Effectiveness of the Company Website - Essay Example

A Report on the Effectiveness of the Company Website Name: Institution: Executive summary This paper reports on the effectiveness of an e-commerce website. By conducting a general background on website effectiveness, it has been found that a variety of factors determines whether a website is effective or not. Factors such as usability, user focus, links, usefulness, design and layout and richness of the content, have been found to determine the effectiveness of a website. The website being studied is used as a virtual store for products with the aim of attracting visitors and browsers and eventually converting them into buyers. The users are potential customers across the world. This website has been reported as well designed and relatively effective, but a facelift to add its value has been recommended. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction:…………………………………………………………..………4 2.0 Effectiveness overview:…………..……………………………….…………..4 2.1 Website layout and design: …………………………………………..5 2.2 Usability: ………………………………………………….………….5 2.3 User focus………………………………………………………….….6 2.4 Making the site content rich…………………………………….….…6 2.5 Managing the websites links: ………………………………..…….…6 2.6 Usefulness: …………………………………………………….….….7 2.7 Ease of use: …………………………………………………………...7 2.8 Risk: …………………………………………………………………..7 2.9 Cognitive enjoyment…………………………………………………..8 3.0 The company website:……………………………………………….………..8 3.1 Uses of the website: …………………………………………………..8 3.2 The audience:………………………………………………………….8 3.3Design and layout:……………………………………………..………9 3.4 Functionality of the site:……………………….……………….……..10 3.5 Cultural appropriateness:………………………….………………….11 4.0 The outcome of the study…………………………………………………….11 5.0 Recommendations…………………………………………………………….12 6.0 My perception about the website……………………………………………..13 7.0 Bibliography………………………………………………………….………..15 A Report on the Effectiveness of the Company Website 1.0 Introduction: Effectiveness of a website is determined by several factors. A website should be simple enough to appeal to an average person with average knowledge (Nissanoff, 2006). The design used should be professional and user friendly, it should enhance navigation through appropriate link systems .The design used should enhance fast loading to safe the users’ time. An effective and attractive website is very critical so as to attract audience and encourage them to seek solution on the website (Miller, 2002). This report analyses the effectiveness of the company website. The report focuses on the design, layout, functionality, cultural appropriateness, usability among other aspects. This report finally presents the findings and the recommendations that can give insights on how to make improvements on the website. 2.0 website effectiveness overview: A poorly designed website can be very disgraceful and its objectives can hardly be achieved (Kotler, 2009). Lack of page views, no e-mail enquiries could be some of the symptoms that the website is ineffective. A good and effective website should be able to attract users so as to meet its objectives. To make a website more effective and dynamic, the following factors should be considered. An effective website should facilitate flow of information and value between the own, the user and other channels a shown in the table below: Fig 1: flow of value and information. Information Information Value value 2.1 Website layout and design: The popularity and usefulness of a particular website is centered on its layout and design (Juline & Rob, 2005). Effectiveness of a website depends on navigation bar, font color and size and other related features. The content on the website should however be well balanced to enhance its usability. “The design of the site should complement the content of the site, not overpower it. The design should also match stylistically with the message and the purpose of the site” (Jenkins, 2009, p.39) A web site with so many images, flash banners and graphics many make the website to take unreasonably more tome to load. Eventually visitors may get fed up and navigate away from the site. “Web design companies are advised to spend considerable time finalizing final website’s design with clean and attractive layout and the entire web pages elements should be well organized” (Jenkins, 2009, p.40). 2.2 Usability: A web site can never achieve any of its objectives if the user cannot be able to use it. Regardless of how appealing and well designed a website is, usability is a salient feature of any effective website. In establishing the usability of a website, the nature of the website plays a central role. For instance, “a large e-commerce site needs to have an effective search function, logical categorization of products for browsing, and a user-friendly shopping cart” (Jenkins, 2009, p.43). Some websites which have large text like blogs will need to have swift navigation to enhance easy shift from one article to another. Besides good navigation, the readability should be excellent. A website with poor usability is ineffective as it can hardly keep visitors on the site or encourage them to keep coming back (Graham, 2008). 2.3 User focus: A website is usually designed for the user and as such, its success is determined by the user. It therefore goes without saying that a website should be focused on the user (Frieden, Roche, & Patrick, 2006). Websites may fail to achieve objectives because designers failed to consider the needs of the user and instead get inspired by their own needs and priorities. A web site which is user focused contains contents that is of help and interests to the user. It is also suitably design to enhance accessibility and navigation by the user. In case of any development on the website, the users’ needs and desires are always considered. 2.4 Making the site content rich: The content that is put on the website should prove valuable to the user. Too many words that are empty or less useful to the users can only scare them away. The information on the website should be capable of selling the companies ideas and make the user more interested. Besides valuable content on the website its self, it could be advisable to set links to some other useful sites so as keep users coming back again and again (Holden, 2006). 2.5 Managing the websites links: Any website operating in isolation can hardly meet its objectives. An effective website is capable of attracting big traffic as a result of linkage with other similar sites. “Both the links to your site and from your site to other locations-can improve overall visibility and attract more visitors” (Holden, 2006, p.56). Checking your links to other sites that might be useful to the visitor is described better by Holden (2006) where he says, “by creating a page full of valuable links, you improve your own credibility and you turn your website into a resource that victors will want to return to on a regular basis”. It is however important to maintain accuracy of links in order not to lose credibility of the visitors. 2.6 Usefulness: While selecting a website, users normally determine whether the website contain useful features that meet their needs. The information on the website should have useful value to the targeted user, and the users should be able to understand its usefulness in meeting their needs. 2.7 Ease of use: An effective website is easy to use by the users. The design should accommodate for effective navigation that makes the user easily move from one location to the other (Chaudhury, Abijit, & Pierre, 2002). The user should be able to know where they are and how to navigate away or resume back. The navigation features should exhibit consistency to enhance usability. 2.8 Risk: The users perception of risk especially loss of privacy can significantly affect the effectiveness of the website. There ought to be clear measures to assure the privacy of the user. Where the user is required to provide some personal information, an assurance that the information will not be used at their expense or made available to the third parties should be provided. The opinion of the external parties about a website can influence its effectiveness. The management of the company should ensure that the reputation of the website is good especially by having good and useful content to attract users. The perception by the user of how the website is to be expected to follow some stringent policy of conduct makes it more attractive and effective. A website that lacks integrity scares away the users as they fear they might lose by using the website. An effective website also possesses the necessary competence to carry out the basic responsibilities. 2.9 Cognitive enjoyment: Any signs indicating that a particular website makes user have fun using the website is a sign of its success. Fun involves curiosity, heightened enjoyment, focused immersion, temporal dissociation and control. The wed designer should focus on what really makes the targeted user have fun, and incorporate features that shall provide such fun. 3.0 The companies’ website: The website of the company is a commercial (e-commerce) site whose main objective is to attract visitors and convert them into buyers of the company’s products. In essence, the website acts as a store for the commodities that the company sells. 3.1 Uses of the website: According to scholars, “not only can business be transacted rapidly and without the constraint of physical bonders, but also web-based e-commerce is considered to be significantly more economical and efficient than traditional business processes” (Bean, 2009, p.1). It is in this concept that inspired the company to establish the website and use to market and sell its goods. In this case, business to consumer (B2C) model is applied. In this model “the business presents information describing their products and services, accepts and validates transactions, ships products and services, and receives payments” (Bean, 2009, p.1). It is therefore clear that the company makes transactions through the website without visiting the ‘brick and motor’. It can be established how the company uses the website to generate business value through exploitation and penetration of new markets opportunities. 3.2 The audience: The website particularly targets web browsers and window shoppers with the aim of converting them into buyers of the company’s products. The target audience is from across the globe-there is no bonder limit. Most of the design measures of the website are particularly inspired by the desire to attract the audience, as the company acknowledges that other sites are just a click away, and dissatisfied audience can navigate away. The audience of the website consists of both individuals and companies interested in the company’s products. 3.3Design and layout: Being an e-commerce web, then the layout and design is the most salient features that can attract or keep away the potential buyers. The company has however put great efforts to enhance the design, but much can still be done to make it even more attractive Fig2: website design. Fig 1: Representation of the company web home page. Source:http://www.zencartoptimization.com/2009/05/18/most-important-parts-of-an-ecommerce-home-page/ As it can be seen from figure 1, the web design is quite effective as evidenced by its simplicity; it can be understood and used by a person with average knowledge. The most visible feature that makes it very effective is the ‘call to action’ feature which encourages the visitor to take action immediately; it is especially presented through banners like ‘click here to buy now’. It is very easy to locate the product that the customer needs, and the terms are in burst and very clear. The colors are well chosen while the images are gorgeous and appealing. The layout is relatively effective due to its consistency. The texts are however pretty cumbersome and can perhaps confuse the visitor Fig 3: Funnels give a clear image on conversion success rates. Source: http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/how-to-measure-the-effectiveness-of-web-designs/ The graph above shows a representation of how users would behave when they visit a site. It would be very discouraging to lose visitors for instance during the second stage because of a design flaw. A good website design will encourage the visitors to go up to the finish order. 3.4 Functionality of the site: The central purpose of this website is to give display of the company products for the visitors to buy. This purpose describes the function that the site must perform to be considered effective. The good layout and usability of this website can evidence its ability to function quickly and accurately. The customer can easily locate the product and initiate the transaction without much struggle or enquiries. A study on the functionality of the site found that when a customer types “7.1” on the quantity field, then the response is that, “please only enter a whole number in quantity”. In this case, the assistance approach to the user seems very suitable as opposed to a situation where a customer could type wrongly and get a response such as “invalid quantity”. Such a comment can only constrain the customer and discourage his continued use of the site. The site however needs to incorporate more functionality to make it more interactive. 3.5 Cultural appropriateness: According to Arno (2010), studies have shown that culture plays an instrumental role in shaping the way people process information. In that regard, websites should be designed to accommodate for cultural diversity, and as such appeal to people from diverse cultural background. In this company website, a lot need to be done to make the site more appealing to people from diversified cultures, especially considering the fact that it attracts audience from all over the world. More animation in place of text could attract a wider audience. Usability: As discussed earlier, usability requires that the website provide for easy and effective navigation features. On t his ground, the website of this company is effective as it has a home page link inside the main navigation to assist the user who may wish to refer back to the home page. Besides, there are adequate links to help the user easily navigate to whichever location that they may wish. The content is also clear and simple, but the volume of the texts is a little bit more than adequate. The site also lacks adequate incentive to return after the first visit, which is very important. 4.0 The outcome of the study: Trends in web design are continually evolving, and likelihood is if a particular site has not been redesigned frequently, then it is obvious that it will become less fashionable for the users (Patricia & Beatty, 2009). Websites should get facelift of their design or completely overhauled every couple of years to keep away from any possible inconvenience. In that regard, the study of this website has realized the importance of giving the website a facelift in several of its functions to enhance its usability. Although the web design has been found quite satisfactory, the urgency and importance of its improvement cannot be underestimated. The site needs to incorporate more features and improve the existing ones to increase its value. 5.0 Recommendations: The site needs some more incorporation and redesign to appeal to a wider cultural diversity. Apart from aesthetic of color and design, there is a couple of ways the designer can do to come up with a site that cuts across cultures easily. For example the designer can use appropriate tools such as CSS as the formatting tools to ease change of language and the text between pages. This keeps the content separate from the design so that a complete redesign is not required for every time the language is changed. All the procedures should have a simple outlook .this is because visitors get tempted to navigate away from the site if they feel that the steps are quite involving. For example the membership registration form should be simple and easy to follow. The information asked in the forms should be accurate and should not require the visitors to reveal information that is not necessary. The procedures for making a purchase should be minimal to avoid scaring visitors away. In that regard, a shopping cart is a perfect match. As evidenced by the report, the designers needs do more to ensure that the visitor have a reason to come back. Interesting content that make the visitor think about the site all the time can be necessary in this case. Something interesting will stick in the visitors mind and inspire them to come back and look at it. For example a blog relating to the company business can make the visitors keep coming back. Regarding the appearance of the web home page, more needs to be done to improve its effectiveness. The number of text can be reduced to remain with only the most important component. Also, a change of the font style to a more artistic type can improve the attractiveness of the website. 6.0 My Perceptions about the Website Item description Strongly Disagree (1) Somewhat Disagree (2) Neutral (3) Somewhat Agree (4) Strongly Agree (5) B1) information searching activity on website is enjoyable Justify: I strongly agree with the website because so much enjoyed searching information from the website since the website offered a user friendly platform.. Item description Strongly Disagree (1) Somewhat Disagree (2) Neutral (3) Somewhat Agree (4) Strongly Agree (5) C1) My information searching activity on the website was useful Justify: . The website is very useful since it provides links to other sites with useful information. The search engine makes it possible to search anything from the site and from other sites by just entering a simple key word. It is very useful. (The End) Bibliography Arno, C. (2010). Building a cross cultural web design for a wider audience. Retrieved from http://www.onextrapixel.com/2010/06/22/building-a-cross-cultural-web-design-for-a-wider-audience/ The author background is less known but seems to provide basic information about website design. The source is not very reliable unless corroborated with other sources. In this web site, Arno discusses several cultural factors that influence effectiveness of a website and the strategies that can be used to ensure that a company web site reaches a wider cultural diversity. Arno seems to have extensively researched for the article which is objectively represented and intended for people looking for basic knowledge on this particular subject. The source is easily accesses by searching the words ‘website design audience and culture’ from the Google. Bean, J. (2003). Engineering global e-commerce sites: a guide to data capture, content, and transactions. Massachusetts: Morgan Kaufmann. This book is a boon to technology professionals who are responsible for global integration projects. Faced with the mind-boggling com. James Bean has created an extraordinary compilation of standards information, and provided his insight on how to resolve complex integration problems. The author describes how other sites besides eBay can be used to market products of a company online. He describes the strategies that can be implemented on company website to achieve that purpose. The author is an experienced university professor and is accredited for making several publications on e-commerce. The book can easily be accessed from the Google books online. Chaudhury, M., Abijit, J., & Pierre, K. (2002). E-Business and e-Commerce Infrastructure. New York: McGraw-Hill.  Written for commercial users and scholars, the book which is an advanced undergraduate or graduate textbook of use for E-Business and e-Commerce Infrastructure covers a wide perspective on the role of website on the e-commerce.the book also discusses several other technological infrastructure used in e-commerce. The book Includes detailed description of how effective website design can influence the success of e-commerce. The book explores the special complexities that differentiate effectiveness of websites. The authors who are scholars in e-commerce are well versed with e-business and have written several articles on e-commerce good this book from the Google books after typing the words ‘e-business infrastructure’. Frieden, D., Roche, S., & Patrick K. (2006). E-Commerce: legal issues of the online retailer in Virginia. Richmond Journal of Law & Technology 13 (2). Retrieved from http://law.richmond.edu/jolt/v13i2/article5.pdf  The authors are renowned law researchers and have written many publications on the topic. This journal discusses the relationship between online buyers and the sellers on legal grounds. It gives an insight into how the legal frame work in Virginia incorporates matters of e-commerce. The authors also explores on how the legal policies of different states protects the buyers in e-commerce trade. Written for scholarly audience, the authors’ draws into deeper legal matters as compared with the authors cited below. The authors are lawyers and have first hand experience into legal issues of Virginia, and the article is quite resent hence more useful. Graham, M. (2008). Warped Geographies of Development: the internet and theories of economic development. Geography Compass, 2 (3), 771. Retrieved from http://geospace.co.uk/files/compass.pdf  This article contains a comprehensive theoretical framework of development of economies with a special focus on the contribution of internet. The journal also gives an insight of the dilemma faced by website developers, which demand both integration of cultural diversity and effective design. The author in a professor in a research institute, though, the source cannot be given much trust without corroboration with other sources. The source however gave me some basic information since such theoretical framework is not covered by other authors cited in this list. The fact that the source was written some several years ago makes it less appropriate unless there lacks recent in the similar field. Holden, G. (2006). Selling beyond eBay: foolproof ways to reach more customers and make big money on rival online marketplaces. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. The author who is a researcher with a management research institute describes how marketers can use online tools to successfully reach a wider audience. The source seems invaluable for international marketers wishing to improve online marketing skills, and students doing research on e-commerce.the site gives insight on hoe other sites apart from eBay can be used to market products of a company online. He describes the strategies that can be implemented on company website to achieve that purpose. The book describes in specific how online sites can be designed to attract more customers. The source is accessible from the Google books shelf. Jenkins, S. (2009). Web design all-in-one for dummies. Hoboken: For Dummies. This is an electronic book on the Internet. It has several chapters, including one discussing on various ways of ensuring website effectiveness. This book has invaluable information on website technology and intended for professionals researching on website design. Jenkins has created a compilation of standards information, and provided his insight on how to effectively design a website for marketing purposes. The author describes how other websites can be used to market products of a company online. He describes the strategies that can be implemented on company website to achieve that purpose. The author is an experienced university professor and is accredited for making several publications on e-commerce. The book can easily be accessed from the Google books online. Juline, E., & Rob, L. (2005). Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet. A Monograph Published Simultaneously As the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 12, 23-56. The authors describes the growing acceptance and use of the Internet as an increasingly valuable travel tool for tourism and hospitality businesses taking a critical look at their business-to-customer online environments .The book especially discusses how internet selling influences decision making by consumers-keeping focus on touring consumers. The author target scholarly audience looking for basic information on consumer behavior, tourism and internet business. The authors’ background is not much known but seems to have written several articles on consumer behavior and tourism. He however offers invaluable but basic information which can be very useful while corroborated with some other sources. Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing Management. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall. This is an advanced undergraduate or graduate textbook of use for International Business. It represents the work of distinguished professors (Kotler) who have brought the newest form of the marketing management into clear focus in recent years; Marketing is presented as a solution to the conflicting demands for local responsiveness and global economies. Reports on investigation on companies on their use and plans for further e-commerce. It graphs current technology use and integration with business management. It also highlights security issues and uncertainty as obstacles to marketing. The sample is larger than those used in most surveys; self-selection seems to support businesses with an existing pledge to e-business. Miller, R. (2002). The Legal and E-Commerce Environment Today. California: Thomson Learning.     Miller analyzes the legal aspects of e-commerce.  Drawing on data from California annual Survey of online consumers, the authors consider how legal issues encourage the growth of online business. Though respondents suppose sizeable growth in Internet trade in the short term, at present it correspond to a small percentage of total sales, and less than $10,000 p.a. in 50% of instances. E-traders typically account for more use of internet services, including keeping in touch with suppliers, liaising with business consultants and on-line banking, than they offer to their own patrons. The repercussion is that legal issues are not a reliable pointer of the impact of e-business, and that whole business needs to be considered. Nissanoff, D. (2006). How the New Auction Culture Will Revolutionize the Way We Buy, Sell and Get the Things We Really Want. New York: The Penguin Press. The author extensively discusses about cultural diversity and how the cultural diversity can be revolutionize the way business is done especially while considering technological effects. It Report on the how a cultural diversified audience can influence the implementation of online infrastructure. Looks at existing applications, infrastructure constraints and policy implications. Tabulates progress on the specific commitments in the Strategy; also business estimates of the size of the e-commerce market. The source offers invaluable information for scholars and for commercial purposes. The source is especially very useful as it focuses on future expectations and how culture will shape the online business. Patricia, L., & Beatty, M. (2009). Factors affecting the adoption of websites and online services. Alberta: University of Alberta The authors are researchers at the University of Alberta. They research on the dynamics of the emerging technology and specialize on the impact of such technology on online business. In contrast, an earlier study by Miller cited above merely concentrates on legal aspects of e-commerce.the author who specifically target scholars gives an extensive dissuasion on the effectiveness of online services as compared with the conventional methods. In particular, the source is very useful as it discusses how a website can be designed to improve its effectiveness for e- commerce. The book can be accessed from the University of Alberta online catalogue or from the Google books. Read More