Etips is a publication of:
Your Guide to Professional Web
Site Design and Development
| Issue: |
#136 |
| Date: |
May 6, 2003 |
| Circulation: |
29,786 |
| Publisher: |
Shelley Lowery |
| Email: |
admin@web-source.net |
Hello,
Welcome to this week's edition of Etips!
In today's edition of Etips, I will be featuring part four of our ten part
series, "The Birth of a Professional Web Site," and focus on some essential
web site components.
If you missed any of the previous articles in this series, you can find them
at the following web addresses:
The Birth of a Professional Web Site:
Part One
The
Learning Process
Part Two
Your
Strategic Plan
Part Three
Basic
Guidelines
I hope you'll enjoy this week's edition of Etips.
To Your Success!
The Birth of a Professional Web Site Part
Four Essential Components
Although the Internet has provided
a wealth of opportunity for all of us, it has also created a breeding ground
for scam artists. Internet users are very reluctant to make purchases online,
and share their personal information.
For this reason, you must take every opportunity to convey your professionalism
-- from your web site, products and services, to your customer service, each
will play an important part in your success.
The moment your site loads, your visitors will have an instant reaction --
your site will either convey your professionalism or your amateurism. If
your site doesn't look professional, your visitors may leave your site
prematurely and never return.
If you're not confident in your ability to design a professional looking
web site, it would be in your best interest to hire a professional.
In addition to having a professional appearance, a professional web site
should possess the following essential components:
Domain Name
In order to establish credibility, you must be willing to invest in your
own domain name and professional web hosting. Web sites hosted on free servers
are not taken seriously and will suffer a serious loss of business. Your
visitors may feel that if you don't have your own domain, you may not be
a credible company. They'll simply take their business elsewhere.
Professional Logo
A professional looking logo is an absolute must. Not only will it give your
site a more professional appearance, but it will also enable your visitors
to recognize your brand.
Your logo should be displayed in the top left corner of each page of your
web site.
If you're not confident in your ability to design your own logo, you can
get a professional logo designed for just $25 at
gotlogos.com.
Theme-based Content
Your web site should focus on a specific subject and provide a variety of
information that relates to the subject. For example, if your web site focuses
on dog grooming, your pages might include all of the following:
• Dog grooming articles
• Dog grooming ezine (newsletter)
• Dog grooming tips
• Dog grooming accessories
• Links to Dog Grooming resources
• Dog grooming news links
• Dog grooming photographs
Content comes in a variety of forms including news, articles, tips, horoscopes,
weather and resource links. Although fresh, original content is preferable,
there are a variety of free resources available on the Internet that will
provide you with free content.
The following web sites provide free articles for publication:
Web-Source.net
Mega-Success
Marketing Seek
The following web sites provide free syndicated content:
Syndicator
isyndicate
Moreover
Screaming
Media
Email Capture
Collecting your potential customers' email addresses is an absolute must.
Whether you publish an ezine, provide web site and/or product announcements
or tips, you must take every opportunity to capture your visitors' email
addresses.
Display a subscription form on every page of your web site.
Privacy Policy
Internet users are becoming more and more concerned with their privacy. However,
there is something you can do to ease their minds.
Create a page on your web site called "Privacy" and let your visitors know
exactly how you will be using the information you collect.
This page should include an explanation of all of the following:
• How do you plan on using their information?
• Is their information sold or shared with a third party?
• Why do you collect their email address and how will it be used?
• Why do you track their IP address?
• Let your visitors know that you're not responsible for the privacy
issues of any outside web sites you may be linking to.
• Why do you use order forms and what do you do with the information
acquired?
• Do you run contests and what do you do with the information?
• Do you have a discussion forum or message board? Let your visitors
know that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public
information and that they should exercise caution.
• Do you have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse
and alteration of the information under your control? If so, let your visitors
know.
• Let your visitors know how they can opt out of your mailing lists.
• Provide your visitors with your contact information should they have
any questions about your privacy statement.
About Page
An "About" page is an essential part of a professional web site. Your potential
customers want to know exactly who you are.
Create a page to add to your web site called "About" and include all of the
following:
1. A personal or professional biography
2. A photograph of yourself
3. A complete description of you and/or your company
4. Your web site and/or company objectives
5. Your name, address, phone number and email address
It is very important that you include an "About" page -- especially if you're
selling a product or service. You must do everything in your power to put
your visitors' minds at ease.
Testimonials
A great way to build your credibility with your potential customers is to
display your customer testimonials. Include your customer's name, email address
and web address with each unsolicited testimonial to increase believability.
You can find a nice script that will rotate your testimonials at
Willmaster.com.
Money Back Guarantee
To further increase your credibility, you must completely remove your potential
customers' risk. Provide them with a solid, no risk, money back guarantee.
This will put their mind at ease by building their confidence in you and
your product.
Feedback
Many times, potential customers will have questions about your products and
services. Instead of displaying an email address on your web site, consider
using a feedback form.
Create a page on your web site called feedback and place a form on this page
to enable your visitors to contact you.
Your personal response to your potential customers can literally determine
whether or not you're going to make a sale.
You can find a nice feedback script at
Willmaster.com.
Secure Server
If you're processing your customers' orders online, you must place your order
form on a secure server. Not only will a secure server protect your customers'
personal information, but it also provides him/her with added confidence
in placing an order with you.
Copyrights
Display your copyright information at the bottom of each page. It's best
to include both the word Copyright and the © symbol, as some countries
don't recognize one or the other.
Your copyright might look like this:
Copyright © Company Name Year
By taking the time to ensure your site possesses these essential components,
you will increase your chances of success considerably.
(Continued in part five)
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2003.
About the
Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the highly acclaimed ebook series,
Web Design Mastery -- An eight volume (500+
pages) in-depth guide to professional web design. Web Design Mastery is being
hailed as the "Bible" for professional web design.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com |
|
| Tip of
the Week |
 |
Text can be formatted in a
number of ways using the paragraph tag. <P> - Paragraph tags are used
to display paragraphs that automatically adjust to each viewer's window size.
You can format text with the paragraph tag by using the align="left",
align="center", or align="right" attributes within the <P> tag. <P
align="center">
Today's tip is an excerpt from the highly acclaimed
Web Design Mastery series.
|
| Syndication
Feeds |
|
| Internet
Marketing and Promotion |
|
| Business
/ Sales |
|
| Web
Design |
|
| Dr. Kevin
Nunley's Biz Tips |
|
| Web Site
Design Tips |
|
|
 |
