Build it for the users, not the owners.

I’m not sure where the info graphic below came from. It was emailed to me by a colleague.

By all means, if you know the credit, please let me know and I will immediately and properly credit the owner.



This graphic is great.

It’s accurate, it’s amusing (in a web developer sort of way) and it’s perfectly illustrative of the issue plaguing most websites.

What does it mean?

Websites are built for the users of the website, not the owners. You build websites for the user, and nobody else.

However you might rationalise it, the less you give the users of what they want and the harder they have to find what they want, the less the website performs. And the less enjoyment the user has.

You want images of leaves and trees on the homepage to illustrate the environmental nature of your business to users? Unless they specifically came for that message, drop it; they’re not interested.

Instead, take them quickly to their destination (i.e. what they came to the website to do) and when you have done that and impressed the user, introduce your environmental messages. They are far more likely to engage at that point; they have completed what they needed to do.

It is hard to be a cold rationalist. Being unemotional and entirely pragmatic is difficult.

But the more you are, the better your website will work.

You’re building the website for your users. Blow them away by how good the experience is, and reap the rewards.

Hit them with your agenda, and they’ll blow away.

Think about it. You’re a user too.