6. Don't overwhelm with too many links

Keep links to a minimum on your navigation bar - at most nine. In fact, keep links to a minimum all across your site. Don't overwhelm your visitor with too many choices... gently, but firmly guide them towards your "action pages" (order page, newsletter subscription page, etc.).

7. Remove banners (from homepage at least)

I've removed all banner ads from my Web site. In my opinion they just take up space, make pages load slower, and look rather ugly... without doing any good. You might feel that eliminating banners might be too drastic a move for yourself, but let me ask you this: how often do YOU click on banner ads?

Note: Definitely remove banners from your homepage. The job of your homepage is to get visitors interested in your site and explore deeper, not to display banner ads which take visitors away.

8. Ask for a bookmark

Put up a simple attentive graphic that asks people to bookmark your site. You'd be surprised how many people will listen.

9. Open external links in a new window

In your tag, simply put TARGET="new". This will open link in a new window. When your visitors are done and close that window, they'll return back to your site. The full HTML looks like this:

click here

(Note: contents within TARGET can be anything - doesn't have to be "new").

10. Use pop-ups on exit

This is a technique I've used with great success on my own site. Set up some JavaScript code that opens a pop-up window when a visitor LEAVES your homepage, where you offer a subscription to your ezine. This wont annoy them as an on-entry pop-up would, and will reclaim a lot of visitors that would have just drifted away had it not been for pop-up. I really recommend you use a cookie to prevent pop-up window loading for repeat visitors. Go to any JavaScript resource site and you'll find cut-and-paste code you can use on your own site.

What can be done with these banners? Audio can be synchronized with your banner images and text to deliver eye and ear pleasing messages. Slide shows can be placed within banner. Relevant product information can be imparted quickly and effectively before visitor is ever asked to click through to website. Special offers and promotions can be referenced to entice shopper. No longer are viewers merely spectators; they are active participants.

Interactive audio banners provide consumer with ability to listen to more detailed information and even to initiate buying function directly from banner itself. This really helps to capture that "impulse" buyer right at time he's most anxious to buy. Because it's interactive, a web visitor can directly respond to it.

The power of audio should not be underestimated. People would still rather hear about something than spend time reading or sorting out passing images. Keep in mind that museums and other institutions have offered tours for years that are accompanied by audio scripts designed to educate visitor yet allowing eye to roam freely and absorb creative on an individual basis.

Audio banners can also add a personal appeal to visitor. Use banner to tell a story about product or service that invokes an emotional response. Talk about product's benefits to consumer and how product will improve his life/work/relationships. Use banner to whet people's appetites for additional information. Never lose sight of fact that people make buying decisions based on emotional reasons and design your banner presentation accordingly.

It is far too early for any of us to dismiss banner ad as an idea whose time has past. We have to step back, take an objective view, and start thinking about how we can make them more than just billboards. As Internet leaves its infancy and enters "toddler" stage, we need to remind ourselves that we're still dealing with a new medium. And that this new medium is still largely unexplored.