The classic art v/s science debater extends to the discipline of website design very well. As many experts have duly noted, artful web design should be complemented by scientific information architecture principles. Information architecture is the science behind “findability” and it touches all aspects of your website layout like global navigation, search bars, tags, pagination, in-content linkage and footer links so that people can find information and take decisions of completing a sale or providing information for you to contact them. You can see that information architecture is the backbone of your online goals and a website that offers solutions and answers through proper information architecture, finds customers too.

To put it in a clear manner, if you have good information architecture, people can easily find your products and services, analyze its technical details and get answers to any questions that they have about them. However, it is easier said than done. A good information architecture is a challenge and if you overcome this challenge, you can convert visitors to your website into satisfied long term customers.

When you work with a web design company or a standalone website designer, there are many things that you expect them to know. Your list of requirements may range from professional design experience to robust communication and reporting systems. Clients also look for local web design service providers to that they can touch base with them on a regular basis and can hold them accountable for any drift which happens from the expected project movement.

While all the above criteria are important and form the basis of selecting a web design company, there is a vital ingredient to the success of your website – how well do you communicate with the designer and how well they understand your business. As an external firm, do not expect your website design company to know all what you know about your business. Some design firms are exploratory and research intensive in nature while others may only superficially ask questions or raise any concerns. While a web design company that asks penetrating questions or meets with you to have great planning guides for design are a boon, the onus of clarity in terms of what is required, lies solely with you, the client.

Ranking is one of the most highly used, overused and abused SEO metrics. While most of the SEO experts are responsible for over-hyping this SEO performance measurement technique, the role of clients seeking higher results for every possible keyword, cannot be undermined. Clients or SEOs, everyone seems to be obsessed with higher rankings and we are yet to find a performance evaluation where rankings are not the first metrics to be reported.

Some result-oriented type SEO firms combine this with tools that predict SERP CTR rates. A SERP is a search engine results page and CTR refers to Click-Thru rate. While it is true that higher rankings bring more traffic, trying to predict accurate percentage traffic which corresponds to SERP position, usually leads to failure. Due to their relative positions on a SERP, rankings 1 to 5 get much more visibility as compared to the 6-10th ranking. Eye-tracking studies and leaked papers from AOL click-thru reports were used to predict ranking to traffic measurement numbers. Moreover, X or Y% increase was further translated and projected as future expected inquiries and sales for clients.

While everyone was looking happy with this so called perfect trajectory, a lighting of realization struck companies when the traffic figures didn’t match the predicted numbers. The reality to prediction numbers were so wild that there was nothing that businesses and their SEO’s could do apart from scratching their heads and tossing their prediction files into secret bins, so that they never have to see them again.

Most of the small and mid-size businesses in US still think of website as a peripheral entity to the day-to-day operations of their business. Most of them still do not realize the potential of their own website and the kind of pivotal role it is capable of playing when it comes to Integrated Marketing.

Your business website not just acts as your 24 hour active brand evangelist, but also has the potential of acting as a salesperson ready with all the arms and ammunition to fight a sales battle and convert visitors into prospects. You can even improve your customer relations and answer their questions, queries and handle their objections on your website, in a manner that increases your brand’s reputation online.