Is this hard to do?

[BillyRaygun]

Dear Forum,

I am not a web designer and came across this site. Kakau Design

Is something like this hard to do? Is it expensive? I'm not happy with my current website for my business because I feel its traditional, doesn't stand out nor does it have the punch visually that my company name has verbally.

That said, I like concept in the example and depending on the cost to execute, may want to go in a direction similar.

I just have no idea how someone can even design a concept graphically to accurately represent the functionality. So I'm just really curious about the whole process and was hoping someone here may chime in on the subject.

[veraderock]

Hi BillyRaygun, welcome to the forum

That is an interesting example and well done. There are some less common elements involved in that site which would cause it to be more expensive then many, at least for the web design portion. I don't see anything that looks like it would require backend development which can increased the price of a website a lot, but there is a significant amount of front-end (javascript) development, so it wouldn't be cheap.

To design something like this, you would draft the entire area layout, even though within a browser you only see a section of it. Then start building each of the required style classes and start working with the javascript transitions. There would be a lot involved so you would want to find a good design team if you're not already proficient in visual design, CSS and Javascript..

[TheGAME1264]

Like veraderock said, it's a very elaborate site, and it would take a lot of time and effort just to draft the layout itself. Then you have the CSS, the Javascript, the images, etc., all of which would take a very long time and would be difficult even for a seasoned designer.

I personally wouldn't do this, even though it looks visually impressive. The problem with a site like this is twofold:

1) Some people, particularly older people, tend to struggle with non-standard navigation. The thing that threw me in particular is that the site scrolled sideways when I moved my mouse wheel, whereas I thought it would scroll down. I'm "only" 36, but that was weird to me. I get why they did it, but it threw me for a minute nevertheless.

2) It lacks content. By "content", I mean it lacks any real substance. It has images and again, it's very visually appealing, but once you get past the gimmicky navigation and side scrolling, there isn't anything there.

This is the major issue I have with a site that does this. Because it's visually appealing, people look at it and think, "this is awesome and I want to do it myself", without asking the important question: does it do what the site owner wants it to do? I would suggest it doesn't simply because there isn't much to look at or do on the site.

[veraderock]

TheGAME1264 brings up some really good points, especially since you're considering this work your business website. Another hinderance for a business with a site like this is that usually you want to maximize your SEO on a site to gain new visitors through search engine results. Since this site is pretty well a single page, then you lose the benefit of having individuals pages of specific content that search robots can navigate through. Ideally you want as many strong content pages that are well identified with keywords to help your chances in search engines which a site like this wouldn't provide.

[sidsoul]

Hey BillyRayGun, I just wanted to say that it is also important to consider why you would want to do something like the site you posted as an example. If it is just for the sake of being cool, it may not be worth the headache (and I know you said you may not consider doing it). A site should be highly usable, but requirements for usability will differ based on several things, one of them being your audience. Like the game said, some people may not be comfortable with the navigation. That could cost you sales. However, if you have a more tech savvy audience, your example could work.

At the end of the day, a good designer can really make almost any type of site pop, given enough flexibility and room to design. So they could easily take a basic site and make it look amazing. If you are vetting some designers and design/dev teams, have them give you a pitch on how they might design a site with a more standard design and nav. You might be surprised.

The other guys posted smart comments about SEO and the fact that the site lacks "content" or copy writing. That will greatly impact their SEO (imho, negatively) . As a small business that only hurts you.

Hope this helps.

Sidney Lisojo

[TheGAME1264]

One more thing...if it is for the sake of being cool, remember that Psy is cool in some circles. That alone should keep you from following trends of any sort.

[BillyRaygun]

Wow! Excellent insight. Here is where my logic comes in: Over the last 13 years, I've received zero business from my website. It's basically an online portfolio to send people to. That said, do I need to care about SEO? My theory is that if I get no business from my website, why not break all the rules and do something dynamic like the example? Why not apply a awe-inspiring factor to the design without the care of usability. If my company is a visual company, why not have a visual website? Less words the better right?

Here is some background about my experience with web designers: With three sites built in 13 years, not one of them was ever what I wanted. I paid US$,3000.00 for my most recent site and there's issues the designer will not fix. It seems I get burned on customer service, design and some functionality every time.

I feel I'm not winning business off my website because of the above and because it lacks visual impact. Maybe I'm wrong.

I'm just really confused I guess and what my site is and/or should be. I just know I have to make do with what I have for now, but perhaps is can be saved or improved on. In either case, I'm already planning for round 4!

[TheGAME1264]

To answer your first question first...yes. SEO should always be a consideration. No matter what "social media gurus" or other types tell you, if your site is built properly, then you'll draw more attention and more importantly more conversions from it than you will from just about any other effort you can put forth for your site. So that sounds like at least one of your problems.

You never want to sacrifice usability for design. Good design is usable, period. If you're not getting business from your website, the last thing in the world you want to do is sacrifice usability. Even if you personally think it's ugly, if your site's converting then that should be your focal point, since design is highly subjective and increase in profit is objective.

Now, if you're paying for something and you're not getting what you want, that means you're most likely finding yourself in one of three situations.

1) The designers that you're hiring aren't up to snuff and aren't capable of delivering what you want. As much as I hate to admit this, this is pretty common.

2) You're not providing clear ideas as far as what you want, possibly because you're not sure yourself other than "you want a website that makes money."

3) There's a communication gap between you and your designers, where you know what you want and they're capable of it, but you're not able to find a way to communicate it such that the designer understands it, and the designer can't turn around as a result and come up with ideas of his/her own to make your site that much better. Good design and development is a collaborative effort.

I'm not sure which of the three situations you find yourself in, and it may even be a mixture of the three, but these are the three most common. I'd suggest you do two things:

1) Think about what it is that you want your site to do. Do you want leads from it? Sales? How much in sales do you want? If you're looking for leads, what information would you want from those leads?

Define some concrete goals for your site and try to make them both as detailed and as realistic as possible. If you don't know what's realistic, then focus on the "detailed" part and a good designer/developer will be able to tell you what's realistic and what you need to achieve those goals. But really think about your goals as far as how much business and what type of business you want from your site.

2) We have a website ratings and reviews forum here:

Website Ratings and Reviews

Now, normally we have a box that you can put your site in that will allow your site to be screen captured and your code to be analyzed and some other wicked cool stuff, but veraderock just upgraded the forum not even 24 hours ago and I don't think he's gotten around to that yet. So in this case, put your site to be reviewed in the body of your post until the box is back and reference this forum thread...that way, people will know what's up and be better able to help you. You'll probably get a lot more clarity by showing people your site, even and especially if you think it stinks.

[AlphaMare]

Off-topic:

One more thing...if it is for the sake of being cool, remember that Psy is cool in some circles. That alone should keep you from following trends of any sort.

We really need an additional link - as well as the "like" and "share" links, there should be a "Like and ROFL" link...

[BillyRaygun]

We have a website ratings and reviews forum here:

Website Ratings and Reviews

Now, normally we have a box that you can put your site in that will allow your site to be screen captured and your code to be analyzed and some other wicked cool stuff, but veraderock just upgraded the forum not even 24 hours ago and I don't think he's gotten around to that yet. So in this case, put your site to be reviewed in the body of your post until the box is back and reference this forum thread...that way, people will know what's up and be better able to help you. You'll probably get a lot more clarity by showing people your site, even and especially if you think it stinks.

Excellent! I'll post a link to my site on that forum this evening, recap my conversation here and try to be more clear about my objectives. This will be interesting.