The web is a fabulous creation. It gives almost unlimited access to information and services with a couple of clicks, and allows you to profile you and your business in a way unprecedented in history.

And yet, and yet...it can be daunting for many home business start ups to create an eye-catching shop window that is easy to use, does what it says on the packet, and has your potential clients asking for more. Reaching the audience that you want to is yet another challenge that even the most savvy businesses can still find difficult to crack.

The answer? Well, like all things, it's easier when you know the tricks of the trade.

1. Know your business
Sounds like common sense, but if you aren't sure exactly what you offering and to whom and how, then it doesn't matter how whiz bang a website you have, it won't do the job it needs to. Basically you should be able to encapsulate what you do, why your services are better than anyone else out there and who your perfect client is in no more than three sentences - and if you can do it in one, so much the better!

2. Know why you are creating a website
What is the purpose of your website? Is it to sell goods or services? Offer information? Connect people? Profile someone (you?) or an event? All of the above? These are important issues, because it will affect the design of your site, the name, the positioning and, most importantly, the way you write the text, and what you do to promote it. Basically, if your primary purpose is to sell goods, for example, then e-commerce is the way forward and this is very different from, say creating a networking site, where the primary purpose is to connect people so you can sell something to a niche audience.

3. Keep it simple
Web design is an intuitive trade and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. More than half of all visitors get ‘lost’ on a site’s home page and the average time a visitor is willing to wait for a page to load is 6 seconds! So make sure your website message is clear and simple. That means minimal or no graphics, clear concise design and text, no annoying scroll down text boxes (keep the text short and create extra pages instead; this will also help with optimisation), and a flat site (two levels is optimum - depth usually equals lost visitors) with lots of sign posts and internal links so it's easy to navigate your way around. Most visitors won't make the effort to find their way back to something they saw earlier if you leave them stranded somewhere with no signposts...they'll simply click away to the next site!.

4. Searching, searching, searching
There are over 12 million websites in existence at any one given moment and, for a client, finding the one you need can be a little like searching for the proverbial needle...so you have to make it easy for your audience to find you, which would include being aware of the following:

• Flash versus html. For the uninitiated, that's moving graphics versus stationery images and text. They use different software and if you are seduced by a designer creating a beautiful site solely using Flash then the search engine robots, known as spiders (how Google et al sort websites) will not be able to ‘see’ your site. Now if your purpose is to just create a presentation site that your sales people will be able to use remotely, that might work, but in that case why don't you just have a presentation on a laptop or produce a brochure instead? Html sites are the optimum for search engines, and that isn't to say that you can't include Flash or other graphics if you want to, just don't have it on the home page. Keep that position for your hook, ie your sales message, instead.

• Good Content. Words run the world, especially the world of business, because if people won't read your message how can you tell or sell them anything? The copy on a site, especially the home page, is your hook to get your visitors interested in coming in, and it’s where you encapsulate your message using the terms that you know that your audience will be searching for. The search engines rate your site by the number of times certain terms crop up, so a judicious sprinkling off terms such as, for a copywriter for example, copywriting, content writing, text, words, copy, will help the search engines rate your site as a copywriting site. If you use lots of words that don't reflect your business, such as pens, cars, cats and balloons, then the search engines won't grade it in the right area, which will adversely affect your rating. However, just filling your web page with lots of the same words will also go against you as the search engines will then assume that you are trying to pull a fast one and you may get barred.

• Search Engine Optimisation. You should also make sure that your metatext is carefully pitched, that’s the script that lies behind each webpage and here you can include terms for the search engines to find when people log on and search on a subject. And the more precise these terms are, the better. If say, you are a life coach, then just putting ‘life coaching’ in will mean you ‘found’ by the search engines, but you are unlikely to show on the 1st or even the 10th page! However, by using your niche positioning (‘parent coaching in Basingstoke,’ perhaps) you can refine your search terms and mean that when people are searching for that specific, they will find you. And if you haven't a clue how to do this, then get a web optimisation expert, such as our very own Nikki Pilkington, to help you or book some serious time off work and do some research. This is dark art rather than a science.

• Link Up. Incoming links score higher than outgoing links. Too many links can spoil the party in either direction, and the higher the quality of the links, the better your ranking... Confused? Basically concentrate on producing excellent content that is pitched to what your customers and visitors want, and over time you'll naturally become an 'important' site in the eyes of the search engines. If you are in a hurry and want to get clever with it, get some expert advice.

5 Keep it Fresh
You do all the above and one day you find yourself high on the search rankings. You have lots of visitors every day, and sales are good. Well done you, you deserve a medal! But no, you can’t relax because a high ranking website one year (or even one month) does not necessarily mean it’ll be high ranking the next. Like all things, websites age, go in and out fashion, get superseded, and technology moves on, so keep your virtual shop window fresh with daily or weekly updates and don’t be afraid to revamp regularly!

 

© Claire Burdett. No content to be reproduced without written approval of the author.

Claire Burdett is the Founder and Director of Funky Angel. She is a Writer, Journalist, and Editor, Integrated Marketing Expert, and Home Business Mentor.

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