圖文閱讀:關於企業網站的十個殘酷事實

轉載自:譯言網

作者:TammyTan

10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites

We all make mistakes running our websites. However, the nature of those mistakes varies depending on the size of your company. As your organization grows, the mistakes change. This post addresses common mistakes among large organizations.

Most of the clients I work with are large organizations: universities, large charities, public sector institutions and large companies. Over the last 7 years, I have noticed certain recurring misconceptions among these organizations. This post aims to dispel these illusions and encourage people to face the harsh reality.

The problem is that if you are reading this post, you are probably already aware of these things. But hopefully this article will be helpful to you as you convince others within your organization. In any case, here are our 10 harsh truths about websites of large organizations.

關於企業網站的十個殘酷事實

運營網站時，我們總會犯些錯，那些錯誤的性質因公司大小而異。然而錯誤，隨着組織的成長而變化。這篇文章提出的是大組織裏常見的錯誤。

我服務的大多數客戶都是大組織：大學、大慈善機構、公共機構和大公司。在過去的7年中我注意到，錯誤的看法在這些大機構裏翻來覆去地出現。這篇文章旨在驅散這些幻覺，鼓勵人們去面對殘酷的現實。

你可能已經意識到這些問題了。希望這篇文章在你想要說服組織裏其他人的時候，能幫到你。不管怎樣，以下是關於大組織網站的10項殘酷事實。

1. You Need A Separate Web Division

In many organizations, the website is managed by either the marketing or IT department. However, this inevitably leads to a turf war, with the website becoming the victim of internal politics.

In reality, pursuing a Web strategy is not particularly suited to either group. IT may be excellent at rolling out complex systems, but it is not suited to developing a friendly user experience or establishing an online brand.

Zeldman urges organisations to create a separate web division.

Marketing, on the other hand, is little better. As Jeffrey Zeldman puts it in his article Let there be Web divisions:

The Web is a conversation. Marketing, by contrast, is a monologue… And then there’s all that messy business with semantic markup, CSS, unobtrusive scripting, card-sorting exercises, HTML run-throughs, involving users in accessibility, and the rest of the skills and experience that don’t fall under Marketing’s purview.

Instead, the website should be managed by a single unified team. Again, Zeldman sums it up when he writes:

Put them in a division that recognizes that your website is not a bastard of your brochures, nor a natural outgrowth of your group calendar. Let there be Web divisions.

1. 你需要一個獨立的網絡部門

在很多組織裏，網站要麼由市場部門管理，要麼由IT部門管理。這就不可避免地導致爭地盤的爭鬥，而網站就成了內部鬥爭的犧牲品。

事實上，遵照網絡策略，屬於哪個部門都不恰當：IT部門可能精通於運營複雜的系統，但它不適合開展友好的用戶體驗，乃至營造一個在線品牌。

另一方面，市場部門也好不到哪裏去。正如Jeffrey Zeldman在他的文章中說到的，建個網絡部門：網絡是一種交談。相比之下，市場是一種獨白……然後還有林林總總的事項：關於語義標記、CSS、不顯眼 的腳本、標籤類目、HTML運行得來、讓用戶處於無障礙環境，以及其他的技能和經驗——這不屬於市場營銷的職權範圍。

網站應該由一個獨立且統一的團隊來管理。Zeldman再次總結了這點：把他們放到一個既不會把你的網站當做私生子，也不會讓它放任自流的部門——那就建一個網絡部門吧！

2. Managing Your Website Is A Full-Time Job

Not only is the website often split between marketing and IT, it is also usually under-resourced. Instead of there being a dedicated Web team, those responsible for the website are often expected to run it alongside their “day job.” When a Web team is in place, it is often over-stretched. The vast majority of its time is spent on day-to-day maintenance rather than longer-term strategic thinking.

This situation is further aggravated by the fact that the people hired to “maintain” the website are junior members of the staff. They do not have the experience or authority to push the website forward. It is time for organizations to seriously invest in their websites by hiring full-time senior Web managers to move their Web strategies forward.

2. 管理網站是一項全職的工作

網站不僅總是分爲市場營銷和信息技術，它通常也資源不足。若沒有一個專門的網絡團隊，負責網站營運的責任往往變成“日常工作”之外的事情。對於一個網絡團隊而言，通常是不堪負荷的。其絕大部分的時間都花在日常維護，而不是長期的戰略思考。

這種狀況進一步加劇了這一事實，即人們僱用“維護/保持”網站的初級工作人員——他們沒有經驗和權威來推動網站向前發展。對於組織機構而言，現在，是時候認真地通過聘用專職高級網絡管理人員投資在網站上，促成網絡戰略的前瞻性了。

3. Periodic Redesign Is Not Enough

Because corporate websites are under-resourced, they are often neglected for long periods of time. They slowly become out of date with their content, design and technology.

Eventually, the website becomes such an embarrassment that management steps in and demands that it be sorted. This inevitably leads to a complete redesign at considerable expense. As I point out in the Website Owners Manual, this a flawed approach. It is a waste of money because when the old website is replaced, the investment put into it is lost, too. It is also tough on finances, with a large expenditure having to be made every few years.

Cameron Moll encourages web designers to realign their website rather than redesign.

A better way is continual investment in your website, allowing it to evolve over time. Not only is this less wasteful, it is also better for users, as pointed out by Cameron Moll in his post Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign.

3. 定期重新設計是不夠的

因爲企業網站的資源不足，他們往往會被忽視很長一段時間，慢慢成爲過時的內容、設計和技術。

最終，網站處於這樣一種尷尬狀態：管理層介入，並要求對它進行改版。這就不可避免地導致完全重新設計，花費相當的費用。正如我《網站所有者手冊》中 指出的，這是一個有缺陷的方法！這是浪費金錢！因爲當舊的網站被取代，投資投入就都丟失了。這也是糟糕的財政狀況，因爲每隔幾年就有比大量的支出。

卡梅倫莫爾鼓勵網站設計重新調整他們的網站，而不是重新設計 。

一個更好的方法是持續地投資網站，使之能夠隨着時間而推移。這不僅是減少浪費，這也是更好地爲用戶服務，就如梅倫莫爾在他的《Good Designers Redesign》中所說，大設計師會調整。

4. Your Website Cannot Appeal To Everyone

One of the first questions I ask a client is, “Who is your target audience?” I am regularly shocked at the length of the reply. Too often, it includes a long and detailed list of diverse people. Inevitably, my next question is, “Which of those many demographic groups are most important?” Depressingly, the answer is usually that they are all equally important.

The harsh truth is that if you build a website for everyone, it will appeal to no one. It is important to be extremely focused about your audience and cater your design and content to it. Does this mean you should ignore your other users? Not at all. Your website should be accessible by all and not offend or exclude anybody. However, the website does need to be primarily aimed at a clearly defined audience.

4. 您的網站不可能滿足所有人的訴求

我問客戶的第一個問題是：“誰是您的目標受衆”。我經常震驚於答覆的長度。它總是一份長長的詳細清單，包括形形色色的人。

不可避免的是，我的下一個問題：“哪些人口羣體是最重要的”。令人沮喪的答案是“他們都同樣重要”。

嚴酷的事實卻是：如果你爲所有人建立一個網站，你就一個人都訴求不到。

重點放在你的客戶上，並用你的設計和內容去迎合這個重點，是非常重要的。這意味着你會忽略掉其他用戶？沒關係。您的網站應便於所有人查閱，不冒犯或排除任何人。然而，它實在需要首先瞄準一個明確界定的受衆。

5. You Are Wasting Money On Social Networking

I find it encouraging that website managers increasingly recognize that a Web strategy is more than running a website. They are beginning to use tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to increase their reach and engage with new audiences. However, although they are using these tools, too often they do so ineffectively. Tweeting on a corporate account or posting sales demonstrations on YouTube misses the essence of social networking.

Microsoft dramatically improved its image amoung the development community by allowing Microsoft staff to speak out via the Channel 9 website.

Social networking is about people engaging with people. Individuals do not want to build relationships with brands and corporations. They want to talk to other people. Too many organizations throw millions into Facebook apps and viral videos when they could spend that money on engaging with people in a transparent and open away.

Instead of creating a corporate Twitter account or indeed even a corporate blog, encourage your employees to start Tweeting and blogging themselves. Provide guidelines on acceptable behavior and what tools they need to start engaging directly with the community connected to your products and services. This demonstrates not only your commitment to the community but also the human side of your business.

5. 你在社交網絡上浪費金錢

令人鼓舞的是，我發現網站管理人員越來越多地認識到：網絡策略不僅僅是運行一個網站。他們開始使用工具，如Twitter、Facebook和 YouTube，以增加與新受衆的接觸和互動。然而，儘管他們使用了這些工具，但通常卻是無效的。用公司賬戶啁啾小話，或在YouTube上演繹售賣示 範，就有違社會網絡的本質了。

社交網絡是關於人與人的互動的。個體的人不想建立與品牌或公司的關係。他們希望跟其他人交談。太多組織在應該花錢與人們透明公開交流的時候，一擲千金到Facebook的應用服務和病毒式影片。

鼓勵你的員工自己Tweeting和blog吧，而不是建立企業Twitter的帳戶，或者甚至公司博客。提供可以接受的行爲準則和工具——他們需要直接參與到與你的產品和服務有關的交流中去。這不但表明了你對社區的承諾，而且表現了你公司的人性化。

6. Your Website Is Not All About You

Where some website managers want their website to appeal to everybody, others want it to appeal to themselves and their colleagues. A surprising number of organizations ignore their users entirely and base their websites entirely on an organizational perspective. This typically manifests itself in inappropriate design that caters to the managing director’s personal preferences and contains content full of jargon.

A website should not pander to the preferences of staff but should rather meet the needs of its users. Too many designs are rejected because the boss “doesn’t like green.” Likewise, too much website copy contains acronyms and terms used only within the organization.

6. 你的網站不是關於你的全部

一些網站管理人員希望他們的網站符合每一個人的訴求，也有些是希望能滿足自己和同事的需求。居然有如此衆多的組織完全無視他們的用戶，並且把網站完全建立在組織的觀點裏。他們用總經理的個人喜好和滿篇的術語來表現自己設計的不恰當。

網站不應迎合工作人員的喜好，而應滿足其用戶。太多的設計被腰斬的原因是因爲老闆“不喜歡綠色”。同樣的，太多的網站內容包含僅用於本組織內的縮寫和術語。

7. You’re Not Getting Value From Your Web Team

Whether they have an in-house Web team or use an external agency, many organizations fail to get the most from their Web designers. Web designers are much more than pixel pushers. They have a wealth of knowledge about the Web and how users interact with it. They also understand design techniques, including grid systems, white space, color theory and much more.

Treating designers as pixel pushers wastes their design experience: post from Twitter complaining about being a pixel pusher

It is therefore wasteful to micro-manage by asking them to “make the logo bigger” or to “move that 3 pixels to the left.” By doing so, you are reducing their role to that of a software operator and wasting the wealth of experience they bring.

If you want to get the maximum return on your Web team, present it with problems, not solutions. For example, if you’re targeting your website at teenage girls, and the designer goes for corporate blue, suggest that your audience might not respond well to that color. Do not tell him or her to change it to pink. This way, the designer has the freedom to find a solution that may even be better than your choice. You allow your designer to solve the problem you have presented.

7. 你沒有從網絡團隊那裏獲得價值

不管是內部網絡團隊還是外部代理機構，許多組織沒有充分利用他們的網頁設計師。網頁設計師不僅僅是像素抄寫員。他們有豐富的知識，在網絡和用戶互動方面。他們也明白設計技術，包括網格系統、白色空間、色彩理論等等。

將設計師視爲像素抄寫員大大浪費了他們的設計經驗：來自Twitter的關於像素抄寫員的抱怨（原文有截圖）

因此要求他們“把logo放大”或“左移3像素”是一種浪費。你這樣做，是把他們當做軟件操作員，是在減少他們的作用，也是在浪費他們所帶來的經驗價值。

如果你想在網絡團隊那裏獲得最大的回報率，那麼請呈遞問題而不是解決辦法。例如，如果你要把網站目標用戶定在十幾歲的女孩，設計師試了下公司的標準藍色，建議說你的受衆可能對那個顏色的反應不會很好。不要告訴他或她將它更改爲粉紅色！

這樣的話，設計師可以自由尋找解決方案，甚至可能您的選擇更好。讓你的設計師解決你提出的問題。

8. Design By Committee Brings Death

The ultimate symbol of a large organization’s approach to website management is the committee. A committee is often formed to tackle the website because internal politics demand that everybody has a say and all considerations be taken into account. To say that all committees are a bad idea is naive, and to suggest that a large corporate website could be developed without consultation is fanciful. However, when it comes to design, committees are often the kiss of death.

Design by committee leads to design on the fly.

Design is subjective. The way we respond to a design can be influenced by culture, gender, age, childhood experience and even physical conditions (such as color blindness). What one person considers great design could be hated by another. This is why it is so important that design decisions be informed by user testing rather than personal experience. Unfortunately, this approach is rarely taken when a committee is involved in design decisions.

Instead, designing by committee becomes about compromise. Because committee members have different opinions about the design, they look for ways to find common ground. One person hates the blue color scheme, while another loves it. This leads to designing on the fly, with the committee instructing the designer to “try a different blue” in the hopes of finding middle ground. Unfortunately, this leads only to bland design that neither appeals to nor excites anyone.

8. 委員會設計導致毀滅

一個大型組織對待管理的最終辦法是管理委員會。委員會方式往往用來對付網站，因爲內部政治的需求——每個人都擁有發言權、所有因素都需要加以考慮。

關於所有委員會都很糟糕的說法是天真的；關於大型企業網站在沒有協商的基礎上就可以發展的建議也是幻想。然而，當涉及到設計的時候，委員會往往是死亡之吻。

設計是主觀的。我們對設計的反應會被文化、性別、年齡、經驗，甚至兒童時的物質條件（如色盲）影響。一個人認爲偉大的設計可能是另一個人討厭的。這就是爲什麼設計決策於用戶測試而非個人經驗的重要原因。

不幸的是，當一個委員會參與設計決定的時候，這種做法很少被考慮。

委員會的設計會變成各方妥協。

由於委員會的成員有不同的設計意見，他們設法找到共同點。一個人討厭藍色的輪廓，而另一個喜歡它。這就導致設計上的停滯不前，因爲委員會指示設計師“嘗試不同的藍色” ，希望能找到中間立場。不幸的是，這隻能導致乏味的設計，既沒有滿足訴求，也沒有讓任何人興奮。

9. A CMS Is Not A Silver Bullet

Many of the clients I work with have amazingly unrealistic expectations of CMS (content management systems). Those without one think it will solve all of their content woes, while those who have one moan about it because it hasn’t!

It is certainly true that a CMS can bring a lot of benefits. These include:

reducing the technical barriers of adding content,
allowing more people to add and edit content,
facilitating faster updates,
and allowing greater control.
However, many CMS are less flexible than their owners would like. They fail to meet the changing demands of the websites they manage. Website managers also complain that their CMS is hard to use. However, in many cases, this is because those using it have not been adequately trained or are not using it regularly enough.

Finally, a CMS may allow content to be easily updated, but it does not ensure that content will be updated or even that the quality of content will be acceptable. Many CMS-based websites still have out-of-date content or poorly written copy. This is because internal processes have not been put in place to support the content contributors.

If you look to a CMS to solve your website maintenance issues, you will be disappointed.

9. CMS不是一勞永逸的解決方案

我的許多客戶對CMS（內容管理系統）有非常不切實際的期望。那些沒建CMS的，認爲它可以解決所有的內容困境；而建了CMS的，則抱怨它，因爲它沒有達到預期效果！

的確，CMS可以帶來很多好處，包括：

* 減少補充內容的技術壁壘
* 讓更多的人來添加和編輯內容，
* 促進更快的更新
* 允許更大的控制。

然而，許多CMS沒有它們主人所想的那般靈活。他們不能滿足網站管理上不斷變化的需求。網站管理人員也抱怨說，他們的CMS很難使用。然而，在許多情況下，這是因爲那些使用者沒有得到足夠的訓練，或沒有完全足夠地使用它。

總之，CMS可能會使內容很容易地被更新，但並不確保內容被不斷更新，或確保內容的質量是可以接受的。許多以CMS爲基礎的網站上仍然有過時的內容或很差的內容。這是因爲內部流程沒有到位地支持內容投遞者。

如果寄希望用CMS解決你網站維護的所有問題，你會感到失望的。

10. You Have Too Much Content

Part of the problem with content maintenance on large corporate websites is that there is too much content in the first place. Most of these websites have “evolved” over years, with more and more content having been added. At no stage has anybody reviewed the content and asked what could be taken away.

Many website managers fill their website with copy that nobody will read. This happens because of:

A fear of missing something: by putting everything online, they believe users will be able to find whatever they want. Unfortunately, with so much information available, it is hard to find anything.
A fear users will not understand: whether from a lack of confidence in their website or in their audience, they feel the need to provide endless instruction to users. Unfortunately, users never read this copy.
A desperate desire to convince: they are desperate to sell their product or communicate their message, and so they bloat the text with sales copy that actually conveys little valuable information.
Steve Krug, in his book Don’t Make Me Think, encourages website managers to “Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left.” This will reduce the noise level on each page and make the useful content more prominent.

Conclusions
Large organizations do a lot right in running their websites. However, they also face some unique challenges that can lead to painful mistakes. Resolving these problems means accepting that mistakes have been made, overcoming internal politics and changing the way you control your brand. Doing so will give you a significant competitive advantage and allow your Web strategy to become more effective over the long term.

10. 你的內容太多了

維護大型網站內容的一個問題是：太多的內容擺在首位。大部分這樣的網站都是“進化”多年而來，於是越來越多的內容被添加進去。卻沒有任何回頭審查內容的流程來思考：哪些是可以去掉了的。

很多網站的管理人員以沒有人會讀的複製的內容來充斥他們的網站。這是因爲：

* 害怕失去了一些東西 ：把一切都放到線上，他們認爲用戶將能夠找到他們想要。不幸的是，這麼多可能的資料中，很難發現任何東西。
* 擔心用戶不理解 ：對網站疑惑是對受衆缺乏信心，他們認爲有必要提供無窮無盡的訊息給用戶。不幸的是，用戶大概從來沒有閱讀過這些。
* 強烈的說服慾望 ：他們急於出售他們的產品或傳達訊息，所以膨脹化地發出銷售信息，而實際上是傳遞了沒有價值的訊息。

史蒂夫·克魯格，在他的著作《Don’t Make Me Think》中，鼓勵網站管理員“去掉每頁上一半的話，然後再去掉剩下的一半”。這將降低噪音水平，並讓有用的內容在每一頁上都更突出。

結論

大型組織在運營自己網站上做了很多正確的事情。然而，他們也面臨着一些獨特的、可能導致令人痛苦的錯誤的挑戰。這些問題的解決倚賴於接受那些已經犯的錯誤、克服內部政治以及改變控制品牌的方式。這樣做將會給你帶來重要的競爭優勢，並讓你的網絡戰略在長時間內更加有效。