In our experience, if you get the following areas of your website right it is much more likely to be a successful marketing vehicle for your business. It will attract the right type of visitors, the right number of visitors and it will convert those visitors into buyers or prospects.

1. Your content must be relevant and appealing

There’s an old saying that ‘content is king’ online. It’s probably quite fair to say that an average-looking website with well-written content that resonates with its target audience will outperform a ‘bells and whistles’ website with poorly written ‘company-centric’ copy. The reason for this is quite simple: when someone is highly interested in a website’s subject matter (generally a specific solution to their problem) and the content is ticking all the boxes for them (“yes, this looks to be just the right solution to my problem”), they’re just not that influenced by the bells and whistles – in fact they may overlook quite a lot of your content.

When you prepare your text give a lot of thought to your target audience and what they really need to know.

You can even create fictional characters for your website (called personas) and write up scenarios on why they would visit your website and the sort of information they would need to make a decision. Anticipate the questions your visitors will have and answer them throughout your copy, or have a dedicated ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ page.

Tie your copy into specific ‘call to action’ graphics that move the visitor to take the action you want, whether it is to join your newsletter, complete a quote request or add a product to a shopping cart.

Make sure your homepage has a very concise synopsis of what you do and the benefits of your offer. Remember that the website is not for you, it’s for your visitors – and they want to know, specifically: “What’s in it for me?”

Remember to sprinkle your keywords throughout your copy so you stand a better a chance of ranking highly in the search engines.

2. Your imagery – paint the best picture possible

Really good photos create a very positive first impression. Average photos won’t create any impression at all. They won’t necessarily detract from the site – they’ll just be ignored. It’s like this: you wear black every day, and no one says anything. One day you turn up wearing red and suddenly you get five compliments on how great you look! Great-looking photos will have the same effect.

With the plethora of online image library banks there’s ample opportunity to get stunning free (or inexpensive) stock photos which will convey just the right feeling or emotion. Start by visiting www.sxc.hu and www.istock.com. If you need photos of your actual product then get in a professional or at least a talented amateur photographer.

3. The navigation must be clear and easy to use

Have a text-based navigation system that is easy to use (no images and no flash animation). The visitor should know which page they are on and where they can go to next, so have ‘on’ ‘hover’ and ‘off’ states for links. Drop-down and ‘fly out’ navigation systems can be problematic for some users so are best avoided. If you have multiple levels of navigation and need to show links to sub pages, it’s generally much more usable to do this with a vertical menu positioned at the top of a side column.

Link relevant phrases within the actual copy of the site to matching pages. This helps with navigation and search engine rankings, as people will often click on these text links rather than the main navigation as they are in context with the subject.

Add links to key pages in the footer. Large footers are becoming very common on websites as research has shown that many users look for navigation at the bottom of each page (even ignoring the main navigation system). Your footer can include links to your most important pages (the ones that have the most information about your offer), your latest news items or blog posts, and we highly recommend you show your contact details in the footer as well.

Want to know more?

Give us a call on 366 3340 or send an email to info@tmlwebdesign.co.nz.