Does your Web site help sell your business? Does it draw them in, and invite them to learn more? Here are some top tips for creating a Web site for your business that works for you, and not against you.
- Design Tone. Essentially, does the ‘look’ of your site match your business’ purpose? If you’re an accounting firm, for example, you need a sophisticated look, whereas if you sell children’s clothing, you can have a more fun design.
- Clutter. Keep all the extras to a minimum to create a neat and tidy site. You don’t want to confuse your readers, or make them search for the info they need.
- Font. While fancy fonts may look nice, they actually turn readers away – they’re difficult to read on screen. The same goes for font size – anything too large runs the risk of displaying improperly on the site.
- Quantity. Too much of a good things is, sometimes, too much. Keep sentences and paragraphs short. In fact, consider using bullet points.
- Blog. Adding a blog to your business site not only brings repeat visitors to your site, but it also develops a dialogue with your customers. It adds a personal element to you and your company. However, be sure that the tone of your blog matches the design tone of your overall site. Of course, it should also go without saying that if you do add a blog, you blog consistently.
- Collect Contact Info. This is another way to extend the personal relationship with your customers. Collect their contact info so you can communicate to them regularly, whether via e-mail or with a newsletter.
- Edit. Ensure your content is correctly spelled, without grammatical errors. Of course, being well written is another plus! Do all your links work?
- Clear Navigation. Does the content on each page match the page button header? Is everything organized logically and plainly? Don’t make people search for the info they need and want.
- Contact Us. Can someone really contact you, or can they only fill out an online form? I don’t think it is just me that gets frustrated when I cannot find a company’s phone number or address, and instead have to resort to filling out an online form and keeping my fingers crossed that I get a response (more often than not, I never hear back).
- Graphics. Do you remember reading certain textbooks in school that would literally put you to sleep because you were just reading words, words, words? The same goes for your site. Be sure to have some graphical elements throughout so your content is not solely made up of text.
