We recently sat down in a meeting to review how we can marry our client’s goals while still building for the website user. Justin, our senior art director, brainstormed these main points to keep your project focused on giving your website user what they’re looking for.

Focus on what benefits the user instead of “what looks cool.”
What looks cool to you could completely turn off the website user when all they want is a specific piece of information or an answer to a question. This doesn’t mean your site has to be boring, though creativity should have a purpose as well. Make each message point part of a bigger picture to help the website user achieve what they want from your site.

A website is not an advertisement, it is an information hub.
We’re not saying your website can’t inform, educate and excite viewers, though if you use it for that purpose alone, you’re missing the biggest reason to create a site for your company—give the information your website users are looking for. If you don’t know what they want, make sure you ask, or listen. It’s all there.

Users are already partially sold on your company and brand prior to visiting, either by way of existing advertising or search engines. Now give them what they want.
Your users didn’t stumble upon your site by accident most likely, and if they did, chances are they are not in the target audience anyway. Once there, they are looking for the information that may help them take the next step in converting into a customer. Make sure you plan for this and build a trail that leads them to that conversion. An uninformed website user most likely won’t convert.

User goals and tasks are centered around extracting information, not viewing marketing fluff. Don’t waste users’ time with unneeded and redundant advertising.
Respect the time of your website user. Keep your website on target with what your user expects.

There is no need to “hammer” the brand into the user—work it in subtly throughout your site’s functionality. Let ease of use and a positive online experience become a cornerstone of your brand.
This one is generally tough for those who don’t fully understand the strength of the web because it flies in the face of traditional advertising. Generally beating your chest and filling every inch of your site with senseless “brand messages” only wastes your website user’s time. Frivolous flash intros and spinning logos can finally be put to bed…forever.

Before making any sort of decision on website content or functionality always ask yourself: “Does this help the user get closer to extracting the information they’re looking for, and quickly?” If the answer is no, it shouldn’t be on the website. Since user experience is an extension of your brand, that unneeded feature could cause more harm than good.

Working with clients is one part education, one part consultation and one part partnership. The goal is always to have the best performing website possible for your client. When you show the level of care and passion to achieve that goal, relating core concepts like these becomes easier.

Rise Creative Group is proud to announce the launch of Brenda Bence’s newly re-designed website.

Brenda is a renowned international brand and marketing expert whose talents involve speaking, training, and coaching. She is also the author of How YOU™ are like Shampoo and How YOU™ are like Shampoo for Jobseekers, which focus on the importance of creating and maintaining strong personal brands. Brenda focuses on the combination of both corporate and personal branding to help her clients and readers achieve greater success. She has more than 25 years of experience with Fortune 150 multinational corporations and has been responsible for marketing some of the world’s biggest selling brands in almost 50 countries across four continents. Brenda’s unique experience as a corporate branding expert, combined with her years as a coach and trainer, make her singularly qualified to show you how to build both powerhouse corporate and personal brands while she entertains with her quick wit and engaging style.

Brenda’s main focus for her website re-design project was to take her two current websites and combine them to better promote her How YOU™ are like Shampoo branding and marketing books, training, speaking and coaching services. Through our unique strategy process Rise was able to uncover several conversion paths for Brenda’s site visitors to allow them to easily purchase products, contact Brenda about her services and receive free information about branding and marketing.

Rise wishes Brenda Bence much success in the future and also encourages you to check out her new website.

I just found this guest blog post on Micro Persuasion from Leo Babauta on the Tao of Marketing. Leo’s philosophy in marketing is dead on with today’s trends in interactive design and using your website as a key marketing tool for your businesses.

Attract customers by providing a valuable resource to help them get what they need. There’s no better strategy to start your website with.

1. Find out what your customers want.
2. Continually provide what they want in an easy way for them to get it (your website). Keep building your resource.
3. Be attractive, not pushy. Free, not controlling.

Ultimately, the care you will prove to your customers will shine through in this strategy and you’ll be able to beat out other pushy, customer controlling competition.

Question of the post: How are you finding out what your customers want?

March 9-13

I thought this was a great post and wanted to share it with “you”, our readers. During March 9-13 small businesses are looking to band together for a small business referral stimulus package. With talk of recession and the economic stimulus package, John Jantsch, author or Duct Tape Marketing, decided it was time for small businesses to take matters into our own hands and has decleared March 9-13, 2009 “Make a Referral Week” in hopes of generating over 1000 referral leads to deserving small businesses.

Rise has decided to join the efforts to help stimulate the small business economy. Read more about “Make A Referral Week”.

We hope you will join in the efforts to keep small businesses thriving in this down economy by referring leads to other small businesses in and around our community.

We would love to get more thoughts on how to generate referrals — please leave us a comment!