When the World Wide Web began about 20 years ago, it opened up an
amazing world of opportunity for people to make their own success and
realize their dreams. More people than ever were able to start their
own home business.
Unfortunately, about 95% of the people who start
their own online business will fail. People are led to believe all
they have to do is throw up a website and the money will start pouring
in. This is definitely not true!
Building a website now is much easier than it was 20 years ago but
you still need to know how to make your website efficient and
profitable. The following quick tips will help you streamline your
website and hopefully make it more productive.
1. Call-to-Action – To substantially increase your
number of sales, your site will need a call to action. This is when you
tell people what to do next. For example: Order Now, Supplies Limited
or Click Here for Special Offer, Today Only.
2. Annoying Features – Leave out intrusive music, flashing
lights, animated banners, slow-loading pages and other annoying
features. These things do not say welcome!
3. Add a Blog – Blogs are extremely popular and
search engine friendly so if you don’t already have a blog you
definitely want to start one.
4. Site Search – Be sure to provide your visitors with a site search box. You can get one for free at Google Site Search.
5. Interactive – Make your site interactive by adding message boards, surveys, comments. This will bring your visitors back for more.
6. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Do some
research and make your site search engine ready. Add relevant keywords,
get as many backlinks as possible, add content, etc.
7. Site Map – Having a site map on your site can
help you with the search engines and it will help your visitors find
things on your site as well. You can make one for free with
GSiteCrawler.
8. Analyze Your Traffic – Be sure to study your site
stats so you can find out when you get the most visitors, where you get
the most visitors, how long they are staying, what pages they are
visiting the most and so on. This can help you tweak your site for
maximum performance. If your host does not provide your stats you can
use Google Analytics.
9. Content – Always be adding new and relevant content to your site to keep your visitors interested and the search engines as well.
10. Trust – You must build trust and credibility
with your visitors. You can do this by using testimonials, posting any
rewards you may have received and letting people know of important
clients you have had.
11. Affiliate Programs – Adding good solid affiliate
programs to your site can help raise your profits. Be sure to check
out the programs before you join and if possible, personally recommend
the products and/or services.
12. User-Friendly – You want your site to be easy to
navigate; not like a maze for your visitors to try to find their way.
Make all pages the same basic layout.
13. Collect eMail Addresses – Building an email mailing list is
very crucial for keeping in contact with your visitors and building the
foundation of trust. Be sure to put a sign-up form on all your
webpages and put it on top for easy visibility and access.
14. Sell Advertising – Don’t overdo but selling a few choice spots on your website for advertising can raise your profitability.
15. Stress Benefits – Be sure to let people know how
they can benefit from your site. Let them know how you can solve
their problems with your products/services.
16. Contact Info – ALWAYS have your contact info on
every page of your site. If people don’t even know your name, there
surely are not going to trust you.
17. Fresh and New – Always be adding new and updated
content to your site. Keep up on SEO and always be tweaking your site
for more ranking. Do not let your site get old and stale!
18. Professional Design – Your site should be clean, sharp and easy to read. Do not clutter it with junk. Make it look professional!
19. Color – The color of your website can be very
important. Certain colors can trigger psychological responses and you
want to be sure your site triggers the right one.
20. Social Networking – Be sure to add all your social links so
people can connect with you on multiple levels. Social networking can
do wonders for your website if used properly.
Developing a profitable website takes time, research and work but it
certainly can be done. Don’t give up too easily. Put in the work and
be committed. You CAN be a success!
From SPN by Terri Seymour