Depending on how you look at it, the World Wide Web can be a very visible or obscure place in cyber land and just about everyone who has a virtual location at some point encounters the dilemma- how much content is too much content, and when does less actually amount to more?
As with anything else in this universe, luckily for us, there is a science attached to it. Yes, there is a method to figuring things out, and quite like in math, there is one clear answer for each problem. The trick is to understand and define the problem. Whether you are big, small, known, unknown, with a general or niche target market, one thing is for sure, it is good to know what you are getting into before you start.
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do” – well, the philosopher Epictetus certainly wasn’t referring to web identity here, but really the first step in web design, as well as content layout (which go hand in hand), is to identify what the purpose of your website is going to be. Is it going to be an informational site? Will it generate revenue through sales? Or does it exist to lend validity and professionalism to your company?
Information rich sites generally tend to perform very well in search engine results. While the logic behind these ratings is complex, generally speaking a well structured site with just the right amount of keywords will provide good results. So in this case, more is more. But if the purpose of your site is merely to have an internet location where employees check their email and clients obtain your contact information, then there is no need to clutter up your website, keep it simple and to the point. Many companies don’t see that there is a real need for them to surface a winner in the hyper text race. Clear the track for the needier cyber marketers “you’ll”, and save yourselves the time and money.
After having defined the broad purpose of your websistance, evaluating how your clients will arrive at your site should be next on your agenda. If you are a well established and popular company and you think people are instinctively going to add a www and a .com to your name, then your strategy will be very different from one whose existence is relatively unknown.
A well known couture house for example may take on a minimalistic approach, heavily relying on their designs to project an image. Here the primary focus is not to draw people to the site but to serve as a showcase of their work, and perhaps provide a convenient place for their loyal clients to shop at. Contrary to this situation, lesser known companies who are at the mercy of the web critters (spiders, crawlers, bots all included) may have to focus a lot more on keyword rich content, smart layout, and possibly the help of a good search engine company providing fodder regularly, to attract favorable search results.
Are you in with the in crowd? Your target audience will define how and how much content is laid out in your site. Take for example a space for kids. Too much content will definitely be a turn off. On the other hand a site selling big boy toys – electronic gadgets and games will contain plenty of information, cleverly laid out in several pages, and easily accessed through convenient links.
If one were to sit down and digest all this information, one of the key points that becomes evident is that you are better off not shopping for a website solution with a wholesale, one–size-fits-all kind of approach. You have a better chance of receiving a good return on your investment if you were to spend some time tailoring your web-suit to your measurements. So here is a little guide to help you decide what kind of fabric and style will be right for your custom made outfit.
- Height: Is it important to be rated highly on the searches. If so, how high would you like to go? (example: top three links, first search page, first two pages, I don’t care)
- Width: What kind of audience would you like to attract? A wide spectrum of people or a narrow devoted group. (example: shoppers for home goods, shoppers for environment friendly home goods)
- Style: Who are you inviting to your pad? (example: teens, elderly, professionals, new moms?)
- Usage: How will you use it? (example: users will simply have a good time, I will sell something, a book club, etc)
- Duration: For how long are they likely to stay? (example: busy professionals, leisure readers)
Tags: Content Development, websites
