Looking through our glasses this semester we study what makes a good website and suggest some useful improvements
People are highly reliant on the internet for inconspicuous elements by clicking of a button. Essentially, a website detailed description about your company and its products.
Considering that the total number of websites exceeded 182 million (Netcraft, 2008), and fact that consumer behaviour is becoming more and more flexible ;
• viewing information quicker than ever before • formation of decisions and within a few seconds• consultation of another website easily
Similar to when a customer walks into a shop, consumers take in their surroundings and form opinions on the service, reliability and quality of the venue. Creating and designing website necessities some “must” which will be reminded. In fact, It is the tangible cues that first help to form evidence for the individual’s judgement, of which in the context of websites is the design and layout of the site on first visit. Basic web design research outlines there are many factors which can help influence consumers perceptions, from colours, font, header images, logos, load time, images, flash, pop-ups and advertisements. Consequently, Designing the content of a website is as important as that the spending on third party Web site designer is expected to attain $10 billion in 2000, from $582 in 1996 (Forrester, 1997) Cabezudo, Arranz & Cillan (2007) consider a website design to be differentiated depending on whether it is a high or low involvement product/ service.
However, As Nielsen (2003a and 2003b) states that it is more important for the design to meet the needs of the customer rather than be attractive and fun. Moreover, In a world and environment based on interactivity and visual elements, Great animation, sound, and graphics are the core elements to succeed a website. However, Technology alone will not engage the consumer, therefore creating a personal experience with the consumer can help to develop a higher level of satisfaction and lead to a long term relationship with the customer.
Website Content – Quality Information :
Cabezudo, Arranz & Cillan (2007:54) suggest websites used in advertising, should not focus so much on the formal design, but rather on the volume and type of information offered. As within marketing communications, an advantage of websites allows companies to post a lot of information about the brand/product/company all in one place. ‘Relatively, information content has more significance in the web context. This implies that the web designers should focus more on consistency and accuracy of information while designing a website’ (Sindhuja et al 2009). Thus providing more pages within a website such as ‘About Us’, and ‘Corporate Info’ offers the consumer a better understanding of the characteristics of the company/brand. As the previous post ‘Homo-Internecticius’ outlines, most consumers prefer a well-developed website with many pages and linkages to other information all in an organised way, than a website with minimum information about the product or service.
Navigation & User friendliness :
Perhaps considered the most important factor before any design, it’s the actual navigation and linkage of the website, to allow the use to move freely and easily around each page. ‘Specific elements of navigation online include an effective search tool that allows customers to find the product they are looking for quickly and easily. (Eifler & Lepkowska-White: 2008) Huizingh (2000) also considers navigational structure to be a concern, ‘the most effective navigational structure is an extensive network, where all pages lead to all other pages, and back to the home page in a way that is easy to understand’.
The MSN “Usability & Marketing” researcher Kevin Keeker, determined that it was essential to : Provide relevant, high-quality content and Offer useful content. To be useful to an Internet audience, each site must deliver entertainment or knowledge. Though technological advancements have allowed many improvements like new business opportunities and faster data transfers, still, it is recommended that Human Computer Interaction (HCI) design has a significant influence on the usability and user satisfaction level (Nielson and Norman, 2000 cited within Sindhuja 2009). Web usability can be defined as making the design simple enough so that customers, who by nature tend to be goal-driven, can accomplish their task as quickly and painlessly as possible. In fact, few resources are completely free such as :• Hyperlinks• Search engines efficiency and relevant key words
Where to find help online ?
In terms of actually creating the website, there also are numerous sources, which can be referred to. These offer several steps that shall guarantee or at least promise success. As for the “preparation stage”, these mainly cover researching competitors or any other enjoyable and at the same time profitable websites, deciding on who is going to be targeted, planning ahead, selecting the right website developer and making it all perfectly clear for him/her or pre-testing the website with real users etc. This advice can be explored in much more detail, for instance :
Obviously, once this has all been taken into consideration, the “building stage” follows. More technical skills are required as building the website is not that much about creativity but majorly about knowledge and practice.
Frettsome’s e-book (2006) happens to be extremely handy as it very cleverly puts the most important information about the “technical” part of creating a successful web site into a reasonably brief and online accessible publication.
The future of Web 2.0 & 3.0 ?
E-talks-2U predicts the internet as a more reliable source of information, this includes better search engine optimisation, to find exactly what you are searching for, as currently demonstrated in the new television adverts showing ‘Bing’ the decision engine by Microsoft. Due to information overload, the web show try to become simpler designed, alike to Apple Mac’s concept with the IPhone. Creating a safer online community would be a government issue, as our previous post, Homo-interneticus, spoke about educating young internet users of the risks of the web; but combating internet scams and junk mail. Finally improved communication, increasing the speed for online web videos for business meetings, making friends and opening up communities.
E-talks-2U looked at :
Davey, J. (09/02/2010) How to Make a Successful Website: A Step-by-Step Guide, http://jjscoaching.com/successful-website-stepbystep-guide/ (04/04/2010)
Feenstra, R. (11/02/2010) How does a Web Site Work? l Build A Successful Web Site, http://buildasuccessfulwebsite.com/planning/how-does-a-web-site-work (04/04/2010)
Frettsome, S. (2006) Make A Web Site – FREE Ebook.pdf, http://www.topsitetips.com/Make%20A%20Web%20Site%20-%20FREE%20Ebook.pdf (04/04/2010)
Tsui, V. (10/09/2009) Tips on how to build a successful website, http://www.marketingsuccess.com.au/_blog/Marketing_Success_Blog/post/Tips_on_how_to_build_a_successful_website/ (04/04/2010)
Cabezudo, S, R., Gutiérrez Arranz, A, M., Cillán, J. G. (2007) ‘Designing Effective Websites: The Moderating Role of User Internet Experience’ Journal of Internet Commerce, 6 (1) 35-60
Eifler, A., Lepkowska-White, E. (2008) ‘Spinning the Web: The Interplay of Web Design Features and Product Types’ Journal of Website Promotion 3(3/4) 196-212
Sindhuja, P. N., Surajith, Ghosh, Dastidar. (2009) ‘Impact of the Factors Influencing Website Usability on User Satisfaction’ Journal of Management Research, 8 (12) 54-66
Scott F. Geld available from the website MarketingBlaster.com [1st april 2010]
Forrester Research, 1997 , “Web Outsourcing to Reach $10 Billion by 2000,” News Release, available from the website http://www.forrester.com. [1st april 2010]
Drèze, Xavier and Kurt Eto, “Creating Dynamic Web Pages to Better Appeal to Your Audience,” University of Southern California, Graduate School of Business
Working paper, 1997. [1st april 2010] http://www.xdreze.org/Publications/jar7.pd
Keeker K. Improving Web Site Usability and Appeal available from the website http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc889361(office.11).aspx (2008) [28th May 2010]
Web Design Mistake available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPO7lDZbcfA [28th May 2010]
Biggest Mistake you can make with your website by Jerry Hart available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-CAAF5ONLg&feature=related[28th May 2010]
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The MSN “Usability & Marketing” researcher Kevin Keeker, determined that it was essential to : Provide relevant, high-quality content and Offer useful content. To be useful to an Internet audience, each site must deliver entertainment or knowledge. Though technological advancements have allowed many improvements like new business opportunities and faster data transfers, still, it is recommended that Human Computer Interaction (HCI) design has a significant influence on the usability and user satisfaction level (Nielson and Norman, 2000 cited within Sindhuja 2009). Web usability can be defined as making the design simple enough so that customers, who by nature tend to be goal-driven, can accomplish their task as quickly and painlessly as possible. In fact, few resources are completely free such as :
Mayer, R. C. will be a key author used in order to conduct this critical analysis. According to Mayer et al. (1995: 712) they define trust as 'the willingness to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trust or, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party'. In other words, it is the willingness to take risks in a relationship (Deutsch, I960; Schlenker, 1973; Moorman, 1992; Mayer et al., 1995). Indeed, in their ’integrative model of organizational trust’, Mayer associated with Schoorman and Davis (2007), stated that trust is an essential aspect of relationship. From an organisational perspective, ability, benevolence and integrity contribute to develop a relationship of trust with the customers. For instance, a relationship between a supplier and a buyer is essential; the buyer is entitled to believe that the supplier will be able to provide good quality product and delivered on time. Thus, it will enable the company to have competitive advantage. Therefore by carrying out previous researches they showed that there is an evolution. Not only more associated to reciprocity, the notion of trust influences consumers‘ emotions and which could affect their perceptions. Nevertheless, according to Schoorman, Mayer and Davis (2007), it is more than probable that this feeling disappears after a possible violation of trust. Indeed, it is easily acceptable to understand that experiencing dispute; one party will quickly revert to its previous perceptions.
internet allows anyone to open an online store, therefore it can be difficult for consumers to percieve how trustworthy the company is, just from looking at their website. ‘Trust is based on customers' first impression of a company, e.g. website design’ (Buttner & Goriz 2008:45). To disagree, it is not just visual cues on the website which can help a customer to define how trustworthy a company is; some simple websites can also be successful which lead to the notion of Trustworthiness. This, can be defined as combinations of “ability - the trustee’s competence in the area related to the task; Integrity - the trustor’s perception that the trustee adheres to a set of principles that the trustor finds acceptable; and Benevolence - the extent to which a trustee is believed to want to do good”.
ebaY is a great example of peer-to-peer computer-mediated transactions. Obviously, for a trustee, trustworthiness of the trustor is particularly crucial. According to the research of Pardue et al. (2008), more than 60% of trustees’ eBay comments chosen as a sample contained a specific reference to the trustee’s trustworthiness. This sort of feedback is extremely difficult or even impossible to control by the seller/business. And what is more, the stronger the competition is, the more objective and effective people’s feedback gets (Bolton et al. 2008). Therefore in order to be trustworthy, the trustees (the eBay seller, for example) should do their best to post and describe their items, interact with potential buyers and manage the actual payment and delivery process as favourably as possible. It would also be strongly recommended to demonstrate justice and honesty in terms of, for instance, following the established business standards and being transparent about zero intentions of tricking the buyers (Bolton et al. 2008). 
South Korea - the land of technology, where babies seem to be downloaded rather than born! Statistics shockingly stated that Korean children spend 18 hours a day online! This has increased concern over internet addition. However the Korean children are extremely smart and it has contributed education. Thanks to the web, children truly see the importance of communication and intensive interaction with others. Their curiosity is supported by internet as a never ending source of information that stimulates their minds to keep asking in questions to further their growing knowledge. This particular Korean example shows that everything has its pros and cons, which only find their balance when regulated with fair boundaries. It does not seem right to support children to live in their online virtual inhuman worlds just for the sake of their ‘super-smartness’. As it has been mentioned above – it is all about limits and finding the perfect balance. 
When talking about internet, the almighty social networks cannot be omitted. It may seem that Facebook, for instance, does make friendship considerably meaningless. Who actually has 1000 real friends? No one! The “burger experiment” used in the document demonstrated this, when a fast food restaurant offered Facebookers’ a free burger for “de-friending” 10 of their Facebook. When users did delete friends, the value of online friendship became rather shady and perhaps cynical.
Researchers state “we have become a ‘Living in the Loop’ society” which can be exhausting along with our daily lives of working, studying, eating and exercising. Could this 24/7 communication be the cause of stress, as employees wake up in the middle of the night to check their emails, to keep on top of their workload? Not only do humans create new media on the web from Facebook status updates, Twitter, Blog comments, videos and pictures; our brains must also consume the web by checking emails and answer phone messages daily. To conclude we can agree that we as a web generation have become part of a virtual culture with most socialising now taking place on the online than ever before. It is clear to see the web has definitely had an impact in all of our lives, 20 years since its arrival and already so many changes, can we predict what the next 20 years will hold? What does the future hold for the internet, please Comment your views!
