Message-based sites

Home page design is an important part of delivering brand messages and product experiences. I could talk about the big boys – Google, Yahoo and MSN/Live. But the Google “simplicity” versus the Yahoo “all things to all men” home page discussion has been had by many before today. I don’t like my chances of adding much more value there. However, if you think about what those sites are, they really are applications not messages. Let me clarify that. An application is a tool that takes input and generates output. Google is an application – in this case search. I want to concentrate on sites that are trying to deliver a message.This is by far the more common objective of sites that people wish to establish (especially amongst business owners in Australia).
 
The point of “message-based” sites is attract visitors to which they deliver the message. To meet this objective first impressions are vital. The home page is the first and possibly only chance to capture the interest of a visitor. The message had better be clear. No fancy tricks or deep thinking by the user should be necessary to figure out “what is this all about”. Most website statistics packages (Google analytics definitely) have a metric that usually goes by the name of “bounced traffic” to let you know if your website’s front doors are engaging people. There had better be a good reason if bounced traffic is higher than 50%.

Essentially, what that number is saying is 50% of people that visited your home page decided their time was better spent elsewhere rather than moving deeper within your site for more detail. If your site is a one-pager, or you have done a pile of advertising that has generated a lot of inappropriate traffic, there may be nothing wrong specifically with the site. Additionally, the higher your visit count, the higher your chance that more of your visitors are going to bounce. If there is an explanation, no problem, if there isn’t, it is time to put yourself in the shoes of your visitors to figure out the problem.

There is a whole industry based on delivering messages, it is called advertising. So, let’s take a leaf out of Leo Burnett’s book – obviously he knew something about the subject. He said: “Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read”. That can be applied very neatly to home page design. Leo’s quote might give the gist of what is going to be required, but it is difficult to discuss in a vacuum. So I am going to choose a category out of the blue: seafood restaurants. Well, not quite out of the blue, a restaurant is a very subjective thing; the message on the home page is going to help me decide where to go (hypothetically speaking of course). For me, the message is going to have to contain pretty strong hints of what is on offer and, since I don’t go to seafood restaurants for any old occasion, I need to get a real sense of the atmosphere.

The first cab off the rank using Google maps is Post Seafood Restaurant at GPO 1 Martin Place, Sydney.


 
Google sends me to http://www.gposydney.com/. This is not a good start. I would have expected a more specific link (I want to discuss home pages and Post Restaurant is missing one altogether!). The GPO website is one giant flash file. A slowly animating, deliberately pixelated, splash screen that takes too long to get through provides me with absolutely no value. First impressions ruined. The actual usable part of the site arrives and I think I can count three background graphics laid on top of each other over which is a floor plan of the GPO. I see the word Post and I click; unfortunately, because of the busy backdrop, I have clicked Post Bar not Post Restaurant. I try to click back in my browser, but the single flash file that represents GPO has eaten my navigation history! Clicking in the flash does not navigate to new pages and the flash content doesn’t provide a way to navigate.

Only half the page is visible in 1024x768 screen resolution, with the top half of the page dedicated to nothing but black. In fact I have to get up to a vertical resolution of 1200 pixels to avoid scrolling the fixed sized content.

After getting over the technical annoyances I start looking for the message. Let’s pretend for a second that the Post Seafood Restaurant section of the flash file is the home page. I am underwhelmed. It takes a good strong design with purpose to pull off a black background. But here we have two paragraphs of text, a list of awards (nothing for 2007), and some pictures of the inside of the restaurant with not a picture of food in sight! At least I could find a menu (getting off track from the home page focusmenulog did a much better and cleaner job of presenting me with the menu).

In summary:

• There was no home page! If I was investing in a restaurant I would consider the lack of a dedicated website a shortcoming of the plan.

• Technical problems galore creating usability issues and generally taking my focus away from finding out about Post Seafood restaurant.

• The closest thing I could find to a home page gives the impression of no atmosphere and no confidence in the actual delivered product.

The reality is probably quite different, it is probably the best restaurant in town, but on this mock hunt, I will never find out.

Second cab off the rank is Manta Seafood.



Wow, big difference. For one, we actually have a home page. It doesn’t take my breath away. But the things I don’t like are actually just subjective– mostly the colour choices (a mud brown background and tan on white menu).

Top marks for:

• There is a branding space at the top of the page. When I go to the restaurant for the first time I am going to know what to look out for (I do hope they followed the branding from their bricks presence to their clicks presence).

• Easily accessible menu, tan on white is a little difficult to read so maybe only half a mark.

• I can start licking my lips! There are pictures of the product, both the food and what kind of atmosphere I can expect. The alfresco dining shot on the right hand side has me there!

• Simple and well executed – no animation, this home page is actually technically simpler and probably much cheaper to produce and maintain. Simple is sometimes a whole lot better.

Third cab off the rank is Nick’s Bar & Grill. Google took me straight to the seafood restaurant page. But we are talking home pages so let’s start at http://www.nicks-seafood.com.au/.



I don’t mind that this page actually shows “Nick’s” full line-up. I am learning there is a Nick’s brand. Chances are if I like the seafood restaurant I would give one of the others a go after. It is easy to find my way to the seafood section. And there are text links below the graphic, so it is a really usable site even if things go wrong.

Nick’s cardinal sin is script in the page which is resizing my browser. Hey Nick! My browser, not yours! And worse, if I then reposition my browser back to how it was, my next click through to the seafood area reapplies Nick’s positioning. Nick! You were going so well!

The home page focuses on the product, which does look fantastic. I can tell I am going to be treated to a view. Blurring the background does make a statement about Nick’s focus. It is about the food! And I am down with that. The only thing I would do differently is minimise the screen real estate given to the jobs section. It brings down the tone of the site. I think the title of the restaurant, the jobs section and the chain of restaurants displayed gives the whole thing a less “high falutin’” feel.

So who made it simple? Manta – nice simple html execution.

Who made it memorable? Manta – I am still picturing myself eating seafood alfresco by the harbour.

Who made it inviting to look at? Nick did a good job of that one. But I actually think Manta executed this better. It satisfied my food and atmosphere pre-requisites.

Who made it fun to read? Who said the Internet was about reading! I’m leaving copywriting for another time.

That said I am hypothetically heading to Nick’s. Not every offering is for every customer and I am definitely not in the high falutin’ set!

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In his real job, Luke Amery works on shopping cart software. He is the technical director of On Technology, Australia's leading e-commerce development company.