Harmony MajorIs your website so “cute” that it’s … clueless?
There’s a saying we share between ethnic minority females when another woman is acting “too cute” to do anything useful.
When you’re “too cute,” you’re so stuck on appearances that nothing else is as important.
Can you see how this might relate to business website design?
Picture a woman walking down the aisle in a grocery store, shopping for salad dressing, or paper towels, or top round, or Rolaids, but this chick is really working it.
I mean full-on, Tyra Banks fierce, “model walk” for no apparent reason, all up in the Safeway.
Right in the middle of one of her all-too-vigorous hip sways, one 6-inch stiletto sticks in a crack on the floor, and she goes sprawling into an end cap, sending an entire display of Oodles of Noodles flying.
Something like this:
You might look at this grocery shopping woman, shake your head disappointedly, and mutter,
“See? Trying to be too cute.”
Or picture a new hire in a busy legal office, a transcriber who comes in to work having just gotten her nails done. But with 3-inch long nails, she can’t type faster than 6.49 words per minute.
Completely and utterly useless.
During a futile attempt to type the memo, or take the message, she chips her polish… and has the nerve to get all indignant that work actually messed up her nails.
Just then, a professional woman in the office, who’s actually about her business, might look at homegirl, shake her head, and be like,
“See? So ‘cute’ she can’t even type.”
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Business Website Design Can’t Be “Too Cute” to Get Done What Needs Doing.
What “needs doing” is giving your website visitors what they came for, and getting results for your company. All too often, business website design is thought of only in terms of aesthetics… but the design should support the content.
For instance:
- Flash intro pages (or, heaven forbid, entire websites done in flash) are frustrating and pointless, serving only as a barrier to what your visitors are truly there for: the content.
“Too cute.”
Flash is trash. (And it makes getting people to your website really hard.)
- A business website using cryptic, industry-specific language annoys and confuses users.
“Too cute.”
- Tons of “like buttons” for industry networks your audience has never heard of, and an overall focus on YOUR company over your USER is off-putting.
“Too cute.”
Can you think of other ways bad business website design could get in the way of serving your audience?
Good Web Design Supports Business Goals; It Doesn’t Hinder Them.
What is your business website designed to do?
If your website confuses, frustrates, or otherwise keeps that goal from being achieved, well… that is not good business website design.
If visitors have to fight through “fancy” special effects, yet still can’t find what they’re looking for, that is not good business website design.
Remember: Mobile Users Can’t See Most Fancy Effects Anyway
Considering that more than half of all local searches are performed via mobile, and that mobile Web usage is expected to overtake desktop Web usage by 2014 EXCEEDED desktop usage in 2014, just as predicted… that’s kind of a big deal.
Tell your website designer to rein in the flamboyancy and focus on what matters.
The Reveal:
Don’t let your business website design be “too cute” to handle your business. Check this article for help with website goal planning, to avoid unneeded expenses down the road.
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