April 30, 2008
BY Dave Mason
Wouldn't you like to know the main ingredients for creating a successful website? What are the basics that make a website successful? A website that will stand out and be noticed by your visitors. One that will keep those visitors returning to your site, again and again. A successful website that generates high levels of sales and enquiries?
Including the following elements in your website development is essential to standing out from the crowd and turning those visitors into customers:
- Good Keywords
The use of relevant keywords is absolutely essential in your website design. Include at least 200 words with a brief introduction on your home page and ensure you include relevant keywords or phrases such as "website design" or "search engine optimisation specialists". Research what your target market is actually searching for and use these search phrases as a part of your copy on your website to ensure that search engines pick up these terms on your site and rank you accordingly.
- Simple Design
Don't over complicate the design of your website. Your potential customers will be looking for a website that is clean, functional and easy to understand. If you fill your website with clutter or bombard the visitor with too many options on the home page, you will just confuse them and they will look elsewhere.
- Easy Navigation
Easy navigation is essential for a successful website design. People are in a hurry and will not put up with abstract navigation systems or cluttered menus that make it hard for them to find what they are looking for. Use an experienced website designer such as Mantis Technologies to ensure the navigation of your website is designed in a user friendly way.
- Fresh Content
Keep your website up to date with fresh content. Research shows that search engines favour (and therefore give higher rankings to) websites that regularly update their content. Try to add new content at least once a month to stay ahead of your competitors. The best type of content to add to your site are news items and articles. They not only encourage visitors to keep coming back for the latest info but they also add extra content for the search engines to index and therefore direct more traffic to your website.
- WOW factor
Every great website design should have a WOW factor! Your website should try to stand out from the crowd. There is nothing like word of mouth to get some traffic flooding in to your site. Creating a buzz about your website is worth its weight in gold.
- Offline Marketing
One of the biggest mistakes we see new online businesses make is that they launch a website and then don't tell anyone about it and expect the sales to just roll in. Make sure you plaster your website address everywhere you can - business cards, vehicle and shop signage, letterheads, email signatures, business cards and any other promotional material you distribute. These days many people prefer to have a website address rather than a phone number to research your company and decide if they are going to do business with you.
Advertisements in relevant industry magazines and publications directing people to your website for more information and special offers is also a fantastic way to generate new traffic.
- Use Mantis Technologies
We have been creating websites for over 6 years now and know all the key elements to creating and maintaining a successful website. Many of our clients have gone from strength to strength by utilising the wealth of experience of the web design team at Mantis Technologies. We are only a phone call or email away!