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Do it Yourself Website Analysis
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By Zach Sutton
Sales Representative
As we have learned over the past several years, the success of your online business hinges on the design and functionality of your website. You could have the best product in the world; however, if your website is poorly designed, nobody is going to hang around long enough to see it. Because of this, you need to constantly monitor your site to make sure it is doing its job.
There are several key rules of website design that must be followed in order to achieve success. The remainder of this article will be devoted to identifying and implementing these rules on your website. As you read through this article, it will be helpful for you to load up your website and make sure you are adhering to the following steps.
1. Load Time
Nothing will drive visitors away from your site faster than a slow load time. In fact, surveys indicate that the majority of visitors will not wait longer than about 20 seconds for a page to load. Because many of your visitors will not have high speed Internet access from their homes, you need to make sure this can be achieved on a 28k connection.
One of the biggest obstacles to faster load time is poorly optimized graphics. In order to decrease this load time, you need to be absolutely sure that each graphic on your page is optimized. If this doesn’t help the problem, you will need to cut down on the size of your pages, especially the home page.
2. Search Engine Readiness
Recent studies have shown that more than 8 out of 10 Web users find sites through search engines. That is a staggering 80%! If you are not taking full advantage of this powerful advertising tool, you are definitely missing the boat.
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The best way to get started is to update your META tags on your index page. For tips on how to do this go to http://abc.eznettools.net/advantage2/sep01/promote3.html.
Also, if you would like some expert help on getting a high ranking on the search engines, you can call us at 800-627-4780, and we will explain the different traffic packages that are available to you.
3. Navigation
According to Sean Timberlake, the Lead Producer for the Computing & Internet topic on the Snap search engine: “You can have all kinds of great attractions on your site, but if your visitors don't know how to get to them, they'll just collect dust on the server. Worse yet, if visitors find your site's navigation confusing or convoluted, they'll simply give up and head off to explore the rest of the Web, never to return.”
A key rule to follow when building the navigation of your site is the “3 click rule”. This rule basically states that your users should be able to get to anything they are looking for on your site in 3 clicks or less.
In addition to the 3 click rule, you need to make sure your navigation system is the same throughout your entire site. For instance, if you are using a button bar on the top of your index page, you need to provide that same button bar on the top of every page on your site. This is expected of every good website.
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4. Consistency
When you own a brick and mortar business, the key word is "location, location, location." When designing web pages, the key is "consistency, consistency, consistency." Consistency is important because it permits dependability. Dependability means that your customers’ mental energy can be focused on the content and not the interference of the design. Lack of consistency will cause many of your visitors to simply depart never to return again.
In order for your site to be consistent, you must have the same “look and feel” throughout the entire site. This means you should have the same text styles, colors, and navigation on every page.
5. Mail List
One of the keys to Internet marketing success is enticing your visitors to return. Repeat visitors are the ones with a keen interest in your site and its theme. Studies indicate that the average Internet user only returns to five to ten web sites. The question is, how can you get these all-important visitors to return? The answer to this question is a mail list.
If you don’t have a mail list on your website, you could be costing yourself a considerable amount of repeat business. If you don’t have one, get one!
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