Spellmann

Why Cute Web Design Leads to Dancing Raisins

Description

We know the title intrigues you. What are these “dancing raisins” he speaks of? In this video, Eric Spellmann explains one of the greatest pitfalls website owners make as they attempt to improve their sites. He gives you a strategy guaranteed to prevent this calamity and shows you how to make the RIGHT web design decisions when updating your site. This video is not a technical web design discussion and is intended for business owners and “normal” people. His plain English delivery will insure even the most non-technical person walks away with actionable website improvements.

Transcript

Note from Eric: Below, you will find a word-for-word transcript of this video. I provide this as an aid for the hearing-impaired and for those who might just want to read it rather than watch the video. This conversational style is not reflective of how I write. Be nice! Hi I am Eric Spellmann with EricSpellmann.com. And today’s success video is going to be about dancing raisins. Now I know the title probably intrigued some of you. In fact some of you are probably watching this video simply wondering what the heck are dancing raisins and what do they have to do with web design! Well I’m going to explain. And why they can completely kill what you’re trying to do with your website.

Keep in mind that a website is not an online pamphlet. It is not a virtual billboard. Too many people have a website designed for them and basically they just take a pamphlet or a handout or something printed and they put it online and think “Yay! We’re going to be successful now!” Not the case! Proper web design is much more than that. And I’ve explained this in some of my other videos but it’s really important when we talk about dancing raisins.

The website goal, just as a reminder because I know you’ve watched all of my videos, is to generate something. It’s got to do something. And a good website will generate leads, sales or support for an existing customer base. If your website isn’t doing at least one of those, well you may want to re-look at what it’s supposed to be doing in the first place. Remember, it’s not an online pamphlet. It’s not just supposed to be out there advertising for you. Good web design DOES something. The majority of you are wanting it to generate leads.

So, when you keep that in mind, when you realize that your website should be doing something then you’ve got to realize that everything you add to it like a new picture, a new text, a new paragraph, a new product or anything you add is going to affect how people react to your site. Everything you add should strengthen your goal regardless of what that is.

It should never distract like a squirrel! You want people focused on exactly on what you’re wanting them to do on your website. And sometimes people add things to their website that get people off center and gets them off on a rabbit trail. And we don’t want to do that.

The easiest way to know whether your web design is going to do that is to ask yourself this question. The next time someone wants to add something to your website because it’s cool, ask this question:

Does adding this “thing” to my website make people

(a) more likely to contact me
(b) less likely to contact me
(c) won’t affect their decision at all

Well folks, you better axe out those bottom 2 because the only correct answer is more likely to contact me! When you add something to a website, if it’s not going to strengthen whatever your goal is, you don’t add it! We never add something to a web design simply because it’s cute or cool. I don’t want any little kittens.

And people for the most part, not in every case but for the most part, and I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, adding pictures of your kids to a website unless what you sell is something related to kids, and that way you can show that you understand kids, then I would be hesitant to do it.

Remember. Everyone on the internet is afflicted with A.D.D. They’re impatient and they are lazy. And when you add something to a web design simply for the sake of being cute. And that’s why I call it “dancing raisins” as they serve no purpose. Believe it or not, some people add waving American flags to their site. To me, that’s another dancing raisin.

Now before you jump all over me, I’m extremely patriotic. But really when you add a flag to a site, is it really going to make people more likely to do what you’re wanting them to do? You need to ask yourself that question.

Just say NO to dancing raisins whenever that comes up on your website. Good web design DEMANDS it.

Well as always I’m Eric Spellmann with EricSpellmann.com. If you have any questions just give me a call. Until then, I’ll see you in cyberspace.