Before you put up a website, you should be very clear about its purpose. As most people create a website to make money by selling something, I'll assume you too want to make a buck or two.

That being the case, the entire website should be designed with the central objective of a sale in mind.

1.10 seconds to live or die.

Use a web host that is reliable and loads pages fast. Aim for less than 10 seconds for the headline to appear on dial up. The graphics can follow a few seconds later. Even with broadband now being used by about 50% of surfers, relative loading speeds are still important.

2.You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

As soon as the landing page appears, your visitor should be faced with a clean, crisp page with your header graphic, showing your website name, confirming they have arrived at the right site, plus your logo and any slogan, defining your purpose.

Immediately below your header graphic, should be your headline. This should encapsulate the main benefit of your offer in a way that grabs the visitor by the throat, just like the opening sentence of a good book. They will then be more inclined to scroll down and read the rest of your message, rather than log off.

Tests have proved that red headlines, with a capital initial letter for each word, work best on the internet.

Avoid flashy graphics and any pictures that are not totally relevant to the central purpose of your site.

3. Pay attention to "above the fold".

In direct mail, a great deal of attention is paid to the words appearing on the first third or half of the page -- above the fold. The intention being to make this part so compelling the reader will unfold the letter and continue reading, rather than throwing it in the trash can. This is achieved by ending the last visible sentence at an intriguing point.

The same technique is used to get the reader to turn to the next page.

With this is mind, take a look at your site, as it will appear on your visitor's screens and check which part of your sales message is initially visible. Then you can adjust the spacing and wording to ensure it ends on an intriguing note, thus compelling the visitor to scroll down and read the rest of your message.

4. Make your webpage a silky smooth ride.

The purpose of your main webpage is to answer all your reader's unspoken questions and bring them smoothly down to the obvious conclusion they would be crazy to pass up your amazing offer.

So eliminate all roadblocks on your sales message, by using hyperlinks to any secondary information, rather than go into detail on your main page.

But do break up your message with sub headlines. That way, visitors can skip parts that don't interest them and home in on the interesting passages, where they can read your text in full.

5. Length of your message.

It has been proved, many times, a long sales letter outsells a short one. This is because you need to answer every unspoken question in the mind of your visitor.

Having said that, don't pad out your message, just for the sake of it, otherwise it will become boring. Go through the text carefully and eliminate every superfluous word, particularly "that" and "which". Your aim should be to get your full message over, with great economy of words.

6. Guarantee.

Offering the very best guarantee you can, will add more credibility to your offer than anything else. If you have confidence in your product, you should not flinch from this.

You might think everyone will take advantage of this. But, in fact, the greater number of sales you make because of your strong guarantee will more than outweigh the few orders from chancers ordering with the intention of asking for a refund.

Don't overlook the chance to survey buyers who return your product for a refund, as this can provide very valuable market research to help you fine tune your product and actually reduce refund requests in the future.

7. Pop ups.

Visitors hate them, but webmasters love them.

Why?

Because they work.

So, to avoid annoying your visitors, yet still enjoy the marketing advantages of a pop up, make it either a "pop under" or an "exit pop up". That way it only appears when the visitor leaves the site without buying.

That's the ideal time to offer them a free subscription to your newsletter, so you can keep in contact with them. It's also a good idea to offer an incentive, such as a free report or e-book.

It's been proved very few visitors buy on their first visit. The majority need between five and twelve contacts with you to be converted from visitors to customers. So, offering them a regular newsletter, rather than simply a short mini course, is better, because it's open ended.

This gives you many opportunities to build a genuine relationship with your prospects and, eventually, convert them to customers.