Briefs - Interview

Web site usability and design

An Interview with Nereus strategic partner, Tim Parsons of Buzzsaw Studios, Inc.

First and foremost, Tim Parsons is an artist with the skills of a graphic designer. Tim originally planned to be a fine artist, but he decided to become a designer when he needed to find something he could support himself doing while still using his creative skills. Tim finished design school just as the Internet was becoming publically accessible. In 1997, Tim designed his first Web site for a client and in 2005, he founded Buzzsaw Studios, Inc. Buzzsaw worked with Nereus to support Web site functionality and continues to offer support for the site.

N. What should always be considered when initially creating a Web site?

TP. These are just a few of the basics to take into consideration and it all depends on the actual purpose of each individual site.

#1 - Take into consideration who your audience is and build it for them and their needs.
#2 - Architecture! How are you going to get your users from point A to point B in the least amount of clicks? Don't hide or make your users dig for what they want.
#3 - Traffic! Building a Web site and going live with it doesn't mean you're going to get the right traffic or any traffic at all. There are millions of new sites going online regularly. Will you be found in the masses? Marketing and promoting the site is just as important as building it. Just because the site is ready to go live doesn't mean the job is over. Consider an online marketing plan to coincide with the launch of your site. In this plan social networking, advertising, partnerships and marketing, etc. should all be considered. Also consider your site as a living, organic mechanism that needs regular nourishment (content), maintenance (regular fine tuning) and care (search engine optimization / analytics).

N. Any tips on how to best engage a visitor?

TP. Sites should be organic and always be updated having the ability to expand and contract as needed. Give your visitors what they want and when they want it. If you're monitoring your site's usage and tracking click patterns, you'll be able to make adjustments as needed not only by engaging visitors but getting them to come back for more.

N. What are some dos and don'ts of maintaining a Web site?

TP.
Do: Keep your site's content updated and current at all times.
Don't: Think your site is done just because you got it up and all the content has been loaded.
Do: Create a section on the site that has some sort of new content updated on a daily or almost daily basis like a Twitter feed, a news section, maybe current events or press releases.
Don't: Create a blog if someone is not assigned to write and post once or twice weekly.
Do: Always have a way for users to leave feedback. Listen to that feedback.
Don't: Be lazy when it comes to your analytics. Track everything about your site and make adjustments as needed.
Do: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and have a regular schedule. If you can't do it in-house, contract with experts like Buzzsaw and keep that site up at the top so your appropriate traffic can find you.

N. Looking back, what Web site elements have considerably evolved in the past decade, and why do you think the progression has happened?

TP. One huge progression has been interactive and video or HD content. Over the last couple years it has become possible for almost anyone to publish this content with little cost or overhead. It's pretty amazing that you can look almost anything up and find a way to get immersed in it.

N. Looking forward, what's next in the world of Web design?

TP. There are so many things already happening and about to happen. I see more and more Web-based applications being developed and deployed. So more of the design work is for application interface design. Also designing for mobile devices in mind is becoming more common. People will be shifting away from their desktop and laptop computers the better the mobile devices become. A lot of the time I don't need my laptop when traveling since most of what I need can be accomplished from my iPhone.

If you have any questions for Tim, feel free to contact him at www.bzsaw.com, tparsons@buzzsawstudios.com or follow him on Twitter: @bzsaw.