1) Rule 1- Peace, Love, And Understanding

The worst enemy a smart Internet Magician can have is a  Deadeye. A deadeye  customer or client either comes from the now defunct dead print paradigm, or is someone that bases their information architecture ideas based solely on aesthetics. They forever think that the Web is about visual appeal, and not interaction, by which we mean  enabling customer action. Purchase, adview, whatever you want the customer to do.

Getting your customer to act in your system is usually more valuable than just a “deadview”. This is why facebook, that gets customers to submit their information willingly, finds their customer interaction so much more valuable than, say, google.

If the customer does not perform a specific action based on a visit to your website, the website is a failure. The action can be anything from giving a bit mindspace to your product to an actual purchase.

As any person swayed by emotions as opposed to goals, they will insist on discussing fonts, color schemes, background music and overall “cool factor”.

It is amazing how many smart people elect to make decisions based on emotions, reverting to their inner child when faced with the scary complexity of the Internet. Unfortunately, even though they will never insist on repainting their car along with swapping out the engine every six months, the perceived “ease” of internet development makes the analogy of such activity all too often in relation to web design.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with “cool factor”, it’s just that so many people get it wrong with cool. Yes, Apple has a rabid fanboy base and overall status sway that turns almost any product release by Apple into a mass-media phenomenon.

But don’t forget that before Apple announced that product, a lot of time and research went into finding a niche and a killer product for that niche.

So many times, customers try to compensate for lack of understanding of their own product and their user base by concentrating on presentation. But today there is only interaction.

Amazon doubled conversions by simplifying their customer sign-up form. You  hear this story all the time. Remove obstacle from customer. Profit.

Nobody ever writes about how a tweaked graphic or font made them new 30 000 customers overnight. Simply because it does not happen.

Here we have a great example of somebody finally standing up and saying – “Excuse me, is it not our goal to help the customer make purchases? As in give us money and get something in return?”

So before you make the classic mistake of pitching for a customer by throwing a wireframe website together, try to understand the customer first.

What are they looking to achieve? Inform, Sway, Sell, Enable, Solve, Provide Cool? What is their main goal?  Amazon makes shopping online easy. Ebay lets you bid on things cheaper than you can buy at any store.  Craigslist used to let people get laid and find a job and apartment at the same time.  Facebook lets you stay in touch. (Don’t forget the strong aspect of social interaction and network forming these website provide) What defines your customer as a company?  What do they want to achieve with the website , but most importantly,  with their product? Without understanding the company (and believe me, a lot of times companies don’t understand themselves), you will never make a truly great website.

Go into the field. Ask for a product demo. See a salesman’s pitch if you can.  Observe the customer in the wild.  Find the formula of success on the web for this client. It will be unique.

You can compete against bitter former graphic designers recreating dead tree layouts on the web, or you can make magic.

The choice is yours.