Many websites give the clearest message to people who view them – and the message is “this site is not for you”.

Sherlock Holmes once told Watson that the problem with circumstantial evidence was that it could point uncompromisingly in one direction, but when you shifted your viewpoint slightly it pointed equally uncompromisingly in another.

Website design appears to share this shifting of purpose in many cases, as the well-intentioned webmaster is pointing industriously in one direction but Joe Public is equally driven for seemingly mysterious purposes to look in quite another.

To me, the key to site design is always to look at the goal of the site – the actual goal - and then your steps towards realizing that goal in the eyes of your target audience, bringing the client’s needs and Joe Public’s together to be answered in a single product.

By the actual goal I mean the response your client specifically requires from the site - and this needs more thought than many people imagine.

For example, I have designed a number of sites for clients selling real estate in Cyprus.
Clearly, you may well say, the goal is to sell houses, right?

I would argue no, it is not - unless it is an on-line estate agent who plans to sell houses to platinum Visa holders.
The real goal for the site is to capture an e-mail address from interested parties – the goal of the site's owner is to sell the houses.

Thus, the whole emphasis of the site shifts to selling the idea of living in Cyprus – and how this particular individual (the client) is the best one to help you achieve property ownership in Cyprus in order for us to capture that all important e-mail.

Who is buying?

Never forget your viewers profile - the audience for your site - ask your customer what his "average customer" is and what kind of new customer he wants to do business with.
If our client says that his average buyer is around retirement age, and you and the 35 year old client are planning Flash/Dynamic database driven on–line searchable PHP…. whatever.
To you it sounds great and on your new P4 with 516 Megs of RAM over your ADSL connection at the office it is truly breathtaking.
But if the intended viewers bother waiting for your site to download over dial-up and run on their PII 900 hertz with 64 Megs of RAM - then the first look at the high-tech interface will probably just confuse them, rather than engaging their interest, and away they will click to somewhere less challenging.

I am sorry if this sounds like a “doddery crumblies on the net” cliché, but thrifty pensioners in my experience seldom lash out on killer systems with cable modems and upgrade motherboards every two or three years.
They are too wise to waste hard-earned cash on capacity they do not need.
Plus, you need them - they do not need you (at this time) so why should they sweat to figure out your site?

Further to viewer profiles - think around the issues involved.

Consider, for example, a three star hotel. Those looking for a less expensive level of accommodation, do they have the money to change PCs frequently or to 'waste' on broadband connectivity?

A site for an optician – should it not have clear to read type? After all, the viewers may well need glasses or have problems with color vision. A black on red logo may be a mistake here.

Will a mother respond better to a playschool website her baby would like – lots of bright colours and teddies - or would she prefer something more serious and trustworthy for perhaps the most precious thing in her life?

To me, all of this leads to relatively small, neat, "say it then shut up" websites aimed at a specific goal with a specific target or range of targets.
Simple to use and clear in terms of design and content, and that by a strange coincidence this just happens to be the favorite fodder of the search engine spiders. The proverbial 4-L's always apply.

With these facts in mind you can critique your site as the marketing tool is should be, rather than a work of art or an expression of your or your webmasters desire to produce something that impresses you and your like-minded friends – but that no one else will spare a second glance.

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