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Rethinking the Web: Six Brief Heresies



Question: Why use the Web? Answer: To drive your customers off the Web. This and other bits of unconventional wisdom are outlined below.

By John Sumser
Last Updated: October 27, 1995

In our offices, there is a very large sign that says "One Web Year = 2.5 months." In most industries, the strategic planning cycle includes time each year to rethink the business. We learned the hard way that the in the time it takes to execute a project, the Web terrain changes. By our clock, itís time to rethink some of the basic assumptions of the Web.

In the brisk pace of the daily struggle for survival on the Web, the things we learn accumulate as unfiltered experiences until there is a reason to filter and sort. This article will offer six brief reflections as a jumping off point for your filtering process.

1. Interactivity has to do with the way people relate to computers.

Wrong.

Interactivity has to do with the way people relate to other people. If your goal is interactivity, introduce people to each other and get out of the way. More than anything, if you want satisfied customers, get out of their way. Become virtually invisible.

For example, become a hub for people with interests that align with your product. Take and publish your customers' feedback, positive and negative, about your services. Stop telling them how great your company is and let them find out by using your product or service.

The Discovery Channel has a great demonstration of this in their proposed Knapsack product. Knapsack will automatically scavenge the Net for you and report back by e-mail. Job Center uses a similar approach in their job matching scheme. Or, start an e-mail list like The Internet Marketing List.

In other words, become a resource, not a billboard.

2. The better the Web site, the more time a reader will spend there.

The Web, in its current form, evolved from four major influences: print media, on-line services, multimedia and the historic Internet. In each, the basic equation was that value and time were proportional. That is, the user's perception of value translated directly into time spent with the product or service. Revenue (or in the case of the historic Internet, credibility) came from the amount of "mindshare" an information provider could capture.

The downside: up to a certain point this 'subscription' mentality rewards focusing on quantity at the expense of quality. Most commercial on-line services are cluttered with databases full of junk because of this. The serious lag in effective search technology development is caused by this wrong impression.

Reading a computer screen is painful and only 70% as effective as reading print, according to Jakob Neilsen, of Sun Microsystems. Design your site with this in mind. Have pity on your customers and get them off your site as quickly as possible. That's real value.

Use illustrations that show how something works. Integrate your product into the design. Use graphics, but remember, online pictures are only worth 1,000 words if you design the words into the graphic. Remember: Show them, don't tell them.

3. Netiquette applies everywhere.

Maybe, once upon a time, there were universals for the Internet. Now, the broad generalizations about what works and what doesnít are infrastructure issues - technology decisions about phone lines, routers and platform software like servers and browsers.

Netiquette, like global cultures, varies from place to place and time to time. The question "What works?" really depends on what you want to accomplish.

4. The Net is a single global market.

Not anymore, and less so all of the time. The Net has become a mosaic of adjacent markets. They are still being defined. What sells in one market is unsophisticated and offensive in another. Judge yourself against your competitors, not the Web as a whole.

That said, reality is if you're out on the Web, you can be accessed from anywhere. You do get access to new markets ñ so be aware of those cultures too, just as you would in the "real world."

5. All Websites should have a home page.

Why? The goal of most Web designs should be to minimize the number of clicks that separate the customer from information. Get a copy of Netscape 2.0 and visit CMPís demo pages. They offer a glimpse into the next era, one where information providers are going to be required to offer custom tailored interfaces for each user just to get their attention.

Think about Macyís (or any retailer for that matter). Their goal is to get the customer through the door and quickly to the merchandise. In the physical world, you'll never see widespread lobby design that makes customers wait. Why should the Web be any different?

Think of your introductory pages as a gateway. Anticipate your customer's needs and let them move quickly to the material they are interested in. Don't expect them to bookmark your intro, plan on them bookmarking the things they're interested in.

Also, remember that your customers almost always come from somewhere else. Your home page begins with the link that gets them to you. So, every page should function as a virtual home page.

With these notions in mind, let's look at the biggest heresy of all:

6.The goal of a great Website is to get you off the Web.

Obviously, this is an over-generalization. But, if your goal is to deliver value, less is always more. Get them off the Web and into e-mail. Get them off the Web and using your products. Do it quickly and theyíll come back for more.

Youíve been racing to stay abreast of the technology and market changes, working the ridiculous hours of a Web entrepreneur. Take some time out for your business and consider these notions.


John Sumser can be reached at jrsumser@interbiznet.com.


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