So who is designing this website? Me or the client?

Here at Way Fresh we always make a huge effort to ensure every site we do is visually appealing and easy to use for the site visitor, guiding them through to the pages and information that they need in the least clicks. So what's the problem? That would be the client!!

In addition to pleasing the site visitor we also have to please the client and because they are footing the bill, they are going to have their say on how it should look and be structured too and some of the time this has a little conflict with what we think the best way to design the site is.

Let me give you an example..... Ages ago we did a site for a family run double-glazing company who had built up a very successful company from scratch. Big kudos to them :)

So getting our site visitors hat on we mocked up a lovely site which teases their products and services in a funky and prominent manner on the home page. If you are a site visitor looking for double-glazing, conservatories and doors then having these direct on the home page is a necessity as you know straight away what the site is all about and you're only a single click away from the product you are after. Jobs a good ‘un!

Showed it to the client who loved the design, however wanted to have the home page all about them, their history, how they built the business and got where they are today. Then with a button to enter the site once you had read it. Urghhh!

As a site visitor do you care about that stuff?

Generally all site visitors looking at websites for a product or service will always look at what is in it for them first such as the price, quality, service etc. At this stage they won't be interested in any supplier information or background one iota!

However, if they narrow this supplier down to the one of two they are considering then this is when your background info kicks in. A bit like the sob stories on the X-Factor people get to read about your struggles and successes to get to where you are today to see if they are willing to part their cash with you.

With this in mind, as a rule we always design our websites in mind for the site visitor giving them all the information they need to make a decision as the first sections in the navigation, but then we will also drop is some “about us” information towards the end should the client still be interested.

Don't get us wrong, we will always listen to our client's wishes, but of course we'll also provide some advice on what is best from a site visitor's prospective and guide the client along the way. :)

Cheers

Steve