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Web Site Designer Knows Best: Business Owner Says Functionality Key, Not Flash Some Clients Seek

Posted on: Sunday, 5 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Mike Rasor, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Feb. 5--Most business owners say the customer is always right.

When it comes to designing clients' Web sites, Sandra Donaldson disagrees.

If a client wants a Beatles song to play when a customer enters the company's Web site, she won't do it.

If a client wants the mouse cursor to have a streamer behind it, she won't do it.

"If you want that, you can do it yourself," Donaldson tells customers of Donaldson Resources, a Web design company in Hudson.

It's not that Donaldson is stuck up or lazy. Those features annoy visitors to the page, she said. The same goes for using Flash animation for a page's intro.

"If it has a skip button, you hit skip," she said. "If it doesn't, you just get irritated."

Donaldson, the company's president and only employee, started her business after she was laid off from Ball Corp. in 1994. But her business was different then. Donaldson started as a marketing consultant.

By 1999, the Internet's growth shifted her operations primarily to making Web sites for small businesses.

Twelve years after being laid off, Donaldson said she's glad it happened.

"Everybody talks about how much they don't like their job," she said. "I don't have that problem."

But this job is much different than the usual 9 to 5. When a new site has potential to sell worldwide, Donaldson sometimes finds herself working odd hours. In November, she launched a site for Prosportwatches.com at 3 a.m.

To design a site, Donaldson charges between $950 and $5,000.

Donaldson Resources has 60 clients. About 40 of them are active, in that they routinely need updates, Donaldson said.

Her designs stress utility, rather than bells and whistles, she said.

Although most of her customers are small businesses, Donaldson recently designed a site for Omega Environmental Technologies, a multimillion-dollar Dallas-based corporation that manufactures and distributes mobile air-conditioning parts and systems.

Donaldson suggested that Omega start a mailing list that provides an industry tip of the day. Despite some resistance to the idea, Omega agreed. By the second day of sending tips, Omega received a $500,000 order through the mailing list.

This kind of innovation is why Donaldson Resources saw a 50 percent revenue increase in 2005. Donaldson said she expects another 50 percent increase in 2006.

Despite having a marketing background, Donaldson attracts her customers mainly through word of mouth.

Seeing small businesses compete worldwide is part of what makes Donaldson's job rewarding. However, a site must have a purpose and focus on functionality, not optional features such as background music or Flash animation.

"An itty-bitty company can sell to a company in California," Donaldson said. "But if the message isn't clear, they haven't leveled the playing field."

Mike Rasor can be reached at 330-996-3838 or mrasor@thebeaconjournal.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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