Summary: Six major mistakes we made in the planning process of the website

Intermediary transaction SEO diagnosis Taobao guest Cloud host technology Hall

First of all, I am not a professional website designers, I do not understand the site design, programming technology, I am responsible for the overall network promotion, because the site is the foundation of the company's network promotion, so the site construction is also one of the focus of my work.

On the meaning of planning, you can query the word "Planning" encyclopedia entry. This sentence has to say, because someone asked me in the network promotion of that point to do the best, I said the planning and user psychological analysis, the other side of ridicule, self-confidence said: "Your original network promotion is and sales of the bar, you said the user psychological analysis is the sales process of customer psychology analysis, How can network promotion use user psychological analysis?! " Next ... Then I can not suppress the mad, familiar with my people know that I am very little angry ... I thought I was being unreasonable afterwards. Less gossip, let's get to the point.

One, about the website function localization's thoughtless

(a) To achieve sales or reflect the brand image

At the beginning of the website design, our primary consideration is whether this website is to embody the brand image or to promote sales, positioning different, the homepage of the website, navigation, content page and so on all things are different. But the difficulty is, leaders often want to show that we are tall brand, but also want to promote sales, which is not much brand awareness of small and medium-sized enterprises is impossible. But in the actual website design process, the leadership of the arbitrary intervention, tough attitude often let us at a loss.

The company I've been through, leaders in the design of the site often include: see a company's website animation effect is very cool (the whole station Flash, we know is not conducive to SEO), the leader said you see their site feel good; see a big picture of a company home to do very beautiful very dynamic, Leaders say you look at the company's website to do a lot of grades, we should also add some animation effect ... In other words, they think that the more the form of the Web site will reflect the level of a company, even in the process we repeatedly stressed that the core of our website design is to promote sales rather than reflect the brand image, the leadership will not be aware of their ideas are not deviated from this core, Often they care more about the form than in this form to achieve what effect.

I also experienced under the leadership of the pressure (encounter irrational leadership, if the site does not follow their aesthetic, audit basic pass However, even in your insistence under the rigid pass, they will be more unbearable, so that you quickly finish when you come back again ... Continue to add more and more deviations from the core animation effects and pictures, and finally the function of the site is not fish and fowl.

may be my communication skills are limited, I can not in a very short period of time to change the leadership of the idea of web design, there is no way to the concept of web design to effectively convey to the leadership, I just think, if the leadership is not so required, I can not try to do two sites, one is illusory tall, One is down-to-earth to promote sales as the core.

Some netizens questioned my point of view, saying that brand and sales are mutually reinforcing, not contradictory. I said yes, but there is a logical relationship, you are to create a brand image to promote sales, or through the promotion of sales to create a brand image, you need to carefully consider, you can not use a site to achieve both functions.

(b) Whether to achieve online sales/online booking

This problem, I did not consider when planning the website. After the website was built, the leader suddenly asked me why I did not consider to achieve online sales on our website. My answer is: Our products are temporarily not suitable for online sales. We are industrial production enterprises, the sale of products involves the user side of the Director, Workshop director, workshop workers, technology, installation and all levels of the person in charge, coupled with our products are customized rather than general-purpose equipment, so, in the short term to achieve online sales is not likely.

Now think about it, my point is correct, I was wrong, I was planning the site did not talk about this issue and leadership communication, so nearly again to push again.

Later, with a deeper understanding of products and users, I think it is possible to add similar functions such as online bookings on the website. This reminds me of the possibility of implementing similar functions such as online sales or online bookings before planning a website.

Second, do not take into account the use of sketches to communicate

The style and typesetting of various levels of navigation are not discussed in the form of sketches beforehand

The layout of all levels of the page is not discussed in advance by sketch.

No consideration is given to the above requirements in sketch form and design company/Department colleagues

The reason why I think of these 3 small problems is that the communication cost is too high in the website design. Our idea was carried out, has been deviated to 108,000 miles away, want to pull all do not come back, so unexpectedly occurred 2 times the derivation of the situation, of course, and I just entered the company, both sides were in the running-in period.

But even in that case, I think we can still do better, if I use sketches rather than simple language to communicate with them, if we are in the formulation of the effect of the map before the layout, typesetting and other issues, should be able to take less detours.

Third, in fact, you can better apply the blank next to the logo

Most of the logo on the site navigation bar above, under normal circumstances, if the logo next to the search box and other tools, often in the logo next to add the company's slogan, advertising language (some companies in the logo next to add their own company's name, I think it is very superfluous, If the logo itself is not enough to reflect your company, then you still use it to do, I always feel that this approach is too blunt, but did not think of a better way.

I've seen the book, "DON T makes ME think" (probably a very basic book for people who specialize in website design, but for people like me, this book to my inspiration is not just the site design so simple, I learned that you can add a slogan behind the logo to reflect the content of this site, This slogan can be the original company's advertising language, as long as the advertising language is not too blunt, and used to express the same company and the site are equally applicable, it can be effective to convey why users want to stay on your site brief, Yanzhiyouwu profile.

Iv. website Planning, no analysis of user groups

(i) not taking into account the age, gender, occupation, social status, aesthetic characteristics of the user group

It is possible that my original company is for the enterprise to do services or products, so, at the beginning of the website design, I have never considered the first to study our user groups, just according to the popular web design standards to do.

Now that I'm thinking about the problem, it was because years ago that I found that a large number of people who landed on our site were older than 40 years old, they were in the traditional industry, the level of literacy is not very high, the operation of the computer is not very skilled, and the normal 12th font and gray make them read a little difficult.

Aware of this problem, I suggest that the website design company help us to change the font, font size and color, the answer is "12th font is the standard font, is their company's rigid requirements, no way to change ...", I was disappointed if the company that designed the website for us is such a level that we can't blame them, We can only blame ourselves for not considering these basic issues at the outset, and if we were to join this requirement when looking for a web design company, it would not have been the case.

This experience impressed me, and benefited, because it made me aware of not only based on the characteristics of the user group to consider the site's color, font, font size and other small issues, it also made me more aware of the use of user role models, The importance of user research and usability testing methods such as active design and scenario simulation in web design. For these user research and usability testing methods, too much to talk about, interested in you can be in Tencent and other company's user experience and user research blog, you can also read Tencent CDC's "Around you, design for you" this book and other interactive design books.

(b) No consideration is given to the user community's habit of using the network so that no search function is added

When I first started designing a website, I thought we wouldn't have much content on our site, no need to add a search box, users will soon be able to find the information they want to find, but as the site optimization process to add the soft text, news and other information, the content of the site more and more, even the new employees want to find something on our website has become a bit difficult, It was then that I realized that I had made a huge mistake.

Of course, later, with my experience with the user, with the deepening understanding of the interaction design, I have also come to realize that from the perspective of the user's use of the Internet, we should also add the search box, because someone likes to use navigation to find the information they want, while others like to search directly, when the navigation can not find relevant information, Some people will switch to search and some will leave.

(iii) Not taking into account the original purchasing habits of the user group and the purchase habits after the transfer to the network

Awareness of this problem is not the design of our own company's website, but the process of communicating with other companies.

The company is the auto parts industry, the original users are from the Distributor to buy products, now the company to consider through the network directly and user contact. In this process, I suddenly have a problem in my mind, that is, those who originally bought products through the dealer, after the transfer to the Internet, their buying habits, what they care about, what they want, what they like, what they dislike, for these problems I suddenly have no bottom, After all, all the information is passed through the Distributor, the information passed through the dealer is certainly in line with the funnel law, there will certainly be distortion, and then, they buy such products online, is like we buy clothes as direct to Taobao, Alibaba such a site, or to auto, The specialized website such as Pacific Automobile, still use search engine to look for, this question really let me very puzzled.

We all know that website construction and optimization are only the basic part of the network promotion, this basic part in the whole promotion system in what position, it will be the user how to use, in the purchase process which link to use, will determine the function of our website settings and content settings.

Of course, the reality we often do is, do not want to do this, first to make a website, and then gradually revised according to the results, if the previous several times to do the site, with this kind of thinking understandable, but do more, we should not always go the same detour. If we later in the website design in advance to the Web site to promote the system and user purchase process such a large framework to think, to our follow-up work will have a multiplier effect.

(iv) Not taking into account the user community's perception of the product

After our website was built (optimized keywords "condensed water recovery Device"), we received most of the consultation phone and our products do not match, then I slowly realized that condensate recovery device, within our company and in the user there is not a meaning. In our company, the condensate recovery device is generally treated as a whole condensate water recovery system, and the condensing water recovery device that the user wants is often just a condensate water recovery pump, just a water pump.

Because not thinking of this problem, not only caused the website conversion rate is low, also caused by the high volume of browsing, but low consulting, because our site product description is based on our own cognitive settings, many people came to the site to see the two pages, found that our description and what he wanted does not match, so he quickly left, Although they are indeed our users.

The same problem was encountered when my friend designed the website. He built a website to promote the "How to Do equity incentive" training course, during which I gave him a simple usability test. I found that the homepage eye-catching "Equity topic" 4 words, then I thought, well, this point will certainly be like the news topic of a series on how to carry out the equity incentive of the article, analysis, the result I point in, waiting for my only cold start schedule, then my heart is cold half, as if misled. Within their company, the "Equity topic" has been a deep subconscious "how to carry out the subject of equity incentive classes" abbreviation, and in the client, their "equity topic" The 4 words of the understanding and I am quite.

After this incident, I thought, when our customers came to our website may also have such a great psychological reaction.

Although the problem has been realized, the improvement of the problem is a long time. For example, I do not know what the customer's mouth of the "condensate recovery device" in the end how the description to meet his expectations, and then in line with his expectations on the basis of showing that our products have far exceeded his expectations, that is to say, I have to understand the user and the user's psychology, deeper understanding of our own products and peer products, in order to do this thing.

For our small and medium sized industrial enterprises, the product of professional, technical, complex is strong, but the new employees of the product training is often simple to the extreme. Based on this, after I entered the company, after the communication with the leadership, and gradually set up a system of in-depth new staff training system, which can help us to understand our products more deeply, and then, I suggest leadership to establish the internal sharing mechanism, we very much want to hear the first line of sales staff for the entire sales process to share Both the failure and the successful case will be beneficial to our work. However, more and deeper understanding of users and peer products, but we need to experience in the practice of slowly.

(v) Failure to take into account the psychological expectations of the user community

As we mentioned above, the same keyword, the user's perception is completely different from ours. This difference also manifests that when the user comes to our website, he has a general and vague expectation of our product pictures and descriptions, which are expected to come from his years of buying experience, the description of friends, or the publicity of other companies in the industry,

If our website content can meet or exceed his expectations, then he'll look at it, if our products don't seem to fit his expectations, or if we can't find what he wants to know in our product descriptions, such as the internal structure of the product, the usage cycle, the safety metrics, and so on, he's probably going to shut down the page, If the content he wants to know is not on our website and the peer site has a clear description, then we are most likely to be excluded from his choice. Because, we must remember, the user enters our website browsing the product at the same time, also will browse the colleague's website, compares. Such awareness may be very basic in the eyes of the people who run Taobao, but most people don't realize it when designing websites for traditional companies like ours.

All these ideas come from the deep thinking of the problem of "high browsing volume but low consultation quantity and low conversion rate". I thought carefully about how users would normally come to our site, they came to our website for what the purpose is, their working environment is probably what, such an environment to bring his emotions are tense, purposeful super or relaxed, blind ... At the same time I also realized that the user's search terms are different, he came to the site of the purpose, emotion and so on all aspects are different, can let him continue to browse the point is also different.

V. No consideration of the impact of industry competition on website design

When I first designed the website, I carefully studied the optimization of the peer site, our meta information settings are also very serious reference and avoid their settings. In doing this thing, I found that two of the Web site without any optimization features, but the average daily IP over 50, which is the industry's most famous two international brands. I didn't care about it at the time, and I didn't think they were going to be optimized.

Then I found out I was wrong, from the beginning I want to understand why they do not do optimization. Their site has a very important function, is knowledge sharing, not only the system but also quite practical. Domestic factories generally lack the basic knowledge of thermal engineering (even if the thermal engineering and technical personnel are also very unprofessional), so they through this sharing, can let these factories have the problem to go to their website to inquire, download, and lay the foundation of the industry knowledge field, become the authority of this industry, whether our peers, or users, or technical personnel, in all of these human brain, these two companies are unparalleled, the two companies are the best products.

When we were planning our website, the leadership wants our website also through this kind of authoritative knowledge sharing to form own brand, at that time I thought the leadership said quite right, and also can give me the rich soft material, is advantageous to the website optimization, therefore the knowledge sharing became one of our website important content. I know that most of the site will have knowledge to share, but I also know that everyone in the compilation and upload these articles is more directed to the goal of optimization, each article in addition to optimization can also have what effect estimated very few people considered. Both I and the leader do not want to optimize for optimization, so we value the quality of each article and the role.

Later, the article more write more, general industry outside people see the article feel our company is very good (a few people take the initiative to our company to apply for sales), our company is very interested, and the industry people are not interested in these articles, why? That's because most of the content is visible from the websites of two internationally renowned companies. The same theme, even if there are different descriptions, will not bring much benefit to people, it is also difficult to let them have more visits, more browsing, that is, no way as we expected to increase and the stickiness between users.

Thinking about it, I realized, why do we have to do what other people have done to the extreme? Is it possible for us to reposition the focus of the site content? Well, is not I think too much, we optimize the site, not with the ranking is good, consultation volume and conversion rate can be completed assessment is not it? However, I still can't help but think, paranoia, and cure.

Six, did not consider the establishment of mobile phone website

Had considered the same time to open a mobile phone site, but think of our user group A lot of people QQ use is not skilled, very few people with micro-bo, micro-letter, they will be on the mobile phone site? joke! So, I quickly abandoned the idea. So, here to remind you of the importance of "active design", be sure to question the ideas that appear in your mind, ask a few more questions.

Website on-line, we did the bidding promotion, did not chengxiang the handset side the browsing quantity and the consultation quantity is much higher than I thought. These data red fruit in front of me, as if to laugh at how stupid I was!

Well, before today I in the Web site planning errors have been done, this is what I can sum up now, I know the wrong 6 big aspects, more deficiencies, need more practice to find, to improve. Do more, more wrong, more wrong, not far from perfection.

Of course, in addition to site planning, in the website design, SEO optimization, website testing and so on, I have made some mistakes, and later have the opportunity to elaborate.