5 tips to FineTune Your Web Site

Let me remind you how quickly the Internet came into our lives, especially when you compare it to other things like radio and TV...

• It took Radio 50 years to reach an audience of 50 million people
• It took Television about 15 years to reach an audience of 50 million people
• It took the Internet FIVE years to reach an audience of 50 million people around the mid-1990's.

Today about 57% of Americans go online...that translates into approximately 109 million people. Let me give you some statistics about what activities Americans are doing online: (these are from a study done by the PEW Internet and American Life Project)

This article is helpful to people who already have their own web site but aren't happy with its ROI. In this article, I'm going to give you 5 tips to finetune your web site. You can apply these to your site right away. You may already be doing these things on your site. It's my intention here today to give you at least one thing that will help you improve your web site so that you'll begin to achieve your goal.
Everybody has a goal for his or her web site, right?

Tip #1 - Give your visitors a reason to stay. A recent study by Performance Primer says that people decide within 4 seconds whether to stay in your site or leave. It used to be 10 seconds. That doesn't mean your page has to load that quickly -what it means is …are you giving your visitor something to read while the page is loading? Keep in mind that DSL and cable connection are still out of reach for most people. Maybe within 3-5 years, we'll all be telling a different story on the Web because we'll have that instant connection and then... look out world.

• How fast can you begin seeing anything on your page?
• What pops up first?
• How quickly can you begin to read any text?
• How quickly can you tell what the site is about?

Tip #2 - First impressions are everything! An organized-right-to-the-point top half of the page is crucial if you want to keep that visitor exploring your site.

Put yourself in your visitor's place: you're searching on the Web for information about a specific topic. You've been on several web sites and left frustrated because none of them match what you're looking for. that is what your visitor is going through by the time they've arrived at your site. To make sure you impress that visitor and get them to stay...Ask yourself these questions:

• Does my web site immediately address the visitor's "need" for being there? Remember you've got 4 seconds to grab that visitor. If you don't give them the "What's In It For Me" (WIIFM) right away, they're outta there.
• Is your navigation easy to use or are you making it a puzzle for people to figure out?

Tip #3 - Okay so you've got me to stay, you've got my attention, you've addressed my "need" right away now how are you going to keep me there? Gosh, doesn't this sound like we're building a relationship? Tip #3 is ...Don't make me think. You've all heard of that book, right? Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug . Don't make me think means that-I should not have to figure out whether this thing over here is a button or where this arrow will lead me to. If your visitors have to figure out how your web site works, do you think they're going to invest their time and do that? No, of course not…"I'm outta here…click!"

Tip #4 -Another thing that will get visitors to stick around is your content. Content that is of value: and content that changes periodically.

Is the content on your web site professionally written for the Web? Please don't just transfer your brochure text to your web site. Folks, your web site is NOT an online brochure. The Web is way past that stage. Today you can conduct surveys with your visitors; you can chat live with them; you can give them a contact form that collects valuable information from them so you know who you're marketing to-without taking a lot of their time. And you can add video clips and other multi-media features to your site.

I strongly advise you hire a professional web writer to write your content. It is worth it!
[ AngietheDreamWeaver.com ] is a great example of a web site that I developed with the help of a professional web writer, Katrina Pfannkuch, Owner/Creative Director of Buzzword Marketing Communications, magically created a lot of very valuable content from interviewing Angie. ]
Here's a simple formula to help you critique your web site's pages and if you're not accomplishing these things, please contact us:

Before composing any content for any pages, ask yourself what your key message for your web site is. If your key message is not clear in your mind you can be sure it won't be clear on your web site for your visitors. What is your key message?

Tip #5 - Now that you've got their attention, got them to look around your site…how do you get them to come back?

Here are a few suggestions:
Add new articles you've written, new monthly tips, and new products. Provide a way for people to interact with each other, like a message board, a forum. Provide a way for people to subscribe to your newsletter. List resources, recommend books.

Those who shape the knowledge hold the most power.

Share your knowledge.

I'm not saying to give away your "secrets" but you need to demonstrate to your site visitors--who are really your prospective clients--that you are an expert and are willing to give them help simply by visiting your web site.

Tip #6 - yes, this is a bonus tip…. you thought you were only getting 5 tips!
How do you get traffic to your site? From around the world or in the U.S. or just in our backyard…how? How do you sell your products, your book and your video…online?

Before I share this tip, it's important to note that a lot of things have to be in place before you attempt to sell products on the Web. First of all, are you filling a niche with your product like one of my clients, Ann Clarke is (www.annclarke.com). Ann's motivational music CD's are selling like hotcakes from her web site to people all over the world. I suggested PayPal as a cheap, fast, easy way for her to accept credit card payments online and I also set up Ann's web site with my Online Marketing service. A lot of things came into place before she was able to do that but most importantly, she has a found a niche and filled it.

There are several ways to bring traffic to your site but I'll save that for the next article. There is one thing that is underestimated and that you and other collegues on the Web could help each other with: Link to each other's sites. Exchange links. This is the equivalent of Networking on the Web. The more sites that link to your site, the higher up you will be on the search engine listings (Google loves it!). Or get online and do some research on sites that you could partner with. This takes time and following up to make sure your link was placed on your "partner" site is important, too. Google sure likes it when your site has a lot of other relevant websites linking to it. This will help get you listed higher up in Google.

In conclusion, the Web can be a powerful tool to communicate with. It helps to know where it's come from; how quickly it's grown and where it is now. Where it's going is a whole other subject.

The Web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a social effect -to help people work together-and not as a technical toy. The ultimate goal of the Web is to support and improve our weblike existence in the world.

Lori Gama-White owns DaGama Web Studio in Greeley, Colorado. Developing strategic, results-oriented Web sites since 1997, Lori Gama-White and her team of Web professionals are passionate about helping people get their businesses on to the Internet. For more information, questions or comments, call 970-378-7822 or e-mail .

© 2005 Lori Gama-White - All Rights Reserved - http://www.dagamawebstudio.com
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