Our entrepreneur, we’ll call him Bob, runs a computer repair business. His services allow him to provide his clients with his expert advise, either in their offices, by email, or on phone. Because of this, Bob has a large potential market, both locally and internationally.

Bob has a great brochure, filled with all his features and benefits; he attends as many networking events as he can; he advertises in local newspapers; and he has a huge ad in yellow pages. But, Bob doesn’t have a website. Why?

“I don’t need a website, do I?” asks Bob. “I do everything else possible to market my business and I also get many customers by referrals. Why would I need a website?”

Glad you asked Bob! Let’s see if we can’t outline some of benefits of having a website… both locally and internationally…

Your website is a live brochure that is available for anyone to see from anywhere, no matter if they are 5 miles away or 5000 miles away.

For potential local clients, they may first find your company in yellow pages but, if they are looking for more information about you and services you offer, Internet is one of first places they will look to do their research.

Many potential long distance clients may be in different time zones or would rather not make a long distance call. Because of these factors, Internet is where they would go for more information. Having a website enables your information to be available anytime and, by including your email address on your site, they have a cheaper and more convenient of contacting you.

Arguably, you have just 10 seconds to grab your visitors' attention. That doesn't seem long, but as brain can absorb thousands and thousands bits of information per second...10 seconds is long enough to get your message across!

The "above fold" part of a web page (especially of home page) is most valuable real estate you have on your web site.

The first fold of your web site needs to communicate biggest benefit you have to offer your visitors. This is often referred to as your Unique Selling Point or "USP". However, 7 out of 10 web sites are poorly designed above fold. Here are 4 top pitfalls that drive visitor's away.

1. Flashing banners

2. Too many links

3. No clear USP

4. Time consuming flash animation

So what should you do to capture attention of your visitor? Here are things you should include above fold.

1. Spell out your USP Answer visitor's biggest question, "what's in it for me?" Use a main headline and supplement it with a secondary headline. Communicate benefits, benefits and more benefits to visitor. You should use a H1 or H2 tag for main headline and H3 for supplementary headline.

Is your USP to save visitor money? Offer a guarantee? Make live easier? Help visitor to earn an income? When you are working out your USP and benefits...remember difference bewteen "benefits" and "features." If you have a product that is reliable - that is a feature. The benefit would be peace of mind or lower maintainence cost.