Tips for a successful website
Tips for a successful website
I can’t tell you how often I see websites ignoring fundamental design and functionality do’s and don’ts that unavoidably limit the success of the companies’ web presence.
Get to the point
Don’t use homepage content talking about yourself or the company. You have less than 10 seconds to initially grab their attention. You MUST connect with their needs. Make it a point to let them know you understand their need and why they have come to your website.
Avoid using music on your website
Nothing scares a visitor off more quickly than entering a website and being blasted with music. It just isn’t professional, unless of course, you are in the music industry and your website is about music.
Accessibility
Make it as easy as possible to be reached. Make sure there is a contact form or contact information on every page and look into inexpensive tools like a Live Chat system.
Keep graphics and logo up to date.
It amazes me how many sites and logos I come across almost EVERY DAY that are years behind in design trends. Yet these very same companies are promoting cutting edge services. It just doesn’t make sense.
Driving Traffic
To increase traffic on your site, use Google Adwords and other pay-per-click services. You can get away with using Google exclusively. Many companies can credit much of their website traffic success on a Google Pay Per Click budget of $30 a month. There is no better bang for your buck in advertising.
Blog, blog, blog
Separate yourself from your competition by blogging and showing off your knowledge and expertise. There isn’t a profession or business that would not value from this. I recommend wordpress: it’s free and the best blogging CMS out there.
Google Analytics
Make sure Google Analytics is installed on every page of your site and you monitor it frequently. I am often asked to do website evaluations for possible clients, and in doing so I ask them key questions about their website traffic, and more often than not, they have no idea. How do you know what direction to swim if you don’t know where you are in the first place? Google anayltics is free and very powerful…. a no-brainer in my opinion.
Avoid using flash introductory pages
Sure they look nice and can be quite entertaining, but what do they really do for your website? In my opinion: frustrate your visitors. In today’s fast paced world we want the facts and information quickly. Remember, there are still plenty of dial-up users who will become frustrated waiting for your flash page to load and will move on to your competitor’s website.
Use Social Media
Create a social media network. Make sure you have social media accounts on twitter, facebook, and other social networking sites, keeping them as active and up-to-date as possible. Link your personal/business site to your social network to increase traffic.
Just curious about why you are recommending WordPress over Blogger? Several WordPressers I’ve been following over the past years are now raving about Blogger. I’m quite familiar with the versatility of Blogger. Do you have an article or chart comparing the two?
Suzanne, thanks for your question. Having used both Blogger and WordPress as blogging platforms and I have to say they are both very powerful, but with clear differences. I’ve been meaning to write an article comparing the two.The recommendation I am making if for the use of WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS) for stand alone websites (wordpress.org) over just a pure blogging platform (wordpress.com).
Hey thanks Papi!