In message <[log in to unmask]>, Richard King
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>I've been tasked with finding a firm of consultants who can advise us on
>how we might re-structure our website in order to make it 'easier to find
>things'.
>
> I have been given the name of a few companies, but am a little put-off by
>the fact that their own corporate websites are usually loaded with
>Shockwave Flash and Javascript bells, whistles and gizmos and show little
>sign of being either accessible or easy to navigate! (Even they sometimes
>admit that this is for 'management to management marketing'!)
>
>Am I on a 'fools errand' or is there anyone out there who might be worth
>talking to??
>
>I've already put forward to management some of the sites that I think are
>worth emulating (some of the best UK academic sites) but these are felt to
>look 'boring' or .... insufficiently 'expensive' or... something!
Well, I'm both an information professional and a web designer, so I
might be able to make a few comments - and don't worry - I'm not touting
for business!

You have to try and satisfy several different communities - your
management, your users and search engines. These are not always very
easy to balance, particularly if your management structure wants a
website to look like others they may have been to.

I always tend to focus on 3 things - what do you want to say, who do you
want to say it to, and how do you want to say it?

Let's take them in turn. What do you want to say? Well, you know that of
course; you'll have your own content that you want to make available.
However, do take into accounts the needs of the search engines when it
comes to ranking your pages - you'll need to ensure that your content is
written in such a way as to appeal to search engines and give you a high
ranking. If you're not up on how to do this (it is a bit of an arcane
art) you'll either need to get advice on it from a consultant, buy a
book or two, search the net and experiment. This is probably going to be
the most difficult element of the entire project. Whoever you talk to,
ask them how they are going to ensure you get a good page ranking, and
ask them for examples of what they've achieved elsewhere. There's no
point in having a great site if no-one can find it!

Who do you want to say it to? You should hopefully know who your
audience is intended to be, and that should give you some pointers. What
you would say to (for example) a corporate CEO is different to that of a
9 year old child, obviously. Your content should reflect this. However,
this is all pretty self evident, so I'll skip this bit.

Finally, how do you want to say it? As you point out, a lot of companies
go down the bells and whistles approach - all this proves is that they
know how to do that - it doesn't tell you much else. My feeling is that
you want to say what you want quickly and simply - pages need to load
quickly, navigation needs to be clear (try to aim to ensure that all of
your major pages and as many minor ones can be reached within 3 mouse
clicks). Go with your own instincts, and look at other similar pages. If
you don't want bells and whistles, don't go with them, which I
personally think would be the right choice. Quick, easy to load, easy to
find what you want are the key things here IMO.

As for finding someone who can do it - in common with others I'd suggest
do as much as you can yourself. Produce your content, re-work it for SEO
(Search engine optimisation), get ideas of other design and tell whoever
you choose that's what you want. Don't let them try and drag you down
the bells and whistles approach. Look at other sites you like, see who
created them, take a look at other examples of their work and perhaps
approach them.

Hmm.. written a lot, but not sure I've said much, so I'll stop at that
point - hope it helped a bit though!

Rgds,

Phil.
--
        Phil Bradley: Internet Consultant, Trainer, Web designer and Author.
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