Tips & Advice
It can be no dishonor to learn from others when they speak good sense.
— Sophocles, Antigone (442-14 B.C.)
— Sophocles, Antigone (442-14 B.C.)
Top Ten Tips for Improving 
Your Web Site
Your Web SiteIn this economical downturn, it is a perfect time to reinvent or take a fresh look at your company image with the number one marketing tool out there…your web site. Most potential clients would have first checked out your web presence (not the Yellow Pages) before even calling your office.
Here are my top ten tips for improving your web site:
1. Web design: Hire a web designer if an in-house employee lacks the know-how and software to design a first-class site which will meet your objectives. Also remember that just because someone (usually a friend or relative!) is a great technical/computer geek, they may not be a designer…totally different skill.
2. Research: Check out other company web sites to analyze what you like or dislike and incorporate the positive aspects into your own site.
3. Energy: Decide on the overall ‘energy’ of the site such as technical, educational, whimsical, trendy, retro, etc. You may only have 30 seconds to create a first impression before someone clicks off of your site.
4. Branding: Make sure your branding and corporate image are unquestionably evident and frequently use images which depict people to humanize your company. Visitors may not resonate with an equipment photo, however, an image of a friendly face may win them over and make your company seem approachable. After all, companies are people.
5. Nuisances: Avoid nuisances such as blinking and scrolling text, animated GIFs, sound files, and pop-up windows.
6. White space: Use ‘white space’ as much as possible in order for the pages to ‘breathe.’ Don’t be tempted to fill every available space with text or images, thereby creating a busy and cluttered web site.
7. Typefaces: Limit the number of typefaces and fonts used throughout the web site in order to avoid distraction and give the appearance that an amateur versus a professional designed the site.
8. Content: Keep content crisp, clean, and concise. Don’t overburden your site with lengthy pages requiring the site visitor to keep scrolling to read each page. And by all means, hire a web site content writer if needed. Many web site design firms have writers on board or outsource to other professionals.
9. Feedback: Get feedback from clients, peers, and associates to determine your web site’s user-friendliness and effectiveness. Don’t take feedback personally and be grateful for all feedback whether you agree or not.
10. Updates: Freshen and update the website periodically by adding new content and images. This will make the site seem ‘alive’ rather than static. There must be something new and exciting to relate to the public.
© 2010 Karen Cersley