Your Online Resource Centre
Is Your Website Attractive to Your Visitors
By: Karen Braschuk
As small business owners, many of you are already aware that a strong internet presence can positively influence your financial success and exposure.
So, having made the decision to take the plunge and develop your business web site, how should you go about it?
Ideally, hiring a professional web designer would be the route to go, yet many new business owners can't afford that particular expense right away. The next option would be to do it yourself, and it's during this process that most mistakes occur. A common one is loading up on too many additional features and not paying enough attention to the content.
Here are some thoughts to consider as you build your site so that your guests will enjoy their visit and more importantly, will remain focused on the "meat and potatoes" that you are offering:
1. Visitor Counters. Unless you are running a contest or having folks sign a petition, there aren't too many compelling reasons to use a visitor counter on a business web site. They use up valuable space and distract the visitor's attention from your content. Truly, what is the value to a viewer in knowing that he's visitor #35,463? Unless he's winning a prize, he's likely not too concerned (or even that impressed). If you want to keep track of your visitor count you could use a service such as Statcounter. It's free, provides great statistics and the counter does not have to be visible on the page. That way you get the best of both worlds.
2. Ads and Pop-ups. Most people don't mind a well-placed ad here or there. Everyone knows that advertising makes the "net go round" and you're expected to have a few sponsored ads on your site. But when your home page starts to resemble a three ring circus with flashing lights, windows that pop up every five seconds, and voices that just won't go away.....then perhaps it's time to rethink your marketing strategy. Are you selling YOUR services, or are you merely acting as a vehicle for others to sell theirs?
3. Music/Sound Effects. How often have you clicked on a web page and been startled by loud music or sound effects? How many times have you frantically struggled to turn it down quickly so you wouldn't wake up the entire household or disrupt your co-workers? Granted, you may have had your speakers turned up full volume the night before while listening to Bon Jovi, but that doesn't mean you were prepared for someone else's web site to literally scream and shout its way into your living room the next morning. Be careful with the use of sounds on your web site. Strive to be as unobtrusive as possible and give your visitors the chance to decide whether or not they want to listen to your audio before they spill their coffee.
4. Other Bells and Whistles. Often in one's enthusiasm to create an interesting and sophisticated business web site, there's a tendency to add all sorts of bells and whistles like clocks, animations and flash pages. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having those features, but remember that they are never a substitute for good content. The best test for your web site is to eliminate all those extras and just look at the content. Is what you have to say strong enough to stand alone? Remember that sound, large images and Flash animations are very large in terms of file size and can take a long time to download on dial?up. (Yes, there are some people out there still on dial?up.) Your index page should load as quickly as possible or you will lose your visitor.
5. Grammar and Spelling. An important yet often overlooked item that a web site owner should also concentrate on is spelling. A person visiting your site who sees numerous grammatical and spelling errors is unlikely to have much confidence in your company's abilities going forward. Your spelling and grammar skills don't have to be perfect and eloquent, (no one can achieve that), but at least have a friend or a family member give your web site a good proofreading before it is published. Alternatively, you could take the pages that were written in an HTML editor, copy and paste them into a word processor, and run the spell checker over it.
In summary, when creating a business web site, it's always best to err on the side of simplicity. Don't load it up with fancy features hoping it will make up for a lack of substantial content or that it will make your site "look good". It won't. Busy people want to understand and absorb your main message quickly. Often, too many of these additional bells and whistles can actually have the reverse effect by distracting your visitors and drawing their attention away from your primary message. Keep your customers focused on the "meat and potatoes" and always feel free to add a bit of "gravy" here and there.....but not too much.
Karen Braschuk- www.officesupport911.caVirtual Assistant - Brampton, Ontario, Canada enjoys writing on a wide range of topics pertaining to small business. Visit her site at www.officesupport911.ca |  |
