Common Website Mistakes - Part Four
Outsourcing to Multiple Vendors
Websites should have a consistent structure, and "look and feel". If you use a new vendor for every web project or update, your site will look like one of those quilts made at an old fashioned quilting bee with patches sewn by each of the ladies in town.
Also, users become disoriented and confused when they go from page to page on a site and they see varying designs or structure. Consistency is extremely important to a user-friendly site. When all the interfaces or pages look and feel the same, the user is more confident using the site because they can transfer their learning from one page to the next rather than having to learn everything over again for each new page.
The best way to ensure consistency is to make a single "entity" that is responsible for the design and management of the entire site. If this is not possible then create an oversight group within your company that reviews and approves all design work, and is committed to maintaining a single style. Even better is to have a web development company maintain the master copies, and deliver updated and revised graphics and pages as needed. Content style consistency is also important. Therefore, using a single "editor" for all content will ensure a consistency of style and structure.