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8 Things You Must Know To Build A Great Website
ast week we talked about business you can imagine: from
how a bad website can do mom-and-pops to multinationals.
your business more harm We've designed (or redesigned) a
than good. That column brought couple hundred websites and along
several emails asking what is the the way I have come to the
key to building an effective conclusion that most business
business website. I replied with websites do a pitiful job of
the same answer I always give: working for their owners.
building an effective business
website is a simple matter of What's that, you didn't know your
definition. business website should work for
you? You think it should just sit
Before the first graphic is drawn on a server somewhere taking up
or the first line of code is digital space and collecting
written, you must define the digital dust?
website's budget, purpose, target
audience, design, navigation, and Wrong. Every website, business or
content. And when that's all said otherwise, must serve a purpose,
and done you must define the and that's usually where most
marketing that will bring websites falls short. They serve
visitors to your site. no purpose because the website
owner never gave much thought to
It sounds easy, but you'd be it. It's not the website's fault.
amazed at how many really bad A website is inanimate. It is
business websites there are out only what you make it. The only
there. Yours might even be one of life a website has is the one
them. If so, listen up. For given to it by its designer and
nearly ten years now my company owner. If the human element
has been building and rebuilding doesn't do a good job of defining
websites for every kind of the building blocks, the website
will serve no purpose and Every website must have a
eventually die a digital death. purpose. Purpose drives
everything: the audience, the
Building an effective business design, the navigation, the
website isn't brain surgery, content, and the marketing. I
thank goodness, since that's how could do an entire column on
I make a nice percentage of my purpose, but suffice it to say
living. Building an effective, that there are five categories of
well-designed website that works purpose under which most websites
for its owner, that actually fall: the purpose to inform, to
serves a purpose, is all about educate, to entertain, to
definition. generate leads, to sell, or a
combination thereof. If you fail
Define the Budget to define the purpose of the
Every website, no matter how website, all else is just wasted
large or small, must have a effort.
realistic budget, with
"realistic" being the key word. I Define the Target Audience
can't tell you how many times Your target audience refers to
I've sat with a potential client that segment of the public that
as they listed off the eight you hope to attract to the site.
million cool things they wanted For example if you sell shoes,
their website to do, only to find your target audience would be
out that their budget was just a anyone with feet. Taking it a
few hundred dollars. I always step further, if you only sold
feel like saying, "Well you just women's shoes, your target
wasted three hundred dollars of audience would be women (with
my time, so here's your bill..." feet) Why is defining your target
audience so important? If you
Define the Purpose have no idea who your audience
is, how can you expect to design website. Navigation refers to the
a website that will appeal to chain of links the visitor uses
them? Your target audience could to get around your site. If your
be customers, investors, job site has an illogical
seekers, info seekers, etc. navigational hierarchy or too few
Define your target audience, then or too many links or is simply
figure out how to serve them. impossible to get around, you've
got problems. We live in a
Define the Design microwave society. We stand in
Website design theory has changed front of the microwave tapping
over the last couple of years, our foot and glaring at our watch
primarily because the search wondering why it takes so damn
engines now ignore graphic heavy long for a bag of popcorn to pop.
websites and give preference to Why can't a three-minute egg be
those that take a minimalistic done in thirty seconds? If it
approach to design. If you look takes a visitor more than 3
at some of the big boy websites clicks to get to any page on your
like GE, Oracle, Raytheon, HP, site, your navigation needs
and others you will see that in improvement.
many cases the only graphic on
the homepage is the company's Define the Content
logo. Search engines now give Content refers to the information
higher preference to websites on your website, be it graphics,
that offer keyword-rich text over text, downloadable items, etc.
flashy graphics. Don't fight the Since the top search engines no
design trend. You will lose. longer use HTML Meta tag data to
index websites, it is vital that
Define the Navigation your website content be text
Bad navigation is the number one heavy, succinct and well-written
reason website visitors abandon a to appeal to the search engine
spiders. campaign. Your website should
become a part of all your
Define the Build Method marketing efforts, online and
Next, who will build the website off.
for you? Will you do it yourself
using one of the point and click Put the website address on your
website builders or will you hire business cards, brochures,
the kid next door? Will you hire letterhead, and all collaterals.
a freelance designer or a Include the address in your ads;
professional firm? Budget usually print, TV and radio. If you
dictates the build method, but be prefer to do online marketing,
warned, when it comes to website figure out where your target
development, you get what you pay audience surfs and advertise
for. Sure, the kid next door will there.
throw up a site for you if you
buy them a pizza or make your If marketing is foreign to you,
daughter go to the prom with do yourself a favor and call in
them, but you will end up a with an expert. Many businesses fail
a website that looks like and because they simply do not know
performs like it was designed by how to market their products and
the kid next door. services effectively. This is
also the downfall of most
Define the Marketing business websites.
If you build it, will they come?
Not on your life, at least not Here's to your success!
without a good marketing
About the Author:
Tim serves as the president and CEO of three successful technology companies and is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay entrepreneurs. http://www.prosperityandprofits.com - http://www.smallbusinessqa.com - http://www.dropshipwholesale.net
Read more articles by: Tim Knox
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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