About a week ago, we had construction work done in our offices. Once the guys left, we thought maybe we should have the carpeting professionally cleaned.

Since we practice what we preach, we went online and Googled “professional carpet cleaning,” and some other similiar terms. That’s how we found the Stanley Steemer website, and clicked on commercial services.

Here’s a link to the page we were looking at: http://www.stanleysteemer.com/Home/CommercialServicesLanding/CleaningServices.aspx

The image they chose is a stock photo that has nothing to do with … anything. It’s a guy, pumping his fist because he’s so excited. Why? Because his carpets are super clean?

This led to a long conversation about just how many sites we come across that have totally irrelevant images, that do nothing to help inform, educate or otherwise add anything to a user’s experience.

Images aren’t window dressing on a website. They are as important as the words you choose. Pictures help users understand the content they’re about to read. In some cases, users can simply scan the image and not have to read the content to understand what the page is about.

Remember, there’s no such thing as “wasted” space on a website. And so often, these meangingless images take up some of the most important real estate on the site.

Website Design Content, Website Design, Website Usability

I recently tweeted about an article in Search Engine Land, written by veteran SEO Jill Whalen, titled “85 Reasons Why Website Designers/Developers Keep SEOs in Business.” I think Jill nailed the problem some web designers have with SEO, but it actually brings up a bigger issue that we talk with our clients about almost every day.

Simply put, web designers and developers are not marketing people. So, Jill is absolutely correct in her list of reasons why they keep SEOs in business. But there can be an addendum to that title, and it can include reasons why they keep SEOs, Usability and Marketing experts in business.

Web designers and programmers keep up with web design trends, the latest programming and available technology. That’s enough to keep most of them busy. And some are really very good at what they do.

But it’s unrealistic to think that they can also keep up with the latest usability standards, SEO (which is a constantly moving and changing field), and user behavior trends, all of which should be incorporated into the layout, architecture and wireframe of a website. And of course, the website content needs to incorporate messaging based on consumer insight, and that generally should not fall to the web designers either.

So the next time you’re looking to design or re-design your company’s site, keep in mind that there are different areas of expertise that all need to come together to create a successful website. It should incorporate the right technology for your needs and a design that accurately represents your business, and a marketing edge that will convert users into buyers.

I understand why, especially in this economy, designers and programmers want to market themselves as broadly as possible. But once you break it down, it’s easy to see why it would be so difficult to have true expertise spanning so many areas.

Website Design Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design, Website Usability