Did you know there is an essential difference between the way web designers look at the way they design a web page and the way the consumer evaluates the effectiveness of a web design.

Comparisons

* Web Designer: Interested in every subtle nuance of color, graphic and texture.
* Consumer: Interested in how fast the page loads.

* Web Designer: Includes links throughout the design for a variety of locations within the web design.
* Consumer: Clicks on the first promising link and hopes it's something interesting.

* Web Designer: Interested in the color coordination and presentation of design.
* Consumer: Searches for bullet points to help gauge whether the site will be useful.

Content over Creativity

In many web designs the site is built on the premise that the beauty of the site is what will win customers. The consumer, on the other hand, has seen hundreds of sites and is often only curious to know if your site is going to help them or not.

The average consumer will only read knowledge-based articles that catch their attention. Consumers often determine an article's usefulness by scanning. If they lock in on material that connects they will stick around, if not they go back to 'clicking for gold'.

Get to the Point

Unlike a television commercial, the consumer doesn't have to wait to find out what they most want to know about your company. They can skip to the best parts, the end parts or they leave-whenever-they-want parts.

It may work to your advantage to use multiple bullet points as well as multiple sub headings in an effort to help the consumer gain a quick understanding of what is in the article or page content and to find out quickly what they want to know.

For many consumers if you can't provide these bits of detail they will keep searching until they find it.

Hurry, We're Losing Them

Obviously not all consumers are like this, but many have grown up in an MTV society where the attention span is used to quick bits of information. So, the reality of web design is you may need to work to provide quick, segmented bits of information that work as a quick index of page information that can help consumers connect with your website.

Solutions

You may find you can actually reach consumers through a template rich web design/hosting option that allows you to develop content that is geared more toward the consumer and less to the sensibilities of a web designer.

Whatever method you chose for web design make sure you attempt to gain an understanding of how consumers actually 'view' your site. This understanding may help you discover the best ways to really connect with those who want a reason to stick around.