Web Design
Your Site Sucks – I’m Sorry
I am a long-time fan of Chicago; the Band. I loved the early brass-rock days of CTA and “25 or 6 to 4” up through “Beginnings” and “Saturday in the Park”. However, they started to lose me in the Peter Cetera days when they cranked out sappy-chick-hits with high note hooks like Hard for me to Say “I’m Sorry.”
That song has been hooked in my head this week here at the office. It IS hard for me to say “I’m Sorry…..” especially to prospects, suspects and newly landed clients.
“It’s Hard for me to say – I’m sorry”….but:
1) Your Website is confusing. I have no idea what problems you help me solve or what opportunity you are presenting to me. I am not even sure what industry you are in or what your specialty might be.
2) Your Website is poorly constructed. It lacks a logical flow. I cannot find what I thought I was looking for. Content is stale and not relevant or current.
3) Your Website Graphics are somewhere between ugly and awful. I cannot read your logo. The colors are obnoxious. You tell me you sell luxury items – but, your site looks like you paid the neighbor’s nerdy kid $75.00 back in 1997, and have not updated anything since.
And the biggest – “I’m sorry….
I am truly sorry that you just spent a bunch of money on a new site design – AND, it’s STILL confusing, poorly constructed and in fact, graphically hideous. Those are probably only a few of the reasons potential customers aren’t finding it.
SEO is about defining a logical flow of a website and identifying content in such a way that sites can be identified, indexed and FOUND by search engines. We do our customers a disservice when we sugar-coat the tough-love of identifying and correcting marketing and functional site flaws. It’s difficult enough for us to get a site found when all the dots are connected properly; impossible when we are forced work with faulty building blocks.
I have to learn to say “I’m Sorry.” To do otherwise would be like throwing deck chairs off the Titanic; we are improving the situation – but, the ship is ultimately going down.
Michael Davidson, Creative/Media Services SterPoint Marketing
Do you know whom you are hiring? All the information is out there but are you looking?
In the past when a company wanted to hire a developer they just asked to see some previous work examples and 2-3 references. If everything was good – the deal was struck.
Today not only do you need to know the work history of your web developer (since most are independent contractors working for themselves) but now you need to check and see if they have a criminal background.
Recently a web developer that did work for us here locally in Indiana was found guilty of 3 Class D felonies and was installed on the sex offenders list for “LIFE”. At no time did we have a clue about the actions and now it is a policy at SteerPoint that we look at all our outside vendors /partners through a microscope before we offer them and their services to our clients.
Before you sign with a developer make sure you do your background…. No matter the talent of one person you don’t want your brand and or image tarnished by someone’s disturbing past.
