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There are a lot of websites that are out there that seem to work OK and, perhaps partly because of the cost involved in creating a professionally done website, or perhaps because the owner of the site just is not aware of the differences, are considered to be, well, good enough. The problem with those sites is that, when your e-commerce business depends upon that website to draw paying customers, they aren’t good enough! And that is probably linked directly to the website designer not understanding the overall importance of layout and design.

The facts are that you have only a few seconds of the visitor’s time to grab and hold his interest. Each page of your website must be carefully designed so that it appeals to your visitors in such a manner that:
• He is encouraged that he will find what he is searching for
• He will be able to do so in a minimum amount of time and effort
• Your product will be at least of as good quality as your home page appears
• You and your company are totally honest and he will find the best offer for his money
• You are more concerned with customer satisfaction that you are with making money
• Any information he conveys to you will be as safe and secure as it was before he gave it to you

These are just a few of the things you need to consider when you contract to have a web site designed. And they all come down to one ‘theme’, the feeling of comfort the visitor gets when he first opens your home or your product page.

A professional web designer will understand the importance of presenting your information in such a manner that the visitor is encouraged to search or move farther into your site. This ties directly to page layout and the use of ‘white space’. (White space is any area on your page that does not contain information, be it text, graphics, or title bars, etc.) Remember that you have perhaps six seconds to grab and hold a visitor’s attention. If you present to him a page so filled with information that he is mentally overwhelmed with the quantity of words before him, do you really think he is going to want to spend his precious time trying to find what he is looking for? Or do you think he’ll just ‘click off’ and look for something less visually confusing to him?

Look at your current home page! We mean really look at it. Analyze it from this point of view: If there is more than 60% of the viewer’s screen filled with information, you have less than a 20% chance of holding his attention!

Probably the most difficult thing in web design is page layout – creating a page that contains adequate information to attract and encourage a viewer to continue deeper into your site. Professional web designers understand the 60/20 rule and will apply that to your web design…and, in the end, provide you with a website that will grow your business.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll continue to discuss the importance of layout and design. And, in the meanwhile, we suggest you begin really taking an unbiased look at your website and the way it relates directly to your goals and expectations for your e-commerce business. Is it working as well as it should? Check back next week and see how and why it probably is not.
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