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Why Web Design is a Waste of Money

Posted by Jason Rudland on Mon, Apr 05, 2010 @ 11:19 AM
 

Why Web Design is a waste of moneyWhen I started working on the Internet in the mid-nineties things were much simpler, for a short while all you had to do was launch a website and new customers would come flocking. When this window of opportunity was over, web design became a waste of money.

"My website is not a waste!" I hear you all scream in horror. Well, no. What I mean is all the time, effort and money that is put into business web design is a waste. The simple fact is potential clients browsing a website don't care about the design. Sure, it needs to have clear navigation and it can't hurt to include your logo and corporate colours, but that is all that is required.

I often talk with business owners about Internet marketing at my seminars or networking events and usually at least one person will tell me their website will be finished soon, and they would like to talk to me about the Internet Marketing - I try not to groan out loud. But I can't help wondering how much money they spent on the web design: £1,000 - £5,000 or even more sometimes. That money could have been a whole year's Internet marketing budget - including the website!

It's the Internet marketing that generates leads and clients, not the web design.

Website software has reached a stage where the mechanics of all but the most sophisticated websites can be easily created with little effort. All too often I have to re-code a new website to optimise it because the web designer doesn't know how to. Much better is to get your Internet marketing agency to create or re-vamp your website with a simple, effective design.

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Comments

Web design is a far broader discipline than just the shiny graphics. 
 
Think layout, think typography, think information architecture. Think about your customers.. 
 
It's CRUCIAL for your online success. 
 
 
Posted @ Friday, April 09, 2010 12:30 AM by Martin Freer
Hi Jason, I certainly like the design of your website, its fresh, informative, and most importantly user friendly. I will gladly pass your details on to other business people. Kind regards Jim Hewitt 
Posted @ Friday, April 09, 2010 3:57 AM by Jim Hewitt
Thanks for your comment Martin. 
 
I agree that layout, typography and the rest is important, but it can be easily achieved with a content management system. 
 
Important web design factors, for me, bleed over into social media, SEO and marketing. 
 
Read my blog on Web Design for a fuller explanation of what I mean. 
Posted @ Friday, April 09, 2010 4:36 AM by Jason Rudland
I agree that often there is to great an importance put on the look of websites.  
 
I do believe that if you have an badly designed ugly website that it does not help you. 
 
The most important thing though is usablility. Many "pretty"sites are not geared to making it simple for the user to actually get around the site. The same gos for badly designed websites that are ugly and messy. The user cant find what they need so they leave the site.
Posted @ Thursday, April 22, 2010 7:09 AM by Kirsten
I completely disagree that web design is a waste of time. Its like colour marketing v black and white. Yes you can spend money on marketing but a good designer needs to earn his keep! Spend money on both. Don't write off designers - we need the business as well as you!
Posted @ Wednesday, June 09, 2010 4:58 AM by Antony
Thanks for your comment Antony. I think we have to agree to disagree. What's wrong with black & white if it works? Your argument seems to be focused on the business web designers will lose - not what you can do for your clients.
Posted @ Wednesday, June 09, 2010 5:23 AM by Jason Rudland
"The simple fact is potential clients browsing a website don't care about the design. Sure, it needs to have clear navigation and it can't hurt to include your logo and corporate colours, but that is all that is required." 
 
The issue though is that old dull boring looking sites don't attract business. Design is important - look at a bounce rate to see how many people look around.  
 
Look and feel represents your corporate brand - its why all the big firms sites look highly professional and integrated with their corporate image. Why do these sites spend big money on redesigns - it's because they work and carry a value.
Posted @ Wednesday, June 16, 2010 9:31 AM by Antony
Antony, I agree with you that old dull boring looking sites don't attract business - but neither do swanky shiny exciting ones. The Internet is full of great websites that have virtually no traffic at all.  
 
My point is that remarkable content and compelling offers will attract web visitors and, with the help of landing pages, turn that into business.  
 
Remarkable content and compelling offers have nothing whatever to do with web design. Calls-to-action and landing pages do involve a little graphic/web design, but are easily achieved.
Posted @ Wednesday, June 16, 2010 12:46 PM by Jason Rudland
Obviously written to upset web designers!! Tell me Jason, if your service is so good, how come the search for "advanced internet marketing ltd" (which i think is the name of your business) putswww.advancedinternetmarketing.co.uk/ ranked number 1, and your site number 3...??? 
 
If i were you, i would stick with the web design as its actually better looking than the number 1 ranker.
Posted @ Thursday, August 12, 2010 4:04 AM by na
Thanks for your comment. I honestly wasn't trying to upset anyone with this post - it is just my opinion, but it does seem to have ruffled some feathers. 
 
You're right, Advanced Internet Marketing Limited is the official name of the company, but it's not something I actually pursue to be ranked for - it just happens. I go for search terms that people who don't already know me might search for - of which I'm pleased to say there are many. 
 
I'm glad you like the design of my site, but I hope you like the content better ;)
Posted @ Thursday, August 12, 2010 4:28 AM by Jason Rudland
Good design is about good usability. A good designer would have used a darker typeface and a larger one and got you at least 15% more readership. Good design helps good content convert, and conversion is the aim.
Posted @ Wednesday, November 17, 2010 5:06 AM by Matthew
Hi Matthew, thanks for your comment. It was good to meet you at my Internet marketing seminar too. 
 
My own opinion is that I doubt a darker typeface would make all that difference - this blog is by far and a way my most popular, and that has nothing to do with how it looks - its the controversial content!  
 
Good design does help conversion, but to achieve a design of suitable quality is easy, and can be achieved with a free CMS and one of hundreds of free templates. I still firmly believe it's better for a small or medium sized business to spend their money on creating remarkable content, rather than a remarkable design.
Posted @ Wednesday, November 17, 2010 6:43 AM by Jason Rudland
I found your viewpoint hard to correlate with the small amount of time (said to be 6 seconds) that visitors on average spend looking at a site. They're not reading, they're looking, before making a decision whether to stay or go. That's a visual decision process, ergo what the site looks like has an immediate effect. Granted if the site looks good but the contents poor, they won't stay. Also if the site look, navigation and content are good but nobody knows it's there also no good. If you drive lots of people to a site but the content etc is poor, also no good. 
 
I believe, as with all forms of visual and audio marketing, it's a combination of factors. There is no single one thing that makes a site work - though it's a lot easy to tell a client they only need to spend money on what you do, for everything to to be okay. This I think has, and continues to give SEO a bad name. 
 
Kind Regards 
 
Jonathan Frewin
Posted @ Wednesday, August 17, 2011 10:29 AM by Jonathan Frewin
Hi Jonathan, There is no doubt I'm intentionally being controversial with my post. However, I do feel I'm making a valid point, as do you.  
 
I am talking about the people who consider website design to be the only factor in success - certainly I agree with you the design needs to assist in the decision making process, but I do question how much emphasis this gets. A tiny company selling locally does not have to be so concerned about their 'brand' or their colours - at their level any shade of blue will do! 
 
Posted @ Wednesday, August 17, 2011 12:17 PM by Jason Rudland
Thanks for your reply Jason. 
 
I agree with your last point on the shade of blue being irrelevant. I had a potential client who insisted that I move a rule over by 3mm and wouldn't grasp that it would be in a slightly different position depending on which browser it was being viewed in. And they had a really poorly thought out website, probably because the client was focussing in on irrelevant factors.  
 
A good web designer knows about the factors that make a difference to the visitor, and works to enhance that experience.
Posted @ Saturday, August 20, 2011 10:55 AM by Jonathan Frewin
It's the Internet marketing that generates leads and clients, not the web design. 
 
This correct only once the visitor has decided it is worth reading the content. 
 
They do that based on their initial view of the website. That is influenced entirely by the design - they layout, the fonts, the graphics, the colours etc.  
 
And then when they choose to read you have to contend with content issues. Too busy and you overwhelm them. Not enough, or poorly laid out and its too hard to find what they need. 
 
Design is seriously important. Without good design good content is wasted. 
 
We've just redesigned our site. Simplified navigation, new colour scheme and fonts and different graphics. Result - improved the SEO, improved the Google ranking and improved conversions. We kept MOST (probably 98%) of the content the same. 
 
I could not disagree with the overall premise of your article more. It is short sighted and does not value the important role design plays in communicating the important message you spent your time creating when you wrote your content. 
 
Consider this. When was the last time you picked up a book to read and put it down after a few pages not because of the content but because it was hard to read? Why was it hard to read? Too small text, wrong typeface.  
 
Notice anything about all the good business books these days? Larger typefaces (people over 40 generally need glasses), good use of whitespace. Sensible structuring of content. Easy to read.  
 
These are DESIGN issues. The same applies to your website. 
 
I'm not a designer. So I'm not trying to sell any design services. 
 
Stephen
Posted @ Wednesday, September 14, 2011 4:52 PM by Stephen Kellett
Thanks for your comment Stephen. I am not saying no design at all is necessary - of course it is. My point is that business owners in general worry about it way too much. They spend valuable time and money worrying about irrelevant design issues hen they could be marketing the site & making money.  
Posted @ Thursday, September 15, 2011 1:37 AM by Jason Rudland
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