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Web Site Design Best Practices from the New “About Network Solutions” site!

You know the deal. You go to a web site and see their flashy home page that is enticing you to buy their wonderful products and/or services. You are interested and want to learn more about the company so you hit the “About Us” tab or link and you get content that is as exciting as a burnt steak. Boring bios, fluffy mission statements, gushing investor profiles, hyped board of directors and advisor pages and if you are lucky, detailed directions get to their offices.

Well, Network Solutions has taken a completely different approach and created a beautiful site dedicated to all things Network Solutions.

Because I have a background in User Interface (UI) design I am often critical of sites that don’t properly layout their information or are just plain lazy in how they market themselves. Granted, marketing web sites are different than e-commerce web sites but they do have one thing in common, they must sell/convince the customer to buy from them. Many companies who throw a web site up without a concern for brand continuity or good messaging are just hurting themselves. They wouldn’t waste money on print collateral or send out proposals that are ugly. Well, they might but they will never win any clients. This is why I come back to the fact that companies must spend time on all aspects of their web presence, including the “About Us” section. Here is what is so great about the new “About Network Solutions” site that you should apply to your own site:

Show customers that you are strong and reliable

People don’t buy from companies that they don’t trust. You should definitely have what you do as a tab with your product/service offerings so you look like a focused company. More importantly, you should talk about customer success stories because nothing says it better that you know what you are doing when other people who have bought from you are willing to share it publicly.

If you have been around a while, give them a time line of your progress and growth

Sure, you can give people an overview of your company, but what makes the “About Network Solutions” site stand out is their use of an interactive time line. The time line uses flash in a proper context and goes into not only a history of Network Solutions but the evolution of domain names and how everything came to be over the last 50 years. Very cool and educational.

Don’t just list careers or job opportunities, tell people how great it is to work there

Almost every company web site has a careers page where you can search for available positions. This is kind of expected with established companies that get lots of resumes and post jobs on a regular basis. It is a great way to manage submissions into a resume database. But after the listing and maybe a page on benefits, what else do you know about the company? The Network Solutions Careers part of the site does a great job by talking about the culture so you can see if you are a good fit before you think about sending your resume. It also includes testimony from staff that work at Network Solutions and what it is like to work there. This a great approach to emulate on your site.

Use photos of your people instead of stock photography

Most web sites use generic stock photography to covey their message or idea on a certain page. This was fine for a while but many people end up using the same images. It makes you look like you were not very creative and quite possibly lazy. Each of the pages on the “About Network Solutions” site has candid pictures of Network Solutions staff relevant to that particular part of the site. In fact, our very own “Social Media Swami”, Shashi Bellamkonda is the one you see when you go to the Online Community page that mentions our Solutions are Power blog.

Check out the new “About Network Solutions” site today

To see what I am talking about, check out the new “About Network Solutions” site at about.networksolutions.com and give us your feedback in the comments.

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