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The Keys To A Successful Web Site Today
ome web designers would
have you believe that the So in general, the most important
most important thing about things about the way a web site
a web site is that it has the is designed are:
latest Flash animation bells and
whistles, i.e. the latest 1. The site has compelling sales
gadgets. In other words, the most text on it, that convinces your
important thing is that it be visitors to buy the products or
visually impressive. services.
In actual fact nothing could more This is arguably the most
from the truth. important aspect of a web site.
Well written, compelling sales
Let's start from the assumption text can make the difference
that the purpose of your web site between a terrible and a terrific
is commercial in nature. Its conversion ratio, meaning what
purpose is to generate or help percentage of your web site
generate revenue for your visitors take a desirable action
company. So the site would then (buying, or signing up for a free
generally fall into one of two offer and giving you their
categories: 1) it sells something address). Watching these
or promotes something for sale, conversion ratios is important in
or 2) it is some kind of site gauging your success.
where people come for free
content, but then you make There are numerous courses
revenue somehow from the traffic available that teach how to write
you generate, such as through sales copy for the web. I've done
advertising or affiliate revenue several of them, and there's a
(sort of modeled after bit to know about it.
television).
2. There are features built into start collecting names and start
the site that capture identities a program to regularly send those
of people who are interested in names information that will make
your topic but don't buy right them into customers.
away, such as compelling free
offers. And by the way, once someone has
accepted your free offer or
This is another very important joined your newsletter, they have
aspect of having a successful now "opted in" to your list. You
site. As a general rule of thumb, can send them information to your
you want to capture identities of heart's content without it being
people who visit your site who considered "spam."
don't buy right away. That should
one of your mantras when It is a good idea, with your free
designing or revising the site. offers, to put a checkbox for
them (which by default is
Why? Because once you capture checked) where they say they do
that identity, you can send him want to be on your mailing list.
information via email (which is That way even if someone doesn't
free), that sells him on your remember taking your free offer,
products or services. You can go and they complain to one of the
for the jugular right away and vigilante organizations on the
immediately send him sales Internet that claim to police
information, or you can send him spam, then you have a paper trail
a newsletter with articles and showing they opted in.
information of general interest.
It's up to you, and what style There are a number of software
works for you. programs you can purchase to send
out bulk email, depending on the
But the overall concept is to size of your operation and the
size of your lists.
You need to channel him to the
3. The site is designed in such a optimum actions that you want him
way that it is easy to navigate to do, such as buying the
through and easy for your public product, taking the free offer,
to find what they need. or joining an email mailing list.
Because if lots of visitors come
Ease of navigation is one of the to your site, but they leave
key points of site design. For without buying something or
large sites, you must build a giving you their name and email
navigation system that allows address, your chances of gaining
people to get around the site anything from those visits are
easily and find what they want remote. And it's expensive to
quickly. generate web site traffic, either
in actual money spent or in your
For small sites, many of the most time spent in doing it the cheap
successful sites I have seen way. So either way, you need to
place most or all of the capitalize on that traffic.
information on one long page,
with only one option at the 4. The site contains attractive
bottom - to buy the product. graphics and picture elements,
which do not take too long to
But whether your site is large or load and are not so overdone that
small, you want to make it easy they interfere with the
for the person to navigate communication.
around, but you also want to lay
it out in such a way that the I am a big fan of the latest
visitor does not have a million graphics. I love Flash and GIF
choices, so that he wanders animations and so on, and I use
aimlessly around and then leaves. them. But, some web sites go way
overboard on this. nice looking navigation bars and
buttons, and I like to put in
Graphics (such as buttons and pictures, charts, etc. A picture
navigation bars) should be used is worth a thousand words. But I
to give your site the proper look also know that the sales text is
and ambiance. Pictures should be more important. So your graphics
used to illustrate concepts in can't overwhelm it or get in the
your text. But all this must be way of it. Or worse, don't design
used in moderation. You must make graphic-heavy sites with no room
sure that the graphics and for text.
pictures do not get in the way of
the communication. 5. You have web statistic
software so you can track visitor
I have seen web sites that are activity. In order to effectively
making literally millions of manage a web site, you need to
dollars per year, that have very know how many people are coming
little or no graphics or to the site, what pages they are
pictures. Some of the sites I've going to, and a variety of other
seen actually looked hokey or statistics. This is vital, in
unprofessional. Yet they were order to be able to track the
making lots of money. success of all your actions, and
the success of all the changes
So now I probably sound like I'm you make to the site.
anti-graphics on web sites. I'm
not. I love, and I create, really
About the Author:
John Eberhard is President of http://RealWebMarketing.net, a marketing consultant, writer and political analyst living in the Los Angeles area. He can be reached via http://www.realwebmarketing.net/contact.html
Read more articles by: John Eberhard
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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