Analyze your own website before approaching a professional |
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Web sites are one of the most inexpensive ways to market small businesses online. Sites help you to reach out to your potential customers worldwide or in your backyard. So, what are the essential traits of great web sites? Its effectiveness of course! And effectiveness can be measured by two things - does your website get visitors, (ii) do these visitors get converted into your customers. When you visit a site and find yourself staying awhile, have you ever wondered what makes you stay?. Think - is it the information? Graphics? Product/service benefits? what? Does your website look clean & simple, or is it crammed with images and too much content Does your website have a purpose? Does it tell your visitors what action you want them to take? How effectively? Design, navigation, functionality etc are all important for a website's survival but the most important of all to succeed is whether it has a purpose. What about your site's loading time? Lighter the better. Minimal use of images, flash, and videos is recommended. Whoever said looks don't matter was telling only half the truth and doing away with the other half. The way your site looks reflects your company's image so it better look pleasing and professional. BUT. But. But - the look is important only vis-à-vis visitors. So first the small business website should have the right elements to reach its target audience like, right meta tags, keywords, content, etc. Once visibility is achieved, then its time to focus on the looks. Does your site have broken and dead links? Fix them asap.. Does it have backlinks? More the merrier. Does it have contact info on home page like email, phone number, address etc? Are all important pages directly linked with your index/ home page? Does your site have credible original, optimized content? Does it provide valuable, timely information? Is it interactive? Is the content organized and arranged in a logical sequence? What about browser compatibility? Your web site should be such that can be updated quickly, easily & inexpensively. So, you'd have noticed from the above, that a great Web site isn't so much about fancy graphics, java scripts and animations as It is about creating a useful experience for our visitors... one they will want to repeat over and over again! And if you are successful in achieving this your website will be your cash cow, that you never ever imagined. |
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