Consider your customers when building a website

My friend Mark and I designed MenuSearch using a three step process:

1. We asked ourselves (and website users): What do people want to see?
2. We also asked: How do people want the information to be relayed?
3. Finally, we were told and we made it "as simple as possible".

With this in mind, we did multiple focus groups along the way to make sure we created something people wanted. Everyone that has heard about MenuSearch and visited the site has been very supportive and love the site. I have yet to hear any negativity about the site (except from those users that don't have PDF installed on their machines).

I noticed many restaurants have chosen to develop their website in flash. Having some SEO experience, I know flash isn't the best if you're looking for good SEO. The best explanation for this was given at an SEO conference: Flash, to a search engine, is like a television ad being played on the radio. It's only looking for the words - the pictures are lost to search engine spiders.

Still, I wanted to see if there was a desire for more flash websites. I've asked a few dozen people their opinion on flash websites to see if it was something to serious to consider and this is what I heard:

• I don't wait for those sites
• I hate those sites - they take too long
• I want information, not a show
• They're too hard to navigate

I asked them about how long the wait was: less than 30 seconds. But in reality, users will only wait a few seconds before being "bored" and moving on to another site (without flash). With all the downsides of flash from the perception of the user and limitations on SEO, I still like an HTML or PHP site. I think we'll stay with that for a while.

Lastly, if you have a choice, build something that gives people all the information they want but remember: Even though you have a website, you still need to drive traffic to it!