I mentioned the
need for your business to get a website up and running previously. Now let’s consider a few points you’ll need
to keep I mind if you’re making your own site OR if you’re having it done by someone else.
When it comes to
your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make
sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are five important rules
of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.
1) Do not use splash
pages
Splash pages are
the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very
beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to
enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose.
Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the "back" button!
Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.
2) Do not use
excessive banner advertisements
Even the least
net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you
will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valuable
content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your
visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
3) Have a simple and
clear navigation
You have to
provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young
child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or
multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they
will leave your site.
4) Have a clear
indication of where the user is
When visitors are
deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know
which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able
to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily.
Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!
5) Avoid using audio
on your site
If your visitor
is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want
to make sure they're not annoyed by some audio looping over and over on your
website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over
it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.
So, let’s
consider a little more details!
Good Design
Practices
Your website is
where your business resides -- it's like the headquarters of an offline
company. Hence, it is important to practice good design principles to make sure
your site reaches out to the maximum number of visitors and sells to as many
people as possible.
Make sure you
have clear directions on the navigation of your website. (Well worth mentioning
this a second time!) The navigation menu
should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your
website without confusion.
Remember: Could a child navigate
your site?
Reduce the number
of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often
than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your
site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have
a minimum file size.
Keep your text
paragraphs at a reasonable length. If a paragraph is too long, you should split
it into separate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This
is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from
reading your content.
Make sure your
website complies with web standards at www.w3.org and also make sure they are
cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but
breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective
visitors.
Avoid using
scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use
scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects
on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and
even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers,
so some visitors might miss important information because of that.
Make It Easy To
Buy From Your Site
The ultimate
purpose of your website is to get you sales!
Convincing your
prospects to purchase from you is a hard job, but have you ever thought that
you're making the process twice as difficult for both parties if your prospects
are convinced but don't know how to buy from you? No matter how good you are at
convincing your prospects, they won't buy if they find the process
cumbersome. So MAKE IT EASY!
First, you will
want to check that people can find your order form easily and hassle-free. You
can write a clear, concise paragraph to direct your prospects to your order
form so that you can minimize the chances of them getting lost. You can also
reduce the chances of losing prospects by putting a prominent link to your
order page from every other page on your site.
Also, do you
offer multiple payment options? Some people may feel comfortable paying via
Paypal, some may only want to pay with their credit card and others might want
to send a check. The more options you offer, the better your chances of
covering your prospects' desired payment method. After all, it wouldn't make
any sense to sell hard to a prospect only to find that they won't be able to
pay you when they want to.
On the other
hand, you will want to prove that you are a credible merchant. Is your order
form secured using encryption technology? You would want to look into SSL for
this. You can also offer a money back guarantee so that people will feel
confident about buying from you. How about after sales support? Who do they
contact when they have problems after purchasing?
Alternatively,
you can add customer testimonials, your contact information, address, and so on
to boost your prospects' confidence. Make them feel safe about buying something
from you, a total stranger to them on the other end of the Internet.
As a conclusion,
it would be very pitiful if you sold hard and sold well to a prospect and
something goes wrong when he or she is ready to pay. Eliminate any chances of
that to maximize your profits!
Make sure you’ve
checked ALL your website connections, links, and SPELLING! Let the world know that you are in business
--- and you are ready to take their orders.
If you would want
an easy to set-up platform you need to visit www.jamarbizbuilder.com.
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QUOTE TO CONSIDER
THOUGHTFUL GEM
"Immortality exists on the web ---
Anything posted there remains forever!"
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