Proper visual and structural design is a crucial step in building a site that won’t kill you.

Design gets a bad rap sometimes. It’s expensive, time consuming, not needed—designers create answers that nobody wants to problems that don’t exist…yikes!

We’ve talked with many companies over the years. They’ve ranged from shoestring startups to some big names. No matter what size of company it is, many times there is someone there unwilling to make the investment on design and usability. The main complaint is that the payoff in those areas are not worth the investment.

It couldn’t be farther from the truth for design, especially design for the web. I came across some telling stats from the authors blog of the same book Frank is posting about, Web Design for ROI.

75% about the credibility of an organization based on the design of its web site. Source: Fogg, B.J., Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility, Persuasive Technology Lab. Stanford University, 2002 (revised November 2003)

How about this one: 68% of U.S. online shoppers agree that they will distrust a site that doesn’t have a professional appearance. Source: eMarketer, 2006

There are many ways proper design can help your company, but today I’ll sum up two ways that are some of the most important, your company image and conversions.

What is a company anyway?

Beyond your people, your company is made up of tangible things like machines, computers, desks, chairs and intangible things like systems and processes. There is a glue though, that holds everything together in the minds of everyone outside your company and Elmers doesn’t make it. Your image is how everyone views your company. You image is made up of the visual representations of your company, your people and the experience everyone outside your company has with your image and people.

That brings me to the third statistic: 83% of businesses use the Internet to research and find potential vendors. * Enquiro: “Business to Business Survey 2007.”

How many owners, C and V level people or marketing directors can sleep at night knowing that 83% of new potential prospects visit the company site BEFORE they call, email or visit—basically before they interact with the people in your company. It doesn’t really matter how nice your receptionist is if they never call. Your sales director could have the biggest heart in the world, but if they don’t get to that point, no one would know. From the image aspect alone, the investment on design is essential.

Now let’s take a look at it from another perspective, driving a conversion.

Who’s steering this ship anyway?

Proper design in context of a website does a lot more than give someone a warm fuzzy “I like you” feeling. It guides, inspires, educates, and instructs—all leading your visitor to take the next step. That could either be call, click or walk in the store. Or donate, buy, vote, or tell someone else.

Design can lead the visitor through your site in a logical manner, direct them to where they need to go to answer questions they may have and ask them to take an action. Properly planned and executed, design increases conversions. Design is where the ROI is!

Take a recent example of ours of a new startup Jet Charter company, Charter Logic.

We created a site with conversions in mind and produced a steady +9% conversion rate from all site visitors. At a value of $100 per jet charter lead (based on industry lead sales averages) that turns into an average value of $10,000 per month. The numbers don’t lie. Design is essential for a successful website campaign.

Do you have any examples of how design impacted your site, increased your conversions or otherwise saved your life? Comment below!