A brief look at how websites have changed over the last 5 - 10 years and the purpose of a website today.

1. Website Changes over the Years A look into the current and future trends of web design and development

2. Changes in Design and Function Web design and development has become more sophisticated over the past 10 (even 5) years. Open-source software has allowed designers to improve the performance and usability of websites The addition of Google Analytics has allowed web developers to track, analyze, and improve the online visitor’s experience.

3. Your Market is Online There are more people today using their computer or mobile device as their primary resource to gather and collect information to make a decision, organizations are increasable putting money towards improving and growing their online presence. According to Neilson, over the past ten years, the average number of words entered for each search on the most popular search engines has nearly doubled, from 1.3 to 2.2 words per search. Visitors demand websites answer their questions quickly and efficiently. Text heavy pages get overlooked. Unorganized, text heavy websites are not mobile device friendly.

4. You Have 5 Seconds According to a study conducted by Google in 2009, you have 5 – 7 seconds to capture a user’s attention Visitors are trained to scan and process information quickly. Text heavy pages get overlooked. Unorganized, text heavy websites are not mobile device friendly. Websites must be easy to navigate or your visitor will become frustrated and will leave your website.

5. Apple 1996

6. Apple 2010

7. Dell 1999

8. Dell 2010

9. Blogger 2001

10. Blogger 2010

11. 2 Questions to Ask About Your Website Is it easy to use for the average internet user? Was each page designed in line with an eye to the overall structure of the site (which is really another way of asking if the site was planned ahead of time, or patched together piecemeal)?

12. Content is King Visitors return to websites frequently is they the website has strong, relevant, interesting, and factual information. Websites that remain static (content is not updated regularly) do not see return visitors over time. Content that is reliable increases a websites page rank in top search engines. Content that encourages comments and conversation strengthens a websites credibility and increases its page rank.

13. Capturing Your Visitors Attention Web content needs to be dynamic (this means photography, graphic design, white space, copy, all must be quick, interesting, and to the point). People need to be able to locate web content before they can read it. Headlines help visitors navigate quickly through your website. A good headline can make all the difference. The same principal has applied to print since the birth of the printing press. Headlines that capture a visitors attention win every time.

14. Capturing Your Visitors Attention (continued) Break web content up into smaller, online reader-friendly segments. Sub headings, bullet points, white space, all help improve the visitor’s experience. When it comes to website copy, less is more. Images speak volumes. What you want to say with words can often be better said with an image or video.

15. 2010 Standard of Education Standard of Excellence Website Award Winners National Museum of Dentistry

16. 2010 Standard of Education Standard of Excellence Website Award Winners Murdoch Student Bloggers

17. 2010 Standard of Education Standard of Excellence Website Award Winners Villanova University

18. 2010 Web Trends (Mashable) Mobile web goes mainstream. Nutshell: More and more people are using their smart phones to view websites and building sites that are easy to read on mobile devices will be happening more and more this year. Web design as a profession will become specialized. Nutshell: Like doctors, Web Designers will become specialized in one area of design (i.e. content management designer). Simpler aesthetics for websites. Nutshell: Simple fonts, simple text, simple content. Less is more. Web design will replace print design. Nutshell: We are an online world so our brands should be represented online.

19. Serve Your Visitor WP has many different website visitors. Current students will have different needs than prospective students. Alumni will have different questions than parents. Content that is organized for each user group will improve your visitor’s website experience.

20. Your Website Will be Outdated in 5 Years With the growth of open-source software systems, web developers are constantly defining and changes the rules of a website. Websites built in 2005 are now outdated. Watching trends and planning for the future will assure your website’s growth and health.

21. The Best is Yet to Come After the new WP website is launched, the website will be analyzed and improved based on what your visitor’s are demanding. Visitor’s mouse clicks, page visits, length of time spent on pages, navigation history, and feedback will be accounted for and used to make effective changes over time. Over time the addition of blogs and online tools will help optimize your website and increase your online traffic.