Creating familiarity

The Web is dynamic: one of its biggest features is its ability to change quickly and easily. That ability to change is also one of the Web’s biggest drawbacks. Just because change is easy doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right thing to do. When you build a presence, and you’ve created a relationship with the user, don’t be too eager to change it. Everything you change is one more thing for the user to have to think about the next time they visit your site, and one more thing they could do wrong.

It’s very difficult to create that personal attachment with the user. Creating familiarity and consistency is hard enough. Sites change so often and so easily that they can look completely different from one week to the next. Most people today have to go out of their way to get on the Internet. So when they get there, your site should reward them by being easy to navigate and read, and it should be there for them when they return.

Oftentimes you come to a site and expect things to be a certain way, navigation along the top for instance. You get there, look around, the site has a totally different look and feel, and they moved the navigation to the left side of the page, changed the button names and all of the colors. You’re wondering to yourself, “What in the world were these people thinking?” and then you leave, never to return again. When you pick up your favorite magazine you have a familiarity with it, you know where to find things. The structure and feel haven’t changed, just the content.

Since Web sites are so easy and quick to change, many people think they should. You don’t want to confuse your users and turn them away. The site should reflect the needs of the users, not the needs of the development team.

Remember that the structure of your site is very much like a house. When a house is built there is a foundation, and a framework. As long as that house stands those things never change. You always know where the kitchen is, or where the bathroom is, it becomes familiar. In order to keep it from becoming boring, or to create interest, you change the color of the walls, or hang new pictures. In other words, keep the structure solid, and change the content to create interest.

Give Me Multiple Ways

One of the most beneficial ways to reward your visitors is to offer them multiple ways to navigate your site. Build into your site different ways to find the same information, based on users current knowledge of your business, or their previous experience with your site. Remember that not everyone sees things the same way, and not everyone will attempt to find information on your site by clicking the same buttons.

If I come to your site for the first time and actually stay long enough to find something I find interesting, then you’ve done half the job right. If you’ve created content that makes me want to come back to your site, then you’ve done the other half of the job right. But there is one more thing to think about. How will my experience with your site be different now that Im coming back a second time?

I will have already learned your navigational structure, and become at least somewhat familiar with your sites content structure. And I for sure know that I want to get back to my favorite areas quickly. What are you going to do for your visitors so that they can get back to familiar content even faster now that they’re repeat visitors?

Lets say that it took me three or four clicks from the home page to find the specific content that I think is useful. The next time I come back to your site there should be a way for me to find that exact same content in only one or two clicks from the home page. In other words, I should save at least one click by already knowing your site.

One way to make it easier for repeat visitors is to create a structure that rewards the knowledge of repeat visitors. Let’s say that I’m selling cellular phone accessories. My site could be structured so that visitors can find something based on the make of their phone, maybe they don’t know their phones model number. Perhaps they could search by manufacturer, with a picture or a feature checklist to help make their choice clearer. Now, when they return to my site to hopefully buy another accessory for that same phone they should be able to search by the specific model number, since they learned that information the first time the visited my site.

Start by organizing your site by what your visitors already know. Ask yourself, “What knowledge do my site visitors have before they come to my site?” In the case of the cellular phone accessory site, most people at least know what kind of phone they have, or who makes it. When visitors come back, reward them for their experience!

What we can learn from print

Remember that the web is not the same as print. You may currently have printed materials, and you may want to translate those to your web site. There are a few differences that you need to keep in mind.

a. As a general rule a web page should contain about half as much text as you would use on a printed page to convey the same information.

b. In print we have page numbers to navigate throughout the piece. On the web you have to build navigation into each page, and then site visitors have to be able to easily learn that navigation. Build navigation that aids the users understanding of the information. Don’t build navigation that only you or people close to your business understand

c. A web page is a lot like a newspaper; you want to keep the most important information “above the fold”. In other words, make sure the information that your users must see is viewable on their screens without having to scroll down. Prioritize content in the viewable screen area from the top down.

The hierarchy and design of many Web sites today tend to borrow from print. It’s easy to borrow from what we already know. This structure can work in some instances, but usually it doesn’t take full advantage of the medium. It only emphasizes its weaknesses. The fine-tuning of typography, the exactness of layout, and control of the end result are all “givens” in the print world and all nearly impossible in today’s Internet. With the massive variety of system configurations, connection speeds and platforms in use today it’s impossible to know exactly how your site will look in every situation, and for every user.

With printed information you have something to hold and to own. It’s yours and it could even hold a personal value to you. A book could be passed down through generations, for example. On the Web you can’t really take it with you, you can’t carry it in your backpack and read it at will, and you can’t leave your favorite site on the nightstand to read before you go to bed.

It’s important to remember that most people are not willing to read massive amounts of text on the computer, not yet anyway. Keeping the content clear and concise is a goal you should make every attempt to achieve. You’re creating an experience, and the text as well as the layout and graphics should draw the user into that experience.

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