Tag Archives: Kate O’Sullivan

About 4217 days ago E-Commerce

Duh-sign of the Times

Web Awards: Design Effective Web design is not about creating flashy graphics and piling on the features. The best sites appreciate the value of simplicity. Three very different Web sites took top honors in the Design category this year. One, a scooter manufacturer and marketer from New Hampshire, got the judges’ attention by creating a strong brand image and an easy-to-use format. Another, a Massachusetts-based information portal for network-storage professionals, got high marks for its clear organization. The third, a ceramics wholesaler in Boulder, Colo., won praise for its warm color palette and minimalist display of its product line. A scooter retailer, a techie news site, and a ceramics catalog. These very different companies had the same philosophy when it came to creating a Web site. Each followed the golden rule of Web design: Keep it simple. That’s an important message for growing companies to think about as the Internet enters a new phase in its evolution. People are starting to rethink what “Web design” means, taking the time to be thoughtful about design rather than just getting the site up and running. The bottom line: there’s a lot more to good Web design than just images, colors, and fonts. FIRST PLACE: Nova Cruz Products LLC Our judges gave high marks to the Web site of Nova Cruz, purveyor of the Xootr brand of scooters, for its strong identity and judicious use of Flash animation. “Talk about user-centered design. These guys rock. The whole site felt both useful and fun. Well-designed menu structure, great legibility, effective use of space, and a prominent call to action. (They have a big Buy button.) The Flash movie of the Xootr was useful and entertaining. I loved the photo gallery and the poetry. It felt like sincere fan fare, not affected.” –Harley Manning “This may be one of the better uses of the splash page — to show the product in large size. Nice color and design for the navigation menu across the top — edgy, yet bright and readable.” –Bill Demas “The home-page design does exactly what it is supposed to do: it guides the user toward scooters. The scooters are positioned in a clean, fun, urban environment — perfect for this product. I like the recurring urban-transport motif, and the fact that the design drops out of the way on lower-level pages (while remaining absolutely consistent with the look and function of the home page) is actually a plus for me.” –John Hartnett SECOND PLACE: TidalWire Inc. TidalWire’s informative site for the network-storage industry won points with our judges for making its rich content easy to navigate. “A superb example of simplicity of design accomplishing realistic goals. The simple, clean icons and color combinations easily divide the page into the three main product areas. In this case the icons actually have something to do with the content, unlike some other sites. Simple, clean, and effective.” –John Hartnett “As far as a portal site goes, this one is quite pleasing to the eye. It seems like they actually considered the overall design and didn’t just hack it together like most info-driven mishmashes. These concise nuggets of information are just right for the Web.” –Jeffrey Harkness “Generally well-thought-out design, with good use of color-coding tabs and grouping information together into the most important high-level categories.” –Bill Demas THIRD PLACE: Mosca A wholesaler of Italian ceramic dishware, Mosca garnered praise for its simplicity and its beautiful color palette, all complementing the company’s product line. “Beautiful, good catalog site. Very clean. Great color palette, which goes with the Italian motif.” –Jeffrey Harkness “Saying ‘thank you’ before a visitor registers, explaining what you will do for registrants in exchange for their information, having an opt-in check box for the mailing list, and having a brief, optional survey with an open-ended question — all those features convey the impression that the company treats its customers with respect.” –Bill Demas “A minimalist, design-oriented site. This site accomplishes its goals very well by placing the products in a gorgeous ‘upscale’ setting. Great use of color. Simple, effective navigation that works exactly as it should.” –John Hartnett State of the Art Design guru William Drenttel, a founding partner in the new-media design firm Jessica Helfand-William Drenttel, in Falls Village, Conn., spoke recently with Inc reporter Kate O’Sullivan about Web design. Inc: What do you think about Web design in general these days? Drenttel: I think we’re at a regrouping phase after the mad rush, where half the stuff didn’t work very well because it was getting built so fast. Now companies are trying to retool things to make them work right. Most companies these days are not investing a lot in new design. They’re trying to make the sites they have work better. Inc: For a small business with a limited budget, what are the most important elements of Web design? Drenttel: I think that people need to limit their ambitions and make sure they build something that they’re able to maintain and service and run. The biggest problem people have is that the scale of their sites quickly gets out of hand. It’s easy to build a Web site that’s bigger than you are. Inc: Which Web sites make good models for small-business owners? Drenttel: If you’re in the scooter business and you look at other scooter companies, that teaches you something. But a lot of the most effective, well-designed Web sites are going to exist in sectors where they care about design, places where design is part of the communication and the brand identity, such as Pottery Barn or the Museum of Modern Art. Ebay and Amazon are about selection, so it’s all navigation, it’s all search, it’s “how fast can I buy?” And those become the criteria for success. I think that’s a terrible model for a small ceramics manufacturer or a scooter company to emulate. In either of those cases the way that MOMA shows its product is more relevant. What Matters Most Clement Mok is a renowned independent design and business consultant. According to Mok, as the Internet shakeout continues, smart companies are starting to refocus their Web sites by getting back to basics. Inc: What do you think about the state of Web design these days? Mok: People want to optimize their existing investment. Certain features and functionality are no longer worth maintaining and so they get eliminated. So sites are actually clearer and more usable than they were a year ago. Inc: Do you think Web sites are better designed than they were in the past? Mok: Better is relative. Web sites are more focused and simplified and more integrated into the overall business strategy. However, on the visual design side certain things have just gotten more pedestrian. It’s partly because there’s a limited amount of money, so the effort is more focused on maintenance. That means you don’t have a lot of innovation. Striking that balance between design and functionality is what’s going to be so important as we move forward. Inc: What are the most important elements of a well-designed Web site? Mok: Usefulness. And usability. Does the interface allow the user full control? And desirability. Does it engage beyond its initial use? What are the hooks that will keep you wanting to reengage? Is it the brand, the editorial voice, or the visual appeal? A great Web site provides a balance among those attributes. Inc: What are the critical things to do when designing a site? Mok: Set realistic expectations and watch out for “feature creep.” You need to consider the market and the business every time you have a new feature. If what you want to add is so important and you have limited development resources and dollars, what are the implications? What should you give up? It’s almost like if you add one new feature, you should probably delete or delay another one. A New Attitude Bill Hill is president of MetaDesign, a San Francisco-based design company. He talked with Inc about how his clients’ expectations regarding Web-site design are changing. Inc: What do you think is going on with Web design these days? Hill: What we’re seeing is a renewed emphasis on traditional elements of design rather than this feeling of “just get it out the door.” For a while it was just “get it out and make it cool, because we’re competing with everybody out there.” Now clients are saying, “It’s gotta work.” Inc: What do you think people designing Web sites will be focusing on now? Hill: People will be looking at things like information hierarchy and navigation, and they will be trying to connect with users’ needs and trying to understand them rather than just giving them whatever technology can deliver. Inc: Do you have a pet peeve about the way Web sites are designed? Hill: Sites that try to do everything for everybody at all times. They end up with a cacophony. Banking sites try to start selling you loans, and you just want to check your balance. We have clients that say, “We want to have every new product in the company advertised on the home page.” It’s just ludicrous. What would the New York Times be like if you had advertising on the front page? I don’t think people would trust it as much. I think we’re really going to have to have some realistic way of looking at what the user needs. Inc: For a small business with a limited budget, what are the most important Web-design elements to focus on? Hill: Who are the users? Really. Be realistic. Don’t say, “Well, everybody.” Do some work to categorize the types of users. Think about what you are going to do before you have designers do it. Once you have a business plan in place, it will be a lot more likely that a designer will actually effect change. The 2001 Inc Web Awards The Best Small-Business Sites in America The 2001 Inc Web Awards: Winners A Web Strategy Runs Through It Traffic Magnets Duh-sign of the Times Home Groan Many Happy Returns Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.

About 4643 days ago E-Commerce

All Adventure, All the Time

Best of the Web A handful of sites want to take the sweat out of lining up your next big travel adventure. Can they deliver? As CEO of San Diego-based TheGolfer.com, Eric Campbell specializes in leisure pursuits. His business, after all, lines up tee times for golfers on more than 8,000 courses around the world. But when Campbell toured a couple of the adventure-travel sites in this month’s best-of-the-Web survey, he was wowed by packages that promise a wilder time than your typical day on the links. At GORP.com, for instance, Campbell could choose from 4,000-plus thrill-packed trips — for himself or for everyone at his start-up. “Imagine a strategy meeting at an authentic western dude ranch — a team-building session while rafting the Colorado,” a promotional blurb at GORP.com urged earlier this year. “What better way to build camaraderie than a real live cattle drive or a challenging rock climb?” The copy may sound corny, but Campbell came away favorably impressed by the site’s offerings. GORP.com, he says, “has everything someone would need to find the right kind of trip and then get the equipment and clothing necessary to go.” In the pre-Internet age, intrepid travelers had little choice other than to spend loads of time on myriad logistics. Now a handful of sites offer to take the sweat out of planning your next big adventure with your family or your company. They’re tapping into the $29-billion-a-year adventure-travel industry by compiling information on outfitters, travel experiences, and destinations. They also act as brokers for the tour operators, who do the real grunt work. In the view of analysts like Jupiter Communications’ Melissa Shore, the predominant players in this emerging field are Adventureseek.com, Away.com, GORP.com, and iExplore.com. All those sites invite visitors to type in the kind of adventure they’re after, and the service then matches requests with a lineup of daredevil options. In response to a request for a hiking trip of less than a week’s duration, for instance, the “trip finder” at Away.com came up with 230 packages. Each site has its own approach. San Francisco-based Adventureseek.com offers an information-intensive site stocked with detailed profiles of tour operators, for example, while Chicago-based iExplore.com peddles high-end, customized trips under the motto “Come back different.” That’s a tantalizing offer. But do these sites deliver? For insight, we asked eight CEOs to size up the recognized leaders in the adventure-travel space, although we excluded outfits that actually lead adventure excursions. Then, for good measure, we threw into the mix Altrec.com, which earlier this year added adventure-travel services to its outdoor-gear site through an alliance with Virtuoso, a network of independent travel specialists. www.adventureseek.com What it’s good for: In-depth profiles of tour operators; quick searches and easy price comparisons. Don’t waste your time if: You don’t know how to gear up on your own. Although Adventureseek.com has partnered with major outdoor retailer REI, as of this writing that alliance primarily consists of a link to REI.com and a limited-time offer for a gift certificate for merchandise on the site. What our CEOs had to say: “A well-designed, comprehensive, user-friendly travel site. Great to search for specific activities — like horseback riding — in specific parts of the world. It gives you many options to review.” What you ought to know: Adventureseek.com tries to set itself apart from the pack by stocking its site with unbiased reports on tour operators. That kind of information can be crucial for travelers who literally put their lives into the hands of complete strangers. www.altrec.com What it’s good for: Real-time advice from travel experts; unusual travel ideas like fitness boot camps; mountains of adventure gear. Don’t waste your time if: You don’t like being dogged by a long shopping list. Most of Altrec’s pages are accompanied by a long — and sometimes distracting — rundown of products that are for sale, from backpacks to water bottles. What our CEOs had to say: One described this site as engaging and particularly praised its “chat” feature, but another surfer felt that the site was “primarily selling gear.” What you ought to know: The analysts we spoke with had yet to detect Altrec.com on their radar screens, as the site had only recently reconfigured itself from an all-gear destination to one that also offers adventure-travel packages. www.away.com What it’s good for: General information and planning; good deals on gear by using an auction feature that one CEO called “fun.” Don’t waste your time if: You’re a navigation novice. CEOs complained that there was “too much scrolling” required to cruise through this site and that once they were deep into it, it was hard to get back to the home page. What our CEOs had to say: Two reviewers detected a hard-sell attitude from the site, which for them was a turnoff. “This site seems much more insistent on selling than on helping you plan a memorable time-out,” one reported. What you ought to know: Away.com was originally launched as GreenTravel.com and focused mainly on adventure travel. After merging with tour booker AdventureQuest.com, the company relaunched as Away.com and expanded its offerings to include “cultural” trips — for example, wine-country tours. www.gorp.com What it’s good for: Less experienced travelers who want help searching for and evaluating trips. Don’t waste your time if: You’re looking for lots of testimonials from folks just like you. Although GORP.com has a “community” section and features some trip ratings from real-life travelers, one of our reviewers noted that he “wasn’t able to find many reviews or input from past travelers.” What our CEOs had to say: While one CEO praised GORP.com for having the “terrific look and feel of a magazine,” another (who said he wouldn’t go back) grumbled that he had to wade through “overwhelming clutter on the home page” before accessing the site’s admittedly “valuable information.” What you ought to know: Having been online since 1995, GORP.com is the oldest company in the adventure-travel Web pack and boasts an encyclopedic amount of content: more than 100,000 pages. In June the site touted data from Internet-measurement company Media Metrix Inc. that pointed to GORP.com as “the most trafficked Web site dedicated to outdoor recreation and adventure travel.” www.iexplore.com What it’s good for: High-end, custom-tailored packages. Don’t waste your time if: You’re on a tight budget. Although iExplore.com guarantees the best price for its trips, it’s not a site for bargain hunters. With cross-promotion partners like upmarket TravelSmith Outfitters, iExplore.com has deliberately targeted the expensive end of the adventure market. What our CEOs had to say: One reviewer applauded the search-and-sort options available here and also rated the caliber of travelers’ testimonials as “great.” Another meted out mostly middling marks, however, and complained that the home page was too busy. What you ought to know: The site features a state-of-the-world newswire for intrepid travelers, sponsored by guidebook publisher Lonely Planet. The Bottom Line While none of the sites received either unqualified accolades or savage boos, Away.com was the least popular overall, suffering especially for its clunky navigation tools. Among the remaining four, adventure-travel newcomer Altrec.com made a surprisingly strong showing, with two CEOs championing its real-time advice section. Adventureseek.com garnered high marks for its price comparisons. The reviewers found iExplore.com easy to navigate with “generally clear design.” But perhaps most interesting of all, even though our panelists gave the sites mostly strong marks for content and ease of use, their votes dropped a notch when they were asked if they would actually pay for the services offered by the sites. Could it be that these sites are in danger of falling into that deadly Internet category of “a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to spend there”? D.M. Osborne is a senior writer at Inc . Additional reporting for this story was provided by Kate O’Sullivan. The Savvy Entrepreneur’s Guide to Adventure Travel on the Web COMMENTS Would CEOs go back? What is the site good for? CEOs’ quick take Adventureseek.com Yes Quick, easy searching “Comprehensive and easy to use” Altrec.com Maybe Real-time advice “Impressive offering of information and gear” Away.com Maybe Its auction feature “Hard to navigate” GORP.com Maybe Beginners who want help categorizing trips “Comprehensive but somewhat cluttered” iExplore.com Yes Expert advice “Clear design” GRADES Ease of navigation Ease of use Product quality and range Support/ expertise Overall content Reliability/ trust- worthiness Something you’d pay for? Adventureseek.com A+ A+ A- B+ B A- C Altrec.com A- A- A- A- A B+ B Away.com B- B- B+ B+ B B C+ GORP.com B+ A- B A- B+ B+ C- iExplore.com A- A A- A- B+ A C+ Our CEO Panelists Eric Campbell, president and CEO, TheGolfer.com, San Diego W.R. “Max” Carey Jr., chairman and CEO, Corporate Resource Development Inc., Atlanta Mitchell V. Massey, CEO, MuseumShop.com Inc., Arlington, Mass. Susan L. Preston, CEO, Reality Based Learning Co., Redmond, Wash. Pamela D.A. Reeve, president and CEO, Lightbridge Inc., Burlington, Mass. Dov Seidman, chairman and CEO, Legal Research Network Inc., Los Angeles Mike Skarzynski, CEO, Predictive Networks Inc., Cambridge, Mass. Eileen Spitalny, president and CEO, Fairytale Brownies Inc., Chandler, Ariz. Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.

About 4643 days ago E-Commerce

All Adventure, All the Time

Best of the Web A handful of sites want to take the sweat out of lining up your next big travel adventure. Can they deliver? As CEO of San Diego-based TheGolfer.com, Eric Campbell specializes in leisure pursuits. His business, after all, lines up tee times for golfers on more than 8,000 courses around the world. But when Campbell toured a couple of the adventure-travel sites in this month’s best-of-the-Web survey, he was wowed by packages that promise a wilder time than your typical day on the links. At GORP.com, for instance, Campbell could choose from 4,000-plus thrill-packed trips — for himself or for everyone at his start-up. “Imagine a strategy meeting at an authentic western dude ranch — a team-building session while rafting the Colorado,” a promotional blurb at GORP.com urged earlier this year. “What better way to build camaraderie than a real live cattle drive or a challenging rock climb?” The copy may sound corny, but Campbell came away favorably impressed by the site’s offerings. GORP.com, he says, “has everything someone would need to find the right kind of trip and then get the equipment and clothing necessary to go.” In the pre-Internet age, intrepid travelers had little choice other than to spend loads of time on myriad logistics. Now a handful of sites offer to take the sweat out of planning your next big adventure with your family or your company. They’re tapping into the $29-billion-a-year adventure-travel industry by compiling information on outfitters, travel experiences, and destinations. They also act as brokers for the tour operators, who do the real grunt work. In the view of analysts like Jupiter Communications’ Melissa Shore, the predominant players in this emerging field are Adventureseek.com, Away.com, GORP.com, and iExplore.com. All those sites invite visitors to type in the kind of adventure they’re after, and the service then matches requests with a lineup of daredevil options. In response to a request for a hiking trip of less than a week’s duration, for instance, the “trip finder” at Away.com came up with 230 packages. Each site has its own approach. San Francisco-based Adventureseek.com offers an information-intensive site stocked with detailed profiles of tour operators, for example, while Chicago-based iExplore.com peddles high-end, customized trips under the motto “Come back different.” That’s a tantalizing offer. But do these sites deliver? For insight, we asked eight CEOs to size up the recognized leaders in the adventure-travel space, although we excluded outfits that actually lead adventure excursions. Then, for good measure, we threw into the mix Altrec.com, which earlier this year added adventure-travel services to its outdoor-gear site through an alliance with Virtuoso, a network of independent travel specialists. www.adventureseek.com What it’s good for: In-depth profiles of tour operators; quick searches and easy price comparisons. Don’t waste your time if: You don’t know how to gear up on your own. Although Adventureseek.com has partnered with major outdoor retailer REI, as of this writing that alliance primarily consists of a link to REI.com and a limited-time offer for a gift certificate for merchandise on the site. What our CEOs had to say: “A well-designed, comprehensive, user-friendly travel site. Great to search for specific activities — like horseback riding — in specific parts of the world. It gives you many options to review.” What you ought to know: Adventureseek.com tries to set itself apart from the pack by stocking its site with unbiased reports on tour operators. That kind of information can be crucial for travelers who literally put their lives into the hands of complete strangers. www.altrec.com What it’s good for: Real-time advice from travel experts; unusual travel ideas like fitness boot camps; mountains of adventure gear. Don’t waste your time if: You don’t like being dogged by a long shopping list. Most of Altrec’s pages are accompanied by a long — and sometimes distracting — rundown of products that are for sale, from backpacks to water bottles. What our CEOs had to say: One described this site as engaging and particularly praised its “chat” feature, but another surfer felt that the site was “primarily selling gear.” What you ought to know: The analysts we spoke with had yet to detect Altrec.com on their radar screens, as the site had only recently reconfigured itself from an all-gear destination to one that also offers adventure-travel packages. www.away.com What it’s good for: General information and planning; good deals on gear by using an auction feature that one CEO called “fun.” Don’t waste your time if: You’re a navigation novice. CEOs complained that there was “too much scrolling” required to cruise through this site and that once they were deep into it, it was hard to get back to the home page. What our CEOs had to say: Two reviewers detected a hard-sell attitude from the site, which for them was a turnoff. “This site seems much more insistent on selling than on helping you plan a memorable time-out,” one reported. What you ought to know: Away.com was originally launched as GreenTravel.com and focused mainly on adventure travel. After merging with tour booker AdventureQuest.com, the company relaunched as Away.com and expanded its offerings to include “cultural” trips — for example, wine-country tours. www.gorp.com What it’s good for: Less experienced travelers who want help searching for and evaluating trips. Don’t waste your time if: You’re looking for lots of testimonials from folks just like you. Although GORP.com has a “community” section and features some trip ratings from real-life travelers, one of our reviewers noted that he “wasn’t able to find many reviews or input from past travelers.” What our CEOs had to say: While one CEO praised GORP.com for having the “terrific look and feel of a magazine,” another (who said he wouldn’t go back) grumbled that he had to wade through “overwhelming clutter on the home page” before accessing the site’s admittedly “valuable information.” What you ought to know: Having been online since 1995, GORP.com is the oldest company in the adventure-travel Web pack and boasts an encyclopedic amount of content: more than 100,000 pages. In June the site touted data from Internet-measurement company Media Metrix Inc. that pointed to GORP.com as “the most trafficked Web site dedicated to outdoor recreation and adventure travel.” www.iexplore.com What it’s good for: High-end, custom-tailored packages. Don’t waste your time if: You’re on a tight budget. Although iExplore.com guarantees the best price for its trips, it’s not a site for bargain hunters. With cross-promotion partners like upmarket TravelSmith Outfitters, iExplore.com has deliberately targeted the expensive end of the adventure market. What our CEOs had to say: One reviewer applauded the search-and-sort options available here and also rated the caliber of travelers’ testimonials as “great.” Another meted out mostly middling marks, however, and complained that the home page was too busy. What you ought to know: The site features a state-of-the-world newswire for intrepid travelers, sponsored by guidebook publisher Lonely Planet. The Bottom Line While none of the sites received either unqualified accolades or savage boos, Away.com was the least popular overall, suffering especially for its clunky navigation tools. Among the remaining four, adventure-travel newcomer Altrec.com made a surprisingly strong showing, with two CEOs championing its real-time advice section. Adventureseek.com garnered high marks for its price comparisons. The reviewers found iExplore.com easy to navigate with “generally clear design.” But perhaps most interesting of all, even though our panelists gave the sites mostly strong marks for content and ease of use, their votes dropped a notch when they were asked if they would actually pay for the services offered by the sites. Could it be that these sites are in danger of falling into that deadly Internet category of “a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to spend there”? D.M. Osborne is a senior writer at Inc . Additional reporting for this story was provided by Kate O’Sullivan. The Savvy Entrepreneur’s Guide to Adventure Travel on the Web COMMENTS Would CEOs go back? What is the site good for? CEOs’ quick take Adventureseek.com Yes Quick, easy searching “Comprehensive and easy to use” Altrec.com Maybe Real-time advice “Impressive offering of information and gear” Away.com Maybe Its auction feature “Hard to navigate” GORP.com Maybe Beginners who want help categorizing trips “Comprehensive but somewhat cluttered” iExplore.com Yes Expert advice “Clear design” GRADES Ease of navigation Ease of use Product quality and range Support/ expertise Overall content Reliability/ trust- worthiness Something you’d pay for? Adventureseek.com A+ A+ A- B+ B A- C Altrec.com A- A- A- A- A B+ B Away.com B- B- B+ B+ B B C+ GORP.com B+ A- B A- B+ B+ C- iExplore.com A- A A- A- B+ A C+ Our CEO Panelists Eric Campbell, president and CEO, TheGolfer.com, San Diego W.R. “Max” Carey Jr., chairman and CEO, Corporate Resource Development Inc., Atlanta Mitchell V. Massey, CEO, MuseumShop.com Inc., Arlington, Mass. Susan L. Preston, CEO, Reality Based Learning Co., Redmond, Wash. Pamela D.A. Reeve, president and CEO, Lightbridge Inc., Burlington, Mass. Dov Seidman, chairman and CEO, Legal Research Network Inc., Los Angeles Mike Skarzynski, CEO, Predictive Networks Inc., Cambridge, Mass. Eileen Spitalny, president and CEO, Fairytale Brownies Inc., Chandler, Ariz. Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.