Plan, plan, plan!
The process of starting your own web based business is very
exciting to most of us, especially when we begin to take the
first steps toward assembling the website’s pages, but
like any project, proper planning must occur for the project
to go as smoothly and as well executed as possible. It is
a tremendous idea to sit down with a pencil and paper and
jot down the various topics and themes you plan to include
in your web site content. Writing them down on individual
index cards is a great idea at this point. This allows you
to take these specific ideas and group them visually by category.
These categories can then help guide your site architecture,
or site map.
Going to this “extra” (I don’t actually
consider it extra at all) effort is really valuable when designing
your site navigation (links) and in helping you design a site
that your guests will be able to navigate more intuitively.
This may sound like an extra step that you might be really
tempted to skip, but you have no idea how helpful this step
can be. If utilized properly, it will save you so much time
and energy, and make your site so much more visitor friendly.
Create a call to action!
Why are you creating this web site? You want your customer
to take a particular action, right? Buy your product? Subscribe
to your service? It is wonderful to share wonderful information
on your web site and give away some free insights... but never
lose site of what this endeavor is all about. You need to
make sure that you are effectively compelling your visitors
to take that desired action.
One of the biggest mistakes people make in designing, organizing
and wording their web pages is forgetting to make the emphasis
of all of their efforts to get their customers to take the
action that they want them to take. Whether you want them
to buy your product, subscribe to your newsletter, or contact
your company by phone or email, make it clear that this is
what they are going to need to do to make the desired difference.
If they want their question answered or their problem solved,
then they need to take that action immediately. Make that
action not only seem obvious, but also as easy and irresistible
as possible. Make it a no-brainer. Make it vital. Don’t
give them a reason to hesitate or turn back. Make it just
feel like its the right... no, the ONLY thing to do.
At every opportunity to create this call to action, TAKE
IT! Your call to action is second important to only your USP.
While designing and organizing your site, never lose focus
of what the goal of your site is. You need to constantly motivating
your visitors to take the desired action. Making these two
elements the primary elements to your website will instantly
let your visitors know what they are able to obtain from you,
how it will help them, why your information or product is
superior to all the others out there, and finally, how they
can quickly get it from you. What else do they need to know?
Ask them for the sale. Direct them toward the solution.
There is one last important aspect to this, and we are going
to use our USP acronym again to illustrate this, only use
it to illustrate another set of dynamics: Urgency,
Scarcity, and Popularity.
What do you get when you combine a lot of people (popularity)
competing for a limited number of items (scarcity) with a
deadline (urgency)? A buying frenzy! Can you say Playstation
3? Look at what happened in the 2006 Christmas season. People
were actually shooting each other for these $600 video game
consoles. Now, we don't encourage starting this kind of frenzy,
but look what kind of publicity Sony got from all of this.
Think it was because Sony couldn't make enough Playstation
3's? Right.
Make sure that you create a strong sense of all three of
these qualities in your viewer with the way you your word
your web pages. Skillfully add these ingredients to your online
business recipe, and you will sit back and watch your products
be absolutely devoured!
Interface, Interface, Interface!!!!
One of the biggest downfalls many web designers fall victim
to is poorly considered navigation. There may be some terrific
information on their web site, but no one will ever know this
because the site designer made it impossible or difficult
to find. Searchers have no patience for this. At all. Therefore,
in order to avoid this trap at all costs, PLEASE consider
carefully how you organize and present your information. Put
links to things where people expect to find them. As I mentioned
earlier, an amazing book about this very topic is called,
“Don’t
Make Me Think”, by Steve Krug. It is a short read
that will change your perspective on how important it is to
make your site intuitive to your visitors and how to do this.
I highly recommend this book.
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