Designing for yourself or for your audience?

Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Payton

Affiliate Padawan
Jun 24, 2006
599
1
0
After reading through some blog posts about plentyoffish.com I've been thinking that attractive sites don't really matter all that much.

It always seems to be the ugly ones making the big bucks. I mean I think I have a pretty good idea of what looks good but it seems secondary now that I'm learning more about this industry.
 


Last time I wrote about this on my blog, a designer made a comment that they were personally offended :D
 
Dave's Theory #4394
Bad designs = Good for Adsense
How? Visitors are so disgusted they can't wait long enuff to click ads to get away from the site.
 
It's not the uglyness that did the trick, but his hard work in functionality, marketing, seo and overall optimization.

I read somewhere about his database optimization efforts and he did a gigantic task in that area alone...
 
I have read that if you design ugly, it draws more attention to ads.

Bad design does seem to do well... just take a look at myspace! Gross! Although, there are plenty of high traffic sites that have awesome designs! I would say to design well. Personally I don't use sites that I can't stand to look at.

Don't design for SEO, put your users first then optimize! Or not... it's late and I'm out of coffee :)
 
It's not about design, it's about content and information architecture. But design sure can help improve the experience of being on a site.

Like, I don't like certain sites' layouts, that makes me enjoy being on them less--some people will just close ugly sites, not giving them a second glance.
 
Ben said:
I have read that if you design ugly, it draws more attention to ads.
Click to expand...

I don't think it has to do with the ugliness itself as much as it has with the amount of elements on the page and the way the ads are integrated - if you don't have a lot of stuff on the page where the visitor can look or click and the ads are on a prominent location & sticking out, they're obviously going to get more attention.
 
I also think it depends on the type of site. If you're just in it for the cash, then yeah put the ads front and center and don't worry about how pretty it is. But if you want people to come back day after day then it's probably a good idea to make it as attractive as possible, especially so that you get favorable first impressions.
 
Dave said:
Dave's Theory #4394
Bad designs = Good for Adsense
How? Visitors are so disgusted they can't wait long enuff to click ads to get away from the site.
Click to expand...

that's exactly what i thought dude, they are horrified and scrared, and are looking for the first link to click to flee from that site ;) and ofcourse this will be an ad
 
A website's theme isnt what keeps me going, it's the content. I would say that this 'ugly website is better for google' stuff is pure coincidence and speculation. Though, go ahead and believe it :) and make all your sites ugly and all mine can look good :D

and Dave is obviously a genius
 
Ha, I've noticed this too - I look around local business to see if anyone would like an upgrade because allot of them have rubbish sites but, most of the time, they are satisfied with the sites they have - which dont appeal to me as a designer or im sure to many of thier customers.
 
If the functionality is there, people will visit bad design or no. If the functionality isnt there, people wont visit, good design or not.
 
ms15000 said:
Ha, I've noticed this too - I look around local business to see if anyone would like an upgrade because allot of them have rubbish sites but, most of the time, they are satisfied with the sites they have - which dont appeal to me as a designer or im sure to many of thier customers.
Click to expand...

Did you try approaching the topic from a business/marketing standpoint instead of focusing on the visual design ?!

Most of the ugly looking business sites also lack a number of other things - information, interaction, updates - so you could try explaining to them how improving their site could actually bring them closer to their customers, therefore earning them more money.
 
Both. It's good to assume if you want a site that's not available, other's will as well.
 
Obviously it depends on what the site's puropose is and how you're planning on getting visitors. If you want people to go away (click ads), then ugly can't hurt. But then again, nobody wants to naturally link to a nasty site.
 
kyleirwin said:
But then again, nobody wants to naturally link to a nasty site.
Click to expand...

This made me laugh. Lol @ "nasty site", you made it sound so dirty & undesirable :D
 
Payton said:
After reading through some blog posts about plentyoffish.com I've been thinking that attractive sites don't really matter all that much.p
Click to expand...

Of course they don't matter. If people visit sites purely based on how they look, then they're idiots. Content is the bomb.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom