Tujuh kriteria penting kalo Anda berminat membuat sebuah website yang istilahnya “award-winning”, menurut Bill Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. Saya dapet ini dari “A Clear Eye”, yang linknya saya peroleh dari milis web developer non lokal.

Here are 7 characteristics to consider when creating and/or refining your Web site into an award winning site:

1. Design – Most of us judge the book by its cover and the same goes for Web sites. If a site looks old and unsophisticated, the site loses much of its credibility. If the design is current and up to date, then the user will be more likely to continue and dig deeper into the content. Digging deeper into the content means they stay on the site longer and will be more likely to have a positive feeling for the brand or convert to a sale.
2. Content - “Content is king” has been the mantra of most award winning Web sites. Visitors go to Web sites for the content and if the content is missing then they will leave disappointed. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) now means that content can be easily syndicated and seamlessly integrated into a page design.
3. Innovation – Sometimes called the “wow” factor, innovation is probably the most difficult to achieve. As soon as everyone realizes what is on your site and copies it, you have lost the innovative edge, leaving you with the need to create something new again. Widgets, or tiny applications that sit on a desktop or added to a social media site, are the new “cool” thing. Remember to develop something that your visitors will actually want to use.
4. Technology - Use of technology can significantly impact a Web site’s usefulness and ability to deliver its content. If a site uses too much technology, users may have to work harder to find the information they crave. On the other hand, effective use of emerging technology can enhance the user experience by adding to the sense of innovation and “coolness”. Flash and AJAX are wonderful technologies that can dramatically enhance a user experience or make it a nightmare.
5. Interactivity – Some marketing Web sites are designed only to supply information. The best marketing websites use calculators, tools and/or video. For example, video allows a user to see the people involved in the operations or demo new products. A more interactive site means a more engaged visitor and an increased likelihood of a positive user experience.
6. Copywriting – Thousands of dollars are spent designing and programming a marketing Web site and all too often the content is confusing or inadequate to convey the proper meaning. Think of the effects of a typo in computer programming. One wrong character and you can spend hours debugging. On the other hand, the best marketing sites are well written and proofread to eliminate typos.
7. Ease of use – In the early days, some of the “coolest” sites were impossible to navigate. Today Web sites are much better at letting the user know where they are in the site, via breadcrumb navigations and how to find the information they desire by leveraging call out buttons and additional information in side navs. Keep in mind that the best Web sites deliver content in three “clicks” or less. It is also critical to make the Web site easy to use for the search engines spidering the site, so make sure to include a text site map to make sure the search engines can index each page.

On the contrary, yang dipentingkan oleh kebanyakan orang yang meminta saya mendesain websitenya adalah:

1. Design – Yeah, mereka minta saya desainkan yang bagus, tapi pada akhirnya cenderung mendesain sendiri mulai dari layout, color sampai font ^^ (dan revisinya booo… ga nahannn… why can’t you trust me? Hiks…)
2. Content - What I could say is… ga banyak di antara mereka yang serius mikirin content webnya. Kalau kemudian webnya ga nongol di Google, yang cenderung disalahkan adalah web designer & web developer, bukan content yang kurang align ama konteks websitenya.
3. Innovation - Hmmm… Biasanya mentok di budget. Or kebanyakan ide, terus bingung sendiri mana yang mau dijalanin duluan.
4. Technology - 10000000% agree with the above statement: “Flash and AJAX are wonderful technologies that can dramatically enhance a user experience or make it a nightmare.” ^^ Mostly lupa kalau Indonesia masih rada ketinggalan soal speed internet *meski udah ada speedy * Come on, di lokasi bergengsi aja seringkali belom nongol tuh modelnya FirstMedia…
5. Interactivity – Idem ditto poin 3. Ayo dong, diimprove dikit budgetnya biar webnya bisa sedikit beda compared to the competitors…
6. Copywriting -Extra budget for this? No way hose! What for??? (dan teman saya yang freelance copywriter misuh-misuh karena beberapa kali saya tawari calon proyek yang budgetnya jelas ‘ga banged pake d’)
7. Ease of use – Mantab! “…the best Web sites deliver content in three “clicks” or less.” Kadang ada godaan untuk menampilkan semuanya di web, padahal belum tentu juga bakal ditemuin ama usernya… yang ada content berharga malah tertimbun di antara menu-menu yang nyaru – misalnya news vs updates… yang tau bedanya cuma yang punya website… what for?

Kalo udah begini, yang salah kayanya sih kami, para web designernya… yang kurang canggih menyampaikan hal-hal ini ke client sampe clientnya percaya…