’s record.

Orbit Media Studios

Having gone through this white paper, you have already seen one of the
websites they have worked on. Among others, they are responsible for
the Lincoln Park Zoo’s website and garnered experience from a variety
of industries, including restaurants and e-commerce.
In 2015, three of their websites were chosen to win the 2015 American
Graphic Design Award and were named one of the nation’s fastest
growing private companies with a three year sales growth of 50%.
Here are a couple more of Orbit Media Studios’ websites:
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

Usman Group

With a ten year legacy in web design, Usman Group have built up a
robust resume consisting of businesses from various industries. With
experience comes knowledge, so they know what works.
They are well known for their close cooperation with their clients and
their eagerness to face new challenges.
Some of their high-profile names include Priceline and The Chicago Sun
Times.

Don’t Get Left Behind

Whatever web design firm you choose to go with, it is important to

recognize the need for a modern and intuitive website. As you have
seen, websites are not just about pretty graphics and links, they require
purposeful formating for increased usability. Any information a
customer might be in search of should be easily found without having to
go through ten different pages. Fail in any of these criteria and your
bussiness could see a drop in profits.
Web Design and Business: The Importance of a Website

A business’ website is a gate to their products and services, if it is

unappealing or confusing, customers will have no desire to support your
business and will probably move on to another bussiness that can.
The next time you visit your website, put yourself in the shoes of a new
customer. Can you find product or service information quickly? Is the
contact information readily available? Are there any annoying or
obstructive graphics and sounds? If any of these conditions fail to be
met, your website is in need of an upgrade. Don’t let another business
steal your profits because of your website.

Bibliography
• Lindgaard G., Fernandes G. J., Dudek C. & Brown J. Behav. Inf.
Technol., 25. 115 - 126 (2006).
• Lohr, Steve. "For Impatient Web Users, an Eye Blink Is Just Too
Long to Wait." The New York Times. The New York Times, 29
Feb. 2012. Web. 06 June 2016.
• Nielsen, Jakob. "F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content." F-
Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content. Nielsen Norman
Group, 17 Apr. 2006. Web. 05 June 2016.
• "The Importance Of Good Web Design And Its Impact On People
And Profits." Digital Synopsis. Change Sciences, n.d. Web. 04
June 2016.
• Friedmen, Vitaly. "10 Principles of Effective Web
Design." Smashing Magazine. N.p., 31 Jan. 2008. Web. 5 June
2016.