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In our last blog post, you learned that having good web site navigation was so important to a web site; not only for site visitor usability, but also for search engine friendliness and search engine visibility. Are you aware how your site looks is also important. Good web site design actually follows very closely with good site navigation.
Good web site design means that you have a good looking site that is easy to read and easy to use. Your design should be relevant for your site - the type of products and services you are offering and the type of content you are displaying. The look of your site should be relevant to what you are displaying on your site so that is makes the most sense to site visitors and does not detract from a visitor’s experience on your site.
The overuse of flashing or animated objects with your web site design, while seemingly fun and attention getting to you, can be actually quite annoying to your site visitors. If one of the goals of your web site is to get people to return over and over again, imagine how annoying all these flashing and animated objects are after just the third or fourth visit!
Remember, you can never go wrong with a clean and simple look. Your web site design need not be garish or overly flashy or animated - a clean and simple web site design can work well for first-time and returning site visitors.
If you do use Flash animation on your web site, remember to use it sparingly. Flash animation is typically used to deliver video-like images on a site, such as in the top portion of this page of our web site. It should be subtle and attractive; always ensure it is readable by your visitors and not just there because you think it looks cool. It should have a purpose within your web site design, even if for simply promotion of your products and services. There really is no need to overuse Flash animation; at some point, it can begin to detract from a user’s experience.
One final point on web site design - the look of your web site represents your company, your products and your services. It represents you in the middle of the night when you are not open. Make sure your web site looks like you would want any representative of your company, products and services to look when they represent you. If your web site does not, maybe it is time for a new web site design that DOES!
And if you’re not maintaining your web site, regardless of how nice your web site design is, your site will never achieve what it could if you would have ensured a solid web site management plan was defined and followed for your site.
Old content or never changing content will never excite your site visitors very much, particularly warranting a return trip to your site. With a solid web site management plan, you can keep your site updated and appealing to your site visitors. Whether you perform web site maintenance yourself, or you work with a company dedicated to helping ensure the upkeep of your site, a comprehensive web site management plan should be an integral part of your online presence.
One of the most important aspects of what can be considered “a good web site” is the navigability of the site. If a user finds your site to be difficult to use or navigate through, they won’t stay long. Take a look at your web site? Is it navigable? Is it easy to use?
A user must be able to clearly and quickly identify how to navigate through your site. This means there needs to be clear, understandable prominent navigation on your home page and all secondary pages of your site.
Whether you use text navigation or graphical navigation buttons, keep your navigation clear and simple! Buttons that flash, blink, make sounds or play music might seem exciting to you, but after a few clicks, the user will quickly tire of it - and such a user won’t stay long on your site. Use plain readable font that all users will be able to clearly see. And keep the size of your navigation text large enough for most users to clearly see.
There are lots of tools and lots of experts today that can tell you a lot about web site navigability. All good “food for thought” - great information that will help you accomplish your overall objective. But the easiest way to check the navigability of your web site is to think like a user. Better yet - get an unbiased user to actually use your site! Watch them and listen to what they say when using your site. By doing so, you can learn a whole host of things about your web site – including just how navigable it truly is.
Whether you have a business on Main Street or an online presence… Whether you manufacture widgets or sell widgets online… Whether your web site is primarily for online representation of your business or you are actively selling merchandise online… You have a “storefront window”.
What does your “storefront window” say about your “store”?
Today, it is not only important to have a beautiful “storefront window” - adorned with fanciful window dressing and the highest quality merchandise - but you must also have the ”store substance” to back it up. Just what is “store substance”?
If you have a bussines on Main Street, jamming a bunch of mismatched merchandise together in your storefront window with little flair or common relevance - with virtually no descriptors or slogans - only serves to confuse passersby and leave them generally uninterested.
Conversely, an attractive well organized well thought out storefront window with a specific message and plenty of helpful relevant information to assist visitors can have a dramatic impact.
So, again we ask: What does your “storefront window” say about your “store”?
While you ponder this question, let’s consider some statistics…
A study performed in 2006 by The Center for Media Research estimated that 77% of adults in the US were online. Probably not a surprise to you - and likely a statistic that is higher today. A further study found that 87% of these online people rely on search engines as their primary means of locating websites!
Hundreds, if not thousands, of web site hosting companies have popped up in recent years, and not all of them are created equal. Poor service from your host can mean that no matter how great your web site is – the damage from your site being down can be irreparable. Visitors are easily annoyed – and may simply never come back. If you’re an e-tailer, this can mean lost revenue – but even if you simply have an informational brochure site, down-time gives the impression that maybe your products and service are as bad as your hosting company’s!
At Worry Free Web Sites, our client sites have guaranteed uptimes. And all of our client sites are monitored 24/7, so if there is an issue, we are on it and resolving it as quickly as possible – most times before the client is even aware the site is down.
Cheap is cheap – and that means that cheap hosting usually comes with nothing but minimal bandwidth and marginal service. Do you really want your site hosted with a company who never answers their phones — or that you cannot even call! That is not the case when you host with Worry Free Web Sites. We answer the phone – and your questions and concerns! Clients can also reach us via email – 365 days a year!
So when considering where your site will be hosted – ask lots of questions upfront! Ask for a list of clients and contact them to see how happy they are with their service. And find out where the actual servers are located – it’s best if they are actually in the same country as your company, but this is often not the case.
After investing in a new web site, make sure you host with an quality dependable hosting company. At Worry Free Web Sites, you’ll pay a fair hosting fee - and you’ll be one happy customer, with a web site that is actually available!
We all make resolutions for the new year. It may include such wonderfully life improving (albeit difficult) things as quitting smoking, losing weight or exercising more regularly.
But take a look at your web site. Do you need to make a resolution about it too?
If you answered YES to ANY of these questions, now is the time to do something about it! Make a New Year’s resolution to address those unresolved web site needs in 2008!
There are many companies that offer an array of marketing services to specific markets. For example, companies that provide country clubs and golf courses with everything from marketing plans for increasing membership, to tee markers, to web sites.Often, specialty marketing firms will offer clients a “free” web site.
You’ll soon find out that free doesn’t alays really mean FREE…
In most cases, these companies do not design a custom web site. Instead, a design template may be leveraged, meaning that your site can look very much like scores of other web sites anywhere else in the world.And there’s a good chance that the site will be built using a code-generator as well – which often means less efficient code and code that is inherently less search engine friendly.
But hey – it’s FREE, right?
It looks decent and at least you have a presence on the World Wide Web.But that’s when the monthly fees kick in!What you thought was free turns out to be really be nothing more than just a “lease” - and in the long run can cost you much more than what a custom-built web site would have cost to begin with. In the end, you don’t really own that web site.
Not to mention that your site will not be marketed well to search engines, you might have a more difficult time getting site content updated and worst of all – you don’t really own your web site.Try taking that site to another provider and you’ll find out that leasing a site has cost your business more than you thought - and in the end, after all that, you don’t own your site if you decide to leave that company.
In the spirit of the season of Thanksgiving, we all have much to be thankful for today. All you need to do is look around and see those less fortunate than yourself to be thankful for what you have. Ask yourself - what am I thankful for?
If you are currently satisfied with your website hosting or website maintenance company - that’s great - you indeed have something to be thankful for. Working with a company you can trust and depend upon is priceless.
But if you’re not so happy with the web site design and development, web site hosting and/or website maintenance company you’re currently with — or are looking for a new company – we encourage you to evaluate your options carefully and consider these ten very important criteria…
Does your provider offer any written assurances that you will be happy with the end product of whatever you are having constructed?
Do you enter into a legal agreement with your provider to ensure both parties understand responsibilities, deliverables, and project needs?
Understand what you own before you sign any agreement — and exactly what your agreement is buying. Make sure you review the agreement carefully before you sign anything.
Take the time to learn how to part ways with your provider, advance notification required, cancellation fees — and what you own when you do part.
Ask for a list of current clients from the provider and contact several of them to check on their satisfaction with the provider.
Ask for a description of all services provided with what you are buying - as well as services available — and take the time to understand them.
Will work be performed when requested - any day of the week?
As with any business arrangement, it is essential that you take the time to learn about the company you are considering, examine their experience, check their references, and do your homework up-front. A little time spent initially will go a long way to ensuring the company you choose to work with lives up to your expectations and can become a company you truly are thankful for — not just this season, but everyday of the year.
A web site is essential in today’s business world - whether you are a small retail business, a large manufacturing company, or an online merchant. A web site, if developed, hosted and maintained properly, is a great investment and a good “bang for the buck” as compared to other more traditional marketing avenues. A quality web site can bring new customers to your door over and over with a relatively small initial investment, minimal ongoing cost and limited amount of ongoing work.
Always ask for client references — and check them! There are a vast number of “garage” shops out there today that offer less than stellar services and less the quality code. These are folks who speak “techno-ese”, but don’t often have the experience of working with a vast array of businesses – or have a vast amount of development experience. They might know all the lingo and the development tools, but aren’t real business or marketing savvy – or overly concerned with your specific needs. Always remember to ask who their customers are – and then ask around for opinions of their abilities and services. Does this web development company understand what you need your web site to do? Ask about their design skills and request samples? Do they understand your business – are they willing to learn about it? Ask them about quality design, code and search engine friendliness – and what these things mean to them. And, most importantly, will this web development company be there six months from now? You want someone you can rely upon today – and tomorrow. You want a quality product for your development dollar. At Worry Free Web Sites, we have been in the Internet business for over seven years, in the marketing business (through our parent company Catalyst Marketing Innovations) for over 17 years, and have served hundreds of happy customers over that time.
#2 – HIRE A COMPANY THAT BUILDS SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY WEB SITES
Any web developer you interview should ask you questions – lots of questions - before providing a project proposal. They should want to know how important it is for your site to be found by the major search engines. You may think that’s important for every business, but a regional grocery chain not selling online isn’t looking for customers from across the country. The degree to which you need your site found regionally or nationally by search engines dictates the type of copywriting, content and structure of a site you really need. Your chosen web developer should understand the concepts of a search-engine friendly site – and how to build your site to be search engine friendly. At Worry Free Web Sites, we understand the importance of having a professional looking web site that is seen by the search engines.
#3 – MAINTAIN YOUR SITE!
The best thing about a web site is that it can be updated – quickly and relatively easily. Make sure that the company you choose to work with urges you to make regular updates and changes to your site. This can be accomplished by way of various monthly maintenance packages, on-demand web site updates, or some other on-call type procedure. Maintenance of your web site is of course dependent upon the volatility of your products and your business, but regular updates are important to keep your site looking fresh, current and up-to-date. Your web site visitors like this – and the search engines demand it. Keep it fresh! At Worry Free Web Sites, we embrace the concept of regular web site maintenance and work with each of our clients to ensure their sites are updated as frequently as possible. Most of our web site packages include a predetermined number of web site maintenance hours, making your monthly budgeting easier without the worry of added monthly web site expenditures.
Look for more useful information in our blog soon!
