milk, and the store owner would only allow you to enter the store after you watched a 4-minute video about all its products?! Even with a “skip intro” button it is a waste of time for most companies (some exceptions apply…for example: video production companies or companies where otherwise a video is key to their service or product). By the way, did you know that the “Skip Intro” button was one of the most used buttons online anywhere?

Unfortunately, when contemplating a Web Site most businesses get it wrong and only spend money in getting point 3 (Design of the site) right to then be surprised why their site is not working. You can compare that to spending a lot of money on getting a glossy billboard to then put it in an empty field miles away from any traffic.

This is not helped by the fact that many Web Designers as such, are fantastic designers and have great abilities to

There are three aspects vital to get a web site that works, in no specific order as such, all are more or less equally important:

1) CONTENT – People need to be interested in what you write about! Your Web Site needs to be written in such a way you address it from the client’s perspective. What I mean is that it needs to answer a specific problem your potential clients may have, with regards to needing your services or products.

All in all, people only give your home page a 4-second glimpse to decide you can or cannot help them. Use those 4 seconds wisely…some examples:

· Imagine you are a Business Mobile Phone Provider, you could write about how cheap your packages are or you could write “Cut Your Mobile Phone Bill by x%”.

· Don’t write the obvious…too many sites use statements like, “Excellent Customer Service”, is that really a remarkable achievement to be a headline, should it not be a fact? To phrase that better, why not write, “x% of our customers say they are more than happy with what we done for them!”

· Stay clear from writing too much about your company on the home page, at this stage the potential client doesn’t really care! He is looking to solve a problem and is wondering “What can They Do for Me?” and he is giving you 4-seconds to answer that question. So again, the fact that your company is established in 1806, has 256 different products in 34 different colours, is not necessary the most important information to mention on the home page.

There are many more things you can do to ensure your content keeps the reader (= potential client) more interested, above covers enough to give you an indication what to look for when creating content for your site.

2) “FINDABILITY” – People need to be able to find your Site! People need to be able to find your Web Site when they are trying to solve their problem. More than 80% of all Internet users find new websites through search engines. That means that about 650 million people use search engines to find websites. Also, Search engine users are some of the most qualified and motivated visitors to your website you will ever have. People searching for information online are in fact pre-disposed to buy, as they have taken the initiative to hunt for a solution to their problem (source: Georgia Tech/GVU users survey).

There are several things important to ensuring your site can be found, in short it includes four steps:
1. Establish (through thorough research) the right and profitable keywords for your site.
2. Optimise your (selected) web pages for these keywords.
3. Submit your web site to all relevant search engines and directories.
4. Get links from other websites and make sure these links again contain your keywords.

There are many more things to be said about SEO and Search Engine Submission, but above covers enough to give you an indication.

3) DESIGN - Your Web Site needs to look good. I could write a whole book about this subject, so I will try to be brief and just raise some of the most common Design Mistakes… · Do not include an “ENTER HERE” page. You can’t expect your potential client to have gone through a lot of trouble to find you site, to then delay them by saying… ”Welcome to such and such site Please Enter Here”. As written above, people give your site 4-seconds, and you do not want to waste that by asking them to press an additional button. · Do not start with a Flash Movie Introduction. Imagine going to a supermarket to buy a carton of milk, and the store owner would only allow you to enter the store after you watched a 4-minute video about all its products?! Even with a “skip intro” button it is a waste of time for most companies (some exceptions apply…for example: video production companies or companies where otherwise a video is key to their service or product). By the way, did you know that the “Skip Intro” button was one of the most used buttons online anywhere?

Unfortunately, when contemplating a Web Site most businesses get it wrong and only spend money in getting point 3 (Design of the site) right to then be surprised why their site is not working. You can compare that to spending a lot of money on getting a glossy billboard to then put it in an empty field miles away from any traffic.

This is not helped by the fact that many Web Designers as such, are fantastic designers and have great abilities to

ement to be a headline, should it not be a fact? To phrase that better, why not write, “x% of our customers say they are more than happy with what we done for them!”

· Stay clear from writing too much about your company on the home page, at this stage the potential client doesn’t really care! He is looking to solve a problem and is wondering “What can They Do for Me?” and he is giving you 4-seconds to answer that question. So again, the fact that your company is established in 1806, has 256 different products in 34 different colours, is not necessary the most important information to mention on the home page.

There are many more things you can do to ensure your content keeps the reader (= potential client) more interested, above covers enough to give you an indication what to look for when creating content for your site.

2) “FINDABILITY” – People need to be able to find your Site! People need to be able to find your Web Site when they are trying to solve their problem. More than 80% of all Internet users find new websites through search engines. That means that about 650 million people use search engines to find websites. Also, Search engine users are some of the most qualified and motivated visitors to your website you will ever have. People searching for information online are in fact pre-disposed to buy, as they have taken the initiative to hunt for a solution to their problem (source: Georgia Tech/GVU users survey).

There are several things important to ensuring your site can be found, in short it includes four steps:
1. Establish (through thorough research) the right and profitable keywords for your site.
2. Optimise your (selected) web pages for these keywords.
3. Submit your web site to all relevant search engines and directories.
4. Get links from other websites and make sure these links again contain your keywords.

There are many more things to be said about SEO and Search Engine Submission, but above covers enough to give you an indication.

3) DESIGN - Your Web Site needs to look good. I could write a whole book about this subject, so I will try to be brief and just raise some of the most common Design Mistakes… · Do not include an “ENTER HERE” page. You can’t expect your potential client to have gone through a lot of trouble to find you site, to then delay them by saying… ”Welcome to such and such site Please Enter Here”. As written above, people give your site 4-seconds, and you do not want to waste that by asking them to press an additional button. · Do not start with a Flash Movie Introduction. Imagine going to a supermarket to buy a carton of milk, and the store owner would only allow you to enter the store after you watched a 4-minute video about all its products?! Even with a “skip intro” button it is a waste of time for most companies (some exceptions apply…for example: video production companies or companies where otherwise a video is key to their service or product). By the way, did you know that the “Skip Intro” button was one of the most used buttons online anywhere?

Unfortunately, when contemplating a Web Site most businesses get it wrong and only spend money in getting point 3 (Design of the site) right to then be surprised why their site is not working. You can compare that to spending a lot of money on getting a glossy billboard to then put it in an empty field miles away from any traffic.

This is not helped by the fact that many Web Designers as such, are fantastic designers and have great abilities to

be able to find your Site! People need to be able to find your Web Site when they are trying to solve their problem. More than 80% of all Internet users find new websites through search engines. That means that about 650 million people use search engines to find websites. Also, Search engine users are some of the most qualified and motivated visitors to your website you will ever have. People searching for information online are in fact pre-disposed to buy, as they have taken the initiative to hunt for a solution to their problem (source: Georgia Tech/GVU users survey).

There are several things important to ensuring your site can be found, in short it includes four steps:
1. Establish (through thorough research) the right and profitable keywords for your site.
2. Optimise your (selected) web pages for these keywords.
3. Submit your web site to all relevant search engines and directories.
4. Get links from other websites and make sure these links again contain your keywords.

There are many more things to be said about SEO and Search Engine Submission, but above covers enough to give you an indication.

3) DESIGN - Your Web Site needs to look good. I could write a whole book about this subject, so I will try to be brief and just raise some of the most common Design Mistakes… · Do not include an “ENTER HERE” page. You can’t expect your potential client to have gone through a lot of trouble to find you site, to then delay them by saying… ”Welcome to such and such site Please Enter Here”. As written above, people give your site 4-seconds, and you do not want to waste that by asking them to press an additional button. · Do not start with a Flash Movie Introduction. Imagine going to a supermarket to buy a carton of milk, and the store owner would only allow you to enter the store after you watched a 4-minute video about all its products?! Even with a “skip intro” button it is a waste of time for most companies (some exceptions apply…for example: video production companies or companies where otherwise a video is key to their service or product). By the way, did you know that the “Skip Intro” button was one of the most used buttons online anywhere?

Unfortunately, when contemplating a Web Site most businesses get it wrong and only spend money in getting point 3 (Design of the site) right to then be surprised why their site is not working. You can compare that to spending a lot of money on getting a glossy billboard to then put it in an empty field miles away from any traffic.

This is not helped by the fact that many Web Designers as such, are fantastic designers and have great abilities to

ines and directories.
4. Get links from other websites and make sure these links again contain your keywords.

There are many more things to be said about SEO and Search Engine Submission, but above covers enough to give you an indication.

3) DESIGN - Your Web Site needs to look good. I could write a whole book about this subject, so I will try to be brief and just raise some of the most common Design Mistakes… · Do not include an “ENTER HERE” page. You can’t expect your potential client to have gone through a lot of trouble to find you site, to then delay them by saying… ”Welcome to such and such site Please Enter Here”. As written above, people give your site 4-seconds, and you do not want to waste that by asking them to press an additional button. · Do not start with a Flash Movie Introduction. Imagine going to a supermarket to buy a carton of milk, and the store owner would only allow you to enter the store after you watched a 4-minute video about all its products?! Even with a “skip intro” button it is a waste of time for most companies (some exceptions apply…for example: video production companies or companies where otherwise a video is key to their service or product). By the way, did you know that the “Skip Intro” button was one of the most used buttons online anywhere?

Unfortunately, when contemplating a Web Site most businesses get it wrong and only spend money in getting point 3 (Design of the site) right to then be surprised why their site is not working. You can compare that to spending a lot of money on getting a glossy billboard to then put it in an empty field miles away from any traffic.

This is not helped by the fact that many Web Designers as such, are fantastic designers and have great abilities to

milk, and the store owner would only allow you to enter the store after you watched a 4-minute video about all its products?! Even with a “skip intro” button it is a waste of time for most companies (some exceptions apply…for example: video production companies or companies where otherwise a video is key to their service or product). By the way, did you know that the “Skip Intro” button was one of the most used buttons online anywhere?

Unfortunately, when contemplating a Web Site most businesses get it wrong and only spend money in getting point 3 (Design of the site) right to then be surprised why their site is not working. You can compare that to spending a lot of money on getting a glossy billboard to then put it in an empty field miles away from any traffic.

This is not helped by the fact that many Web Designers as such, are fantastic designers and have great abilities to design a good looking site, but are not necessarily experienced in making a site search engine friendly to increase its “findability”, nor do all have experience in developing content tailored to what your target audience is actually looking for, again exceptions apply, just make sure when using a Web Designer, you cover all the basics in your brief, and ensure your Web Design Quote is incorporating all three aspects. And if not, that you either have the in-house ability to add on, or be prepared to have a website that doesn’t quite do what you initially wanted it to do…

Anneloes Zuiderveen - More Than Just...