3 Things Alaska Web Design Needs to Convince Customers Alaska Web Design and SEO Articles Tyler Britton Web Design Oct 11 2016 #1 Personal, Natural Images Images tell experience that your business provides way better than anything else ever could. Pictures are probably the most important thing on your webpage, in fact. Humans process images 60,000 times faster than text. Great websites use pictures that are personal to their business, and a natural representation of what they do. Too often website photos feel bland, unnatural, and look like a still frame from a 1990’s toothpaste commercial. It’s the elevator music of pictures. A better Alaskan website would take the time and a little bit of investment (for $200 you can get a couple of hours with a professional photographer) to produce professional, relevant, natural images. Personalized images “pop” more. They have personality and character. Images should be unique and relevant to the flavor of your business. This is an essential element of quality alaska web design and there’s no excuse for anything but stunning pictures in Alaska. Images are far and beyond the best Alaskan internet marketing resource. #2 Clear expectations about your business When tourists come to Alaska they always have a lot of questions about what to clothes to bring, what shoes to wear, animal life – the list is extensive as if traveling to Alaska were akin to going to a different country. Basically, what to expect from Alaska. Local Alaskans care a great deal about the local economy, and want to know who and what they are supporting. Clearly communicating what to is expect has two purposes. First, have clear processes about what to expect from the business end (pricing, booking, packages) of your business. Equally important is what they can expect from the experience of working with your business. What kind of adventure do you offer? What kind of communicator are you? What are your priorities when you work with clients? The way your web design accomplishes this is to anticipate customers questions ahead of time and ANSWER their questions on your site. Commonly, these questions are: Answered in a Q&A page; Answered with separate page links in the navigation menu (such as "About Us", "Our Philosophy", "How to Book", etc.) Answered naturally throughout the website Which of the above do you think your customer demographic will find the most helpful? Your answer will be very informative for your Alaskan website's design. #3 Clear processes and information Having to hunt down basic information on a website is about as fun as doing taxes. Studies show that websites have about 10 seconds to convince people to stay further. This means that your Alaska web design needs to be built for clarity. When tourists jump onto your website looking to plan their trip, they are obviously looking for several things that that impatiently want right away, without any hassle. Local customers have probably already heard about you, and are on your site verifying what they have heard. If customers don't get their information quickly, then say goodbye. What they always want: Clear pricing Obvious contact information A list of resources An about page Straightforward booking instructions And most importantly, they want all of these things to tie together in a neat little package – as easy as clicking a button. How much do I pay, when do I pay it, and who do I contact for my other questions? That’s basically what it comes down to. But all too often websites’ navigation bars and content gets preoccupied with showing every type of service and experience that customers could possibly have – which basically just ends up looking like clutter. Clutter kills. Nav bars should be simple, well organized, and only have the most important titles. Most importantly, actually list the steps for how to book, your policies, and what travel arrangements look like. In so many words: keep things simple and be explicit with customers about how to sign up with your business. No kidding, a great litmus test for your alaska web design is whether or not an elderly man/woman with little web experience can easily gather information from your website.