

Nobody cares about your website. - flapjack
http://newsweaver.ie/gerrymcgovern/e_article001512755.cfm

======
pj
No one cares that you think no one cares.

I'm so tired of the ego-busters. These kinds of generalizations are so 2001.
Look, some people do care. The people promoting it.

In this community, the same population of people are promoting blog posts that
say no one cares about your website while also promoting blog posts that say,
"Code doesn't matter, you have to market your website!"

Well, seriously. Which is it? Do you want people to market their website or
keep their traps shut?

My opinion, I love hearing about people's creations. I love hearing about
things that are new and vibrant and created by passionate people.

~~~
flapjack
I also enjoy hearing about new designs and sites, which is a main reason I
read HN.

It's probably important to note that this isn't my article or opinion. I just
found it interesting to read and slightly amusing.

~~~
calcnerd256
It's funny, I wouldn't mind being told about someone's new site design, but I
would mind if it was some company "interrupting" (seriously? e-mail isn't
real-time; I must have the metaphor wrong; why do I think of it as an
interruption?) me to tell me about it. A third party can say, "Hey, check out
this guy's redesign" and it's news, but when it comes straight from the
company, I for some reason don't want it, unless I have established ferocious
brand loyalty with them, like Nintendo, and their e-mails to me feel intimate
(like I'm part of an in-group and they get me and I get them) instead of
markety (unlike Nintendo, which feels spammy)

Edit: What introspective drivel is this? Nobody cares what I think about
whether or not anybody cares what anybody thinks about anybody's website.

------
patio11
I think this [edited to add: meaning Air New Zealand's marketing team thinking
that previous customers would care to receive a mail saying they updated their
website] is a consequence of certain people involved in the creative process
wanting to know that what they do matters. However, since many of them are
fundamentally old-school marketers, their metric for matters is Successful
Product Launch and to do a Successful Product Launch you have to make a lot of
noise. Indeed, absence of noise means a failure.

Six weeks later it isn't their problem anymore.

This is not how I would suggest thinking about web design for most people
here. Web design supports business goals. Redesigns support business goals.
You measure business goals, when they go up as a result of a redesign, you
bust out the freaking party hats. When your talented design firm goes off and
produces a heartbreaking work of staggering genius that succeeds in reducing
conversion by 23%, you thank them for their time, exchange a firm handshake,
and do the next project better.

Now, as a fact of life, you are probably going to learn that "pretty" and
"converts well" have very little to do with each other, and that a lot of
iterative improvement beats the everloving stuffing out of big-bang redesigns.
(Don't take my word for it. Collect data and run the numbers. I'm right, but
your designers won't believe me until they see the numbers. They probably
won't believe me after they see the numbers, either. That is when you fire
them.)

I know a lot of designers chafe under the notion that the best possible use of
their time is probably creating 96 different versions of the signup button in
slightly different shades of red to test against each other. Yeah, life sucks
that way -- I didn't get into CS to do SQL optimization for CRUD reports,
either. I suggest taking up a hobby. When you're on the clock, do productive
work.

------
michael_dorfman
A lot of people are attacking the article, but aren't really engaging with its
central point:

If you run a bricks and mortar business, you don't need to notify people to
tell them that you've redesigned your website. Your customers are probably not
interested in your website, except as an analog/support for your core
business. If the redesign makes their life easier, they'll notice. If not,
they probably won't care. In either case, they'll find out soon enough.

~~~
stcredzero
I am reminded of the orientation for a volunteer organization I was a part of.
They served lots of Vietnamese, and one of the experienced volunteers was
explaining little differences in culture.

"And this thing with saying 'Thank You' -- in our culture we do not thank
people for doing what they are supposed to do. And when we get the electric
bill, and it says previous payment...Thank You for Your Payment! We think --
who are they kidding!?"

------
byoung2
"I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right
to say it!"

I took the tone of the article as quasi-facetious, but there is a kernel of
truth to it. The fact is that for the most part visitors don't really care how
a website looks as much as we care about the content on it. People usually get
to sites from Google search results, and Google only sees content, not fancy
graphics, transparency, and rounded corners.

The company I work for (to remain nameless) makes millions from generic
community forums and website acquisitions that haven't been redesigned since
the first internet boom. When we redesign them it is mainly to convert them to
vBulletin for forums or a cms for other sites, or Windows/ColdFusion/ASP to
LAMP. Updating the look of a site is a byproduct of improving the user
experience and maximizing revenue, never an end in itself.

------
computerofmeat
I'm a little bit tired of how many blogs out there are trying to grab my
attention with blustery 'ground breaking' opinions about how the iphone is
actually crap or how Twitter doesn't work or how customers don't care about
anything or won't pay for anything or will pay for things or how any other
number of attention getting subjects that waste my time and leave me cold.
I've got a ground breaking opinion I want to share with tech and marketing
bloggers: If you've got nothing of substance to say, please don't post
anything this week. It takes me half the article to realize you're full of hot
air and there isn't enough time in the day.

------
ottbot
I read things like the and just think "oh, get over yourself".. So you've put
yourself above email marketing? Just be content that your smart enough to know
Air NZ isn't actually a good friend of yours. We all get it..

I don't believe these companies think anyone would really care if they have a
redesigned site or newsletter, I think it's more about having a reason - any
reason - to contact you with something more than a ticker tape of latest
fares/deals (even if it's all we really want).

It's easy enough to be shrewd about marketing, but it's working on someone..
Someone _else_ of course!

------
dpcan
He got pretty upset about the "Welcome" message. It's a pleasantry.... I
sincerely suggest that NOBODY ask this guy about the weather.

------
verdant
I think it typically boils down to the following: "We spent quite a bit of
money on the website/newsletter redesign that we need to justify. The big
bosses want to make sure we promote it"

------
blasdel
Nobody cares about Volume 14 Number 26 of your weekly ego-list. You are not
kragen.

Is the 1:1 ratio of body text to repetitive footer supposed to be ironic?

~~~
Elepsis
Not sure what the deal with that link is, but here's the actual source (with
no weird footer): [http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2009/nt-2009-08-10-nobody-
ca...](http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2009/nt-2009-08-10-nobody-cares.htm)

~~~
omouse
The website is an email newsletter template. That's part of the joke ;) The
weird footer was the best part haha

