In the world of websites often designers and developers are faced with the reality that functionality and usability are the two most important factors in a website. While there is room for creativity, when building a website it is important to put functionality first.
While building GoodTube, a team of developers said it was “too pretty”. There are rotating backgrounds for each region represented and a lot of color. Often time pretty elements like photos and elaborate backgrounds increase the load time and are discouraged by developers. GoodTube however, has a simple layout on the informational pages that are focused on text. The design of GoodTube works for a video site that is ment to be visual. An organizational site however, will have be centered around text and providing information. I was reading a white paper from Marketbirght the other day which essential said that lengthy flash intros are out and simple fast loading html is in.
Does this mean that your organization can’t ever let loose and create a beautiful masterpiece online? No! In fact I was delighted to find the perfect example of beauty and functionality from one of my favorite organizations – The Nature Conservancy.
Take a look at their website below. It’s a great site with straight forward navigation. All of the search and browse items are located in the top left with relevant links close by. Their promotional items are placed further down the page and use more graphics to get people attention. It’s functional,clean and has a great heirarchy of information but it isn’t pretty.
On the other hand The Nature Conservancy built a microsite to promote their Plant a Billion campaign- www.plantabillion.org. This page is visually striking, with an image as a background and flash elements. The great thing about this promotional site is that the information is easy to find and the purpose of the site is simple and straight forward. A users can clearly see what the creators wanted them to do- learn about why more trees need to be planted and how to help. The donation link is easy to find and one can learn more without leaving the page.
For the next promotional campaign try creating a site like this that is fun and functional. The plant a billion site is exciting and made me excited about giving my money to the organization. Here some tips to creating a visually stunning, promotional microsite:
- Use imagery that sums up the campaign. Think outside the box. Instead of using a photo of acres of tress The Nature Conservancy choose a close up image showing the soil and roots.
- Select two or three main tasks you want users to do while on the site. Place links on the first page, above the fold near the left side of the site. The Nature Conservancy selected has three goals: educate about the problem,introduce the solution and donate.
- Once you have determined the tasks , order them that is logical to how users will make a decision. With the first task closest to the left. (people read left to right) For instance, on the plantabillion.org the first peice of information is called the facts, this introduces users to the problem. Second is a tab called the solution, the user knows that there is a problem and now they see the solution. Finally, the act now tab encourages users to help solve the problem by helping with the solution.
- Select a url that sums up the campaign and is easy for a person to remember after visiting your site. The Nature Conservancy set out to plant a billion trees thus the url is www.plantabillion.org.
- Place a share option prominently on the page, after the final task. If you place a share link after users have read about your cause they are more likely to share the page because they are now invested in the cause. People are more likely to share sites that are fun and visually interesting make it easy for people to share.
- Include a tally of the success of the campaign.
- Place promos on the right of the page. Promos are ment to peak the interest of users that are already interested in the cause. Placing the promos to the right gives users the next step after they have leared about what your organization is trying to accomplish. Remember people read from left to right, top to bottom. Organization your information this way, with the most important near the top left corner.
- Don’t clutter the page, focus on a primary design and don’t overdo it with to many elements.
- Finally, make the site fun. Plantabillion.org has a fun feature in the lower right hand corner. When you roll over the markers they pop up and you can learn more about the trees you are helping plant. Remember this is a fun element not the primary purpose so put elements like this on the right toward the bottom.
Have you stumbled across a get website promoting a cause that demonstrates the topics I covered? Tell me about it.
Have you stumbled across a horrible website attempting to promote a cause? Tell me about it.
