Some agents feel the appearance of their web site is the deciding factor in how well visitors respond. They tend to judge their site on its artistic merit, rather than as a marketing tool. Make this error and watch your return on investment (ROI) plummet.

If you view your web site from an artist's point of view, you'll probably be unhappy with most site designs. The web is about information, and design is generally secondary. For example, a common complaint from art-minded agents about the web is, "it looks cluttered," and "there's not enough white space."

I can understand this. It's your web site. You want something that you feel good associating yourself with. It's part of your image.

But most web site visitors don't care how artistic or unique your site is. If they did, then sites like Yahoo!, MSN, and Realtor.com would be nowhere. Have you looked at Yahoo! lately? Talk about plain-jane. And MSN - is there a more cluttered home page out there? I doubt it. Realtor.com will never win any design awards either.

These companies live and die on how responsive their sites are. And that's the point: So do you. People surfing the Web and coming to your site want information. If you make appearance the most important feature of your web site, you could be sacrificing something more important: Return On Investment.

When visitors find your site, you want them to stay for a long time and look at lots of pages. The more they do this, the greater the chance they'll fill out a form, and become a lead. That's the whole point.

You're no different, ultimately, than Yahoo!, MSN, and Realtor.com. They want visitors to stay, look at lots of pages, and respond in some manner, such as filling out a form. Or else they go out of business. Understanding this, what are they doing with their Web sites? Are they design masterpieces? No. Instead, these leading sites focus on presenting visitors with lots and lots of content. Their web pages are completely packed with links and resources. There's no "white space" that isn't filled.

Take a clue from sites that live and die - and have the money and research to back it up - on how "sticky" and responsive their sites are: Their motto seems to be the more content on the pages, the better. Appearance is obviously a lower priority.

Of course, appearance being secondary doesn't mean it is of no importance. Your Web site should certainly be entirely professional in appearance. And the more leading edge the better. Image does make a difference. I'm talking about priorities.

If you make appearance primary, you'll end up spending your Internet budget on design, and forget that your site is primarily a marketing tool, which means it will ultimately be judged on three things:

1. Marketing power and reach, or how many visitors it attracts
2. Responsiveness, or what percentage of visitors fill out forms and become leads
3. ROI, or how much in total sales you can attribute to your site.

The design or appearance of your site plays only a supporting role. When you make it center stage, traffic and response suffers - your visitors want information, not art.

The next time you look at your Web site and get concerned that the design is "too cluttered" or that it "doesn't have enough white space," I suggest you reconsider. What is more important to you: appearance or results? If you are after results, fill up your site with as much relevant, high quality, and timely information as you possibly can.

Published: August 23, 2002

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