Important Aspects of Website Design

We believe you don’t start the design of a new or revised website by sitting down with the designer and coder of the website. Rather, we recommend you review the approaches, ideas, processes and other methods listed below to determine if they apply to your situation.

Think about your audience. Are they looking for immediate answers and solutions? We bet they are. Most likely these visitors to your website are very much like you. Chances are you use the Internet more than other types of media to search for information. If a web page doesn’t “grab your interest” within 8 - 10 seconds after landing on it… you move on!

As a “first step” we suggest that you start by reviewing the questions listed below. We are convinced that once you get to the last question… you will have a list of action items identified that will greatly improve the productivity of your current website. The success or failure of the site and/or business may very well depend upon the decisions you make after reading these questions.

What Do You Know About Your Clients and Prospects State of Mind?

When visitors land on your website, they have very little time to read what you say. They have a need for information or a product and don’t want to listen or read verbose descriptions and comments. You have about 8 seconds to engage them and get them to take action. Do most visitors land on your website wanting:

1) information,
2) a “quick fix”,
3) a bargain,
4) a large selection,
5) or a telephone call, etc.?

It is imperative to know the answers to these and many other questions BEFORE you design the pages within your website.

Do You Make Website Visitors Feel You Can Satisfy Their Wants and Needs?

Landing on any page within your website [especially the Homepage] must make the visitor know that you understand their needs, business, wants, and desires. The more you put yourself into the “mindset” of the website visitor, the better chance you have of converting their visit into something you want to happen i.e. buy, complete a contact us form, bookmark the page, pick up the phone and call you or any other method of measurable conversion.

What Approach Do You Take When Developing Pages Within Your Website?

What do you think you would want from your website if you were the prospective visitor or client? Assume you don’t know as much information as you want in order to make an informed decision. Talk to these visitors in a language they will understand. If visitors want more insight or information, tell them to click on the more info link or give you a call. They will follow your direction ONLY if you have built some level of trust or understanding.

What are You “Selling” to the Website Visitor?

Are you focused on telling them about your product or service or are you making them understand that choosing your firm will deliver that special feeling they are seeking by making the purchase? Are you sure that you made the visitor know that you understand their needs, wants, problems, etc.? What techniques did you implement to get your points across?

How are You Going to Get the Visitor to Stop and Think About Your Service or Product?

Remember… they are ready to pass by your website in a blink of an eye. What are you going to do to engage them? The answer you come up with will be critical to the success you have in gaining their confidence enough to buy or call you. Make sure what you say is NOT the same old thing they are used to seeing or reading on other websites. Be boring and you lose! Address the issues that appeal to the visitor and they WILL STOP! This is hard work… but worth the effort.

What Kind of “Call to Action” Statements are You Placing on Your Website?

Turning a visitor into a prospect or client is one of the most critical actions of your website. How will you engage them? Once they know that you understand their needs and wants, they are more inclined to follow your CTA direction. Call to Action statements are critical to the success of any website’s conversion. Guide them in a manner that is more telling, rather than selling. Don’t be afraid to be assertive.

How Does Your Website Address the “Who Are We” Issue?

Again, it is about making the website visitor feel confident that they are choosing a reputable firm or organization with which to do business. They need to read about your success. This can be done by exhibiting your affiliation with associations, awards won, satisfied client statements, client success stories, examples of your work, etc. Show them you are a “player” in your industry.

Are You Prepared to Answer: “What Makes You Different”?

What have clients and prospects said about you and your company? Have they applauded you for your approach to doing business? Did they say you made them feel like you understood their needs and wants? Think back to the reasons clients buy from you. How did you meet their needs and wants? Give your prospective clients reasons to do business with your firm.

A final thought…

Make it your primary goal to understand the potential client. Look at your website through that client’s perspective. Who are they? What makes them different? What do they individually want and need? Be informative… do more telling than selling. They will “get it” and appreciate that you have made them an educated buyer. Finally, tell them what you want them to do next. Get them to take the first step and be ready to deliver on the expectations you have set throughout your website!

Finally, be sure to hire Internet marketing professionals to do the job if you don’t have the capabilities in-house. Too much is at stake to leave this part of your business to chance! We are pleased to provide you the insightful comments contained herein.

About The Author
We have 11 years of Internet marketing experience re building successful website promotíon programs and meeting the challenges of appealing to today’s Internet visitor in the current economic environment. Call us at 631-423-0815 for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team or to review the Full list of PDF documents on Internet Marketing and Conversion techniques. InternetConsultingAndCoaching.com

How to optimize your website

Website Optimization is a complex issue, but it must be known to any employer wishing to succeed online.

According to the dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy, optimizing is to find the best way to carry out an activity. Therefore, optimization of your website would make it comply best with each of its functions.

Recall that if a site is intended only for success in the Search Engines, better known as search engines will not be successful with users and the machines do not buy, not sell it. If, however, is intended only for individuals, difficult to achieve a good positioning in search engines and users do not find, therefore, not sell. In conclusion, a successful web site must comply with its duties unfailingly related to Search Engines such as those related to usability from site visitors.

We have said that anyone wishing to succeed in the Internet market, you should make a website that is a true “virtual branch.” Ie, it must be an extension of your company and function as a local online. For this, the site must achieve the objectives for which it was created, it must be compatible with the principles and policies of the Company, be functional and actually convey useful information to its users.

To specify a site that complies with the characteristics listed above, you must be using a Web Optimizer know how the site should work and how to achieve it.
While we know what we need, we do not know how. The optimization process is not fully structured, but could result in the following steps:

1) Analysis of the competition.

A competitive analysis will help us to know what strategies people are using “quarrel” with our company to win the segment. Through this research we can understand their keywords, their advantages and weaknesses. This copy does not mean that all its attributes, but watching you learn. Learn about our competitors will be very useful to know where we can fight and how we should improve.

2) Survey of Keywords.

Through a detailed study we can know the keywords in place and mostly used by the audience that his company will target. Getting on keywords is a vital step for the success of its “virtual office” as they carried their visitors from search engines or search engines to your website.

3) Development of a database for the site.

We must improve the site pages, and starting from scratch, create them. This step optimizes both HTML coding (headings, metatags, etc..) And “site architecture” (internal structure of links to Web pages that compose your site) as the graphical interface of the website (content and design). Recall that a site that has a great design but not the content it offers its visitors need is a sterile site.

4) Incorporation of keywords.

Once you choose the most effective keywords, we must place on our website. These should appear in the most important pages (Home Page and Services page) and in the measure. A repetition of the excessive lead in some Search Engines to erase from their site.

5) Review and building links.

Acquire high-quality links pointing to your website generates 95% success to get high rankings in Search Engines. Although rated to increase in the search engines is also important to have a large number of links pointing to your pages, we see that the truly important is the quality and degree of the same relationship with your site.

6) Measure the results.

Through various methods you can tell if your site traffic has increased after the optimization. Also, obviously if you will notice the presence on the Internet is giving better results in terms of sales since the Optimizer “he threw hand” to your website. If properly complied with their professional work, you will notice the good results.

7) Maintenance of the site and its contents.

Remember that the last step is the longest and perhaps most important. Once your website is ready and positioned in the search engines to be maintained. If not fed by updated and interesting content for its users and does not make the necessary changes so that they like, the previous optimization has been a waste of time and money.

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