website design

Building Websites That Work

Your Website is a key vehicle in terms of having customers and prospects learning about your company and what you do. As such, it’s critical that it be a true point of differentiation for you, clearly communicating your value proposition and your competitive edge. Your Website’s primary job is to help you position your company, product or service to maximum advantage—in concert with your marketing and advertising—and tell your story your way.

“In a general sense, brief is better,” says Kim T. Gordon, founder of National Marketing Federation Inc., author of Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business and marketing columnist for Entrepreneur magazine. “Using a typical screen resolution, you want all of your important facts to fit in the opening screen. You don’t want readers to have to scroll down to get the key messages.”

As for what works in the overall appearance of a site, Gordon points to a company called Source1, a commercial food supply chain company, as an example of all the elements working well to communicate a company’s value proposition and its competitive differentiation.

“If you look at the site, what draws your eye first?” Gordon asks. “In this case, you’re immediately pulled in by the headline, the photos and the company’s Buyers’ Advantage program box. Those are all visual elements that pull readers in and differentiate Source1.” Gordon offers the following insights into why the elements of the site, taken as a whole, work to send the right message for Source1:

• The headline—The opening statement—“The leverage of billions. The power of one.”—tells prospects and customers that they get the benefits of a tremendous network when working with Source1.
• Photos—“The pictures—note that the subjects are all looking out at you—tell two important stories,” Gordon says. “The one on the left is a group photo that might say ‘we’re the right professionals for you’ or ‘this might be the team that works for me.’ It’s backed up by rolling testimonials beneath, featuring several high-level people at a variety of companies. The second photo shows a smiling woman poised over a plate of food. It says, ‘there’s a happy customer who could be eating your food.”
• Introductory copy—In just five sentences, you learn what Source1 does and how it differs from other supply chain companies.
• The audience—Nine stacked words (right-hand side), all of which link to more information, plainly indicate who Source1 serves.
• Services—The areas of Source1’s “Supply Chain Performance Management” are quickly, clearly outlined on the left, again with hotlinks so readers can go into greater depth.
• The Buyer’s Advantage—“Source1’s greatest competitive advantage sits squarely in the center of the page, automatically drawing your eye,” notes Gordon. “It very succinctly states the goals of the programs and the advantages it offers.”
• Additional information—Users are offered paths to learn more about the company (via “private Webinars”) and industry trends, an excellent example of value-added content.

“Overall,” Gordon adds, “Source1’s site is a great example of how a particular company differentiates itself, and quickly shows you its competitive advantage. People spend a great deal of time today shopping on the Web, so it has become a very real way customers learn about your business. Once on your site, prospects need easy access to content about how you do what you do, and that’s what Source1 does so well.”