Working Out Where Your Website Sucks

Just because you build it, it doesn’t mean they will come. The honest truth is that the majority of web sites out there suck. That doesn’t mean the designs are necessarily bad, it just means that the websites’ owners don’t have a good grasp on why and where their website isn’t performing as they had hoped.

Think about it: How do you know how successful your web site really is unless you have data that is measurable? You don’t. You may have a vague idea, but you don’t have enough of the big picture. Web analytics, or should I say good web analytics will give you the big picture.

1. Know if Your Visitors Are Going to Your Key Pages
Pages that you want your visitors to go to and make a sale, give a donation, sign up for something e.t.c. are your key pages. With a good stats application you can tell at a glance what your top performing pages are, as well as your worst performing pages. (more…)

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Traffic Building Resolutions for the New Year and Beyond

With a new year we become all encompassed in new year’s resolutions and finding new ways to do things that maybe didn’t work so well for us before. But let’s use this time to go over some proven traffic building techniques that don’t cost anything, are easy to implement, and will bring more traffic to your website soon. Just make the scheduling of these techniques a resolution and let me know how they worked for you.

Open your lines of communication with the following:

Forums and Social Networking Community Sites.
Take advantage of online forums and online social networks and communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about your field. With that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your field of expertise and knowledge. (more…)

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Above the Fold? Re-Thinking Your Web Copy

Sometimes when I have a design job I am told, “We want all our text ‘above the fold.’” When asked why, often the answer is because somebody in the company had mentioned that they heard it was a good idea not to have any web content below the fold.

I can see the logic – text above the fold can be read without having to scroll, which makes it more likely to be read in those precious few moments a visitor’s eyes first meet your site, but where exactly is the fold?

On my desktop computer, with a regular 19 inch monitor, my browser window has several tool bars open and I still have several inches of screen space. Switch over to my laptop, with a 15.4 inch widescreen monitor, and nary a tool bar, and the fold hits almost immediately – there is barely depth enough for a header, a photo and a couple of paragraphs.

I like to keep the good stuff above the fold – but not all of it – because web copy is important and its importance doesn’t drop off because it is below a very hard to define area.

The word count on your web page needs to be high enough to impart information not only to your readers, but also search engine robots so they can ascertain how relevant your content is for their search queries. (more…)

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Easy Web Editing With a Content Management System

Back in the old days of the Internet regular websites cost a small fortune and with the advent of editing software the floodgates of instant web designers flew open. This can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing: Designers wish their designs would stay as they created them, their clients wish they could save money by editing their website themselves. Now enter the era of the happy medium – the age of the Content Management System.

What is a Content Management System?
A Content Management System, or CMS for short, is software that runs on your web host’s server that allows content [images, text, video e.t.c.] to be added with ease. By separating the content side from the coding side the structure of the site is never compromised thus delivering up a happy web designer; while the content is easy to add and remove without needing a web design degree, so happy clients abound.

There are a lot of CMSs out there and so you can actually dabble in their use quite easily. Over the years a few standouts have held their own and carved a position out for themselves as reputable, scalable products. Joomla and Drupal are great choices but the learning curve for non-developers is steep. (more…)

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How to Write An Article For Your Website

Article and content writing for your website is important because it is a guaranteed way to get better search engine rankings. Update your website frequently with fresh, original, captivating content that is more than just a couple of paragraphs long, and you will be the recipient of some pretty impressive Google love in a short amount of time.

Whether you need to write an article, paper or book you need to start with an outline – it’s your plan of action. You need more than just an outline though; you need a good outline – one that has ample points so that you can write enough about your subject.

Keep this in mind when you think about how to write an article for the web: The delivery of the written word on a web page needs to be very different to that of a printed page because most people reading web pages scan them to see if the content is relevant to them.

So when writing an article for your website think about how you can make your visitors’ reading time as easy as possible, so they read more, get interested, bookmark your web page and come back again.

Think quality. Write quality articles. (more…)

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