7. It’s all in content. Once you've defined your purpose and planned your layout, design and navigation you should begin to create your content. Once you have decided what pages will be on your web site you will have a good idea of kind of content that will be needed for each page. Write all text that should go on each page, decide which graphics or photos to use and remember to space information out on page. This is a critical step. Once you have established credibility with a professional looking design and layout, it’s content that will either convince your customers to buy, or have them clicking away to your competition. If you are not a professional copywriter, get some help. Either pay a professional to do it for you or for invaluable advice, read our guide “Writing Text That Sells”. Click here for an excerpt from book: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_3.html

8. Make it brief It has been proved time and again that Internet users have a short attention span. They find long pages and acres of text off-putting. Give all information that’s required but keep it concise, break it up with graphics and try to make your pages as short in length as possible. Don’t make your viewers scroll down more than an extra page height and give your visitors manageable chunks of text that keep them interacting with your site. If your page is longer than this, consider splitting information over two or more pages.

9. Check your facts, spelling and grammar Few things are more likely to cost you customers than incorrect information or poorly written or misspelled text on your business website. It will destroy your credibility. Read through all your text carefully and double check all facts, get someone else to proof read it and run text through a spell checker after checking your language settings (English – US or UK for example). Then do it all again, twice!

10. Check your web sites download speed We’ve already mentioned that Internet users have a short attention span. Once your web site is ready with text and graphics on all pages, check that it loads quickly at various connection speeds and remember that not everyone has a fast connection. Where possible reuse buttons and graphics, as they will load quickly when they have been viewed once.

11. Check browser compatibility Check how site looks on different browsers and at different screen resolutions. People use different browser settings to alter text sizes and have additional toolbars filling up their browser windows. Nothing is more frustrating than a site that you can’t read because it is a fixed size and disappears off your screen. Have a look at your web site using http://www.anybrowser.com.

12. Check customer compatibility! Finally, do a dummy run. Get a typical customer to road test your web site. If possible, ask them to buy a product and let them go through whole process from start to finish. Did they manage to find what they wanted in three or fewer clicks? Did they find it easy to complete purchase? How long did it take? Did they become confused or distracted at any point?

More detailed advice and tips on how to construct a web site, or optimise an existing one, for both customer use and search engine listings, can be found in our ebook “Start at Beginning”. It’s first essential step before undertaking any marketing or advertising campaign. More information and an excerpt can be found here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_2.html

But is it wise to add forums to your website?

On pro side, large, active forums generate content for your website. They add a "sticky" element as most people come back, at least to monitor developments on their threads. Some forum software allows members to opt to receive an email whenever someone replies to their thread. Most people use it and that automated email sends them right back to forum and therefore, your web site.

However, forums can take a long time to pick up and an empty forum can actually drive new visitors away. You need to constantly monitor your forums to make sure that they are clean of spam, troll posts, and just keep everything in order. In addition, forums are database-type applications that generate web pages on fly. Every time a user views a page, it's being created from scratch. As forums become more active, this can take a heavy load on web server's resources and ultimately increase your hosting costs.

A forum is an incredible tool for building content and a community but it's not a task to be undertaken lightly; it requires a lot of time and energy and some technical knowledge (or a tech budget!)

If your industry has a need, or your product has a loyal following, a forum is a great tool to build content while drawing like-minded individuals together. A forum is great for market research, technical support, building a fan base, trading ideas and knowledge, and many, many other benefits. Try to get a base of people from similar business or industry experts to post at your forum. It's exposure for them and helps to build a solid foundation for your information.

If you decide to start a forum, be sure to use one that is search-friendly, such as www.InvisionBoard.com or www.phpbb.com, and set aside a good chunk of time to promote it and administer it.

For more information about how to establish and maintain online relationships with your viewers and customers, get a copy of our guide “Building Online Relationships” available here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_4.html

Feedback Unsolicited feedback is a powerful and convincing tool! Let your customers tell other customers why they love you. It's much more compelling than your own claims. Unfortunately, customers normally need to be asked for their opinion. You can ask for feedback on any area of your business, your web site, your ordering process, your levels of customer service, your delivery service, etc.

The easiest way is to simply set up a form to allow customers to submit their feedback. Keep it fairly brief and allow a space for comments. You can then use information provided to improve your customer experience, and with permission, publish ones you choose.

Often other web site owners that are also customers of users of your web site can be enticed to write a review or testimonial for your site in return for a link back to theirs. This helps them with link popularity but it helps your site as well it shows a real person wrote that review.

Ask The Expert This is a great way of not only interacting with potential customers but also establishing your business as an expert in its field. Using a simple question form or forum software, users submit questions and someone at your company answers them. The Q&A are both published on site for users to read once they are answered in a "knowledge database" or “FAQ” section. This is less time-intensive than a full-blown forum but a great way to keep a finger on pulse of what customers want to know while still adding content on a regular basis.

Summary If you are interested in building loyalty and interest in your company as well as repeat business and you want to get increased traffic from editorial or free listings in search engines, you have to offer more than just sales information to your users. If you create a plan for content that offers value and interest to your customers, you can have a site that is built to sell AND drive repeat business.

For more information about how to establish and maintain online relationships with your viewers and customers, download a copy of our guide “Building Online Relationships” available here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_4.html