Web Site Content
7. If you want a professional site, remember this golden rule, Content Is King.
Make your website relevant and a pleasant environment for the customer to be in.
Provide condensed, to the point, useful information for your visitors and customers that is easy to use and shows you are confident and know your business. Relevant, quality images can help reflect a friendly business with a professional attitude.
I'll say it again because it is a simple rule, one that is often overlooked........Content Is King ! !
Ask yourself this question "why do I go back to a website?". Its usually for their content. Their information, products or services.
Please be careful with any advertising, keep it relevant and complimentary to your content, and limit the use of flashing graphics. Guaranteed you are encouraging people to leave your site if overused. People have come to you for information. Not to click on an irrelevant ad or have their brain scrambled.
We've all seen those sites where the monkey's are dancing and the poker chips are running across the screen asking you to click on them; the only thing they have ever done for me is give me a headache and to reach the "let me get out of here as fast as I can" button on my browser....
10 tips on how to create a website, designed to invite potential customers instead of scare them away.
1. Easy Navigation - The Road To Your Information.
I have been on countless websites that make it difficult for me to do business with them. And you know what my first response is? "Next!"
I am onto the next website to see if they can answer my question. People don't want to waste their time hunting for things that should be easy to find.
So, if people come to your website to find something like employment, have a button easy to see and locate that says "Employment". People have been trained to look to the left or top of the website for the navigation menu.
A minimalist approach to design is best if a variation of the accepted basic menu positioning is needed.
2. Flashing WoW Factor - Exit Ramp.
Guaranteed you are encouraging people to leave your site if overused.
People have come to you for information. Not to click on an irrelevant ad or have their brain scrambled.
Make your website a pleasant environment for the customer to be in. Just like a store. Think about when you go to the shopping centre. You want to go in a shop that is clean, well laid out, has good customer service and the products you are looking for. Your website should reflect this. If it is what you expect in your shopping experience, then isn't it reasonable that your customers are looking for this in your website?
What about music? Well, it depends. On most business sites I would suggest not. Don't forget, many people are surfing in their office environment and don't want the boss to find out. If your music is loud or on as people log onto your site and can't find a quick way to turn it off, they will leave your site faster than a cat that just saw the teeth of my staffy, Chester!
If you are a running a professional site, please limit the use flashing graphics.
3. Colour - Enhancing The Information Super Highway Scenery.
Colour is an individual preference, and studies show that colours have an affect on people's emotions.
Look at the top sites, particularly sites in your business type. Their layout is simple and so is their colour scheme.
My recommendation would be to go with the flow. If you have a financial investment or business site, then conservative colours seem to follow. If you sell country items, then lots of heritage colours might apply. If you have a bridal website, soft pinks and pastels.
Think about your audience carefully and you will know the colour scheme to use.
4. Page Navigation Links - Your Destination.
This is a no brainer but we have to make sure all of your navigation links are hyperlinked to the right destination page.
As you hover over the link and look down in the left-hand part of your screen to the "status bar", you will see the hyperlinked page URL.
No one likes broken link pages.
5. About Us - Are You Reliable?
People usually want to know basic things before they do business with you.
Who are you?
How do I get a hold of you?
What is your product or service guarantee or terms and conditions?
What is your privacy policy?
You need to answer these questions by displaying them on your website to create trust between you and your online customer.
6. Site Map - How Do I Find..?
Have a lot of products or pages and resources?
Site Maps are not hard to create and are useful for larger sites. It also helps the search engines to know what you are about very quickly.
A site map helps people to find what they are looking for quickly without have to rummage through your whole site like a lost soul.
7. Fast Loading Pages - All Information Super Highway Lanes Are Go!
I think we will all agree, there is nothing worse than slow loading pages....
We must optimise all HTML markup and graphics for your website.
People hate to wait. Slow pages can equal death to an online business.
8. Shopping Carts - Need To Buy It Now?
If you are selling items or services, you need our reliable and well organised shopping cart.
I have seen some websites that have a gazillion products listed and to email them for orders. What a nightmare!
Organising product images, the accompanying information and completing the transaction is all you should need to worry about.
When starting a shopping cart, doing credit card transactions manually yourself will cut down on costs if you already have the facilities.
9. Typical Layout or Original Design - Volkswagon or Ferari?
People are often not sure what they need or how much they should spend.
All websites constist of an initial template that creates the foundation of a website layout.
The template contains the (X)HTML code used to create the basic foundation layout for a website. It will be reused in all pages needed to create the website.
The quality of the template structure and design will differ depending on the designer and the amount of work put into the construction or modification of an existing template.
Buying a template can be a quick cheap method to get your design done fast, and will work for some, but you will be constricted to the design on offer.
Search engines may have trouble indexing a website if excessive tables are used for layouts in the inital template and cross browser compatibility may vary.
The overall success of a website using a template can depend a lot on the markup used to create the design layout.
10. Customer Service - The Finish Line!
Okay so how is customer service a website design?
Well, customer service should be written all over your site. From tips, to free information, guarantees, to fast and reliable shopping.
People want to know, that you know what you are talking about and can deliver the goods they want.
Give a little and I guarantee you'll get back tenfold.
OK!...Did you get all that?
As you can see, Content is very important and can effect your websites success. Don't worry, we are nearly finished :-)
