Website Design Tips
About your website visitors
Driving traffic to your website is great, if those visitors stay long enough to find out why they should be doing business with you. If your website traffic is leaving as fast as it's arriving, maybe search engine optimisation isn't the answer you've been looking for. It's not the number of hits you get on your website, it's how long visitors stay on your site and how much information they retain after they leave that counts. It's about the quality of traffic more than the quantity. And the best way to create quality traffic is to provide easy to find, easy to understand, easy to remember content.
Are "useful links" really needed on your website?
You know the reciprocal linking strategy everyone is talking about as a way to generate leads? Did you ever consider that each link to another website is an invitation to leave your site? Is that really what you want - to invite people to leave? Think this over carefully.
Presenting easy to read content
The vast majority of website text is boring, unimaginative and self-promoting. If you don't present a compelling focused story then you could be wasting peoples time.
Too much text can be confusing and, well, boring!
You were worried about load times and search engine optimisation so you dumped most of your images and multimedia and proceeded to put enough text on your site that would take a month to study; but have you considered whether anybody is ever going to actually read that stuff? And that's assuming people could ever find what they were looking for in the first place.
Grammar and spelling
According to most writers and editors, you should never edit your own material. Always have at least one other person read your copy before posting it to your website, and then read it again once it's posted.
Are you hiding behind your email address?
You've got a great website. It tells visitors everything. But wait … somebody has a question. So they go to your contact page and find an email address. No contact name and no telephone number. You've provided a Q&A, an FAQ, and a list of technical specs. What more do they want? Well, what they want is to talk to somebody to make sure you're legitimate and if they have a problem that you'll stand behind what you're selling.
After your website goes live
Once your website is live, you have a powerful marketing tool for your business. But your website is only as useful as the actual website content is current. The process of keeping the content on your site current is called website maintenance, and it's important to keep both visitors and search engines supplied with new information where possible. If you update the content on your website on a regular basis, potential clients will be drawn back to your site to find out "what's new". Search engines pay visits to websites in their queue regularly. The catch is that you'll stay in the queue only if you update your site regularly. If the search engines visit your site several times in a row, and don't find anything new, they may decide not to come back-which can be a blow to your search engine rankings. So, when is it appropriate to update your website? You should update your site if you have:
Expanded your products or services?
Do you have something new to sell? Add it to your website and start making new sales in that area.
Completed a successful project?
If you've just finished a project, include it on your website. We are able to add detailed text information within pdf files to your website, which viewers can click and read or download. We can build a special section on your website to use as a place to show the world your successes.
Received more testimonials, or added to your client list?
Including more feedback helps to build your credibility. Remember to ask for a testimonial from each of your successful client projects and we can add them to that specific page.
Written an article?
Writing articles is a great way to keep your website up-to-date and to put more content on your site. Search engines love content-rich sites, and visitors will love to see the new information. So, if you write articles to educate your clients and promote your business, be sure to place them on your website as well. They're likely to be full of keywords related to your area of specialty, which will help your ranking with search engines.
Issued a new press release?
You should post all press releases and other information you publish about your company to your website. You never know who may be visiting, and you may get written up for your accomplishments. We can add press releases to your website in the form of pdfs which can be both viewed and downloaded.
Made changes in your business?
Have you hired someone recently or changed your business structure, and you're now required to notify the public of that? If so, you should probably review your website and evaluate how we can add that information for you.
Grown your skills?
Have you received a new accreditation? New licensing? Improved your skills? Any change in your skill set is a great reason to update your website - and your potential clients - with your new capabilities.
Yearly checkups - You should do a basic review of your site at least once a year, to make sure that the content is current.
Any of these reasons, and dozens of others, are great reasons to make changes to your site. If you make keeping your website current a priority, it can pay off with better search engine rankings and increased sales and leads through your website. By building more and more current information into your website, you will also begin to build trust with your potential clients, since they will have a snapshot of what's currently happening in your business available to them. Your website can go a long way towards making sure that your online viewers know, like, and trust you - which can lead to more sales from your website.
