Continued from page 1
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

Is your web site driving high quality, targeted customers to your business? Our proven Internet Marketing solutions make your web site work harder for you. For a complete range of Internet marketing and advertising resources to improve search engine positions visit Enable UK. Stop losing customers to your competitors and make more money from your web site TODAY. www.enable-uk.co.uk