An Effective Website



Many people can design and put up a site on the web, but the real question is whether or not the website is truly an effective website. What makes a website effective?

Aspects of an effective website:

• Memorable domain name
• Informative content
• Intuitive navigation
• Quick-loading pages
• Professional image
• Consistent layout/design across entire site
• Offers convenience for you and your customers
• Can be found through search engines

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Memorable Domain Name
Choosing a memorable domain name (www.yourbusinessname.com) can greatly increase the chance of success for your internet business. If a potential client cannot recall your domain name, you may have missed out on a new customer.

Tips for MEMORABLE domain names:

• The shorter the domain name, the better.

• Do not use "and" or "&" in your domain name. People hoping to find your site may not recall which one you've used in your domain name. Or even worse, they may pick the wrong one and not attempt the correct one.

• Stay away from hyphens ("-") and underscore characters ("_") as best you can. They can confuse your potential clients because most domain names are one long "word".

• Stay away from a domain name that joins two words together in such a way that the last letter of the first word and the first letter of the following word are the same (i.e. domainname.com).

To search for an available domain name, click here.

Informative Content
A web site without any rich content can be likened to a pushy, hard-sell salesperson who only cares about the sale and not about the prospective customer. Nobody enjoys being treated that way and that goes for web surfers who take the time out of their day to visit your site. If all they get in return for their time is a hard sell without any helpful information, they will probably go elsewhere. However, if your web site offers the prospective client some valuable information, they will appreciate your site's value and trust your business more than the business with the hard-sell site. If you were a customer, which would you go with?

Intuitive Navigation
Navigating your web site should be simple for the end-user. Consistency is key. If you have your main navigation bar along the left side of a web page, then keep it on the left side for the rest of your pages. Don't let the end-user have to guess where the next one will be. They may leave your site in frustration.

Main Navigation Bar:  (general guidelines)

• Should be visible when a web page is loaded (typically, horizontally along the top of the page or vertically down the left side of the page)
• Should be easily identifiable as navigation buttons
• Should represent main areas of your web site
• Should be specifically labelled
• Should be consistent on every page (position, labels, and sequence)

Quick-Loading Pages
Waiting for a long time for a web page to load can be very frustrating. Your site's web pages should load quickly. A couple of ways to increase your page loading times are to:

• Optimize and compress images for the web
• Write clean code

Professional Image
Even if your business is a tiny "mom and pop" shop, a professionally-designed site with quality graphics and layout can create a sophisticated, professional image for your business on the web...and ultimately, for your business as a whole.

Consistent Layout / Design Across Entire Site
Consistency (in layout, design, color-scheme, and navigation) across the entire site not only gives off a sense of professionalism, but also keeps your potential clients from getting confused and frustrated while on your site. A consistent site implies an attention to detail on the part of the business behind the web site. For example, if a potential client has to continually figure out a new navigation scheme on every web page, they may question your attention to detail or your customer care when handling their account.

Offers Convenience For You and Your Customers
A web site is a fantastic tool to offer convenience to your customers and your business. By simply offering contact information such as your address and direct telephone numbers for different departments, you are offering convenience to your customers which they can discover at their own leisure, as opposed to calling a main number and being put on hold by a busy operator or wading through option after option of recorded messages to speak with someone in the proper department. The advantage to your company is a decrease in the number of calls to wrong departments and substantially fewer calls to your main switchboard.

Listing phone numbers is a basic feature for your site, but imagine the convenience of a submittable form which directs the web surfer to enter data into specific form fields which is immediately e-mailed with the click of a "submit" button to the proper contact person at your company. No envelopes...no stamps...no walking to the mailbox...no waiting for the mail to be delivered to your company...no waiting for the mail to be sorted and routed to the proper person at your company. You get the exact information your company needs in a matter of seconds!!

And perhaps the most convenient aspect of all: Your business is open 24/7! Having a web site means that your company is accessible to the world 24 hours/day and 7 days/week.

Can Be Found Through Search Engines
Your web site is a fantastic tool for your customers or potential customers if they know your domain name. Anyone across the globe can type in your web address and access your site. However, they must know and remember your exact domain name to find you on the net. In order to reach millions of people who do not know your domain name, you must submit your web site to search engines so that someone in China who is searching for products or businesses in your industry can type a keyword into Google, AltaVista, Excite, or any of the other major search engines, and find your site in the search engine results.

Please note that it is not an easy task to market a web site so that it gets listed at the beginning of search engine results. There are web marketing companies devoted solely to search engine optimization (SEO).

There are dozens to hundreds of search engines that exist on the web today. In my seven to eight years of utilizing the internet, I have used a MAXIMUM of 5 different search engines. In the past few years I've even cut that down to 3 search engines. Most people search with a couple or few of their favorites. So I advise submitting to the top 10 search engines. Who is to say which are the top 10? Why not go to one right now and type in "top 10 search engines"?