AH Web Designs | Tips for Web Site Success

1. DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME
One common scenario that causes much financial heartache to first-time web site owners is allowing someone, usually a friend or family member, to build a web site for a small amount of money or for nothing at all ... proving the old adage to be true: You get what you pay for. These sites always look terrible, but what's worse is the many ways they fail to function properly -- poor navigation, inadequate hosting services, lack of search engine recognition techniques, distorted images, poor wording, spelling and punctuation, etc., etc. These sites always wind up getting scrapped and their owners have to start all over again, wasting much valuable time and often, after all is said and done, large amounts of money. Do yourself a big favor and have a competent professional build you a web site that will make a positive impression on everyone who visits.

2. AVOID THE "CATCH-ALL" WEB SITE OFFERS
Another common situation that sends many site owners to me seeking help, is what I call the "catch-all" web sites. These involve companies on the web that specialize in hosting sites for particular industries ... listing many businesses with a web page all their own on a site that houses many other businesses of a similar nature, for what may seem to be a reasonable fee. They claim that anyone looking for a business of this type will come and find them there ... but, unfortunately, no one ever does. Such companies employ no search engine recognition techniques and, worst of all, site owners are committed to paying a monthly fee (I've known these to be as much as $165 per month) for nothing at all! Don't be fooled ... there's only one approach to a successful presence on the web: Obtain your own domain name and have a web designer build you a site that navigates sensibly, looks like your business, maintains continuity on every page and contains all the necessary web site optimization techniques.

3. PROMOTE YOUR WEB SITE
After obtaining your own Domain Name ... i.e. YourSite.com (the shorter and easier it is to remember, the better), you must promote your domain name by making sure it is seen on your business cards, letterheads, mailers and any ads you produce via print, radio and/or television -- anything that has your phone number on it should also display your domain name. Your public isn't going to visit your site if they don't know where it is ... and if a competitor has their website listed in their ad and you don't, 65% of all customers looking at the two ads will go to your competitor's business before they go to yours! Finally, make sure your web site designer has included all search engine recognition techniques, including meta tags as well as an ror.xml file so all search engines can log your web site on a regular basis and provide you the recognition on the web that you're looking for.

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4. MAKE YOUR HOME PAGE ACTIVE & ENGAGING
It's a good idea to have new features and inviting changes that regularly appear on the home page of your site. Without them, it's like walking into a room where everything is still sitting in the same place as the last time you entered -- returning visitors may get the feeling that nothing has happened since their last visit or that "no one is at home" ... and decide to make a quick exit. Offering a different discount on one of your services or products -- each month -- is a sure way to get visitors returning to your site regularly.

5. OFFER SOMETHING HELPFUL ... FOR FREE
Giving your site-visitors something for free will keep them returning on a regular basis! It's always a good idea to create a Free Tips page on your site where you can educate your visitors about the need for the many services you have to offer them, while helping them to understand and enjoy their involvement on deeper levels. For example, a Free Tip of the Month feature on your site, including a form where visitors may submit their own questions and view answers from your company experts, is something all visitors will enjoy. This will not only keep visitors returning to your site, but you'll have the added benefit of harvesting email addresses for promotions and/or monthly newsletters -- and you'll also be letting visitors know how much you care about serving them ... all at the same time!

6. ANSWER EMAILS PROMPTLY
Be absolutely sure someone answers every email you receive within 24 hours or less. This is a crucial point of interest for any web site owner. People using the internet have grown accustomed to getting results very quickly ... if someone sends you an email and they don't receive a reply within 24 hours, they will assume they are dealing with a business that either doesn't care or, even worse, one that no longer exists.

7. AVOID UNWANTED IRRITATIONS ON YOUR WEB PAGES
Sites that open with a music file playing are subject to immediate rejection by visitors. An unexpected sound or piece of music is generally taken as rude and irritating, as are constantly-repeated animations which serve as nothing more than a visual distraction. Site visitors like to be in control of their experience. If you want to offer a sound file of any kind on your site, it can certainly be a very nice enhancement for visitors ... but it should be presented as a choice that they can make on their own by clicking on a button, and it should be something that contributes worthwhile information that is relative to your business. Lastly, if you absolutely must have music playing when someone enters your site, at least have the sound file gradually fade in so that it isn't such an abrupt experience.

8. NEVER REVEAL EMAIL ADDRESSES ON YOUR SITE
If any email address is readable in text format, hacker-machines (searching the web 24/7) will pick it up and use it. Thousands of spam emails can go out into the world with that email address as the sender and the web site responsible for revealing that email address will be shut down by their hosting company without warning. AH Web Designs insures against this nightmare by not using text-reveals, employing encryption techniques and, also, by regularly updating all email scripts (combatting new hacker techniques as they come up) on all form-mailers, on all client-sites ... silently and without a fee.

9. REVEAL YOUR INTEGRITY BOLDLY
Business sites that don't reveal a telephone number or, worse still, don't offer an email link for visitors to make real contact (such as is seen on many larger, corporate sites), only present a statement of obvious untrustworthiness -- if you want to purchase a product or service from any company who offers you no way of contacting them, how secure does that make you feel? Be sure site visitors have all the ways of contacting you that are necessary. Further, if you have any forms on your web site for visitors to fill out, be sure to include your site Privacy Policy, insuring them that the information they supply will be kept in strict confidence.

10. PROMOTE/ADVERTISE YOUR SITE ON THE WEB
Advertising is certainly a crucial part of any business plan; the more you advertise, the more business you generate. However, times are changing in rapid fashion and with web sites making many types of businesses available to a global marketplace, the way you advertise your business is also changing. Today, people are going to the web and to search engines, like Google to find what they need, making what use to be the usual forms of advertising much less effective than they once were. If you are interested in advertising your business on the web, I think the hottest tool out there right now is a thing called Google AdWords. This is a bit complicated to put into practice immediately! However, the short of it is this: You can create simple ads that will appear on Google's search results pages, based on people searching specifically for your type of service or product ... you only pay when people click on your ad and visit your site ... you can determine how much you are willing to pay for each click and you can set your own budget, specifying how much you want to spend each month. If you are serious about getting into this, I strongly advise you to read The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords before you ever begin. You can waste a lot of money and time learning how to apply all the tricks involved in creating a successful ad campaign -- and this is the book that will get you started in all the right ways.

If you have any questions about any of these details, please feel free to ask them ... just send Alan an email message or phone him at 732.846.5538 today!