When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are a few important rules of thumb to observe so that you make sure that your website performs well.
1) Do not use doorway pages
Doorway pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. In fact, they are just that — pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page. I recommend using the front page to welcome your visitors, and tell them what all they will find within your site.
One way I do this is to focus my articles on problems that people are interested in solving. I use the front page to adress they problems, and why they are important. This also gives you the opportunity to build up the site in a way that will entice your visitors to read your articles. You can use it to build up links into your article pages within your main text.
2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements
Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valuable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
I recommend only using one or two images per article page. Also, a plain image rather than a flashy banner convert better. Use simple text links, but try to limit the affiliate links on your site as well.
3) Have a simple and clear navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered drop down menus. If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4) Have a clear indication of where the user is
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!
5) Use the right graphics
You need to ensure that you have the right graphics for your website. Do the images fit with the theme of your site? Make sure they are unique and catch the eye. However, make sure that they do not distract your visitors too much. You want people to pay more attention to your content than your graphics.
This post was written by...
James Pruitt – who has written 234 posts on IMRelations Media.
I Started my internet marketing journey in 2008, as I began building simple affiliate sites. Through the years I have worked as a freelance writer, publishing my own blogs and websites, written several ebooks, and now work mainly to help others build their online business through my marketing consultations, personal coaching, and relationship building.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I personally hate going to websites that load too slowly because it has too many advertisements and banners. Those are just a mess, they should just keep it simple. Keeping it simple, clean, easy to use and loading fast shouldn’t not only be a rule, but it should be the LAW.
I agree flashy websites that look cool but load too slowly dont help as much as people think. the ugliest site in the world will make money if you have good content.