NFTE / Network Solutions Web Site Challenge

Ten Ways to Build a Better Website

These days it’s simple to create a website and, no matter what products or services you provide, your business should have one. What isn’t so simple is creating a great website that helps you effectively market your business. Try these hints to make your website a winner.

1. Start with your audience
   You know your business inside and out. Your audience doesn’t. Make sure that your website clearly communicates what your business is and what you offer. Hint: your main page should say who you are and what you do.
2. Plan your online image
   Definitely think about the image you want your website to portray. The “look and feel” should match your business and its mission. Hint: if your business is a gym dedicated to serious weightlifters it shouldn’t have flowers in the design.
3. Make your color scheme pleasing and appropriate
   Too many different colors can distract from your design. Choose up to four main colors and stick with them consistently throughout your site. Make sure your colors match your logo and are appropriate for your business. Hint: a website for beauty products looks great in pinks or purples.
4. Don’t switch fonts
   Maintain consistency with one (or at most two) fonts. Think about the websites you visit. Different fonts, sizes, styles and spacing distract your audience from what you are trying to say. Hint: don’t use all capitals, italics or switch font colors. Pick one font/style/color for your headlines, one for your text, and stick with it on all pages.
5. Think readability
   Reading on a computer screen is different from reading on paper. Avoid long paragraphs or blocks of text. Keep your writing short and concise and on message. Hint: if your reader needs to scroll horizontally or vertically to finish a sentence, it’s too long.
6. Post contact information on every page
   Customer service is the leading reason for customer loyalty. Make sure your audience knows how to contact you wherever they are on your site. Hint: keep the contact information in the same place on every page so it’s easy to find.
7. Plan your navigation
   Make the structure of your website logical and easy to navigate. Don’t lose credibility with broken links or too many pop-ups. You should provide a link to your homepage from every page to save a customer that gets lost. A search feature can help customers get the information they need quickly and easily. Hint: build three or four overall categories and organize all the pages under those.
8. Fast-loading sites convert the most sales
   Limit the number and size of graphics. Users won’t wait forever for a graphic to load and will abandon your site. Consider people visiting from a dial-up account and check out the time your pages take to load. Hint: keeping a page at 40K to 60K is ideal.
9. Help customers find your website
   Determine and use appropriate keywords and meta-tags to make sure your website comes up on popular search engines. Think about words your audience will type into a search. Make a list and use these frequently. Hint: meta-tags are words in your HTML code that aren’t visible on screen but are visible to search engines.
10. Keep your content fresh
    Many businesses set up a great website but then forget about it for months on end. If content isn’t updated regularly, search engines (and customers) will assume your site is dead. Hint: adding at least one piece of content a day can significantly improve long-term traffic.

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