Earlier in the year, I wrote that 2006 Will Be a Tipping Point for Online Media, and gave 10 reasons why.

In case that didn’t convince you, check out this graph of the unprecedented rise of YouTube:

This Alexa graph charts the reach of YouTube vs MySpace. YouTube has gone from nowhere to being one of the top sites on the Internet, and there’s no sign of its growth slowing anytime soon. Meanwhile, MySpace, the poster child for social networking sites, appears to have reached a plateau.
Expect a rush of video portal announcements, as companies decide that it’s time for the Internet video strategy.

There are three steps that anyone developing a website should take. Failing to follow these steps is a sure way to waste time and money and may even lead to an unsuccessful site.

These steps are:

• Setting goals for the site. Why are you building the site? There may be many reasons. Some of the reasons may overlap each other, and some may conflict with each other. Common reasons for building a site are: gaining exposure, selling products or services, and offering customer support. List all your reasons for putting up a site, and then condense them down to a short list of site goals.
• Determining your audience. Who do you want to attract? Your audience springs from your goals. For example, if the goal of your site is to sell products, you obviously want to determine the demographics of buyers. On the other hand, if your main goal is offering customer service, you know your audience is people that have purchased your product. When you determine your audience or audiences, don’t limit your vision by your offline experience.
• Determining the goals of your audience. What are visitors to your site looking for? It’s usually best to get this information straight from the source. Talk to the people that use your site, or that you expect to use your site. Some of their goals may be: finding the best deal on your product or service, getting information on these products and services, and getting customer service.

Often, site owners don’t take the time to set goals and determine their audience. This results in an unfocused site that meets no one’s expectations. Users come and can’t find what they want, while the site owners don’t get a good return on their investment. (more…)

Finding information on the Internet can be difficult. It is important to the success of your website that you make it easy for your users to find what they need. How important? Some estimates say surfers give up looking for what they want 50% of the time or more.

Some web builders answer this need by adding a search function to the home page. This is often used as a crutch for not taking the time to create an effective Information Architecture.

The information architecture, or the organization of information for the site, is independent of the site’s graphic design, and should be designed with the goal of making it easy for your intended users to find the information or services that they are looking for. Once a organizational structure is created, an information design can be created that will help users navigate the information easier. It is important to keep the information architecture separate from the information design. One reason is that while the methods of organizing information are relatively static, design is a constantly evolving area where different looks appeal to different demographics. (more…)