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Your website is not for you

websmith.studio

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Re: Your website is not for you

#61

Post by dgellow »

xondono wrote: post #58
dgellow wrote: post #53

I fully reject the whole “the website isn’t art”, “the website isn’t about you”. That fees so myopic. A website is part of developing a brand identity. It is about expressing your values, while also providing information/a service (assuming we talk about companies). Art is about communicating feelings, emotions, a message, there is a clear overlap with a brand identity here

But that isn’t the point at all. For most businesses, you’re not the target audience of your website, your potential customers are.

Yes. That’s the point. You’re in a conversation with your customers, their website interactions is your opportunity to develop your identity/brand. The way you yourself (assuming you’re the founder for example) feel about it does matter quite a lot

Re: Your website is not for you

#62

Post by abanana »

xyzelement wrote: post #28

The only problem with this analysis is that in practice a lot of the designers don't understand the customer and don't understand the business. Don't understand the market, at least compared to the founders or people who've been in the space for a long time. So there's a bit of a false confidence where the designers think they know what's really right because they did "scientific approach". But in reality the founder…

Absolutely correct - as with so many things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. It's too easy to think "I'm right and you're wrong".

Re: Your website is not for you

#63

Post by fny »

xyzelement wrote: post #28

The only problem with this analysis is that in practice a lot of the designers don't understand the customer and don't understand the business. Don't understand the market, at least compared to the founders or people who've been in the space for a long time. So there's a bit of a false confidence where the designers think they know what's really right because they did "scientific approach". But in reality the founder…

I think this applies to everyone. There's a lot of ego and pride that people can't shake.

Usually, the copy and structure of a landing page is dictated by founders or marketing folks. Sales people also make this mistake on their slides. They have too many slides about a fancy team, fancy product, and fancy features -- then maybe they show a tailored use case or two.

I highly recommend Donald Miller's Marketing Made Simple as an antidote.

Re: Your website is not for you

#64

Post by fduran »

Yes, the website is for prospective (and current) clients.

A small annoyance in startup circles is getting feedback about my website front page along the lines of "I didn't understand your hero, everybody should understand in one sentence what you do". Well, no, my clients will self-select as in not everybody needs to understand what "troubleshooting servers" or "devops" is :-)

Re: Your website is not for you

#66

Post by dwd »

BoredPositron wrote: post #13

Your commercial website is not for you. Would be a better title.

Or non-personal.

There are non-commercial websites such as Government that put a lot of effort into focussing on the user.

Some of the Gov design systems are well worth looking at.

https://design-system.service.gov.uk/

https://designsystem.digital.gov/

Re: Your website is not for you

#67

Post by alex-yost »

xyzelement wrote: post #28

The only problem with this analysis is that in practice a lot of the designers don't understand the customer and don't understand the business. Don't understand the market, at least compared to the founders or people who've been in the space for a long time. So there's a bit of a false confidence where the designers think they know what's really right because they did "scientific approach". But in reality the founder…

[dead]

Re: Your website is not for you

#69

Post by shevy-java »

> The website isn't for the founder, the marketing manager, or the board. It's for the person you've never met - the customer

Actually - the websites I create, design and maintain, are ... primarily for me. I am a very critical user though, so I am also a great feedback person. I tell myself "you need to improve this". Then I either do so, or put it in a todo file that is rarely looked at lateron again. So I don't agree that a website is not "for you". I think that a website CAN be for you. The article makes no such distinction; it only insinuates that everyone is incompetent and designs for things other people may not need or want.

Besides, people are also different - designing a perfect webpage is not possible. You have to make compromises. Take reddit.com - I can only use old.reddit.com because the new interface is so useless. That's one example of so many more that could be given here.

Re: Your website is not for you

#70

Post by zkmon »

> It's for the person you've never met

Well, you have made a big assumption there. Maybe you haven't met the decision makers. It's not just their own whims and fancies. It's true that one's own perception of what the customer likes, is influenced by their personal taste as well. But on the other hand, building something while disregarding your own taste completely, doesn't give the required motivation.

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