Tips for making your site a success
As you plan your Web site, remember that your visitors want hospitality. If the information you offer is useful and easy to access, they’ll visit again, and they might even become new patients. Joyce Flory, PhD, founder of and Internet communications consultant for Communications for Business and Health in Chicago, offers the following formula for success:
1. Think about how your users will access your page. Many people still have the slower 14.4 modems. Offer easy-to-download graphics and text-only options.
2. Design your site from the user’s point of view. Make it easy for the user to identify features and navigate from the "splash," or opening page. View your splash page as a multifunction vehicle: Business card, front door or entryway, and map. Make sure your splash says and does what you want in terms of image, navigation, promotion, and communication.
3. Design your splash page to complement not contradict your organization’s image, mission, vision, values, and product and service message. It’s OK to have fun and entertain users, but don’t shock or offend them.
4. Include time and date stamps on content, if you want users to know when you last updated the content and if timeliness is essential. Ditto with tracking information. If you aren’t yet attracting hordes of users, you may not want to broadcast the number of people visiting your site.
5. Make sure your icons, features, and overall design are easy to understand and use. Before launching your site, test it on at least 10 to 20 users.
6. Finish designing your site before launching. Nothing is more frustrating than arriving at a site and discovering that most of it is under construction. Go live only when you’ve thoroughly tested the site on users and have something to offer.
7. Avoid the temptation to become a "technojunkie." Heavy use of graphics, video, and audio is still unfortunately too time consuming for most users. On the other hand, try to integrate some of the new technologies. Provide appropriate links to required software such as RealAudio, and warn users with messages such as, "This page is best viewed in Netscape."
8. Leave a trail of electronic crumbs. Make it easy for users to get back and forth on your site by including a "Return Home" icon on every page. Also, test your site periodically to ensure all internal and external links work.
9. Make it easy for people to reach you. Include an e-mail response mechanism as well as more traditional contact information such as the names of staff members, divisions or departments, the organization’s location, and telephone and fax numbers. You may even want to consider a searchable on-site directory with e-mail addresses. ß
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