Don’t Hire An Ad Agency to Build Your Web Site.
I was recently meeting with a new client, who has an extremely broken web site. I finally decided the only way to broach the subject was to simply ask, “So, when are you going to re-do your web site?” (This is always a dicey game - you don’t want to make people feel stupid because they’ve blown big bucks on something awful.) To my relief, he replied, “Oh, that. We’re redoing it right now. What can I say? (eye roll) We paid an ad agency to do it.”
And so we come to my general rule of thumb - don’t hire ad agencies to build web sites. I’ve never seen one that worked - and some of the most broken have been those of the agencies themselves. They’re so focused on being creative, they neglect little things like easy navigation and relevant, interesting (and accessible) content. Instead you get “art.”
Bouncing balls. Flipping boxes. Flashing dots. Video intros. “Adobe Flash Version 8 or higher required.” Loading…loading…loading (and I have high-speed). Content that goes zipping across, up, down, backwards and around (gee, I might want to - like - actually read that. Whoops! It’s gone.) Blaring audio that comes on automatically. And so on.
I welcome input - are you an agency or do you know of one that does a great job? To do that great job, they should grok both business and creativity as well as both web technologies and the application of those technologies. Rare combinations to say the least.
Related Posts:
Special K Web Site - Not So Special (No, I don’t know if they hired an ad agency to do it, but it’s really “creative” at the expense of functionality and relevance.)
Advertising: Creative Or Effective?
Want to browse through all my posts? Go to The Idea Pool. Everything I’ve written since I started blogging.
Tags: web sites, advertising, web design, emarketing, marketing, marketing troubleshooting
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February 22nd, 2008 at 6:27 am
Wow. That’s amazing.
“They’re so focused on being creative, they neglect little things like easy navigation and relevant, interesting (and accessible) content. Instead you get ‘art.’”
Do you know, I wrote essentially the same thing in E-Commerce for the Unfunded, which was published back in 2001. Every time I think the book is too outdated and needs to come off the market, I find out that people are still doing the same stuff.
Just … wow.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:30 am
Yep, the more things change…
Part of the problem is that many people are flummoxed by the “technology” of the Web - which has gotten much easier to understand and use over the past several years. So, they abdicate responsibility for their web site to anyone who can talk a good game and design something purty.
I don’t think common sense ever becomes outdated. It is, however, all too uncommon.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
This is a great point, which is why we work with agencies to help them do web development well! We’ve found that the partnership is great because we can advise agencies on how to appropriately prioritize creativity and functionality to ensure that the client ends up with a great site. Our CEO, Eric Holter, recently wrote a blog post about this very subject, which you can read here: http://www.newfangled.com/how_to_know_if_youre_a_super_bowl_web_designer
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Hi Mary. Sadly, you are very right. I am a consultant that specializes in helping advertising agencies work against their natural inclinations (and significant talents) in order to think properly about the web.
I’ve seen this year, for the first time, that agencies are beginning to see that they are not tracking correctly about web strategy. Hopefully we can help turn that around. Thanks for the post!
Eric Holter
CEO - Newfangled Web Factory
www.newfangled.com
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Chris - love the Super Bowl post.
Eric, as noted on your web site, “avoid the illusion of communications” - exactly!
Are youse guys double-teaming me or what?
April 17th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Mary you are so right, your Advertising Agency should finish their involvement with logo color selection and handing their analysis of your target market to your internet marketing consultant.
The biggest clue I give to people looking for a website:
a) Allow 20% of your budget for initial site development
b) allocate 30% for onging testing and development in the first 12 - 20 weeks
c) The balance should be spent on marketing the site.
The key here these days I believe is live chat or operator at least some short conversion orientated video or audio.
Be very clear on who your market really is and what you want them to do on your site and test test test.
April 29th, 2008 at 7:29 am
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