In order to compete in business these days,
you need to keep a web presence. Is yours more
appealing than your competition's? Does it sell
you and your message? Here are three simple ways
to increase your web
appeal.
Keep it
Simple.Put yourself in your
customers' shoes. When they reach your website,
you want them to be able to purchase a product or
find the information they need - quickly. They
don't want to sift through irrelevant information
to find what they need. Customers in a hurry won't
waste time clicking from page to page to navigate
your site. Make their visit pleasurable, and give
them a reason to come back again and again.
Keep it Easy on the
Eyes.
Most businesses should avoid
dark and busy backgrounds that distract from
content and make the text difficult to read. A
dark or black background for a photography site
makes for a dramatic effect - but it is easier to
view and read dark text against a lighter
background. Font choice has been fairly limited
for website design, and that may not necessarily
be a bad thing. Arial and Verdana fonts are two of
the most popular and easy to read.
Keep it
Fresh.If you have a website and
rarely update it or look at it, you might as well
have no website at all. Many small businesses may
be able to get away with updating on a quarterly
or monthly basis. But if you are trying to make
your site a "must visit," or your company provides
weekly or daily communications, you must make
updates a priority. To keep your customers coming
back, you can post promotions on line, create a
carefully worded professional blog, or feature an
accessible, downloadable quarterly or monthly
newsletter in PDF format.
The bottom
line is, always put yourself in your customers'
shoes. Once you've got a clean, effective site,
keep it updated by adding new content or updates
and moving - or removing - older material. To
drive customers to your site, promote your website
in every piece of printed material you hand out!
This article was taken from the
Summer 2008 issue of Small Business
Matters, which is available on my
website.