8 Rules for Making Your Website Attractive, Interesting,
Engaging & Interactive
Designing your website around your customers and their needs is
the utmost of importance. A website's form and content is what
will determine if a visitor will stay just a visitor or turn
into your next customer or rather how 'sticky' it is.
To succeed at your online business (whether you are selling your
own product/service or are selling for other merchants as an
affiliate), you need a Web site created just for that - a
simple, focused site. One that is easy to build,
maintenance-free, low cost, credible, and a powerful
traffic-builder and customer-converter.
Having the right tool and the right product alone doesn't insure
the success of your website. There are many factors to be
considered while designing a site. Unfortunately, most of these
are easily ignored by Internet business owners.
1) Build It for Speed - It's a fact of modern life - people are
in a hurry. This means that you have between 10 and 30 seconds
to capture your potential customer's attention. To minimize your
load time, keep graphics small. Compress them where possible.
Use flashy technology (JavaScript, Flash, Streaming Audio/Video,
animation) sparingly and only if it is important to your
presentation.
2) Target your Market - Know who your market is and make certain
that your site caters to their needs. It is critical that your
site reflect the values of your potential customers. Is your
market mostly business professionals? If so, the site must be
clean and professional. Is your product aimed mostly at
teenagers and young adults? Then your site could be more
informal and relaxed. The key here is to know your market and
build the site to their preferences.
3) Focus the Site - Make certain your web site is focused on the
goal, selling your product or service. A site offering many
unrelated products is not necessarily unfocused, but this is
often the case. If your business does offer many products,
dedicate a unique page for each instead of trying to sell them
all from one page.
4) Credibility Is Crucial - The most professionally designed
site won't sell if your customers don't believe in you. A clear
privacy statement is one way to build your credibility. Provide
a prominent link to your privacy statement from every page on
the site as well as from any location that you are asking your
visitors for personal information. Provide legitimate contact
information on line.
5) Navigation should be simple - Make site navigation easy and
intuitive. Simple and smooth navigation adds to the convenience
of the visitors. Add powerful search and catalog features. Many
times a lot of visitors do not have the patience to navigate
through the whole website to find what they are looking for.
6) Consistency is the key - Make sure the site is consistent in
look, feel and design. Nothing is more jarring and disturbing to
a customer than feeling as if they have just gone to another
site. Keep colors and themes constant throughout the site.
7) Make your site interactive and personalized - Make your
website interactive. Add feedback forms as well as email forms
that allow your prospective customers to ask you any questions
they might have pertaining to a product. Personalization of your
website is another key element that can lead to customer delight
and can increase your sales. Personalization technology provides
you the analytic tools to facilitate cross-selling and
up-selling when the customer is buying online. It would give you
an idea of what products to cross-sell and up-sell. For example,
when a person buys a CD player, a disc cleaner can also be
offered.
8) Content is King - Good content sells a product. Ask yourself
the following questions. Does your copy convey the message you
wish to get across to your visitors? Is it compelling? Does it
lead your visitor through the sales process? Have others review,
critique and edit your copy to insure it is delivering the
intended message. Always double check your spelling and grammar.
These eight, simple rules will go a long way toward the
improvement of your website and most importantly, turn visitors
into customers.
While it's true that we all want to make money, I believe what
should drive one first and foremost is the passion for what you
do along with the desire to help others. I have both. I want to
know that I helped you in some way, with some piece of
information big or small, to have the success you want.
All the best! Tony Smith