By Nora McDougall-Collins

Let’s say that you want to learn something about a product you just bought; so you go to the company’s web site. That product could be a motorcycle part, a new computer, your credit card, etc.

Delivering product information on the web is a great tool for both the company and the client. It could mean less phone time for the company (save employee hours and $$$.) For the client it means not having to wait for business hours to get an answer, and not having to sit on hold, and not having to understand an unfamiliar accent, and not having to deal with untrained phone staff, and being able to go back and forth through the information, as needed.

But, unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. I recently got my new NNFP phone (740-541-2857), which is from Alltel, and I needed to set up the voicemail. I hate waiting for phone prompts so I thought, “they probably have all the steps to set up voicemail on their web site!” Then I can just read and push buttons without waiting for the messages. I found out that their web site uses the typical barriers that keep people from using a web site. In my case, I went ahead and used the prompts, and I get to write this article about how they kept me out of their site!

Here is a screenshot of the Alltel web site:

They don’t really tell me on the front page what resources are available on their web site. I know who they are, but I don’t know “whatcha got.” I don’t have a log in. I don’t want to buy a Treo. I already have a phone in my hand; so, I don’t want to buy a new one. I’m not checking their models. I don’t need a prepaid plan. Since that about covers everything on their front page, they obviously don’t have the information I need on their web site. Well, actually, it’s entirely possible that they have spent a lot of $$$ making pages that explain their voicemail functions, but they have hidden them!

Here’s another one. SalesForce.com. This company has an online Contact Management Resource package. Sounds like a tool I would like to use! But I don’t know whether their software is easy to use or does what I want it to do. So, I look for a demo (the first thing you should do when looking for software.) But, like Alltel, they have put up a barrier to me, as a potential consumer. To get a demo, I have to fill out a form. Now, I understand that if I’m going to demo a car, they need to know who I am, in case I don’t bring it back! However, I’m not exactly going to run away with their online software. Not only do I get a demo, but I get a call, and I get an ongoing stream of spams from them. Oh, I guess it’s not spam, because they think that wanting to see the demo is the same as wanting an endless stream of emails.

Would you feel there was a barrier if your favorite clothes store made you fill out a form before they let you try on that nice fuzzy sweater? Well, I filled out their form, and I get the endless stream of emails, but their online demo was mostly a sales pitch, and not much of a demo! Like the Alltel site, SalesForce had the opportunity to make me think that their product was easily available and easy to use, but they pretty much made sure that I didn’t want to use their web site.

How do you avoid putting up barriers on your web site? First, be aware of the types of barriers that annoy you! Then have a few people (not your Mom) try specific tasks on your web site – like pretend they want to buy something! Ask them how many steps they had to take, and whether they found what they wanted!

By Nora McDougall-Collins for the National Network of Forest Practitioners

FIRST!!! Before you do anything on your web site, stop and ask yourself what your message is! Then figure out who you want to deliver it to. If you have a web site, show it to someone who doesn’t know your organization and ask them to look at your site and tell you what you do, based on the information on your web site.

I’d like to thank Harry Groot, who has given me permission to use the Blue Ridge Woodland Coop web site as a case study in our efforts to help our forest practitioner organizations and businesses have successful web sites. First, notice that their site has a great visual design:

However, the question is, what is the message of this home page? Viewers will decide whether they like your site in less time than it takes to blink and eye*. If the home page doesn’t show them what they want, people aren’t likely to click to your inside pages. Do you click on sites that don’t have what you want on the home page?

The main message of the Blue Ridge Woodland Coop is that their members have wood products for sale. Then the underlying message is that they are a community effort, etc. The images currently on the home page are more like a site promoting real estate or travel in the area, where the natural beauty is what the visitor is buying. It all goes back to “What are you trying to say?”

SECOND!!! Figure out who cares about (or should care about) what you are trying to sell, and what is important to them? If your site is about selling flooring, what do those folks care about? Well, first they care about what the floor will look like. So, they want to see it – not the boards, the floor! Then, they care about how well it will wear when someone walks across it with their muddy boots (horrors) or drives Tonka trucks over it (the little darlings.) Finally, they want to brag about how much better their wood flooring is than all their friends floors because it comes from sustainably harvested trees, etc. “And, by the way, I can show you a picture of the guys who grew the trees, cut the trees and made the flooring right on this web site!” So, where can I get a floor like that???? Can’t let my golfing/gardening/business/etc. acquaintance have a better floor than I do!

YOUR WEB SITE HAS TO SAY ALL THAT IN A FEW PHOTOS AND TEXT ON YOUR HOME PAGE. After the photos hook them, the specific details follow on inside pages, but the front page has to hook them. Notice that they don’t really care about how wonderful your organization is until after they see what they want? Your inside pages should also reflect how wonderful each of your members is, as well. Make a personal connection, and folks will come back.

So, should they start the Blue Ridge Forest Cooperative site over? Absolutely not! They just need to make some adjustments. Somewhere the web developer didn’t get the message. When you are looking for a web developer, the people you interview should be spending as much time asking about what you do, and what your message is, as you do asking them questions. That person should tell you how they are going to get your message across, not just how beautiful your site will be.

What is the old saying,” Beauty is as beauty does.” It applies to websites too!

I look forward to seeing the website changes that Blue Ridge Forest Co-op will be making in-house, as I work with them by phone and webinar! They already have some high quality photos taken of their members and their products through the People and Land project. NNFP is proud to be working with great grassroots organizations!

*Article about Canadian Research on how long it takes someone to make a decision about a web site. “Gitte Lindgaard of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and lead researcher of the paper expressed her surprise at the results.”