Take designer cell phones for example. Sure they look great, they are small and compact and ooze of designer elegance. However compared to other mobile phones on the market designer phones functionality is poor. Their menu can be slow, they can be a pain to type a text message with and viewing pictures can take an age. If there is an example to prove that we are more obsessed with style than substance then the designer cell phone is the perfect example.
But this aspect of our culture is not just confined to mobile phones, it extends into the business world too, namely in the form of websites. With technology advancing at a rapid rate the features that can be incorporated into your websites are seemingly limitless; flash, videos, pop ups, the list goes on and on. But at what price is your aesthetically pleasing website coming in at? Possibly sales.
Essentially aspects of a website can be broken down into two categories: long-term and short-term. Short-term aspects include design, layout, and aesthetics. This is not to say that the design of a website should be changed every few months, that would be to misunderstand the point entirely. By putting it in the short term category we are merely saying that people will only perceive the aesthetical attributes of a website as a short-term appeal.
In the long-term functionality is much more important. Look at Google for example. Its design and layout is fairly basic. However it provides a service , or services, that ensure that millions of internet users use it every day. Google utilizes the concept that how your site works is more important than how it looks and they use this to great effect. Again this is not to say that you should have a shoddy, hurriedly and quickly thrown together design, this again would be to misunderstand the point entirely. What we are saying is you need a good balance. Essentially with the weight tipping slightly to functionality but not coming too much at the expense of design.
Where do you start, however? Especially for new users this can be a daunting task. When they think of website design they see line upon lines of endless HTML code. However website design development have come a long way from this. If you are new to the website scene or, indeed if you are a hardened veteran, then there are numerous resources available on the internet to help you.
A website can be both aesthetically pleasing and highly functional. It is a delicate balance but one which, with some research and a little bit of trial and error, you can master and turn that traffic into profit.
To learn more about building high converting websites, check out the free 25 Great Tips To Building High Converting Websites report.
Tags: internet marketing, web design, web development, websites, clickbank pirate