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Do You Really Need A WebsiteJanice Byer, CCVA, MVA Having a website is the one form of marketing your business that just keeps on giving! But how do you know if you need a website Well, with the amount of information that is available with just a few keystrokes or clicks of the mouse, why wouldn’t you want your business’ information to be included More and more people and businesses use the Internet to find information. Whether it is locally or internationally, the Internet is the one place where they are likely to find what they are looking for. Unless, of course, they are looking for you or your product and you don’t have a site. Having a website allows your business to advertise 24 hours a day, seven days a week and it is available whenever someone is in need of information on your product or services. The elements you include on your website are a determining factor for how successful a marketing device it will be for you. For personal websites, you can include everything that your heart desires. You can have a site that shows off your favorite cat or a site that includes everything you ever wanted to know about Limburger cheese. The subject choices are unlimited. However, a business site should be more refined. Get to the point and provide a wealth of information about your product or service. But, ensure that you leave a little to the imagination. Inspire them to WANT to contact you for a little for more information and then make the sale! And, on that note, make sure your contact information is readily available on your site. There is nothing worse than peaking your site visitor’s interest and then making them search for a means to contact you. Believe me, many people will simply give up if they can’t find what they are looking for and go onto another site in hopes of an easier route. Navigation is another key element. Getting around your site should be straightforward and painless for your visitors. Provide links from each page to all your key pages. Some sites can become quite large, so links from every page to every page would make the site quite crowded and monotonous. But, make sure you don’t leave your visitor at a dead end. Limit the use of unnecessary graphics and pictures. Of course, if you are selling a product that needs to be seen, such as clothing, these pictures should be included but try to keep them as small as possible. This will keep the loading time down on your site. However, if you sell automotive aftermarket products, or any other large line of products, don’t put a picture of every brake line and fuse on your site. Including too many graphics will slow down your site and waiting for pictures to load is not something that most busy people have time for. Again, they will go somewhere else for help. As for advertising other pages on your site, there are many avenues than can be used, including banner exchanges. These are a great form of getting additional free advertising, but don’t load down your site with an infinite amount of banners or links. If possible, dedicate a page to display your banners, webrings and favorite links. This will help reduce the clutter on your information pages. These hints are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more ways to make your site appealing, more than can be listed in a single article. Research and using an experienced web designer can make your presence on the Internet appealing and informative. Remember, above all else, make your site with your visitor in mind, whether they are Internet newbies or seasoned surfers. Your site needs to attract new visitors and it needs to keep them coming back.
| | | | RELATED ARTICLES Web Accessibility Myths With more and more countries around the world passing laws about blind and disabled access to the Internet including the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK, web accessibility has been thrown into the spotlight of the online community. This article attempt to put a stop to the misinformation that has been thrown around and tell you the truth behind web accessibility. The Benefits Of Outsourcing The year 2005 is expected to be the year of "outsourcing". 50 Surefire Web Design Tips Tips to brand your websiteInclude your logo in all pages. Position it at the top left or each page.Complement your logo with a tagline or catchy sentence that summarizes your business purpose. For example "Always low prices" is the tagline for Wal-Mart.Create a favicon. A favicon is that small graphic that appears next to the URL in the address bar.Have a consistent look and feel in all your pages. Use a color scheme and layout that are clearly recognized across your site.Have an About Us section, that includes all relevant information about you and your business.Include a copyright statement at the bottom of each page. How to Boost Your Chances at Having a Successful Web Site New Web sites are springing up online by the millions. However, when they don’t reach a level of success, the Web site owners assume that they can’t make money off the Internet. Tried and Tested Tips to Improve your Website - Part 1 1. DO NOT use excessive graphics or banner images on a single web page. They tend to slow the loading of your Web page. Impatient surfers might close their browser and move on. If you have many images on a single page, consider deleting few of them or moving them to a new page. What makes a good Web Hosting Provider! When building your website and getting it hosted online, you want your site to be up and running on the World Wide Web 24/7 without any hitches so that it is making you money all the time and all you have to worry about then is getting visitors to your site, doing seo, getting repeat visitors, maximizing your sites revenue, etc. You don’t want to have to worry about your web hosting and it’s stability. ASP Web Hosting ASP web hosting refers to web hosting companies who provide support for ASP Active Server Page.If you want a dynamic data-driven web site you may wish to embed ASP code into your web site’s HTML Pages.When a user is viewing a web site that is developed using ASP, the pages can change depending on the actions of the user. ASP code allows you to link your web pages to a database, where users can interact with the web page by logging in and using their own personal settings or they can interactively place orders on your web site. Open Source Free Software De-Mystified Did you know that the most powerful software and web applications are all freeYes thats right, just about every commercial software or web application you know of is most likely available as a free Open Source project/clone. The Disability Discrimination Act DDA & Web Accessibility Theres been widespread speculation about the new legislation being introduced under the DDA Disability Discrimination Act, which will ensure that websites are accessible to blind and disabled users. Try to find specific information about it on the Internet and chances are youll come up empty handed. Forums – Should you have them on your website Forums have become a common feature in many websites. With good free scripts available, and paid scripts being relatively cheap, it seems that every new website has its own forums. But is it wise to add forums to your website Using Google AdWords to Increase your Adsense Profits I had been using Googles Adsense program to generate some revenue from my various web sites.Prior to Adsense, I was never previously paid to run these and did so for a hobby.Overall I was pleased with the income I was generating.The only drawback was that I was always looking for ways to get people to my sites.I enjoyed working to bring in more visitors but felt that if I looked at my earnings vs. the hours I worked, the economics werent making sense. Developing State-enabled Applications With PHP Installment 1 Dont Get Fooled by the Web Hosting Wolves in Sheeps Clothing! When looking for a good web hosting provider to look after your website, it is easy to get confused. There are thousands of companies around, and they compete fiercely for your attention. Some are good, some are wolves ... Why Have An Article Website Know the fact Web Hosting: 4 Factors in Choosing a Hosting Company When choosing a web hosting company there are a whole lot of different factors that should go into your decision making process. One of the biggest factors should be: Text Is King! Are you building your website If so, STOP! Take a look at what you have done so far. How many images do you have How much text do you have How To Build Your First Web Site Getting Started! Graphic Design Using Color Color is everywhere and conveys a message even if we don’t realize it. While this message can vary by culture it pays to know what colors “say” in your own corner of the universe, and even what color means to your target market. Domain Names Security : How safe is yours The security of domain name registrations is an increasing concern for domain name registrants and registrars. However, there are steps you can take to increase the security of your domain name registrations. Keep Them Coming Back - Update Your Site If you are anything like me, your website is a reflection of yourself. It contains your thoughts and communications, exposed to the entire world at all times. Look at virtually any non-commercial web site and you will get a glimpse at the person behind the monitor. |
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