Eric Hagborg is a man with a mission. He wants companies to make their websites work for them. And he told Ottawa CaseCamp how he does this.

What makes a strong corporate Website?

• Design is the first thing that people judge your website on.
• Second, is it relevant to what they are looking for?
• Does the navigation scheme help them to find the content they want once they’ve arrived at your Website?

How can you support these things?

• Qualify your visitors as they come to the Website. Feed them information in small doses. Start off with basic information. If they want more, provide them with additional layers of information.
• Accommodate all kinds of learners. Balance text, graphics, pictures, graphs, and other kinds of information being provided.
• Demonstrate the value up front.

How can you do this?

• Start with a professional designer.
• Build in User-centric navigation. Don’t focus on yourself. Focus on the needs of your visitors. And design your navigation scheme to respond to their needs. You’ll need to research the needs of your visitors. But this is a worthwhile investment.
• Ensure your content is concise and succinct. You’re not writing a novel.
• Build in lots of supporting graphics.

Eric illustrated the effectiveness of this approach by citing the experience of his client,  ipMonitor to dramatically increase visitor retention and conversions on its website. Following a reworking of their corporate Website, they increased visitor retention by 59% and increased conversions by 128%

Pretty good results. And a pretty good presentation from a guy who knows his business.