Our Company Web Site Is a Web App

Company websites are important.

A well-designed, dynamic site that captures a company's spirit will generate business.  An ugly, static site that's thin on information will make you wonder about doing business with a company.

With this in mind, I was initially concerned about the redesign of HubSpot.com that we launched last week.

The redesign moved HubSpot.com from a custom site with a unique look and feel to a one-size-fits-all template. I was worried that without a polished, unique design we would make a weak impression on visitors. I thought we would appear smaller and less successful than we are.

I was wrong.

As we planned the launch of the new site, I realized that HubSpot isn't defined by the curved edges or faded colors of a fancy design. Instead, the essence of HubSpot is in the data we publish on our site. By moving from a custom design to a standard template we've made this content easier to publish and more central to our site. (Plus, at the end of the day, I think the template looks pretty good.)

With these changes, our company web site has become a web app.

Just like on Flickr, Facebook and Twitter, on HubSpot.com we publish content to a standard template. And just like on Flickr, Facebook and Twitter, on HubSpot.com our friends care more about the content of our posts than the look of our profile page.

Many companies feel the need to communicate size and sophistication through a complex, custom-coded website.

I'm happy we've thrown that idea out the window.

We'll let our content, not our design, show people what HubSpot's about.

(Apologies to Fred Wilson for the title of this post.)

Comments

[Yoav]

Rick, for what it's worth I think the site looks BETTER now. It's certainly no worse, and certainly just as easy to find anything I looked for.

[Rick Burnes]

Yes, I agree. In my post I was focusing on the fact that the data is more important than the design.

Of course, the new design turns out to be pretty good. Specifically, I think the simplicity of the new site makes it easier to find things.

[Clay]

Hey Rick,

Thanks for the invite to comment via Twitter. I like that the site is now clearer on HubSpot's mission. Right upfront it tells you what HubSpot does and how it can help your organization. That's great and an improvement over the original.

However, I think there is something to be said for maintaining some "polish" even when making the content more prevalent. Your old site had nice rounded tabs and a sleaker header. I imagine your CMS could still support that. I think having that polish would help also establish you all as a well rounded Internet firm with not only a focus on function but also an appreciation for beauty.

Definitely appreciate the new design and the direction you took it in, but I just don't think you had to sacrifice all of the polish.