Website planning
Thanks for all the feedback on the months’ article - it makes it worthwhile producing when you get such positive response.
I can’t emphasise enough the need to improve travel websites. Without a doubt as web marketing becomes increasingly competitive and marketers increasingly savy, websites ease of use will become a way to stand out from the crowd. Statistics vary from 27% to 66% of users abandon their shopping carts (US Online) - that is, they have built up products to purchase and then don’t at the last minute - to 50% of potential sales are lost from a site because people can’t find stuff (Juipiter Research)! Quite simply, websites have to to improve usability!
Similarily, thorough planning and strategy are paramount. No matter how much of an expert you think you are - your not! I took on a project last Christmas that is still ongoing! The client declined to go through a strategy phase saying “we have been to the seminars and understand all this Web 2.0 stuff and know what we want”. 4 months later the site is still too’ing and fro’ing with the designers as the client wasn’t clear in their own head of their direction and strategy.
Planning saves money! It is 40 - 100 times more expensive to make changes to your sites functionality and look and feel in the production and maintenance phase than in the design phase!!
Tags: Web design