A fascinating study by Canadian researchers published in the latest issue of Behavior and Information Technology revealed that aesthetic judgements made within 1/20th of a second determine whether a web user remains on a website or leaves immediately.

Source: Reuters News (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-01-17T203950Z_01_N17291661_RTRUKOC_0_US-SCIENCE-CANADA-WEBSITES.xml&rpc=22).

In less time than it takes to blink, a person will instinctively respond to the visual design of a web page. But what I found really significant about this study is that researchers were unable to identify any common criteria which determined people's responses.

In the interview with Reuters (quoted above), Professor Lindgaard at the University of Carleton, Ottawa stated:

"When we looked at the web sites that we tested, there is really nothing there that tells us what leads to dislike or to like."

"If design were reducible to a set of principles, wouldn't we find an awful lot of similar houses, gardens, cars, rooms?" said Lindgaard. "You'd have no variety."

Internet marketers are, for good reason, obsessed with identifying what makes a successful website. Advanced web analytics and tracking technology have enabled web visitor behaviour to be translated into a set of web design principles - often packaged up and sold to businesses as the 'holy grail' for achieving Internet wealth.

The aggressive promotion of these so-called 'insider secrets' of Internet marketing have indeed led to the equivalent of the explosion of anonymous, impersonal, mass housing of the 50's and 60's. Literally hundreds of thousands of e-commerce sites have been created based upon a handful of Internet marketing gurus' marketing systems.

Such an approach to website design can only ever be short-sighted. I know from talking to many people that I am not alone in feeling thoroughly tired of landing on a website for the first time and being sold the same tired, cheap marketing patter that I've seen a thousand times on other websites. I may still purchase from the site if they sell the product I want at the right price, but this is in spite of their sales pitch rather that because of it.

Designing a website according to some kind of universal set of principles is a scientific approach to design. If that isn't a contradiction in terms, the recent research supports my view that it is in fact bad science.

If I attempt to reduce my understanding of human behaviour to a 'formula for success' the result is all too often that I create a website that fails to communicate an original, authentic message. At its very worst, such websites become a manipulative, impersonal and divisive exercise in getting you to part with your credit card details. In short, they lack soul and fail to communicate the personality and values of the company or organisation.

I am not suggesting that we ignore statistics and our understanding of psychology when designing a website. A common sense approach to web design is required. But neither should we be tricked into believing that there is some universal web marketing system that will guarantee success, no matter what product or service you sell.

Instead, a realistic, long-term web marketing strategy requires addressing each business and its website's visitors as being unique. No two businesses are the same and neither are its customers. Developing an on-line marketing strategy and website for any business requires creative thinking, strategic planning and a deep understanding of the business itself. This is why I developed what I call e-Mentoring - an approach to web marketing that involves working in depth and intensively with a company in order to co-create a tailor-made on-line strategy.

The science within such an approach is to analyse and interpret the behaviour, needs and aspirations of a company's unique website audience and customers. Such an approach requires a lot of testing, customer surveys, and constant optimisation of the website.

What works for one site has often proven to be ineffective for another, so I am constantly required to keep an open mind when designing a new on-line marketing strategy and must refuse the temptation to follow some kind of 'paint by numbers' approach.

This is, by necessity, a more time-consuming approach and adopts a more long-term, sustainable approach than the fast-buck Internet marketing culture that we've experienced over the past 10 years.

Simon Bowen, fluidstate.com