Design.



It is vital that the website has a clear, effective design. You should not attempt to design your site yourself, unless you have a clear aptitude for design. So many small businesses attempt to design and build their own website, but not many are able to do it well. You will lose a large amount of customers with a poor design. Make sure the design is not overcrowded - lots of companies try to fill in every single piece of information about their company which just overloads the visitor. The main function of the website is to get them to contact you. Also, remember a website is not indefinite - design tastes change and new functionalities are invented. Generally we see customers completely overhauling and redesigning their websites every three years or so.

What do you want your website to do?

To generate leads? If you are in a service orientated business it is probable that you may want your website to generate leads ie get the visitors interested so they contact you direct and you are then in a position to turn them into a client. One suggestion as to how you can do this is by offering free downloadable reports in PDF format in exchange for their details. Then you could follow up with a phone call or letter to them.

Be an information resource for your customers? It could be that you want your website to be an informative source to your existing clients, including all relevant technical data, product reviews ,online catalogues etc.

Be an online ordering site? It maybe that you want your customers to migrate to online ordering as this undoubtedly saves in personnel costs.

There are numerous things that your website can do and you need to think it through carefully when in the planning stage instead of trying to be all things to all people.

Do you want search engine traffic?

You may want to generate new customers through search engines and if this is the case then there are many factors you need to pay attention to. First and foremost, you need to be aware which keywords your site will target. To do this you need to do your keyword research; there are many sites which can help your with this such as www.wordtracker.com, www.goodkeywords.com, and Google's Adwords site . This will help you get create an image of what people are searching for in your market and the search volumes, so that you can create a short list.

On page optimisation: Using the information generated from the keyword research, It will be a requirement to optimise the website for these phrases. A web designer will be able to do this without any problem.

Incoming links: A further critical factor in getting good search engine ranking is the building of incoming links to your website. This should be an ongoing process and time should be made each month (either by, outsourced or delegated) to obtain links to the website.

Website functionality.

Your website should be functional in the following:

Navigation: This must be clear, intuitive and easy to use. Visitors must be able to know how to quickly gain access to the different parts of your website.

Browser compatibility: Your website must work efficiently in all popular browsers, which include Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox.

Clear design and branding: The overall layout design of your site should be a clear, clean design and incorporate your company branding.

Balance: Your website must include the right balance of text - break it up with the use of images, as people do not like reading large blocks of text online.

Communicate clear benefits: Your website must communicate the benefits of using your company - your unique selling proposition. Too many businesses make the mistake of telling the visitor all about themselves when they really need to communicate to the visitor how they can help solve their problems.

Testimonials and client lists: Frequently, I have seen many customers bury their gleaming testimonials and client lists away in a corner of their website. If you have good testimonials and impressive client lists then you should use them throughout your site. Disperse testimonials throughout the main pages as they to tend to create an impression, yet no one particularly goes looking for a websites testimonials section.

Do you have an interesting story to tell? If you have a story of interest to tell about your company - maybe how it was born, or interesting situations where you have helped a client, then tell the story. People enjoy stories - they delight and captivate and you can use them as successful examples as to how your business can help them.

If you think through all the factors above, you'll have a more clearer idea of how your website is going to look and operate, and you can then pass this information on to your web designer and you will be more likely to get a finished website that you are happy with and that does what it should - increase your business and add to your bottom line.