First of all I want to say that i didn't know which forum i should post this thread in, so it became this one =)

No offences but I feel like there's plenty of web hosting sites that's not too well designed, what I mean is the graphical design.
I don't mean that the site must be done in flash, just that plenty of "them" looks a little cheap. Not that desings affects the quality of their service or hosting (well design sites' service and hosting may suck while a not so good-looking one is outstanding at those parts) but I (and I mean just my point of view) think that thick black borders don't look too well at any site.

A problem might be that a customer rather chose a well designed site in stead of a host that don't look as good (you know about the first impression :) ). And some people might think that a expensive design as the same thing as a great host.

And I have a question too (yup!), How much money did you spend on your site's design?

I don't want to piss somebody off, just wanted to tell everybody what I think, so what do you think?

Cheap design, cheap prices, stupid name and still I get plenty of customers :)

In the end it's the service and uptime that count and will spread the word.

On the flipside...I have no idea how many customers turn away from my page because of it. Hard to monitor :(

Oh, i got some more question too =)

Is the webmasters who knows that they have a "not too good-looking" site interested in getting a nicer layout, or do they (you?) think that it's not that important, or that it costs too much to get one, and how much would you be willing to pay for a design?

Flashy designs for business sites are not liked by the visitors. They have very little time to spend on each site. Specially when someone is visiting my website, I know she has already visited a a bunch of 10 before and is ready with another set of 10 urls. I know, she's putting her maximum attention to my site for the first 2-3 seconds and I have to hook her by that time. So, I've to put the most important information in the first scroll. If she gets hooked, I've another 2-3 seconds to give primary details of my plans. If I'm given 10 secs, I'm lucky. That's why I've put all information including the order links in the index page itself.

I think the pages for web-hosting companies (small ones, like me) should be simple and soothing to eyes. Not flashy at all. Simple, neat, easily-navigating -- these are the key factors.

I like my design ( :) ) and ofcourse of MCHost's.

Web-designing is not very expensive today. I design my sites myself.

I can tell you that im fed up of designers coming and asking if they can design me a new site. Sorry just my little rant for today.

Originally posted by Dinkz
Is the webmasters who knows that they have a "not too good-looking" site interested in getting a nicer layout, or do they (you?) think that it's not that important, or that it costs too much to get one, and how much would you be willing to pay for a design?

It is a money issue. Plain and simple. Webhosting is an expensive business and we have to manage our money carefully. Having a great flashy design is not essential to the running of the hosting business and thus is at a low priority.

When that wonderful moment comes that it actually becomes profitable then I will not hesistate to invest the income back into a better webdesign, thus improving the company image.

However, spending a great deal of money on a website design while you are still in the red figures every month is not a good business decision in my opinion.

Well I'll be the first to bash heads I guess ;). I think the site design and flow is ABSOLUTELY important for a web hosting company. Com'on, the fact is that either it be web hosting or anything else your site is their to inform. For a web hosting company to succeed their site needs to be well designed placed and managed. How can you offer design services, if you do, when your own companies site looks terrible.

Yes, I do agree about having uptime, etc., etc., etc. is important and top priority but if your limiting your business to that type of thinking without putting thoughts and actions into other parts of your business then your companies success does have as much potential. I personally think a web hosting company has to look at all aspects (services, site, data center, etc.). After all, do you think most customers are going to buy from a web site that is run down but promises 99.9% uptime, I think not (even if you are up 100% of the time), it's like buying from someone that promises that uptime but not hosting in a data center.

I don't know I just think the design is absolutely important but again that's just me. Any other thoughts?

Listen, our websites are our storefronts. I'd rather go into a nice looking store and buy something than a dump. If service is bad at a nice looking place or a dumpy place then there are larger problems that a pretty site won't solve. A nice site is obviously not the key to success but I think a nice site complements the overall picture that you paint of your business for the customer.

chris

Exactly! Good wording Chris, "a nice site complements your service".

Originally posted by EssEss
Flashy designs for business sites are not liked by the visitors. They have very little time to spend on each site. Specially when someone is visiting my website, I know she has already visited a a bunch of 10 before and is ready with another set of 10 urls. I know, she's putting her maximum attention to my site for the first 2-3 seconds and I have to hook her by that time. So, I've to put the most important information in the first scroll. If she gets hooked, I've another 2-3 seconds to give primary details of my plans. If I'm given 10 secs, I'm lucky. That's why I've put all information including the order links in the index page itself.

I think the pages for web-hosting companies (small ones, like me) should be simple and soothing to eyes. Not flashy at all. Simple, neat, easily-navigating -- these are the key factors.

I like my design ( :) ) and ofcourse of MCHost's.

Web-designing is not very expensive today. I design my sites myself.

I think what EssEss said is absolutely correct. The most important thing here, is to make sales. To make sales, you have to grab attention. And nowadays buyers doesn't have much patience for all those flashy designs.

The only job here is to make a website that sells. You might have the greatest design in the world, but if that design can't sell, it is a failure.

The ket here is "Flash." I don't have patience for hosting companies who use big flash intro's on their site. It does not make a sale and no matter how fast it loads or how well it was made I often either skip the intro completely or move on to the next company.

A flash intro does not make a sale, it only conveys how good (or bad) their webmaster is. I say "loose the flash intro" because it doesn't make a sale.

I know, she's putting her maximum attention to my site for the first 2-3 seconds and I have to hook her by that time. So, I've to put the most important information in the first scroll. If she gets hooked, I've another 2-3 seconds to give primary details of my plans. If I'm given 10 secs, I'm lucky. That's why I've put all information including the order links in the index page itself.

You are right on....why have a potential customer spend those initial three seconds trying to figure out how to close the thing.

Just my opinion :)

People (customers) like sites that just get to the point. I've seen sites that have these flash things and fancy graphics scripts and all they do is waste time, while they are great designs they just cause frustration to customers, and what if your web content can't be viewd by customers web browser...some company's are looking for hosting to modernise their business so they may not have up to date software to display flash & quicktime. In this business we want to make sure our customers get on our sites and out with out any problems, we also want to make sure we answer all of our customers questions and make the answeres easy to find! Customers will be attracted a to a well designed site, but being a Graphic Arts Major I can tell you that overdesign is a bad thing. The real job of the web designer is not to make the graphics on the site the greatest thing on the planet they are to:

1) Make an attractive site (not a spectacular one)
2) To Provide Easy Visual Clues (navigation that is easy)
3) To make an environment that is frienldly
4) Organize the content and present it in a friendly way.

These days not eveyone has all the plugins necessary to view certain items. I have seen Web hosting sites that provide a download area for plug ins to view the site....now come on, who is really gonna download plugins to view a site that is a service...you customer already has a bad first impression of your business. And company's that use 56k or slow connections, they are not going to wait while a full page of JPEG graphics load....its not practicle for our businesses to have "a killer web site" . If your a desiner than you need the flash sites.

A good graphic artist doesent make huge content driven sites, they make functional, great looking sites. You get to the point, and you get there quickly.

But to you designers,, you do a great job on your web sites, but this industry just really can't afford to loose our customers attention or make them discouraged. I will say a site that looks good is important it shouldn't be a text based trashy looking site but it should not go to overboard.

Just a thought! Carry On!


:)

For the most part, I agree that a webhost does not need a flashy pretty site. IMO the most important thing is information. Fast, easy to find information. If I'm looking for hosting services, I want to get a general idea of a companies services from the index page. I don't want to have to search through a maze to see prices, and most importantly, I don't want to have to fill out an order form to get to the price.

However, if you offer design services, your site better not look like a 13 year old designed it in FrontPage! There are far too many sites out there that look like this, and my guess would be that they aren't getting much design business, no matter what they charge for their services.

-Dan

Originally posted by SplashHost.com
I can tell you that im fed up of designers coming and asking if they can design me a new site. Sorry just my little rant for today.

It's a little bit degrading and insulting isn't it? hehehe I mostly ignore these type of emails.

Originally posted by muppie
It's a little bit degrading and insulting isn't it? hehehe I mostly ignore these type of emails. I don't know that I'd take it as insulting. Most of those people have never even looked at your site; they're just spammers -- the "I just visited your website" subject line doesn't mean it's true! Same thing: we get offers to submit our site to search engines, or to optimize it, etc. And it's a search engine optimization site -- with, on the couple of occasions I've bothered to check, better positioning than the site of the company that sent the spam.

More on topic: a well-designed site, even as Dinkz said in the post that started this thread, doesn't mean "flashy," and certainly doesn't mean "using Flash." In fact, a site with a Flash intro is, in 2002, not a well-designed site almost by definition! Flash intros are so 1998. :)

A well-designed site is one that's graphically pleasing, with sensible use of color. It loads reasonably quickly. The navigational scheme is clear, and makes it easy to find important information. It expresses a certain style, perhaps the "corporate culture" of the represented company (which is why a well-designed site should be original. If you steal someone's site you may as well steal their marketing plan as well).

With all that in mind, web hosting is no different from any other online business sector. There are a lot of poorly designed sites. Always have been ("always," obviously, meaning as long as the web's been in existence); always will be.

Originally posted by JayC

A well-designed site is one that's graphically pleasing, with sensible use of color. It loads reasonably quickly. The navigational scheme is clear, and makes it easy to find important information. It expresses a certain style, perhaps the "corporate culture" of the represented company (which is why a well-designed site should be original. If you steal someone's site you may as well steal their marketing plan as well).


Finally someone understood what I meant!

Great JayC! =)