I find the use of technology in this industry to be very spotty at best. For one thing, computer skills seem to be more and more necessary yet many of us resist using the computer. Many of us use some type of complicated equipment that is computerized in some way, so there really shouldn’t be an aversion to them. One of the things that I am still somewhat shocked is that many people still do not use email as a valid means of communicating. In one of my posts, a technical issue came up regarding a feature of the Resolution Lens by Optima. I emailed them, nothing. I called them up and was able to get an answer to my question as well as some info faxed to me. This leads me to wonder what are companies expecting a web presence will accomplish for them. Right now, I see many companies use their website as a calling card with some information. I can almost assure you that those websites are some of the least visited websites on the net. Why? Lack of interactivity. The question people will ask is why should they bother reading a commercial? Many of the greatest websites are simple and yet have some key elements that keep a person coming back periodically to find out new things. The #1 site is Yahoo (according to Alexa web-ratings. This site isn’t even rated ). Yahoo is a great site. It has a search engine a customizable weather report, news, email, shopping and a whole lot more. All of which is either directly pertinent to me or something I enjoy reading about. If there is going to be a web-presence, there better be someone reading email and responding accordingly. Sites like that become a waste of time and any interest that could have been generated is quickly forgotten. Get a better switchboard if you are only going to answer phones.

For Companies

• Site Should be Searchable – most people visit a site for information so make sure it’s updated and as timely and accurate as possible and searchable.
• Answer Emails – no seriously this isn’t a joke. If all you want is your site to be a calling card, then make sure you are reachable through it. A calling card without a number is worthless.
• Categorized FAQ – So that you don’t get deluged in email, include several FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) that covers most of the topics that have previously responded to in emails.
• Personalization – This is the trickiest and probably the hardest aspect of web-design. You need to relate your product to the intended audience in a way that persuades people to think about your product. If you sell frames, maybe having an uploadable picture that can have frames super-imposed. This allows people to see what they like (This can present it’s own problems though.). Demonstrations of the frames durability in the form of a video clip or graphs.
• Interactivity – This ties in with personalization. Make the sites interactive such as including a forum, a guest book, a page with the ability to leave comments etc. Make the site useful in some way. This site includes several optical calculators some study guides, links to interactive tutorials. These things make sights worth visiting.
• Easy on the Flash Introductions – Believe it or not, many people still use dial-up. These intros take forever to load and should be skippable so that the main site can be reachable.